randyc

I have a Paasche VLS that my now ex wife bought me in 1991. Lost the red thing on the back, but the "pros" got rid of that anyway. Great thing about it is parts are available to replace as they wear out. Needles, nozzles, etc. Buy several of each and if you drop it and split the brass nozzle, you will have one. Same with tip - if you split it at 11 pm, you need to have an extra. Yes I know these things from experience. And if it gets clogged, drop the whole thing in a jar of lacquer thinner for a spell. I think I use a #3 needle, tip ,etc. But you can mix and match them if you need to. And the double action can be used like a sinlge action til you get used to the touch needed for double action use. For me, it's the only airbrush I have ever needed for models and some sign projects in the past. A whole setup was like $130 at hobby Lobby other week. With a 40% coupon... that's about what mine was in 1991, I think - right around $100. In a painting session, I mix paint, spray. Hang the tip down to feed tube on bottom over the egdge of a salsa jar of lacquer thinner. Mix next color. Spray the lacquer thinner thru the brush. Sometimes I just spray through it with tip submerged (messy yes) - don't do this over your wife's floors - I was in shop on rough concrete. Put next color up and go. look for the bottle cap adapter that works with testor MM bottles. I rarely run out of bottles and caps. You can cap your excess paint til the project is over or keep some semi flat black mixed and ready. Or run thru the metallizers for a whole kit in one session. And with practice and control paint most of a kit with airbrush in one or two sessions, leaving only the detail painting. My air supply is an air compressor I bought at lowes on sale for a couple hundred. Has a 5 or 10 gallon tank. I fill the tank til it cuts off and then cut the motor off. Nothing like painting some little delicate part and the compressor kick on right beside you... and a filled tank will last a good session. just my experience. Randy

Stripe and trim delete? Or a "day 2" version? Owner didn't like it and removed it? It's your car, ordered the way you wanted it, from your friendly neighborhood Plymouth dealer. It will be different from the other Mopars on the table. Go with it. Randy

My experiment didn't work out well, either. I think in my case I let the paint dry too much before trying to remove it from the foil. But that script doesn't look too bad, really. Who is going to be THAT close to your model? The scripts are the only place I would do paint over foil anyway. I keep thinking abou this kit. I have one and really should dig it out.

This may have been posted here before, but I just found it today... an ongoing project in year 6 of a projected 10 year project. Simply amazing. I have seen at least a couple names I recognize from the forums, so I know some of you have seen it. Didn't know if it had been here or not yet. http://forums.aaca.org/topic/145354-construction-of-a-continental-mark-ii-model-scale-112/?page=1

I think I read in one of the magazines that Testors French Blue with some white works. I think I may have used Grabber Blue at some point also. I've done several Petty cars over the years. Not a Superbird though. Randy

Perfectly stated "total hopelessness and futility" - Love it. There are some slant sixes out there. I have a Lindberg Dodge 330 with the slant 6. I bought the kit just for the engine. Haven't decided what the lucky (or unlucky) recipient will be. Maybe this would be the kit? Make it a base model with the 6 and an auto or 3 spd. Need some Malaise wheel covers. Maybe 3 and a steelie... I still have an X11 in the stash somewhere... never could really decide what terrible color would suit it best...I do get your motivation of preserving the era. Reviews are great - I look forward to them all and spent way too much time perusing your site last week. Randy

Keep going...change that 2nd pic to a butternut yellow and that is the car my great aunt had when I was a kid. Same wheelcovers, black top and all. I want to say it was a slant 6 though, form memory of how it sounded. that's a 40+ year memory going on, though - could be wrong. no matter. I'm watching and waiting to see this one.

i so wish it had been an earlier version. Even as passionate as I am about cars, the real once of this car was so awful, even I lost interest in it. The round headlight versions were at least interesting to look at as a reminder of what used to be. I was excited about this kit till I saw the square headlights and no real cool decal options. May as well be beige with a brown vinyl top, slant 6 and 3 spd manual. And fulll wheel covers to complete the Malaise. Going to read your review now so I can at least get some entertainment out of this car and kit. Thanks for the great reviews.

Ok, PM sent to Ronnie and didn't mean to break rules. Apologies. Randy

I showed your vid on the roll-up windows to my buddy who does train stuff. He was excited for his train stuff as well. THat's way over the top for me, but glad someone is willing to be so, well, OBSESSIVE, over the details...

I woudl think 1/8 scale would be better - at least there are some 1/8 scale kits to borrow parts and engineering from.

Well I've been to the Fotki site and looked at vids as well. What a great builder. And what good information is just in the pictures for reference. I'll be watching this one come to life as well.

Mt Airy, NC. Maybe 1.5 hours? Our company recently did some work in Rocky Mount VA at a Shell convenience store.

I'll try to give you a call sometime soon. I'm not too far away and need to get rid of some cars.

And how many were built using aftermarket decals.... I probably have 100 NASCAR builtups? There are a LOT of them for sure. I could about assemble them in my sleep back in the day. And that's just the Monograms. Ihave a bunch of the AMTs as well. And the trucks... And so on.

Yup. Start with something close and keep fiddling with it til it's as right as you think. Photographs can be color-shifted. The King himself admits the original was mixed from leftovers. And the color changed throughout the years. Pick your car, find a photo and get close to it. Or get the Martin Senour Basin Street Blue... If it's not sitting on the hood of the real car, who'se going to say it's not correct? Unless it is wildly off.

One set of these in the kit. One set of skinny Firestones with no printing. These wheels are from the 67 Mustang GT kit. The tires really make the look of the car, I think.

I won a local contest with one of those back in the late 80s, I think. It had the stock version, plus the Budnik wheels and late model seats and some engine dress up. That version did. I still have a 56 to build. Would be nice combined with best parts from Revell.

Finish all you can, then add the final details on the body. Too many things can go wrong handling the body if chrome is in place before the body is mated to chassis At least that is my experience. looks great. I have one in aqua and white, brown interior.

Lots of good stuff there. Take your pick from what you like to build. I've built the riv, the AM vettes (3 x), and most of the rest of the domestics as well. My least favorite would have to be the Revell 240Z. I didn't like the way it turned out at all. Would prefer a japanese kit of it. Road Agent if you are into the Roth stuff. LOTS of thinly moslded chrome parts. Fit is not easy on some of them as well. 60's era tooling. Same with the pickup at bottom. But they do make nice kits if you take the time with them. The 935 Martini Porsche would be my pick most likely Randy

Thanks. I wanted to use the louvered hood from the car, but didn't have access to stuff to do the work when I was building on it. The grille isn't glued in - fits very snug - I could change it later, but I like the feel of it. Thanks again for the compliments. Randy

So I got this kit as a gift when it first came out (couple years ago?) and it is finally finished. I was living and working 3+ hours from home and had a "road kit" tool box to work on cars at my place during the week when I was at my job. The primer is cracked in a lot of places, but I left it as I wanted a "driver" kind of car. Not a show queen or showroom fresh. Paint is some Duplicolor left over from a 66 Mustang I recently built. No airbrushing on this one. Wood is testors wood acrylic, with some rust, leather, and beige for testure. All covered with Testors TS Amber (old yellow color). I didn't stir the amber and just dipped the brush in the top of the paint. A few sparkles are in there and give it a little more interest. All the custom parts came from the 49 Merc kit. I'm pleased with it; my wife loved it (except the Tiki Wagon decals), so I guess it's a success. And just like the box model, I am missing the rear door handle. It was last seen leaving my tweezers at a high rate of speed. No point in even looking for it. I left the rear view mirror off as I figured it would get knocked off anyway. I still have it for someday if I want to put it back on.

Nice. I did a similar with a Johan 60 DeSoto Adventurer years ago. And a Lil Red Truck using the RR chassis as well. Looks great! Randy

As for gauge decals, do an internet image search for the gauges you want. Find the highest res image you can and print them off on whatever paper you want. Print on high res. For a lot of cars, you can drill or cut the area out and put thm in the back. Or in some cases, cut the print out and put it in the opening. I have done this a few times with pretty good success. I still also try to do them by hand with sharpened china markers in red and white rubbing lightly over the raised parts. Usually doesn't work out as well as printing some off. With all that said, this dash and interior look great! I don;t see that it can get any better. Once again, the internet, from reference to talking about "best ways", has improved a model greatly from the moded parts. I'm a huge believer in using the internet to improve our builds. Sure helps me. Randy

Looking good. I'd love to build my old 71, but til I find a good body at a reasonable price, probably be the 68 I built like it that will have to suffice. I've built all the Dart kits I think. Loved building each of them. If they come out with more, will probably build those too. Randy