roadhawg

Or you could print the background in a color the same or close to your subject....I've done that before. One thing that seems to help a bunch is, when you print the decals, let 'em sit and dry for about a day before clearcoating, then let the clear dry for about a day. Not a good picture, but the instrument panel on this P-51 air racer was done that way....printed the gauges and the grey background on Testors white decal paper, let it dry 24 hours, clearcoated it and let THAT dry 24 hours.....

I guess this would be the longest roof I got.................

ok...its a Turbo 400 with a Turbo 350 pan on it. Lol!

Wow! Thats lookin' great!

Awesome! I love that rear view!

And so was I. This adds fuel to the fire. Absolutley beautiful! I'm going to dig out the oldest unbuilt kit I have and build my own box art model......and BOTH of you are to blame.

Its because most printers won't print white. When it comes to printing, White is the base color for a lot of other colors, so if you can't print white, you can't have a lot of yellows and greys and silvers....etc. You can get acceptable results like Spyder said, printing dark colors and using them on light backgrounds.....OR, you can print on white decal paper, but then you got a white background to contend with.

Nice! You do better with one hand than I do with BOTH hands.

Lets say its bondo, since fiberglass Corvettes don't rust! Lol! Very interesting build, especially since you started with a snap kit. I actually like that color....what is it? That would look good on a '50 Ford pickup I'm planning. Oh...one more thing......thats not a Turbo 400, its a Turbo 350.

Thanks for the link! I remembered seeing somewhere awhile back that someone made the conversion, I just couldn't remember who!

yes, I do. The Gibson's in Athens GA started out as Millers Dept Store, across from Beechwood Shopping Center, where Woolworths was. They opened a second Gibsons over on Hawthorne Ave. They carried LOTS of JoHan kits. They later changed the name to Big G.

Interesting for sure. The only problem I see is Nestle brand water is too expensive....I buy the cheap brand....$3.58 for a 24 pack! Lol! Seriously, I'm thinking about trying that, but cutting some grooves in there for a dirt track tire.

If this is your first model car ever, I think the FIRST thing would be to convince yourself that its NOT going to be perfect. Accept the fact that you will make a few mistakes along the way. I see a lot of new guys that get sorta frustrated because their model didn't turn out as nice as Treehugger Dave's.......I been building 45 years and MINE aren't near as good as his! Lol! We learn as we go............ Anyway.....once you're in the right frame of mind......this should help: http://www.ehow.com/how_2044266_build-model-cars.html

This sounds like a cool project! The club I'm in is doing a group build of things with a Georgia connection, and I ALMOST chose one of W.J.s cars as my subject. Hope to see some progress pics on this soon. BTW...if the gel pen don't work out, let me know....I can probably dig up some Goodyear decals for ya.

Oh, wow! Lots of cool stories! I'm a product of the 60's too. I did chores around the house, cut my grandmothers grass, and did other things to earn a few bucks. Tried a bunch of "get rich quick" schemes.....I sold Christmas cards (from some ad in the back of a comic book....I think my mom still has 4 boxes of those things left!), and delivered Grit newspaper....anybody remember Grit? All the old-timers HAD to have it! I never got rich sellin' it, though. My dad ran a service station/garage. Gas was 29.9 (sometimes, the Hess station and Globe Oil Co. would get in a price war...gas would go down to 15-16 cents a gallon. My dad would complain that they were gonna run him out of business...they never did.), oil was 25 cents a quart, and new tires were $12 each. An oil and filter change was $4.98. I also remember my dad complaining when admission at Athens Speedway went up from $2.50 to $3.00...."Ain't nobody but rich folks can afford to go to the races anymore!" Every friday evening, my mom would go to the grocery store, and I would go too....because Woolworths was next to the grocery store. They had an entire aisle of models and paint! The regular kits were $1.50 and the fancy ones were $1.98. Testors "Pla" (why did they call it "Pla"?) was 25 cents a bottle and I believe the spray cans were 98 cents. Woolworths would also sponsor model car contests about 3 or 3 times a year. The first model contest I ever won was at Woolworths....with an AMT (I think) '69 Chevelle, painted metalflake lime green....doesn't THAT sound tasty! Lol! I used an engine from a Corvette kit, and named my creation "The Chevette...."CHE" from CHEvelle, and "VETTE" from corVETTE.....I shoulda trademarked that name so GM wouldn't have ruined it later, huh? Anyway, I got my picture in the local paper and everything! My mom still has that clipping....if I can find it, I'll post it! While Woolworths was my favorite model store, I also got kits from Kress's, Millers Dept Store, and Bob's Newstand in downtown Athens (GA). And George....Popeye was my hero too! I actually got ticked off when my mom wouldn't name my baby sister Olive Oyl! Lol! Yep....those were some good ol' days for sure!

Thats what I thought. The problem is, #1, the real ones don't have raised lettering, and #2, the real ones don't say "Frontrunner", they say "Eagle"....lol! Good luck with whichever route you go.

Very interesting idea! I wish I had time to join in, but I've already got too many projects going right now. If anyone is still undecided, here's a few more ideas........anyone under 40 probably won't remember these shows, but one that had a LOT of cool cars was Joe Mannix. He even had a George Barris built Oldsmobile that I believe MPC kitted in 1/25 scale. Later on he had a 68-69 Dart GTS, then a Challenger. How about that beat up ol' Impala that Tony Baretta drove? Or the red 57 T-bird that Dan Tanna drove in Vegas. Another show I remember was Stingray.....but I don't think he was a detective, he just helped people solve problems. Another detective show was Riptide.....I been wanting to build that pink helicopter they had (Can't seem to find the S-58T nose conversion), but they also had a Vette....a 60? 61? Can't remember. Anybody want to build the 4-door Fairlane from Dragnet? They were detectives! Anyway...good luck guys. I'll keep an eye on this one!

For me, I've given up on a 1974 (or 75-76) Trans Am (that POS Arii 74 kit doesn't count) and a 74 GTO.

Wow......the Powerpuff Girls have a hot rod.

I'm having a hard time seeing the picture! Those appear to be Goodyear Frontrunners? Am I right? If so, the best way is to sand the raised lettering off and use a Replica And Minatures of MD Goodyear Eagle tire stencil to spray the letters on. Here's a real set: Second choice would be to use Nascar type Goodyear Eagle decals.

While George is absolutley right about nasty chemicals, it sounds like you ALREADY have it soaking in brake fluid.....and apparently, nothing is happening. Well....it might not, if you just look at it. You might have to scrub it! Since you already have it in the brake fluid, put on some rubber gloves and start scrubbing with an old toothbrush. It SHOULD start coming off. Use a sharpened toothpick to scrape it out of the nooks and crannies. It might not all come off with the first try....let it soak some more and try again (might be a good time to switch to Simple Green this time!). After all the paint is off, give it a bath in warm soapy water and rinse. Let us know how it goes.

What kind of water is that? All the bottle caps I have are tapered and wouldn't look right as tires. And like Harry said........what the heck is a "thermostat" screwdriver?

I thought the same when I saw the '32 at Hobbytown........but then I started thinkin'.......we complain about 24 bucks for a kit, but don't hesitate to pay $70 or more for a resin kit we want, so where does THAT leave us? And the plastic kit will be easier to build than the resin kit!

True, but the question was for one we would recommend. I wouldn't recommend just anything I found through a Google search. Personally, I have bought stuff from Model Roundup ( http://www.modelroundup.com/rmx20002.html ), PSF Hobbies ( http://www.psfhobbies.com/ ), and Fred's ( http://www.fredsmodelworldonline.com/ ) and would highly recommend all three. There are also several product specific companies, like Model Car Garage, Model Car World, and Detail Master that I recommend. Like Zukiholic said, check out Michaels, and Hobby Lobby. If you feel like driving, I have also heard there is a pretty good hobby shop in Orlando, but I don't know anything about it. I was just in Tampa yesterday.....its HOT there, dude!

Looks good, and very different! Hard to believe all those "firsts"......especially the paint and BMF!