randyc

Nice idea. How long is that monster? Display space?

I just opened one of these last night. Looking forward to getting something done on it. Mine may be GRAY, of all colors. Two tone. I have NO gray cars in my collection. So maybe it's time. Gray body, darker gray metallic top? Not sure yet, but this is a nice one to see as I get started on it. Good work, thanks for posting.

That is just crazy nice!

I will second the cautions about using flocking and perhaps the powders in the same area as finishing. And NEVER use either of these BEFORE airbrushing something you want nice. They will find a way into your pristine paint. With either product, the thing is to get a variation in texture, so even if hte flocking does appear a bit out of scale, from a distance, it will work. I use old chip dip containers to recover extra. I paint, apply over the container so excess falls back into the container. I usually just leave the part in the container till dry, shake it off again, then can squeeze the plastic tub to make a spout to pour back into the original container. Works for me but I do like the leftove carry out container idea as well. I save all resealable food containers. I generally use one per kit to hold the small parts in one place as I go through paint and assembly.

Here's my Airbrush 101 question. What do I think MM acrylics with? I tried lacquer thinner - just clumps up. I have a little bit of MM acrylic thinner - a little better. What would be best to thin for airbrushing? I've been using an airbrush for 30 years but never had good results with acrylics. I've owned and used the same Paasche VLS since 1991. Everything has been replaced but the body over time. And I am still learning how to use this thing to it's fullest. I use a LOT of MM acrylics for interiors and would love to figure out how to thin the acrylic for airbrushing.

Cool. Looks like the Hasegawa I built several years ago. Mine was a brighter blue though. I think I sold it. Or it may show back up...

Agreed.

I'm building these for a friend, so no rush and the Record ended up being my favorite of the Hellers because it fits my collection, which it will be part of for a few months til I tire of looking at it. I have started some cleaning of parts and intial gluing on the other Hellers, but nothing else.

I assembled straight from box. That was too shiny. I did dull coat the brake drum before I assembled so it was dulled down. After I assembled, I took some stainless steel metallizer and hand painted under the front layer and the sides and voids of the front layer, then wiped the excess off the front layer. Don't use 91% alcohol as it will remove the chrome. But I did not thin anything, just paint detailing to give a little depth and make the front layer stick out. If I were doing it again, I think I'd dull coat everything but the front layer and still use the SS metallizer on the sides to make them look thinner. To force the depth persepctive, the back layer could be even darker I think. Then a middle shade on middle layer. And do it all BEFORE I glued them up. I was going to leave them til I was working on another set of molded one piece wheels and thought that more depth would help on these.

Not too many quirks with this one - the only real issue was my fault for not test fitting and trying to force the spindle into the lower a frame - broke the ball joint. Had to rebuild with plastic rod. It is kinda spindly looking. I guess "quirky" could be the way it goes together with the long sides of interior and all though. SO yes, it is different from other brands, but it did go together pretty well. I have a Delahaye and the Bugatti witih the ugly wheels coming up sometime. And I don't necessarily get why these aren't built more often. I like this particular car because it folds in nicely with my collection of American 40s/50s cars. Availability may be part of that?

That's pretty cool.

Finished! Dropped two of the door handles and found them. Phew! Ran into other small issues throughout and it's not perfect by any chance. But I'm happy with it. And has some wax that needs cleaning but going to let it cure for a few days first. Testors root beer extreme lacquer, for those that wonder. Interior is bare kit plastic and boot was dull coated.

First. Thanks for the compliments. Second, the pro street truck uses the AMT Roadrunner pro street chassis. Or one of the variants of it. Seems like it fit pretty much perfectly. Looks like I may have chopped the rear off. I built this before my daughter was born and she'll be 24 this year. So memories are a bit fuzzy.

Was going through older built ups. Found these. Snapped off a few pics.

The 1 mm is too hard to do what we want as modelers I think. As stated, it puts out too much paint and blobs around on fine work. Makes great dots for lock buttons though. I recently went to the 30 ml refil and just drip a drop on a plastic parts bag and dip my brush in the pool. Works much better/smoother for me. And yes I save my parts bags for a place to pallette my paint and CA to pick up with brush (paint) or metal pick tip (CA). Then can dispose of as necessary.

Looks great! And a great "moment in time" build

Not so much on track but a story similar nonetheless... I was working on Mickey Thompson Challenger II. All kinds of issues with it, But was making it through pretty nicely. Was working about 3 hrs away, so I was only home on weekends. I lef the car with weights on it to get it to dry right. In the process I didn't get it completed, but it sat there while my (now ex) wife and I separated and divorced. It sat on the bench for over a year I think. Still incomplete and I lost my interest in it completely. I just don;t know if I care enough to start on it again. I'm mostly out of race cars now - 5 years later. She was kind enough to take weights off and box it carefully. All my models she was very careful with. She packed them all in boxes and leftt hem for me to pick up. 300+ built ups and a couple hundred kits in stages from nothing to almost complete. I'm still finding projects. I do have a Mercury Custom Jimmy Flintsone resin body I've made so many mistakes on that I'll never finish it either - bought in the early 90s. Still have it. Never finish it. The Revell car gave me exactly what I was after and it is complete. No making windows and mating stuff up. I have several zip lock bags of cars that have fallen off shelf and busted. I can fix or sell. I gather up all the parts I can find for whatever fate awaits. So yes, there are certainly frustrations in this hobby. I always keep 2 - 3 projects going so I fell frustration rising, I can set it aside to "dry" and come back to it later.

Looking at the photo of Petty's car and the diecast body, the Petty car's rear wheel openings are higher in the body than the diecast body. The real car is more like the diecast. In my world, that is impossible to fix in the model. That may be contributing to the appearance that the diecast rake is off? Either way, I am enjoying watching the build up.

Nice stuff. Interesting to see the differences.

Cool. Good luck with that. I know how tough it can be to see a project like this through. Keep going. Nice website, too.

Nice! And you're right - 1/18 takes up a lot of space. I'm trying to get rid of my 1/18s as well.

That's beautiful!

Sweet! Looks good!

That is a cool resource to have for the Porsches. I'm going to try to send a link to my guy who collects sports cars. Now he'll want a Ferrari list too... There are cars here that I would like to have and I don't usually do Euro anymore. I have some older plastics and a Fujimi Enthusast rally plastic kit to be finished.

Well.... we do "talk" a lot on the diecast section - we have a pretty regular group there. And we kinda all think similarly, I've noticed.