Bainford

Two months ago I ordered two sheets of BMF, two '3-packs' of decal paper, and a panel scriber from Bare-Metal. The whole works was shipped to canada for $4.40 US. I think their shipping calculator is out of wack. They originally quoted me $17.00 to ship the order, but only billed me $4.40.

Austin Healey Sprite Coupe WSM

I personally haven't used any thing other than BMF, but many people who have, claim that Bare-Metal makes the very best hobby foil by far. I am quite happy with it myself, and recommend it. If you order it, be sure to order the 'Chrome' foil, not the 'Ultra Bright Chrome'. The ultra bright stuff is an inferior product, thicker than the regular chrome and with a less effective adhesive. When your foil arrives, be sure to store it flat to reduce the possibility of wrinkles/cracks forming in the foil. Some people even seal it in a ziplock bag and keep it in the fridge to prolong its shelf life. When using your foil, be sure to use a fresh exacto blade. You may even need to change to a new blade a couple of times while foiling the same body. Burnish the foil with a small stick of balsa wood, q-tips and toothpicks. I find a very fine pointed pair of tweezers is handy to have on hand for picking off the slivers of trimmed material. Mine has a magnifying glass attached to it, which really helps.

$4.71 /US gallon here. Sorry Mr Biggs, but I can't subscribe to your theories. First of all, gas is not expensive..... yet! Five years from now you will look back and think "Four bucks a gallon...I wish." We are only scratching the surface regarding fuel prices. Besides, there may be an upside to high prices. It just may be the 'kick in the @$$' that we as a society need to get serious about reducing our dependency on petroleum. Like it or not, this has to happen, and it has to happen soon. Fighting to reduce fuel prices may bring a brief respite, but in the end it's a fools errand. I suggest you concentrate your efforts on finding ways to reduce our petrol habbit, rather than the eventually fruitless task of slightly reducing its cost. You will then be the champion of a cause worth supporting (and forget about ethanol, it's a global disaster waiting to happen). Good luck and good health.

When doing fine trimming, I use a quality pair of very fine edge tweezers with a small magnifying glass attached. Very helpful for carefully removing trimmed excess foil bits.

The telescopic antennas from old radios make great thin wall steel tubing with a variety of uses, including hydraulic cylinders for truck models. The element from automotive light bulbs (tail lightd, brake lights, signal lights, etc) make great throttle return springs. As others have mentioned, electronic devices have a ton of model parts hidden inside. Often there is black wire with very small white lettering on it that makes nice rad hoses. If into trick models, there are gears etc in VCRs and CD players that can be used for scratch building, or painted with rust paint and used to simulate a load of industrial junk. And of coarse, a wide variety of fuel filters, cool cans detail wiring. You are limited only by your imagination. The grills of some old radios and tape players sometimes have screen that can be useful. Some product packaging has shiney rigid mylar that can be used for mirror glass. Because it is cut from a flat sheet, it usually looks beter than kit chromed mirror glass. In my house, any type of device from a pen to a VCR is harvested for model parts before it hits the curb.

Nice work on the rebuild. The repairs turned out well, and the paint mis-match isn't even noticeable in the pics. The outdoor pics look almost real. I agree with the others, a black wash in the grill would really bring the front end to life. Well done.

A very interesting and unique build. I quite like this one. Nicely done.

Very well done conversion, and a very nice model of the Chevy coupe.

I also like Model Master Metalisers. On the 1:1 car, individual components are made using different processes (cast, forged, fabricated, machined), and often produced by a variety of subcontractors using a variety of slightly different alloys. If you are building multi piece assemblies to be metalised (eg. suspension and drive train, engine and chassis components all made of aluminum), try painting each part a slightly different shade (MM aluminum plate, MM aluminum buffing [buffed], MM aluminum buffing [unbuffed], Alclad, Humbrol Metal Cote, Testors aluminum, etc). The slightly contrasting shades and textures will provide a realism that can not be achieved if all parts are painted from the same bottle. Also, try using MM Metaliser steel, stainless steel, magnesium in the proper places tp provide further contrast. Using this method along with the black washes mentioned above, and a little buffing in select areas, can produce outstanding results. Obviously, some experimentation is in order to achieve the desired effect, but you may be surprised how easy it is to get good results.

Your Ramchargers Challenger looks great. One of my all time favorites. Did you use Fred Cady decals on this?

Thanks Chris. I live on the Eastern Shore, not too far from Dartmouth.

Sharp looking Merc, Harold. I really like the blue paint, and the engine wiring is very neat and tidy. Nicely done. The cragars are a nice period touch, too. I quite like this kit, but I really wish AMT made it a 66 instead of the 67. The 66 Comet is one of my very favorite 60s cars.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments. I really like this one myself. Funny how sometimes its the quick builders that you don't expect much from, that end up being the ones on the shelf that make you stop and think, "That looks pretty cool". I'm not into convertibles, and don't really think the 64 GTO is a great looking car, but for some reason this one keeps catching my eye. Harry, it is a bit cold for a top down cruise, but I thought it made for a neat picture. When I was 18, a buddy had a 68 Barracude convertible, and we would cruise in the dead of winter with the top down. When I was young it seemed like a cool thing to do, now it just seems like a cold thing to do.

Early 70s Datsun Cherry Coupe

Nice work, and looks beautiful in blue. The struggle was worth it. One of the best box stock buildups I've seen of this kit. Nicely done.

Very cool find, I never even knew this car was kitted. There are very few Bimmers that that even remotely interest me, but the 850i does it in a big way. Cool score.

I think the worst kits made were Revell tools of the mid-late 70s, or at least they were the most forgettable. I'm thinking of those custom Courier pick-ups with out-of proportion squared off bodies and generic features, including the engine. No technical accuracy whatsoever. The custom Chevy vans also, such as the Charlies Angles Van, etc. Every release was the same except for decals, and they were all bad, again with generic engines and features. The Pontiac Sunbird, the custom Mustang II, the Sneaky Pete. Just about everything new Revell produced during this period was junk. I've also noticed since joining forums several years ago that they are the only models that are never seen. Some pretty obscure stuff shows up from time to time, including Palmers, but nothing was so forgettable as these Revell offerings.

My aim is to get paint on the body as soon as possible, to allow as much time as possible for it to gass out before I polish it. This means doing everything necessary to determine what mods or adjustments are needed on the body, such as mocking up the major subassemblies to check for tire clearance and fit problems, check the fit of bumpers, lights, and grill, etc. The front and rear valance and facias are glued to the body, and chassis mods are made where necessary to allow it to fit the body with these glued on. Then I do all required body work, such as cleaning up mold lines, opening vents, and making the adjustments as indicated by the mock ups. Any small parts fitted to the body will be pinned, so the holes for these are located and drilled. Then the body is prepared and painted.

Now this is exactly why I think it is a shame that AMT fell into the hands of RC2 when they did. AMT was really switched on prior to landing in the hands of RC2. The type of thinking described above is exactly what model car enthusiasts need from a mainstream model producer, especially one that was producing kits at such a reasonable cost.

It seems the Drag City hoods mentioned by others are the way to go. As for taking the lead on the project, unfortunately you'll probably be waiting for some time. I tend to build very slowly (though getting better), and have a couple of projects 'on deck'. If I hadn't just started a Boss 302 project, I probably could have been talked into doing the Galaxie right away. It is a project that I'm excited about. Seems as though a couple of others have lightweight projects on the go, too.

Not sure about a PE set, but it sure would be nice to have. I just check Model Car Garage, and they don't have one (though they do have one for the 60 Starliner). As for the hood, I was going to attempt to graft the tear drop from the T-Bolt onto the Galaxie hood. Other sources for a tear drop are the AMT 66 Galaxie and the Model King release of the AMT AWB 66 Mustang. There are other that will come to mind immediately after posting this reply

Whoa! That is downright BAD. I love this build. The low profile of a front mounted blower is very neat, but fitting one to a Boss 429 and stuffing the works into a stock body Stude ... now that's cool. One of the best sleepers I've seen in a long time. Nice work on the weathering, too, and the black wheels give it just the right amount of attitude. Nice work.

An excellent and correct chassis is found in the AMT 60 Ford Starliner kit. It also includes a great FE engine and 9" diff. The perfect doner for your project. I'm collecting bits to creat a 427 lightweight 64 Galaxie, using this same doner.

Hhmmm... very good news indeed. I was starting to become concerned that the tooling may become neglected if insufficient interest was shown. It will be very interesting to see what they plan to release. Are there plans to repair some of the long forgotten tools that haven't been released in recent decades due to various problems?