randyc

I had a friend on here email me. He posted what seems to me to be a valuable potential resource thread and no one replied. He was wonrdering if it was worth his effort. I try to reply to things like that so folks do know it's being seen. But some threads aren't going to get a ton of replies. I updated a workbench post recently and no one replied. I'm okay with that because I posted it for someone who may be searching for information on that particular model I always look up model before building to look for the pitfalls I may encounter. Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of articles on even the most popular kits. Or you may not hit on the correct search terms. If I see a post getting a day or two old and no replies, I try to reply so they know someone is looking. And it moves back to the top so others can see it for the first time maybe.

And use multiple applications. Apply and let dry a few minutes. Apply another coat. Repeat as necessary. If I'm doing clear plastic lenses, I usually do both sides. Chromw lights will need a couple applications for sure to get the color dark enough.

A "great job" post certainly can give one a little validation that their work has been noticed. I have seen some questionable builds get praise and I have no problem with that. It seems to encourage them to keep trying. I like to get "great job" posts on my builds. I've done this long enough to know where my issues with any build are and am not going to be upset if someone else calls me out on it. As for "I build for me", I do. I build what makes me happy and I don't build for contests or anything else. Well other than the friend of mine I build for. In return, he provides kits and diecasts for my collection. I do try to improve every build. Not sure where else I can take my building at this point. I've tried superdetailing - am getting too old and my fingers are too big and unreliable to do a lot with tiny parts. I drop kit parts, so trying to fab up a carb linkage would be an exercise in frustration. I can't compete with the ultra slick polish jobs. I don't want to. I try to do nice paint though. And a "good job" post helps. Everyone likes praise. Not everyone likes or wants criticism. And they have to be amenable to criticism. I try to make my builds interesting to you guys, but I build for the fun of it. My wife offered to let me build all day yesterday. I did a couple sessions for about 5 hours. Finished one - in Under glass now. Paint is shiny but "orange peely". No one has commented on that but they have commented on the paint color choices. I admit it looks less than perfect, but it has a back story for my building of it and why it looks like that. Even though it wasn't intentional, necessarily. I am fighting to learn to use Wet Look clear half as good as many of you do. LOL I also started the body on another. My improvement will be incremental. Right now, I try to get the body as perfect as possible - scribing the panel lines and around my chrome before the first coat of paint. I will have 2 - 3 hours in smoothing and scribing before anything else much happens. A "good job on the foil" will make that worthwhile to me; a tip to improve my paint is always welcome as well. No way to change how things are. Just glad we are all here to share our hobby.

Here's one I did in 2016. I combined the AMT 66 with the AMT 67 GT for a more detailed chassis. The Body is very nice. Interior is workable. The body is better than the Danbury Mint diecast, which had a flat nose. The bodies and wheels were the star of these kits back in the day.

Thanks everyone.

I was very excited about this kit when it came out, but for whatever reason didn't get it. A friend picked it up for me recently. Great kit. I don't think it could go together badly.

It's a mix of testors MM flat grays that were just hanging around. I want to say it's mostly flat dark gull gray? IDK. I just mixed till it felt right. Using flat paints is NOT pleasant. Or it wasn't to me. Didn't shine up good. The white is from a can of GM Duplicolor. Just slightly not white. Almost a Wimbledon white kind of white.

This is like a hand me down custom. Guy gets his first car. His parents' old Olds. Paint is tired, so he gets an Earl scheib paint job. Except he added a white top cause 2 tones are classy. A new set of wide whites and some Fiesta caps. Lowers it a little. Removed the vent windows because they just aren't cool and all the cool customs have them removed. Some pinstripes and a little engine work. And it's done. For now. Gotta get more money to take it to the next level. And somewhere he recently lost the top radiator hose. . So he's having to Hitch a ride to the parts store. I have to say this is the best engineered kit I've ever put together. Everything fit easily. No weird sanding or filling to get it together. Decals are thin and confirm nicely. I screwed up the skirts. In all the cars I have, I don't have a single gray car. Till now. And it looked dreary till the BMF and wheels. I was not excited about it at all till today when it started coming together. I tried some new paint things that I mostly learned were not successful.

Nice new additions everyone.

Mine is done. Not as nice as yours, but off my bench!!! Guess I should take some photos... Can't wait to see how yours ends. Glad you're back.

My parents/grandparents would take me into a store and drop me at the model section of whatever store - drug store, dept store, grocery, etc. and leave me there. They would do their shopping and come find me there when they finished. Or somewhere in the toy section. I would rarely ever have reason to leave those aisles. I mean models, hot wheels, matchbox, SSPs (look them up if you don't know). Evel Knievel motorcycle sets - I ran through several of those. And the occasional GI Joe. I know you can't do that now, but that's how it worked when I was a kid. I was appalled that others would actually open the shrink wrap and leave a model there. Or even worse, STEAL parts out of it.!

So I got a DVD of a certain magazine's back issues for my birthday. I started reading that magazine in 1987 and have most every issue since then. But I was excited to be able to go back and look at the ones before that. I'm still reading the first B&W issues. Some issues were nearly 100 pages. I'm probably in the middle of the modeling generations. I started in 1974 with an MPC Corvette annual. It's what boys did back then. It was a GLUE BLOB for certain. no paint either. There was a break there in the 80s for girls, cars, and high school, but modeling came back for me in college as a way to deal with college. And I've never really left it since. Today, we take BMF for granted. But it came along since 1979. Reading about it and how to use it is fun. Today we are over the excitement of Goodyear GT Radials that were in Monongram kits. those were the rage in the early 80s. And so many other things I'm reading about. The diecast cars were mostly HORRIBLE. 1/18 scale was a new and exciting scale. BBuragos that we don't speak so highly of today were cutting edge back then. Franklin Mint's first car the MB 500K. Exciting stuff in those days. Pretty crude by the later year standards of the Mint cars. We'll probably never have that level of detail again in 1/24 diecast. Mark Gustavson was encouraging us all to move to the next level of building, whatever that was for each of us. His early magazine builds... Tim Boyd, who is still so big a part of the modeling scene, was there, doing the same things he does for us all today. Our own Gramps46 was a contributor in the early days. He is becomng a fast friend of mine. I'm sure there are many others here that were a big part of the modeling history that are still with us and some that are no longer with us. I didn't realize how prolific some of those folks were. From my experience, I do miss Harry P. For his insights and pushes to make us all better modelers. Tom Gaffney's columns were probably my favorite part - I laways waited to read his reviews before buying a new kit. I know this forum is for MCM, but a lot of the history and what SAE stood for originally is most alive here in this forum and magazine. I hope that this magazine can celebrate its history in such a way someday. What other things have we seen come and go?

I used the 63 Impala body for a slot car conversion several years ago - the rest was utterly forgettable. A new firewall? Woo hoo? the GTO was awful, never finished it - can buy a much nicer diecast for about same as a new kit without all the disappointments of building that kit. Maybe combine it with a proper kit- the Revell 66. the chassis in my 67 wasn't even close to fitting snugly. 69 Yenko Camaro? Seems like we've been down that road before...again, what's the draw? Revell kit is much better, imo. the best part of all of this might be the new accessories and the tires. Just nothing there for me to spend on. BUT for folks who haven't had the chance to build these before, I guess it's a good thing. And the bodies are fairly accurate, if I'm not mistaken. SO nice shelf models when complete. I also buy 1/64s. Not much there. Would like to have a Demon in a regular color. The rest are not too exciting. Who buys Zingers? May see these about 2024 in my local WM. If they ever sell the rest of the 2016 set they recently put on the pegs. (!)

Great write-up! The problem I always have is the fly away parts. I either squeeze too hard and it flies away. Or I loosen my hold on the part and it drops into another dimension. I'm not sure I am properly equipped to use photoetch successfully. I guess I need better holding devices? But that is an excellent article on working with PE and should cover a lot of the questions of the OP.

Just own it! That's what I do when I need supplies from the beauty aisle/store. LOL The takeaway is that IF I want, I can have really nice nails. As can my wife because she borrows my sanding sticks.

Whole thing looks great, but that may be the best painting of those Mopar rallye wheels I've ever seen.

That would be a cool piece.

The Camaro looks good - needs the track widened, maybe. Something funky about it - maybe the quarters and rockers hang too low? A JADA thing? But a good start if you need a diecast instead of a plastic.

Mine came from a long time ago, like 2000 ish when I owned a hobby shop. So I'm sure I paid wholesale for it. I think I had a case of 6 of them and still have 2 of them. I should just do it as a quickie shelf model. Black interior, nice body color and trim it out properly. Look good up on a high shelf maybe?

That is a beautiful piece and really looks larger than 1/43 to me. Super nice!

I missed this post. NICE!!!!

Did you add these to the air-cooled thread also? I think that thread is a great idea

Were there ever cars seen in the movies? I don''t remember. Neat little piece though. I got hte SAE DVD for my birthday and have seen at least one article with your name. Right? Cool stuff.

I have a recent reiisue of this one - not the latest. While it would fit right into my collection, just can't get inspired to build it. Maybe someday. Or maybe I'll sell it. I am so neutral on it... This kit would seem to have a very narrow market.

I had a couple of that casting (I think) with HOT ROD advertising. Paint was NOT spectacular. That one looks great! And for $2? No brainer.