Casey

Nice, clean foil work, MIke. What happened with the two "cracked" headlights? Can those be replaced?

Armed with new and better reference photos, I added some framerails and crossmembers, but still managed to screw up the front of the framerails. The front ends of the framerails should turn downward and meet the backside of the valence panel, so once I deal with the grille flange, I can correct them. The flange on the backside of the grille is way too thick (and it's already been thinned considerably), so I either need to remove the flange entirely and come up with a better way to hold the grill in place or look into making a photoetched grille. I think the vertical peak in the center of the grille would look and hold its shape much better if done as a p/e part. Next up are the front and rear suspensions.

Do these die cast models have factory bucket seats and consoles. too?

You use the correct link below each image, and copy and paste it into the reply box. You can also click on the little green tree icon (right under the emoticon/smiley), which will allow you to add a link to your post/reply.

Use a photohosting service on the web.

I also mocked up some wheels and tires with the body shell. First up were some wheels and tires from an Ertl farm implement trailer of some sort: Not bad for the front, but too short/small for the rear. Next up were the Revell/Mickey Thompson Challenger I tires and some Revell Dodge Sidewinder frint inner wheel halves (a lucky fit), and in pic number three a combination of both: The final stance will be very close to the lower pic above, as the Challenger I tires up front are way too tall. I like how the small and large tires fill out the wheel arches at the front and rear respectively, so these are the frontrunners for now. The Ertl tires caught my eye because they had no tread and looked to be approximately 18" or so. They are a little too lo-pro and maybe a bit too wide, too, but I can modify them to suit my needs:

Two nights of work in a row...I sense momentum. I finally attached the rear (formerly front) valence panel to the body shell, widened it .030", and added a small filler strip to unite the forward edge with the trailing edges of the rear wheel arches, one of which needed some slight lengthening: I wasn't crazy about how the lower half of the valence bulges out and downward, extending slightly below the quarter panels like so...: ...but once the bellypan was roughed in, it wasn't a problem: Here are the approximate driver and engine positions, viewed from the top. This shot also gives you a good idea of how compact the turbine engine is: I drew some lines on the body where the air induction scoop/duct was to go, but I'm not so sure I want to add it anymore. It looks like it would disrupt the visual flow of the body too much. Thoughts?:

Do you have a pic of the chassis and rear suspension? Just curious if you back-calfed it or not.

You're right. I was thinking of the "double" Piranha kit:

Too late. Now what do I do?

Revell made a few DONKs, based on exisitng kits- '70 Chevelle SS, '86 Monte Carlo SS, '87 Buick GN, '63 and '94 Chevy Impala SS, and the Cadillac shown above. The Chevelle is still in Revell's 2013 catalog, so it should be the easiest of the bunch to locate.

I think that's the best solution for now. Eventually, more options will be available (no pressure, Joseph! ), and I think more builders will see the advantages and embrace "hard" plastic or resin tires, and welcome finishing them just like any other styrene kit part, instead of settling for what's included in the kit.

One more skim coat, now sanded, but needing one more coat in a few areas. I think I'll hold off until I decide what to do in the corners, though. Eventually I will add a full belly pan which will tie the lower nose and tail sections together, but I need to decide on a few other things first: I did some more sanding on the turbine engine, and attached the intake funnel and exhaust pipe(s), which will probably be changed to a more horizontal setup, but it's a starting point if nothing else. I won't be using all the adapters, brackets and reversing motor included with the Howmet kit, but I think a quick change rear of some sort will remain: Here's a topside shot showing the turbine engine's size in relation to the body shell: It should be a near perfect 150 pound counterweight, sitting to the left of the driver.

IIRC, the Monogram Dodge Ramcharger includes a roof rack as pictured on the Hickey Jimmy.

Was that on the DuMont Network?

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=49057&hl=frontier

Welcome aboard, Tim.

Take any genre of hot rodding, apply the same scrutiny, and you'll find there is no perfect modified vehicle. No vehicle does everything well, so owners pick and chose what they want. Some choose style and looks over performance, some chose fuel mileage over horsepower and torque, and some like 'em to look like they were just dragged out of a field. There's plenty of room all genres, and in hot rodding, variety is a good thing. Stanced vehicles aren't designed to pull 1.2Gs on a slalom course, and I'm sure most of the owners are well aware of how tire wear is affected by the mods they've made. Plenty of people used to use air shocks to raise the rear of their car so they could fit N50s with minimal rubber on the wheel arches, and you could argue driving any fenderless car is a hazard to other drivers, too. Different strokes for different folks.

I believe the word Brandon was intending to use is "stanced", which has a specific meaning when it comes to how a vehicle rests, how the wheels and tires fit in relation to the body, and relates (most of the time, not always) to imported/tuner type vehicles. Simply do a Google image search for "stanced" (not "stance") and you'll see exactly what I mean.

I think this is the most important thing any lottery winner can do, but very, very few do it. Humility and winning the lottery don't usually make good bedfellows. That's always free. Here are some interesting stats based on 43 previous national lottery winners: http://www.statistic...ner-statistics/ Effects on Lifestyles Percent of lottery winners who had spent their entire winnings within 5 years 44 %

First suggestion would be to use a liquid cement, such as Ambriod ProWeld, Tenax7R, Testors in the glass jar, etc. and literally plastic weld the T-top panels to the roof, making it all one piece. The liquid cement will melt the plastic a little, and ensure the parts are permanently bonded. Next, did you scuff the body and T-top panels before you primed them? If they are clear panels as found in the Monogram 1/24 '79 Camaro Z/28 and '77 Trans Am kit, the panels themselves will be very smooth and glossy, a surface paint does not like to stick to very well. It looks like the red oxide primer is still bonded to the plastic, but the filler you used isn't bonding to the primer... The glazing putty is meant to be used for thin imperfections, and it always helps to sand the primered roof to give the glazing putty something to "bite" into. Not sure if you sanded the roof or not, nor which kind/brand of primer you used, though. I would sand it down to bare plastic using 400, then 600 and 800 grit wetasanding paper, then assess the situation. Ideally, the roof panels and surrounding roof will be level and the joints between them eliminated, thereby eliminating the need for any filler.

Three PMs would've gotten a direct answer, so why ask every member of the forum when only three people have theability to lock it and and only those same three people have the ability to answer your question? Duly noted. Moving on.

Try PMing Harry and/or the O.P., Skip. I looked at that topic again, and anytime someone tries to insert a political/educational system comment, the topic is headed in a bad direction. There are a few topics such as religion, politics, Wal*Mart, unions, (and soon rat rods ) which never seem result in anything positive and only end in arguments...and eventually, a lock for the topic.

I awoke too late this morning, so I missed the re-run. Hmmm, maybe it was 1:12 scale?

Type "stanced" into the search box...lots of hits. Are you still into Geos, Brandon?