Junkman

Just visit the next illegal rubbish dump.

Tamiya did make a parts pack with rain tyres. Not sure whether it has been reissued, like so much of that 1:12 F1 GP stuff was quite recently. They also made a crew with team manager and several tool and equipment sets.

Because you can build a fridge based compressor for a tenner.

I think they can make a decent living for a long time by just continuing to reissue what they have got. I don't even want to imagine the tool fundus they must have. X2. And I hope the resin casters will jump on the 300. New Yorker Wagon anyone? Imperial Newport anyone?

Hopefully they bring the manufacturing back to the USA and consider to establish a proper export sales network.

With all repect, that's exactly why I no longer follow it. And never did football, while we are at it. I'm not a bloodthirsty vulture, but there must be at least something left for the rproportion of mankind that is willing to take a risk. Thanks god that there are forms of motorsports (and other sports) left, where this is the case and thanks god that I was and am able to participate in some.

The Tamiya is the same formula everywhere and I don't use it for pretty much the same reasons you stated. I'm sad to hear about your lung and at the same time this makes it difficult, since none of my recommendations are even remotely healthy (like a friend of mine always says: If it's supposed to work well, it must be seriously poisonous.). I use (European) automotive clearcoat (which is acrylic) on anything with acrylic properties. Either from a rattle can, or from those repair sets for metallic paints, where you get a small bottle you can decant into an airbrush. For all other stuff, I use high gloss artificial resin clear ("Kunstharz") which is available in large rattle cans in DIY shops. For the application, I do heat the cans and I mean it. I boil water in a pot, take it off the stove and put the cans in it until they are so hot that I can just about handle them without gloves. I then shake the living daylights out of them, at least a cigarette length of vigorous shaking, not just the 3 minutes it says on the tins. I then spray the clear in fairly generous coats, with no more than ten minutes between coats. Don't worry about the coats building up too much, just avoid runs. The clearcoat will in the end appear to be way too thick, but it really does shrink a lot within a few days. I leave them to cure for at least a week, after which the thick layer of clear has become a thin but oh so glossy coat. I hardly ever have the need to buff or polish the paint jobs done this way.

As a 'glue' I use Humbrol gloss enamel in roughly the same colour the flocking is. I paint it on with a brush, that way I have total control over what will ultimately be flocked and what not. For example, I can omit the rubber insert under the pedals by just not painting it. I then apply the flocking through a tea strainer and can immediately shake the excess off. By using brushed on Humbrol enamel as a glue, I can do two-tone flocking simply by painting and flocking the first colour, then paint and flock the remaining bits. Here is a black 'carpet' achieved by using Humbrol gloss black as a glue and black flocking: This was my first attempt at two-tone flocking: I have refined my technique since.

I would not sell it. You get the proverbial peanuts for it, if you are lucky. Those wonderful 1:20 kits are still grossly underrated. I did the opposite of what you have in mind, and accumulated them whenever I could find them. Cost me next to nothing. After years of simply ignoring them in some box, I now cherish them and I know their day will come.

Unfortunately most of the old racetracks in Europe were severely 'modernized' to make them 'suitable' for the F1 cars to race on and they thus lost a lot of the character they once had. My interest in F1 Grand Prix racing waned around that period, because I now find it way too sterile and artificial for my taste. I believe cars should be built for the race tracks they are using, not the other way around. There is a whole generation out there now (spectators and racers) who have never experienced what it was like to be at the 'Ring, Spa, Hockenheim, Monza, etc. before they were emasculated. Therefore, I turned away from F1 GP a good few years ago and never looked back.

Better not use USPS when you send abroad. I never use the postal service (how's that for a contradiction in terms?) for that and for the very same reasons. I always use courier services like DHL, UPS, FexEx, Hermes, etc. Not only are they way cheaper, but they do offer end to end tracking and insurance. There are internet brokerage portals where you can enter the weight and measurements of the parcel and they give you several quotes of which you can select the most reasonable. I use http://www.interparcel.com and meanwhile have an account with them. I'm sure there are similar ones in USA. I know, this takes a bit of effort the first few times, but once you established a routine, it is easier to tackle than the post. They even collect the stuff from your home or workplace.

What's the problem with sending it to Brazil?

Apart from the modelling paints sold worldwide, there seem to be fundamental differences between what is sold in the States and what is sold in Europe. I don't know what the differences really are, but usually what is recommended by fellow Americans in this forum will not work with European paints, or only in a translated sense. For example, I don't understand the difference between acrylic and lacquer. We do not make this distinction, so my guess is that one of the two is not available over here. In Europe, you deal with basically two paint systems - what we call "acrylic" and what we call "artificial resin". Acrylics have the characteristics of (European) automotive paint, artificial resins have the characteristics of enamel. Hence you need two types of clear, depending on which paint you used. Acrylic clear, basically (European) automotive clearcoat, or artificial resin clear. You cannot use acrylic clear on artificial resin paints, but you can use artificial resin clear on acrylics. I don't recommend doing the latter however, because artificial resin clear has a long curing time with all the disadvantages this implies. It's advantage is that it is not aggressive at all, hence it can be used on anything without danger, even enamels. It also has a more 'vintage' gloss than acrylic clear. Acrylic clear will inevitably react with artificial resin paints and wrinkle them. I can make a recommendation, but for that I need to know what paint you used so far.

Boot sales, as flea markets are called on these shores, rarely yield model kits. Unless you are into military stuff that is. Still, I do go to them quite frequently, but I usually post my finds on a forum for diecast restorations

Does this count?

You must be rich... Nice catch though.

I think the Modelhaus makes the Holman-Moody wheels for those. I'd shun the body mods to make them accurate though. The teams botched the body panels together at certain angles, so the cars aquired a slight wedge shape. This is obvious even to the untrained eye. The Junior Johnson built '66 'Yellow Banana' for Fred Lorenzen is certainly the most infamous of them. Also, the AMT 66 Galaxie comes with the 7-Litre type grille, whereas all NASCAR teams used the standard Galaxie grille.

Interesting mix of cars in the background. All long gone. The only thing we have left to re-enact those days is Lucozade, which is still going strong.

There was a time when saying Italeri's quality was atrocious would have been a gross understatement. Shortly afterwards they went under. The quality of the resurrected company is lightyears better. If the model is available in the newer series, I'd suggest buying a new one. You will not regret it.

I like Formula 1. BriSCA Formula 1 that is:

+ No?

The main difference between 1:24/25 and 1:16 is that when building 1:16 you can leave your glasses off. Oh, and you need more paint. A lot more.

Once you have weaned yourself from Ebay and TV, you will start to re-realize that the world is actually quite a nice place full of sensible people.

I'm going to get those books, this is highly interesting. I know that those contests were also carried out by GM's overseas companies Opel and Vauxhall in the Sixties. One of the prizes from Vauxhall was to finance the winning models being made into miniatures by Lesney Matchbox for mass production. One of them was the 'Guildsman': I have seen pictures of a few models built in Europe for those contests, but unfortunately no books exist.