OldNYJim

I just got an email to that effect about my print subscription - they’ll be sending me FSM instead.

Yeah, that’s a real shame. I know we’re on the competition’s site here, and I apologize to Gregg and the mods if posting this here is inappropriate, but I was sad to hear this too. I’ll miss Ken Hamilton’s Tips and Tech column and Tim Boyd’s always-excellent articles in particular but all in all it’s a huge loss for the hobby I think. Very sad indeed

https://scaleautomag.com/off-the-shelf/hobby-faq/2020/07/discontinuing-scale-auto-magazine

This stuff isn’t a good as Tamiya tape - it’s a little less tacky so it won’t make for a nice crisp edge as well. BUT, you can mask a nice edge with the Tamiya tape and use this stuff for some of the less-critical areas where you just need to cover a larger area and don’t want to waste a bunch of the more expensive tape. I read on here once that this tape is made by the same company as the people who make Tamiya’s tape: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JD5SCM7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xPVdFbFVJT2C0 I picked some up, and it really does work just as well as Tamiya’s stuff! Just the right amount of tacky, makes a nice edge - works perfect! Ohhh, GREAT idea - I’m always looking for boxes and packaging to make molds with! Good thinking!!!

Totally understandable Tom, and the responsible thing to do! Good call - disappointing of course, but definitely the best thing to do. So, planning for next year - are there going to be new themes announced in addition to the existing ones that will roll over? I’m ready to start another NNL build here! ?

Never manage to make it out of Michael’s with my wallet intact - but didn’t go crazy today. Our local one has had a restock of the kit aisle, but nothing new or interesting. Picked up a few useful little bits tho - Washi tape was three for a buck so I picked up some of those for masking, some of their cheapo felt sheet (which looks like it could maybe make a decent scale carpet maybe), a little organizer box for a buck and a wooden sign blank for a shop sign to hang somewhere around my work area: Oh, and that colorshift paint caught my eye - looks like it flips from red to pink to purple with a little blue in between so I’m sure I’ll find something fun to paint with that

Thanks buddy! You’re right! Fronts are 21: Rears are 22: A little work on the rear axle today - ordered some little o-rings to represent airbags, but in the meantime I scratchbuilt some trailing arms, resin cast a Quickchange center section and some other little bits: And a check with it in the frame: I need some different colored styrene so this stuff is easier to see ??. Once I get the o-rings I can make sure it all fits how it oughta and clean these parts up and get them ready for paint. Need to figure out the front end next - more soon!

Actually, I LOST some space for the engine now that the body sits down a little more at the front - haven’t totally decided on an engine yet but I haven’t got space for any extra cylinders without some MAJOR work - I need to dig through my stash and see what I’ve got! I do like the idea of a V12 tho, even if not for this project, for another one down the line... Thanks buddy! I did look at the Pegasus wheels - I’ve got a few here I think. These Foose wheels are meant to be 19 in the front and 20 in the rear, although I didn’t measure to check yet...I should do that, because they do seem larger than that. I’m enjoying the challenge of stuffing all that wheel in there anyway ? A little more today...made the compressor for the air suspension: I’ll add some hoses and some more detail once it’s painted. Then I made a little tub so the trunk would actually have some trunk in it now that I’ve made it openable... And a mock-up with the body to make sure it fits ok: Started some work on the rear suspension but got sidetracked learning about airbags so didn’t get very far on that...more soon! Thanks for all the nice comments!

A good detective would probably be able to match those numbers on the tooling to old kit part numbers and figure out what they might have there ??‍♂️ Where’s McNally when we need him?

A Trabant kinda looks like a Mini, if a Mini wasn’t cute

For anyone like me who will miss Testor’s enamels (which I just got good at using ?) it looks like MCW will the filling the gap there anyway: The examples Donn posted in this vid look good!

Huh, interesting - I had no idea Ala Kart kits were rare enough at one point where they got resin cast!

Haha! I’m going to SUSPEND those feelings for this one ???. I’ll try anyway... Id really like to do one of those too, before too long, yes! I seem to have accidentally accumulated eight Revell 32 kits, so I thought I should build a few of those and not buy any more Deuces of any description for a couple of weeks at least ? Thanks buddy!! I was just messing with some parts for another of these today, thinking a little stretch would be cool, yes! I want to keep messing with these Revell Deuces and kinda keep getting further and further from the kit a step at a time - SO MANY ideas of things I wanna try! Chopping the bottom off the body never even occurred to me ????. Never let it be said that my brain ever comes up with the easy way to do things ?. Yeah, sticking with the 3 window configuration for this one I think - but making a ‘coupster’ out of one of these is on my to-do list here too. Thanks for all the nice comments everybody! Somehow, today’s progress is pretty minimal considering I worked on this thing from 10am to 7pm...I guess I must charge hourly rather than for the whole job ? Scribed out the trunklid: I’ve been wanting to learn about hinging, so I’m dipping a toe in the water here by just doing the trunk on this one so I can put a fuel cell, battery and air compressor back there for my own amusement - I’m not going to tackle the doors on this one because I’d rather not dig my own grave too soon ? Added some jambs top and bottom of the opening to support the lid: And after shimming the lid top and bottom to replace the material I’d removed whilst scribing it out I think I’ve got an ok fit to keep tweaking until I’m happy: I wanted the hinge at the bottom of the trunk so it opens buggy-seat style, and after 4 hours (!) of making a bunch of hinges I think I’ve got one that will work ok: And, incredibly that’s how I spent the entire day today ?. Not much progress but didn’t go backwards any at least. I feel like these steps in a build are like when an artist sketches out the whole scene before bringing out his paint - kinda rough everything in close-enough to get the overall look how you want and refine from there. More sketching tomorrow! ?

I’ve been daydreaming about this build for a couple of months now but had a few projects on the bench already...but today I shot the last piece on the 29 Ford I’m working on and I need to wait for all the paint to set up before polish and assembly so I allowed myself to get working on this one finally. My (loose) plan is a sectioned Revell 32 Ford with the nice Foose wheels and tires from the F100 truck kit - nice and smooth looking but not FULL streetrod with everything covered up and hidden...just a nice clean modern hotrod. Oh, and now I’ve managed to find some Boyd Red paint thanks to a member on here it’s gonna be that gorgeous rich red that I really like but have never used before; First mock-up with the wheels: I like how they fill the arches - and there’s technically enough space for them to work ok with regards clearance and being functional on an actual car if said car had air suspension and could raise up a few inches and then drop down again to how it sits in these pics. That always feels like a cop-out to me and that I’m somehow cheating if I use it...but I do want it to have those big wheels AND sit low like it is here when it’s done so I guess I’ll need to get over that issue in my own head if I want to build this thing ?‍♂️?. Air suspension is actually really trick, and I like the theory of it - I just feel like I’m cheating and have resisted the urge to build such a setup before... Anyhoo, I haven’t done a sectioned body before but I wanted to take some of the slab-sidedness and ‘weight’ out of the looks of the body and give it a little wedge. Sliced the sides out: Marked out a rough 2 inch wedge to remove: And some cutting and careful sanding so they matched each other perfectly went from this: ...to this: I like it! Before reattaching the pieces I added some strips of styrene inside the body to give me a much larger surface to glue to...I won’t want this thing splitting further down the line when I polish it or something: And a side-by-side before and after: I realise that I did all this work when I could’ve just used the AMT Deuce body and been done with it - but where’s the fun in that? ?? Next up, and I’m kinda jumping around this thing at first to get a very loose mock-up of how I imagined this in my head, I removed the rear of the frame and the gas tank to clean up the rear end from this... To this; And last but not least for today’s cutting and hacking I sliced the middle out of the kit grill to bring it down in line with the cowl: More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

That’s what the little truck is for ?

A little more on this one. Added some fuel lines - I’m trying to build this thing box-stock but I can’t help adding a few lines and wires here and there to add to it a little: And a little clear yellow to simulate some fuel in the lines: Floor on (and another line run back to where the tank lives) And a brief intermission to see how well a Revell 32 body fits on this frame (answer: very well!) Then, shot the grill with some black enamel and cut a mask so I can Alclad it and leave the mesh black: A little Alclad chrome: And finally, shot the interior pieces with my new favorite interior-black (Michael’s 49 cent craft paint) I’ve about run out of parts to paint, aside from the dash - can’t wait for the body to be ready to polish so I can get it put together!

A few supplies from Michael’s, now they’re open again by us: They’re not doing their usual 40% off right now, but I like those cords and wires for detailing and they’re not super expensive so no big loss. Plus I wanted to try the Testor’s enamels - and they finally had some embossing powder that was actually in a useful color for me to use as carpet...most of what they stock is some crazy glittery concoction so I was pleased to see some plain-old black ??

Often when I’m working on a project I try and think of how chrome would fit in with the backstory of the car. Say, I’m doing a bare bones hot rod built in some guy’s garage, shot with primer and mismatched panels and stuff - would that guy bother having his front axle chromed? Probably not. Similarly, if I’m trying to build a million-dollar-looking showcar, seems likely it would have more chrome on it. Other times I think “I have this part with perfectly good chrome on - if this was a beautifully chromed brand-new 1:1 part, would be painting this thing a different color?”. That’s when it’s sometimes a blessing to have a hard-to-hide/fix flaw in the playing so that you can say “pfftt, whatever, may as well strip it, looks like junk now anyway” ??‍♂️ I guess I say all that to day - nice build Dennis! ??. I’ve been following and I’m looking forward to more!

Oh yeah, that totally sounds like me, and I know I follow you on Instagram too - that shows how long I’ve been thinking about this build of yours and wanting to do my own take on it! ? Will get to the getting here shortly! ?

That Hudson is AWESOME! ?. I want it! On a slightly different note, today’s sighting from uptown Brooklyn was certainly ‘different’ Nice 6-door too - although I hope it had air con or the driver has probably cooked to death after the temperatures here today

Glued some wheels on (success) and tried a new (to me) clearcoat on a dash to see if I could get the finish I wanted (partial success)

What a wonderful, well written post Mike - I really enjoyed reading your take on this topic! Thank you for sharing!

Great news Jay! Sounds like you’ve got many happy miles of Miata-ing ahead!

Ohh, yeah, I need to get back on this ? I need to find a couple of parts, or scratchbuild them, and I’ve been meaning to pick up some Rub n Buff for the ornamental lamps (?) that go on the roof. Didn’t realise I’d been so slow in picking that stuff up though ????

I’m envious!! I’ve owned two Miatas now - an NA and and NB, and I’m looking for another NA. How’s the automatic trans on that thing? I never drove an auto version. If you’re not familiar, whilst you’re checking things over it’s worth making sure the drain holes under the doors aren’t bunged up with crud and gunk - that seems like its one of the most common reasons that these start to rust underneath. Enjoy your Miata-ing!!