Casey

That wouldn't work if the decal art background is clear/transparent.

Toys R Us cariies many of those parts for the Cars movie line of toys. Most are too toy-like to use on a non-caricature model, and the tires aren't realistic, either. I bought a set of the Goodyear racing slicks and they'd be great for a 1/12 NASCAR build, but not much else. Most of the 1/12 scale stuff is going to be in the exotic car realm- Testarossa, Countach, etc. Fujimi (?) made a 1/12 Skyline you might be able to use some parts from. As Christian said, some 1/10 R/C car parts can be used, but expect to do some modifying. Page through the R/C section on eBay to get a feel for what's been made and to see which parts you may be able to use.

Dear Round2- please destroy the tire molds for those over inflated, way-too-heavily-treaded Goodyear Rally GT big 'n' littles you've been including with the '33 Willys coupe and other kits for decades. THEY ARE HORRIBLE! The bonus for modelers would be the '33 Willys coupe's front wheels would need to be re-done, and hopefully backdated to something more appropriate to the 1:1 Malco Gasser. Heck, they could even throw in a set of their newer pad-printed M&H slicks for the rear, too. I do find it interesting that the above blurb from Round2 seems to indicate some form is licensing agreement between Firestone and Round2 had been reached. I guess that's good news, but with decals for tires being more popular than ever, I have to wonder if it's too little too late.

Comeback? 1/16 never left, to paraphrase Prince. The custom wheels in some of AMT's '55/'57 and T-bird 1/16 kits are very nice, but the rest of the kit's parts, not so much. The tires haven't been updated since 1978, when Goodyear Rally GTs were considered state of the art.

I was at two hobby shops Saturday, and both had lots of Tamiya paint, including five cans of primer at each. I see no shortage around here.

Are the tires Goodyear Blue Steak Speedway or Stock Car Special tires? I don't recall which tires Round2 is including with the reissued kit, but IIRC they are a 60-series tire and possibly came from the MPC 1/16 Cobra 427 kit. Flashpoint Motorsports and Competition Resins both offer 1/16 scale slicks, and if you can find a set, the Aurora M&H Racemaster slicks are excellent. Here's one on the top right: Most 1/18 scale die cast slicks will look too small (Hot Wheels '57 T-bird for example), and the larger diamter wheels you'll find in 1/18 scale are mostly very low profile. The Revell 1/16 '34 Ford kits include two different pairs fo tires, including some P235/60R15 Eagle STs which might work for front tires.

Nothing weird about displaying the boxes at all. Many times the box art is better than what's inside the box. I mean who would buy this kit for what's inside? Not me, but I did buy it for the great box art. Some of my other favorites:

Street tires? Can you provide more details as to what you're working on? 4x4, street rod, muscle car, etc.? I don't know of anyone making 1/16 treaded tires, only slicks, but it's possible a kit or an R/C vehicle would have something that would work for you.

I would construct the scale shock much like the real one, at least as far as the outside/visible parts are concerned. You could capture the end of the smaller tube or shaft inside the larger tube, then insert a small piece of foam inside the larger tube. When the shaft slides into the larger tube, the foam is compressed, and if the correct foam is selected it will rebound the shaft and extend the shock fully.

Yep, it's a '71 and is 1:18 scale. Before I opende the topic I was thinking you had started with the R/C 1/15 scale '70 Chevelle.

Kawifreek@msn.com

It will depend upon how you want the final color to look, but in general, matching the primer or base color to the top coat works best IMHO. Yellows, whites, and red should use a white base, and dark colors (black, nay blue) should use either a dark grey or black base. These are all assuming you're using solid colors, not candies, pearls, etc. Here's some good info: http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=35

It's the same with any other niche modelling category other than the standard classics ('57 Chevy), hot rods ('32 Fords), and musclecars ('69 Camaro)- there just aren't enough potential customers to make specific parts (say, a Veilside front, side and rear body kit for a '95-'99 Neon sedan) worth the effort of mastering, casting, and selling. I'm sure if someone stepped up and created a nice master part(s), someone would cast it, but how many could the caster expect to sell? They'd probably need to sell at least ten sets of each specific body kit to break even. And then they'd get the "why didn't ABC Resin make that body kit for a 'XX (insert manufacturer name here) (insert model name here)???" cries. There are hundreds of possibilities and when the parts aren't universal, you have to be really sure what you choose to produce. Just food for thought. I thought the consensus on the XS Tuning wheels was they were just too small in diameter and scaled out to 16" in 1/25 scale? I suppose the XS Tuning ad post in General could be bumped...

Come on, man, I just ate lunch. The dirt track rear tires did complete the look on Limefire. I hope wire wheels aren't making a comeback, either.

Good to see Limefire is still around and in great shape.

I got these two vans today. A 1/32 scale Monogram Streeto Vandito, on which the builder glued the 'glass' pieces in VERY securely. No, you cannot scrape off the inside of the windshield to remove the excess glue. Number two is a glue bomb Revell Hardy Boys GMC van. I didn't realize Revell did the GMC specific body until I saw this.

Did you de-gass the mold rubber (looks like Alumilite's Quick set, tan (I say it's yellow) in color) before pouring it into the mold and placing in the pressure chamber? I wonder if the metal you used had some type of adverse reaction to the mold rubber, too. What did you use to clean the metal piece with? I recall reading an article about how to intentionally shrink rubber molds using lacquer thinner or MEK mixed into the rubber, so is it possible something was absorbed by the metal and leached out after the rubber was poured around it? It's hard to tell, but was the only shrinkage which occurred around the metal piece? I have never had any shrinkage issues using Quick Set, but I usually use it with one-part molds and without pressure or vacuum. If the mix ratio is off, the rubber will harden very quickly or very slowly, but I've never had that happen with QS, as it normally sets in 12 hours or so.

It did, and an attached transaxle to boot.

Perhaps they are experimenting with this kit's chrome? http://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/1488-round-2-models-shine-on/

Here's a quick tip which will help make assembly easier and keep your built models together. Most scale RWD suspensions using parallel leaf springs and a solid axle mount to the chassis via a pin-into-a-hole type interface, so here's a quick way to keep those holes clean during the painting process. 1) You'll need white glue (Elmer's, etc.), a toothpick, and the part(s) with the holes to be filled, in this case a 1/32 scale Monogram '65 Mustang chassis: 2) Next, slowly squeeze the glue bottle until a small drop starts to come out. The tip of the toothpick can be mushroomed or bent/broken like so to hold a slightly larger drop of glue, if necessary: Here's a typical chassis hole, into which one of the rear leaf spring mounting pins fits: 3) Apply one small drop of glue to the backside of the part, if possible. You have less chance of overlapping the glue drop onto an area you don't want masked if you apply the drop from the backside. If you must apply the drop to the front side of the part, use a drop of glue smaller than the hole diameter and apply it in a circular manner. The surface tension of the glue will allow it to fill in the hole without overflowing into the surrounding surface. Here you can see how the applied glue drop looks from the frontside of the part. Remember, you only need the glue to mask the inside of the hole so you can get a solid plastic-to-plastic joint come aseembly time: Another shot of the chassis with all four leaf spring and the single front driveshaft mounting point holes filled: Let the glue dry then paint as you normally would. Once the paint is dry, take a new, dampened toothpick and poke out the white glue plug, then give the toothpick a twist or two to clean out all the glue residue. Now you've got clean, bare plastic for a good soild bonding surface. It sure beats cleaning out and enlarging the hole later.

Yes, the Bullitt kit and this version are based on the same tooling, which was based on the die-cast model. There is a review in the Reviews section, too. The Revell 1/25 '70 Challenger T/A R/T kit is also diecast-based and suffers from some of the same issues. Fortunately, Revell seems to have given up basing injection molded kits off of existing die-cast kits/tooling.

Yes. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=50053

It was a pleasant surprise to see Hank Borger on the cover.

What's shown on the box art is all that is included, and this kit has only 20 or so parts total.

This was painted over a white primer base, then with two or three color coats of Testors Model Master lacquer: Lighting (and your eyes/monitor) are going to play a role in how you view this (and any color), as you can see in the below pic of the chassis: The color appears darker and slightly more purple near the front suspension to my eyes in the above image, but it's all the same color and coverage, sprayed at the same time.