Art Anderson

I thought the Pontiac Aztec WAS a dumpster (just self-propelled)??? Art

It sounds as though you may have painted the body shell in rather humid conditions. Humidity in the surrounding air, especially in the summer, if high enough, can cause enamel paints to "skin over" very quickly, which does not allow the trapped propellant in the paint to "gas out", so the propellant tends to collect in larger, and larger bubbles which get trapped under the too rapidly drying "skin" on the surface. Rattle can propellants, whether the old and no-longer-permitted-to-be-used Freon or propane (and similar gasses) which are used today, actually get dissolved into the paint under the high pressure inside the spray can. Release that pressure, even from spraying, and the propellant bubbles out of the paint in the same manner as CO2 bubbles up into a head of foam on a freshly poured soda or glass of your favorite beer. Ordinarily those tiny bubbles of propellant come to the surface of the still liquid paint on your model and pop--in short, they go away. But, in very humid conditions, the slightest of drying on the surface of the paint can (and often does) trap those bubbles. Your dehydrator likely didn't cause the problem on it's own, but it could well have exacerbated things. This problem of little bubbles in spray enamel has been around since the very first rattle cans--some of us have been using rattle can paint on our models since the first rack of Pactra Sof-Spra 'Namel showed up in a hobby shop back in the early summer of 1959. The only solution if you are using the paint straight from the spray can? Hold off spraying until you get a day when the humidity is fairly low--such as after a cold front has passed over you. Art

If one only knew what it CAN take to bring a successful model car kit to market, the time-frames which exist could be more easily understood. Time was, a model car kit HAD to be done on a schedule, and it had to meet a specific deadline or "ship date". That can (and has!) lead to more than one model kit having to be compromised to a level which raised more complaints than it should have, frankly. As the poet Robert Burns once observed: "The best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray"--which in the case of model car kit development translates to the sometimes very frustrating delays in getting things as right as they could/should be. Art

Hmm, this thing sure looks neat when opening the box! Although the kit is RoG, mine is the US packaged version, looks to be very nice inside. Anyone else have one of these yet? Art

Bill, I feel your pain on this one! It seems like ancient history here, the times when I was able to go to the workbench for seemingly hours at a stretch--those were years right out of college, my then wife often worked different hours than me, no kids (never did have any, unfortunately), all that stuff. I seemed able to knock out perhaps 15-20 model cars a year back then, many of them my first serious model car passion of 1/25th scale Indy cars. However, looking back now, at those years 30-50 years ago, I didn't give many models the superdetailing treatment (even though building race cars from the then 60-70 years of Indianapolis Motor Speedway history required a lot of conversions, even some serious scratchbuilding!). Then a few things got in the way, the first being opening my own hobby shop, then transitioning from that into resin casting (resin casting: Talk about a hobby killer!), both of which changed my focus and redirected my model car building interests. Since 2000, when I was working in dining services supervision at the University, through almost 4 years of product development with the Johnny Lightning brand of diecast cars, to semi-retiring and working a 3rd shift job back at the University, my model building time got really chopped up--often not getting any time to concentrate on a project until a weekend and then finding too many other things to do on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer. Concurrent with this came my learning to use my lathe in ways never before considered, and learning the finer points of a newly purchased Sherline mill, along with a newly rediscovered need to add more and more detailing to the models I at least attempt to build--lotsa conflicts with being able to move a model car project forward from the kit box to completion. Fast forward to spring this year: A change of shift at the University means that I have some uninterrupted daytime hours in which to sit down, actually do some serious, productive work on a model project--and it shows! For the first time in decades, I can actually have two or three projects going simultaneously (currently that '37 Ford pickup is occupying one work bench, a second round test shot of the upcoming Moebius '56 Chrysler 300B on another). The pickup of course is one of those crazy I-can't-leave-well-enough-alone projects--the 300B is coming together, OOB, with hopefully a nice paintjob and some foil work. So over time, things do change, other interests and interferances do come and go--but that is pretty much a microcosm of life itself, IMHO. So, heads up, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, and the probability of that being truly the other portal is far higher than its being a speeding locomotive coming at you! Art

Good on Bill for the information as to diameter of at least some current plug wire! .014" is pretty much right on to US AWG 27-gauge wire, but that isn't readily available at any of the Michael's or Hobby Lobby stores I've been in, either here in Lafayette, or in Indianapolis--but both 26-gauge (.0159") and 28-gauge (.0126) are readily available in soft copper beading wire. For as close to scale as possible with this 1:1 size in mind, I'd go with 28-gauge, because once painted, it will probably be at least .014" diameter. Art

I might be way off base here, but if one thinks about it, aren't all but the tiniest of power tools just bit of overkill when trying to apply them to a model car? Sure, for rough work, such as cutting out wheel arches, a Dremel with a cutter does a very good job of cutting quickly, but in the end, generally that comes down to hand-finishing, or so it seems to me (having done my share of that sort of thing over the past several decades). With sanders, it seems to me that unless one is working on a project with fairly large flat surfaces, a power sander, no matter the size up or down, may will not work as nicely as a sanding block, held and moved by hand. All of this makes me really wonder if chasing after power tools do do some of the sanding work we can get in to, might be a case of increased investment with quite possibly diminishing returns. Again, just my $.02 worth here. Art

Consider this: If a sparkplug wire on a real engine were 1/4" in diameter, in 1:25 scale it would be just .010", which is pretty doggon small to most eyes. For that reason, some of us do like using slightly larger wire for plugs, for a visual effect, even though they might be a bit oversize in actual scale. For wire, I would look at copper beading wire, as that comes in a pretty wide variety of sizes, and being copper, it's soft and quite flexible. Art

My library of automotive literature goes back almost 50 years (includes every single issue of both Collectible Automobile, and Special Interest Auto's, along with dozens of books on antique cars, Indy racecars and whatever else has caught my eye over time. I'm not worried about the sheer numbers, but my landlord could be concerned about the floor load! Art

I discovered Icing about 10 years ago when I went looking for Evercoat--the NAPA store I went to in Mishawaka IN didn't have that, but they pointed me to USC Icing--which is about half the price of Evercoat, and works just as nicely (a lot of times, the very same product can be had for less in a brand other than what some famous modelers swear by!). As for gap filling CA, I got into using that when resin casting, as I needed a quick filler for working up masters for casting, and also for filling the sometimes inevitable pin hole, so I could have a product I could recommend to customers. Some have mentioned using Micro Balloons: This product is actually very tiny glass bubbles, each one being not much larger than a grain of talcum powder. RC aircraft builders/flyers hit on this product to use as a filler mixed in epoxy, for it's light weight. A legendary modeler of vintage Indianapolis cars in the Chicago area pointed me to Micro Balloons and epoxy glue over 30 years ago--and I have used that to actually form race car body shells and even body parts for models over the years. This requires a good grade of 30-minute epoxy, such as Devcon, as some cheaper brands of this stuff can actually disintegrate during wet sanding. I just mix the stuff to a paste-like consistency, then spread it on the model (or whatever base I am using) with an artist's palette knife, allow it to harden, then go at it with files and sandpaper. While I don't have any pictures of it, I used this method to reshape a cheap motorized Lotus 72 F1 body into the 1981-82 Jim Hall Chapparal Indy Car, complete with rather accurate ground effects tunnels. Art

Actually, I've pretty much standardized here on three items for use as fillers: Catalyzed automobile body putty (the really thin kind, I prefer USC "Icing" which is thin consistency, works very well for a lot of filling applications), lacquer-based auto body "spot & glaze" putty, and gap-filling CA for really delicate areas where the other two won't work (this also works, of course, as an adhesive). Of the three, two (catalyzed body putty, and gap-filling CA) have never presented any shrinkage problems for me (and I've used both for better than 20 years), while of course, any lacquer based putty will shrink, as the solvent evaporates (evaporation of the solvent reduces the volume of the putty!). Of the three, I probably use more gap-filling CA than anything else, simply because with an accelerator, it can be cured in mere seconds (up to a minute or more if the fill is deep). However, unlike the putties, this stuff is needle file territory for smoothing down, as mere sanding can leave an uneven surface as the surrounding plastic gets sanded away by the necessarily flexible sandpapers we all use. So, files do become necessary, and sometimes a needle file, no matter how small (and in my tool box I have a large set of 3" fine needle files). Both catalyzed putties and CA glue do have a tendency to cause "ghosting" when using lacquer paints though--lacquer thinners tend to cause styrene plastic to swell (taken to the extreme, that is what causes "crazing" or "frosting" of styrene, while neither the CA nor the catalyzed putties are affected whatsoever by lacquer. One would not, however, notice this "ghosting effect" with lacquer putties, as the dried putty will swell up ever so slightly right along with the ajacent styrene (again, based on LONG experience with lacquer based putty.) I've never felt the need to use any sort of "filler" with CA, so I cannot speak to how that might act. Art

The using of "white out" typing correction fluid is an old trick! That stuff first became available in the middle 1960's, IIRC, when the world was still using typewriters (you know, back in the "Analog Age"!). Type correction fluid is a form of flat-finish, thickened lacquer, replacing the old typewriter erasers for better looking copy. However, it does tend to be a bit chalky, and doesn't adhere all that well to styrene plastic, in my experience. It was popular, however, among modelers of military subjects, when they got into conversions, puttying seams and the like, and using needle files to smooth those down. Typing correction fluid seemed to work well for filling the small scratches and grooves from that, UNTIL modelers discovered automotive spot & glaze putty, which adheres much better, and could be used for even deeper filling. Art

Interesting indeed! I remember seeing a film at least similar to this, in a 7th grade science class, circa 1956-57. The lever is one of the so-called "simple machines", and the worm of the worm gear setup? Another simple machine, the "inclined plane". Hmm, guess I stayed awake in class that day? Art

Neat pedal car!

We've been thinking big all through this thread, so why not think small? What about a stock 1930 American Austin (the roadster body already exists, the Revell Bantam Roadster is modeled off a body shell first used in 1930 on the Austin!), and even nicer (if a bit larger) a stock 1933 Willys Model 77 Coupe, and why not dream on a bit--a kit of a stock 1937-41 Willys Americar Coupe? Hmmmmmm? Art

There are still a few issues with the tooling mockups--nothing that cannot be cured--but bear in mind: The communication gap can be considerable across 13,000 miles, coupled with language and cultural barriers. having looked over the tooling mockups as they stand at this point, I think I can say that when the remaining issues have been addressed and corrected--these are going to be really very nice kits. Art

Actually those bodies were done in two series: Chevrolet, Pontiac and Oldsmobile all used the A-body series for their "fastback" ( I believe the Olds was termed a "Torpedo", Chevrolet called their's the Aerosedan 1942-48, Fleetline from 1949-52, Pontiac called their version the Streamline).. Buick's Roadmaster and Cadillac's Series 62 used the GM B-body (a longer body, completely different shape than the A-bodies) and were called "Sedanette". Ostensibly, while Detroit had played with the fastback style off and on during the 1930's (Cadillac displayed a V16 fastback bodied car at the 1933 Chicago "Century Of Progress" World's Fair), I've read where it was Australia's Holden (Holden was a body company up until WW-II, building unique to Australia bodies for just about every automaker exporting cars down under), who sort of pioneered the so-called "sloper" body style, for not only GM cars, but also for Ford and Chrysler. While Ford and Chrysler never got on the fastback bandwagon in the US, GM did, introducing fastback body styles across the board for teh 1942 model year. Those cars were resumed after the war ended, carrying the style forward until the early 50's, when slippery-looking streamlined styling fell from favor. Art

One correction though! Zora Arkus Duntov didn't design the small block Chevy V8--that was done by other Chevrolet engineers before Duntov joined Chevrolet. Duntov did, however, make the fairly mild SBC into a small block stormin' engine, which went a long way toward saving Corvette from oblivion though! Art

Two things, Harry-- First of all, a paint chip book may well have been on the counter at the auto parts store for years, perhaps decades, but more than likely not in direct sunlight, and certainly not every page will have been exposed to long periods of any light. Second, and probably more important: Mixing model paints to match automotive paint chips is very much a matter of "by guess and by gosh", given that those paints, particularly colors out of the past, are mixes of not just the base color, but also tints and toners which can be all over the map--and the chip books generally don't have the mixing formula's, In addition, the hobby paints we use are quite limited in scope, actually, especially since Testors eliminated most of the gloss colors they originally produced, back right at 40 years ago. As for autocolor library, I find the best use for that is seeing what colors were available what which car(s) for the year and model I might model--then I go to either Scale Finishes or MCW for the color I decide I want. Art

Well, for starters, let's take a look at what a spray booth should do: 1) It should remove paint particulates from the surrounding air (overspray). This minimizes the paint dust that nearly all of us have experienced over time, whether from and airbrush, or from rattle cans. 2) It should remove the solvent fumes from the air in the room or space where one is spray-painting. This is perhaps the real "peace keeper" feature, as it greatly reduces, perhaps eliminating, the smell of paint from the room, the apartment, even the house. For me, as I live in an apartment which is the entire second floor of a converted house with central HVAC. The booth you show, as set up, will remove most, if not all the particulates, but it also shows the exhaust air coming right back into the user's face, which means that the fumes (evaporated solvents, the smell) come right back into your workspace. In a self-contained apartment, with no HVAC ducting shared with any other apartment, the smell of paint will be pretty much your problem (although it might leak around your front door into a hallway, which if closed to the outside weather will affect passers by at least to some degree. However, it looks as though you should be able to put that exhaust outlet through the bottom of a slightly opened window sash, which would greatly reduce the smell in your unit (even more if you can blank off the sash opening on each side of the booth's outlet. Things to consider, I think. Art

For fixing little pin holes (even fairly significant air voids too) in resin bodies, I've found gap-filling CA glue to work very well--and it adheres virtually perfectly to urethane resin). Art

Some of my wishes: 1932-33 Auburn Boattail Speedster 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster 1933 Pierce-Arrow (Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair show car) 1933 Duesenberg SJ Arlington "Twenty Grand" sedan 1932 Duesenberg "SSJ" roadster (either Clark Gable's or Gary Cooper's version, or both)) 1932 Chevrolet Confederate Roadster (note, this is different body than the MPC '32 Chevy Cabriolet)) 1935-36 Chrysler Airflow Coupe (fastback body) 1932 Lincoln KB roadster 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet 1935 Duesenberg SJ "Gurney Nutting Speedster" (Maharajah of Indore's car) Those alone would keep me busy for a few more years! Art

Ya know, I am simply astonished that so many are assuming that the pics Dave Metzner put up are somehow the "finished product"! May I remind the forum that those were after our first looks at the tooling mockups, and a pretty fair number of needed corrections were noted, that will have to be corrected before they go to tooling. I'll have the privilege of helping review the revisions to these mockups come Saturday--hopefully the issues that Dave, Bill Coulter and I raised will have been corrected! For whatever it's worth, Dave takes a pretty big risk in being so public about tooling mockups--I know of no other model company who's ever done that before--it does give modelers assurance that an announced product is moving forward, BUT it also can elicit negative comments from those who quite failed to read the very first posting that Dave puts up here--so, before you diss something like this, please read that very first post, where Dave put up the pictures--then you can understand what he (and those of us who help out) faces--and this is a process that goes on with just about every new model kit product, and with just about every manufacturer of model kits.. OK? Art Anderson

An awful lot depends on whether or not a complete kit, in resin, would sell (to you, me, and the other guy too). With the possible exception of the '38 Pontiac mentioned above (which 6-cyl version would very easily use the AMT '37 Chevy kits a donors for all the fiddly stuff), every subject mentioned would have to be free standing kits for the most part, as there aren't any kits of cars even close that could be used to donate parts in styrene). So, it all depends. Now, a '39 Lincoln Zephyr, coupe or sedan, would be a natural drop-on fit for the Monogram '41 Lincoln Continental--they are the same car under the sheet metal. A '32 Pontiac 6cyl series car would swap onto the MPC '32 Chevy--so that's another. And of course, there are the ubiquitous V8 Fords. Art

Jeff, A Model T Ford frame has side rails that are approximately 3" deep from the front crossmember back to perhaps 3 feet forward of the rear crossmember, the bottom flange of the channel steel angling slightly upward to perhaps 2" deep at where the rear crossmember was riveted to them. In 1/16 scale, than means that the frame rails would be 3/16" high at their thickest point (when viewed from the side) tapering to approximately 1/8 inch tall at the rear crossmember. The trouble with channel section materials is--the stuff isn't readily available in brass anymore. K&S used to have several sizes of brass channel stock in their assortments, but that went away several years ago. The section of the channel steel frame rails on a T is fairly deep--with flanges that are approximately two inches wide top and bottom. If made in styrene, such channel rails might be a little bit too flimsy, so perhaps you could build a frame against the bottom of the kit "floor" perhaps? Art