Casey

Why is this man smiling? He just officially became the driver and got a name...but more on the name (much) later. His head will be swapped onto the body/driver Ed sent me, and since this driver's helmet is sans visor, I decided to add a canopy over the driver, instead of exposing his head from the nose up. The canopy is from an unknown jet kit, sanded down and tapered to conform to the body: Once the hole in the body is opened up, allowing the driver's head and shoulders to protrude, the canopy will sit flush against the body, though I will need to remove some material from the inside edge, to ensure the canopy sits level with the ground. I will likely add a flange around the canopy's perimeter to both tie it into the headrest/fairing behind the driver's head and make it easier to secure to the body shell. I pretty much ruined the hoop style fairing I was thinking of using, but it was a bit too narrow (or the driver's head was a bit too wide) and to widen it would've meant widening the original Avanti hood bulge, so the fairing was probably doomed from the start: It will be sanded to butt up to the back edge of the canopy, and the trailing edges will retain the Avanti's C-pillar trailing edge shapes, so it will end up working out just fine. I also added some details to the turbine engine, particularly the fuel metering device, starter motor, and whatever else some of these bits and parts are. I used some random, exquisitely molded parts from an unknown Japanese-made race car, as the MPC engine was lacking detail and definition. Things like hood or door hinges worked perfectly for making flanges, and other unrecognized bits simply added detail and made parts stand out against one another. I will be adding some wiring and fuel and lubrication lines later on, but looking at reference pics of the real engine gave me a good idea of what needed to be added: I remembered I had some two-piece hard plastic tires from the AMT Piranha dragster kit, so I measured them and found they were almost the exact diameter I needed for the front tires. I glued the halves together and will bore out the centers to a larger diameter, making the front tires the same sidewall height as the rear tires:

Here's how to contact him: http://www.customclinic.com/Contacts/emailMSG/emailmsg.html

Ah, I see. Do they have a subtle pattern or "texture"?

I was going to say be careful with the TSP, as it can really do a number on the grass below, but it looks like that won't be an issue. Make sure you clean out the ductwork, especially around the blower motor resistor. Dry leaves and a hot electric coil do not play well together.

Which version/option package do the silver decals allow you to build? It doesn't look like the typical silver and black T-type paint scheme nor any of the Regal-based Pace Cars.

You are assuming the seller can make them in mass quantities- maybe they are hand made, one at a time? Maybe they take three hours a piece to cut out, fold, and assemble? The seller has sold these before on eBay (see the link I posted to the same topic discussed previously) and he (I think his name is Scott) knows how much each will sell for on eBay. Try finding an original display base (see Dean Milano's webpage for reference), then you'll see why these are selling for what they are.

Ah, I see. That kit has a separate, multi-piece engine, according to what I see here: http://www.wettringer-modellbauforum.de/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=20674

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=41723&page=0 Why the confusion? They're cool and are a great way to display a finished model:

AMT has both 2012 coupe and 'vert kits, and Revell's ZR1 coupe is their most recent, IIRC. I think this is the most recent C6-R kit, but no idea on the model year:

The F&F kit from AMT was an Eclipse, not a Lancer, but does include a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine which is separately molded:

Also consider the '85 Vette (and the 1/8 kit) are 27 years old now, and don't have near as much of a following and fan base as the Big Deuce. Plus, the '85 Vette and '85 IROC-Z are the only kits of the Monogram bunch to include 16" tires, so a set of wheels has to be specifically designed to fit those tires, and will fit only those tires.

^^ What Bob said. Nine times out of ten, the video isn't shot/edited well enough to see details nor be easily followed.

Looks like widened rear wheels, maybe 1.5"-2" or so? These are my favorite modern Mustang by far.

Jeff from Motor City Resin Casters

No models in this one, but we have snow, and hopefully on Friday we'll get more.

The Trumpeter Nova engine is the most modern Chevy inline six available in kit form. I don't know how nice nor accurate it is, but the AMT '60 Chevy pickup's I6 is very nice. The AMT '50 Chevy pickup and Monogram/Revell '53 Chevy Bel Air Sedan kits both include I6 Chevy engines, too, but neither as as nice as the aforementioned '60 Chevy pickup's I6.

Congrats, Dave. Your "Honey-Do" lists are going to be HUGE now!

You have a fotki album link in your signature line. Both Photobcket and fotki work fine for posting pics here.

Yes. The '57 Chevy Sedan body tooling is not going to be irreversibly modified to release a convertible. As James said, I suspect when the Fall 2013 releases are announced in May 2013, we will see pics of the '57 'vert box art, or maybe a bit sooner via Revell's facebook page.

I think someone else make the Kopperhead body...R&R or RMR, maybe?

Use the attachment feature to upload images to the forum, directly from your hard drive. There is a size limit for each image, but if the images are kept to a size of about 1000 pixels x 1000 pixels, you should not exceed the maximum usage limit, nor even come close. You can add multiple images per post, but I think the limit is five attached images per post. Click the "More Reply Options" button at the lower right of the reply box to use the attachment feature.

No clue on the year(s), but you would have no trouble seeing what's on the road in front of you driving the first one. Great pictures.

Still a tentative release date of June '13: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCWFF&P=SM

Use a stiff piece of paper, or an index card to cut out you pattern, then lay it on the foam, trace the perimeter, then cut the foam to shape.

Use the Black Bare Metal Foil, then scuff lightly and paint with thinned Model Master Black Chrome Trim paint. If you burnish the BMF down carefully, but leave the burr on the "cut" edge of the trim piece intact (don't burnish it down), the burr will help keep the paint on the BMF. You do need to move semi-quickly, so that you keep a wet edge and don't lift the dried areas as you're applying "new" paint. The Black BMF straight off the sheet looks too shiny IMHO.