Junkman

To all you guys saying you have difficuties with BMF: It's not you! It's BMF! The quality is so inconsistent, that with one sheet it goes like baking pretzels, with another you think you are a total clot. Add to this that whenever they get the quality right, they immediately change the formula!

Excuse my humble pardon - who are those chaps?

This is in direct reponse to Dr. Cranky's excellent idea to tell us your weaknesses. Where there are weaknesses, there are strengths. Why not tell us your fields of expertise, or the special skills you have when it comes to building model cars? I have quite a few of them: - I am very good at painting, despite I only use rattle cans and brushes. I developed my own methods and never get tired to explain them at length to those interested. - I'm very level headed and never run out of patience. Granted, I swear a lot while building, but I persevere and solve the problem at hand. - I do a lot of research before I decide to build a model. Of course, this is not necessary if one builds a custom or hot rod not based on a real one. But since I build most models replica stock, I strive to get colours and trim as authentic as possible. - For me, the second most important thing after colour and finish is stance. And I often come up with unique solutions to achieve it. And this despite all my models can roll, i.e. there is no such thing on my models as wheels glued on so they don't turn. - I have a very good eye for shapes and proportions. I can instantly tell, whether a model looks right or not. To me, this is more important than all out precision or every minute detail being correct.

Wiser words were never written. What we now should develop is a way how we can mutually assist each other to overcome those weaknesses.

They made a MKII 'tina? I only ever saw (and had) their MKI.

Hello Matthew, I'm just trying to picture this. Are you actually building models in your truck, when you are on travels? On a different note, I'm surprised how many people here say they have no knowledge about mechanics or the workings of an engine and still strive to model them as accurately as possible. Funnily enough, I'm the opposite. I'm a Ph. D. (Dr.) of engineering, with an emphasis on vehicle technology, and used to work as a motorcycle designer, car restorer, race car and hot rod builder. I know every little nook and cranny about engines and other mechanical components of a car, but I don't give a toss on my models. They are all about shape and colour, I don't care about the engine bay or underpinnings and usually only paint them in fairly correct colours, but don't add any extra detailing. For me, a curbside is completely sufficient. I was also reminded of my second achilles heal by quite a few people so far: Decals. I completely forgot to mention them. I'm so bad at them, that I ignore their existence.

Using filler or putty. I just can't get that stuff smooth, no matter what I do. Hence I do hardly any body mods. I once chopped a 49 Merc (Winfield method), got the lines and everything perfectly right, then didn't get the filled in parts smooth. I filled and sanded, filled and sanded, filled and sanded, for weeks and weeks and weeks and you could still see the seams. Then a friend came by, took the ruddy thing, and within minutes it was sanded to perfection.

It'll take more than one day, but you should start today.

Link?

That is just too cool.

"We must make war on him, because he is a threat to peace."

Working windscreen wipers.

I knew someone was going to suggest this. Didn't think it's you.

I think (not 100% sure) the only change they ever did to the dashboard was shove the toggle switches further to the right and in exchange the knobs closer to the driver to meet some federal mandate. Safety, you know.

The tonneau cover? Mine didn't have it, but all I've seen were black. Mine didn't have any top, hard or soft. I know that 427 Cobras were available with at least one other interior colour than black - tan. Only the seats and door cards were tan, the rest was as black as in the black interiors. BTW, I changed the pic for one that resembles the one I had even closer. It gives you the correct impressin of the material they used for the dashboard and it shows the areas of body paint being visible around the doors. Also note the European Ford turn signal switch. Good old Lucas...

Unfortunately I had to sell it in 1989. Or maybe not so unfortunately when I think of it. There could still be photos somewhere, I'll see if I find them. But this picture shows an interior which is exactly like the one in my car: Minus Mr. Shelby's signature on the glovebox lid though.

The dash is covered with black everflex. There is black carpet on the unpainted aluminium floor and the door cards are black with black pockets. Everything else inside is painted a not quite flat black. This is what it was like in my unrestored 1966 427SC. I don't know whether the street cars were a little better appointed.

IIRC the AMT 49 Ford Coupe came with an optional Cadillac engine. You could probably also use the Revell parts pack Cadillac engine.

Wasn't that RaMoM cart based on the pieces in the '61 AMT kits? IIRC, each '61 kit contained some parts for a kart and if you had them all, you could build it.

For me Moebius always was the pseudonym of noted French comic artist Jean Giraud, until a plastic kit company in America recently started to use it. Hence I pronounce it the French way out of old habit. The French 'oe' sound has - afaik - no equivalent in English and I don't know an English word that contains it (but that doesn't mean a lot). If you know how to pronounce the French word for heart - coeur - you know the sound. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Coeur d'Alene is still pronounced this French way by it's inhabitants.

To avoid any confusion with Mercury or the British Daimler brand, the Germans developed a unique way how to pronounce "Mercedes". They say "Benz".

Or This always worked.. Or Let me handle this... Or Trust me... Or Don't worry... Or Oops... Or Me first... Or Not a problem... Or Oh no... Or I've got a plan... Or They can't see us... Or I'll open it... Or That's easy... Or Run... Or I'll cover you... Or We are friends... Or Easy now...

You know how often you actually use your fingernail(s) while working on model cars. Like pressing down bare metal foil, scraping off that tiny bit of excess glue or putty, press down on a piece of sandpaper while sanding a tight spot, the like. Well, my fingernails are usually too short for this kind of stuff, so I got me a pack of ten artificial fingernails from the beauty section in the supermarket for a quid or so. They also can be filed to any shape you need.

That's not important. Drinking beer is important. (The Junkman)

The first production car available with an electronic fuel injection was - as we all know - the 1958 Chrysler 300 D. However, electronic fuel injection did exist earlier - on some 1940s aircraft engines. Alfa Romeo tested one of the very first electric injection systems (Caproni-Fuscaldo) in an Alfa-Romeo 6C2500 with "Ala spessa" body in the 1940 Mille Miglia. The engine had six electrically operated injectors which were fed by a semi-high pressure circulating fuel pump system. Mechanical fuel injection was first used by Bosch in 1912 and was well established in the 1930s for airplane engines. Almost all German WWII fighters were fuel injected, as were later versions of the Wright R-3350 used in the B-29 Superfortress. The first mechanical Bosch fuel injection for production cars became available on the 1952 Goliath GP700 and Gutbrod Superior 600. It became standard equipment on the Mercedes 300SL, the first commercially available car ever which wasn't available without fuel injection. So whoever thinks fuel injection is too modern, should probably also do away with seat belts.