curt raitz

Did I see a 1/20th scale all-white McLaren MP23 on a Tamiya table? hopefully they plan on re-issuing this kit

No, he sells his kits on eBay...I found him thru a link @ IndyCal Decals

This is my current adventure into the world of 1/20th scale F-1 models. Picked up the Bill Jorgensen Resin Conversion awhile back plus a set of decals from Indycals: www.indycals.net Bill recommends using either the Tamiya Wolf or Williams kit as a donor. Did not have either, but did have the Tamiya JPS Mk.III Lotus...so will be using it - hope it works The Indycal decals are for the car Mario Andretti drove in the 1974 Canadian Grand Prix Ford Cosworth Engine Jorgensen Resin Kit and Indycal Decals: Resin body/rear wing assembly/engine cover prepped and painted MM Classic White Lacquer: Various parts prepped and painted. Inserted screws thru front spindles to hang front wheels on: Interior tub w/modifications: Already to mask and shoot the red paint, decal then clearcoat the body parts, assemble engine/transaxle/rear suspension, attach front suspension (gonna be a little tricky - has to go on after painting the body), finish interior tub w/driver figure and mount cockpit glass. Tires present a problem...they have raised "GOODYEAR" on the sidewalls, Parnelli ran Firestones (decals provided by Inycals). Gonna have to shave off GOODYEAR on sidewalls and prep for decal application Stay tuned...more to come Thanx for Lookin'

Occasionally I have to throw one of Tamiya's 1/12 scale motorcycle kits together...here's my latest: Norick Abe's 1994 Honda NSR 500 sponsored by Mr. Donut...used Tamiya Kit #14082 and Studio27 decals Thanx for lookin'

The 25th Western NNL Show Coverage in April 2010 issue of Model Cars Magazine Kudos to fellow Monterey Bay Scale Auto Association Club members, aka "The Monterey Guyz"...George Mattox, Kevin Wight, Thomas McNamara and Larry Henley for having their models appear in the latest issue of Model Car Magazine And buddies Raul Perez, Jerry Cardinal, Hossain Salimi along with Brendon Howden having their models make an appearance as well. Good job guyz Oh yeah...the rest of the April issue was great, too

just to be a little wierd and different...how about a V2 pulling a Morgan 3-Wheeler: hee-hee...

This be my favorite: say no more...say no more... :D nudge, nudge

True sign of a great model builder...covering up the little "boo-boos" that happen during the build... even if it means fabricating a reason for a speedometer over a tachometer Great Job, Bernard... OK, how does one lift or put the hood over the air snorkel?

I must been asleep at the wheel...just now picked up this Very nice job Bernard, you really have a handle on these cars yeah, I remember Mr. Peabody and FrostBite Falls, Minnesota as well...

Hey Peter, great idea sign me up I'd love to dig into something like this all ready to go when you roll these out thanx

Just an old paint brush with a plastic globe superglued to it. It has round shape to form a nice round bump in the screen prior to punching it out. The beauty of the punch is you get a perfect circle cut of the screen...ever tried cutting a perfect circle in a little bitty piece of screen?

I got this one from Micro-Mark: https://www.micromark.com it's part #83513, price is a little steep...$39.95 it can be used for many applications in our hobby...

I will show you how I made these wire mesh screens: It all started when I was using the aftermarket detail set for the Ferrari 312 T2, low and behold only 11 of the 12 screens were in the package. As I was pondering this situation, I noticed the Micro Punch Set on the bench, checked out my stash of screens and all I needed was a way to form the screen. The 312 T2 kit has glass half-round tips that are to be used as intake screens...quite realistic I must add I super-glued glued one of these on an old paint brush handle to create a forming tool. So for my most current 1/20 F! build pictured above - the Tamiya Ferrari 312T3 I made 12 screens, as the kit has none Here's the tools I use: After selecting a hole on the punch set, slide the screen into place: Place the forming tool into the opening and apply gentile but firm pressure to cause a depression in the screen: Inspecting the depression in the screen prior to cutting: Place screen back in the punch set. The trick to punching is to have the punch suspended as you punch the screen out. Just give the punch one quick tap and presto, a perfectly cut intake screen The 1st time I did this, didn't have anything to catch the screen, which went flying,,,never did find. Now i place a piece of cloth over and between the jaws of a vice and thusly I'm able to catch the screens: End result is bunch of screens in a matter of minutes... Hope this helps you when your in need of some home made intake screens Note: obtaining fine mesh screen could be problem, I've had my stash for so many years I forgot where I got it. thanx for lookin

ShowOff...

I have never had a problem with decals on tires... Get'em wet, slide'em on the tire, Solvaset the heck out of'em, then a day later (after they've had a chance to dry) shoot them with a little "Dullcote". never have had any lift or fall off... the dry transfer decals (Shaboo) are a whole different cup of tea, I prefer the waterslide decals or the ones ya find in Tamiya's F1, motorcycle and racing car kits

Gee, I look at the lack of raised lettering as a positive... means I don't have to sand and/or grind the raised lettering off the tires to put a tire decal on or airbrush the lettering using a photo-etch stencil...more realistic than the painting the raised lettering. There are plenty of aftermarket decals (Shaboo, Slixx, etc.) and stencils available online (Stradasports, HLJ, etc.) or at a good hobby shop

I'm workin most of the weekends in May...next full weekend off is May 29th & 30th probably be having model car club meeting the following weekend June 5th & 6th (my place) also GoodGuyz @ Pleasanton that weekend

Gosh, I've only built about 2/3 of the 1/20th F1 kits out there... now Hasegawa and Fujimi are pumpin' them out along with Tamiya what's a fella gonna do? hire more elves i guess... c'ya buddy

Thanx That's exactly what I did, put a couple of tabs to hold the shelf after I flocked it. Also mounted the seat with "Canopy Cement" so it could be tilted forward then pushed back against the shelf when sliding the body over the chassis...a little tricky, but it worked

interesting kit...especially if you want to build the coupe version. I glued the top on before assembling the chassis to the body...makes finishing the shelf behind the seat and the seat installation a little tricky this way. paint is krylon "camo brown" and applied orange cloth to seat and door panels thanx for lookin'

Very nice job on the Alfa I've built all variations of this car Tamiya offered one of my favorite kits to build...the Bosch being the best lookin' of the bunch followed by the Martini car kudos on the decalling, ya gotta love decals to build these cars

o-o-o-h those nasty tobacco logos... I need to get the Williams FW 16 also, I really liked Ayrton Senna...especially when he and Alain Prost used to hook up

Kudos to Scalefinishes excellent service, fantastic paints and they smell good, too

Thanx Peter The Indycal decals are very similiar to Fred Cadys...they are thin and opaque and easy to work with they react very nicely to Solvaset...I don't know about microscale , never have had much luck with their stuff also Gunze Sangyo's Mr. Softset works, it is a little hotter than solvaset I've used quite a few of their decals and have not been dissappointed, yet! here's a link to their site: http://www.indycals.net/