Art Anderson

Ford did offer sedan deliveries for 1932, Lyle, but they had them done by an outside contractor, LeBaron, from 2-dr sedan bodies. One of the rarest '32 Ford body styles though. Art

Actually, the difference between the Cord Beverly and the Westchester is in the interior. Westchester sedans, 1936 and 1937, had wool flannel upholstery, and bench seats. Beverly's had pleated leather upholstery, in 1936 "Armchair" seats (think low arm wingback chair look on an otherwise bench seat; in 1937 customer choice between the armchair design and conventional bench seats but still with pleated leather. Bob Shelton is recasting my sedan body shells, along with the Sportsman Convertible Coupe. Art

I seem to recall that years ago, colored plastic never "bled" through white paint (I painted the original-issue -- molded in red plastic -- AMT Double Dragster Fiat Coupe with the early AMT lacquer in white, with no bleed-through whatsoever. It could well be that early on, styrene was colored using pigments as opposed to dyes which I suspect is what is used today. Other than that, I have no explanation, not even any real idea. Some paints will bleed through white as well, most notably white (had that experience with AMT white lacquer over their red lacquer on an MPC "Rislone Eagle" Indy car perhaps 40 years ago or so--painted the red first, masked off, and painted the white portion of the nose and tub. The white turned pink--guess what I never did with white paint from then on! Art

Seuthe smoke generators are quite small in diameter, and should fit in say, a 5/32" diameter K&S aluminum tube. However, they do put out a fair bit of heat, being basically a small brass reservoir with a thin wire heating element inside, which heats thin oil to make a white smoke. So, there has to be some air flow there in order for the smoke to move freely up and out of the stack. A real drawback might well be the oily residue though. Art

It's not acidic paper causing that problem most likely. However, many clear plastic photo album pages are made from PVC (vinyl) having a pretty fair concentration of plasticizer in them to keep them soft and flexible. Such soft vinyl can and will attack lacquers, which are what most all decals are made from, at least the clear film. PVC plasticizers will attack lacquers very quickly, ruining decals (even nice lacquer or enamel paint jobs on models). The best thing I can think of is to put those decals in clear polyethylene plastic bags, the envelope style ones that are made flat. A lot of craft and art supply stores sell them. Once protected in that manner, the polyethylene should prevent PVC album pages from attacking the decals. Another alternative that does work: Get a supply of kraft-paper 8 1/2 X 11 inch kraft paper envelopes, the kind without the little metal clasps on them. Use a paper punch (3-hole style if you can get one inexpensively) and punch those envelopes for a 3-ring binder. Those will store your decals very safely, the 3-ring binder will make for convenient storage as well, and you can write on each envelop what decal sheet is inside. Art

Kevin, Almost from the start of the particular automaker offering pace car "replicas" for sale to the car-buying public, replica Indy pace cars have periodically been sold in colors other than the actual Pace Car used on race day at Indianapolis. That was certainly the case in 1986, but THE Pace Car was yellow. Art

On the trim level, I stand corrected. However, drum brakes were likely NOT the issue, as virtually every Pace Car up through at least 1971 was drum brake equipped. The crash was caused by the missing braking point sign, and a series of warning sighs giving the distance to the braking point, according to virtually all involved in investigating the accident, and in subsequent court filings. A seldom known fact about Pace Cars from 1965 through 1974: Although Firestone had been virtually the sole supplier of tires used at Indy for the 500 since the late 1920's, in 1965 Goodyear stepped into competition at the Speedway. To ensure equal treatment of the two competing tire companies, IMS specified two pace cars be supplied for races in those years: One mounted with Firestone tires, the other on Goodyears. Other than the tires, both Pace Cars were identically trimmed and equipped. The Pace Car used to start the race was equipped with the same make tires as the pole sitter's race car, while the Pace Car used for the winning driver's victory lap after the finish wore the same make tires as on the winning car. After 1974, Firestone dropped out of USAC Championship Division racing, and stayed away until the formation of the Indy Racing League for the 1996 season--so only one true Pace Car has been used from 1974 onward. Of course, duplicate pace cars still lead the starting field on race day, but only on the parade laps, the extra cars pulling off the track at the start of the pace lap. Art

The '86 Corvette Pace Car was painted "Pace Car Yellow", (what a surprise huh?). I suspect that MCW or Scale Finishes can mix that up for you. Art

I cast the '60 Olds 98 Convertible at AAM. All the chrome, except for the taillights, was separate, and plated. Art

Brett, Nobody kitted the Beretta Convertible, as that body style never made it beyond the engineering prototype stage. I did cast one for a couple of years back in 1990-91, still have the mastering for it. Art

Brett, The Dodge Stealth was built in Bloomington IL I believe. Art

Also worth considering: MicroScale is first and foremost a model railroad decal company. Their Socony-Mobil gas station logo's are part of a series of decals Microscale has done for commercial buildings in scale--and I've been given to understand that those decals don't really sell all that well. Art

The upcoming Galaxie Ltd '48 Chevrolet coupe can be made into the 1948 Pace Car as well (Fred Cady made the decals for it as well). R&R Vacuum Craft also produced the 1954 Dodge Coronet convertible. Modelhaus makes the 1957 Mercury convertible, I believe they also have the '58 Pontiac Bonneville, and I produced (if you can find one!) the 1960 Oldsmobile 98 convertible. AMT produced the 1968 Torino convertible also. Art

That's a real car folks. Art

It was Eldon Palmer who organized the donation of a pair of 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T convertibles to serve as the pace cars that year at Indy. Consider this: None of the automakers stepped forward that year to offer a car to serve as the Pace Car. As for the lamentable crash--there had been a set of braking markers in the grassy strip between pit lane and the inside wall of the front stretch, which Palmer had used all week long before that year's 500 to practice the pace lap. Unfortunately, sometime on Saturday before the Sunday race, SOMEONE removed those markers, leaving Palmer to figure out the braking point for himself. The accident was not entirely Eldon Palmer's fault. Art

Nope, but I Have done 3 or 4 pace cars. Actually, from 1966-84 I, along with 3 other local modelers, built up over 200 1/24-1/25 scale Indianapolis cars--mostly from official qualifying photographs, considering that back then, really good reference pics of Indy cars were quite hard to find. Art

And, not one of the 1941 Chrysler Newports "advertised" as that year's 500 Mile Race Pace Car! Of the run of that custom-bodied car, all but one had disappearing headlights. The only '41 Chrysler Newport that has never been restored, in fact it's still in it's original paint and trim (light green, with dark green graphics, and the only one having fixed headlights (behind chromed woven wire screens, ala '53-54 Corvette) was the actual pace car, shown in several photo's taken of the pace lap that year. That particular car went on to be owned by Walter P. Chrysler Jr, and when I last saw it, it still had W. P. C. initials painted at the tops of the front doors. Art

This is the ORIGINAL AMT '53 Ford F100, and often gets confused with the former MPC (now AMT) '53 "flip nose". There is really NO comparison whatsoever. The original AMT kit is as nice as nice gets for a 1964-vintage model kit, and in many ways still stands the test of time. However, isn't the "favorite" or "best" pickup kit first and foremost a subject that fits one's imagination, desire? Art

My bad! My problem is, I think, breathe, eat and sleep with 1/25 scale, so it's like pulling teeth sometimes to type one-thirtysecond scale Art

Excuse me Harry, but yes, the Cord, AND it's companion Duesenberg SJ Phaeton were marketed as part of the Highway Pioneers series for at least a short time. There are still a few of us older modelers, with far more white than color in what hair we have left on our heads who remember those early times and early kits. Art

Harry, Welcome to the world of very early plastic model car kits, especially Revell. Revell's owner considered himself to be in the toy business, plastic model kits were still merely a sideline. :"Raised door lines" aside, that Cord 810 is actually quite accurately tooled. Art

Nope! That Cord was tooled up by Revell back about 1954 or thereabouts, in 1/25 scale. Art

All solvent-based paints and putties do shrink--they simply have to as the solvents evaporate (dry). Some shrink more than others of course. Even catalyzed putty will shrink ever so slightly as it "kicks" from soft to hard--that is a given there, as any polyester resin engineer will tell you. However, catalyzed putty shrinks by less than one-tenth of one percent, or 1/1000, and once cured (which happens in a small fraction of the time that it takes any solvent-based putty to dry completely) it doesn't shrink any more, nor does it crack when doing so. With solvent-based putties (any and all of them) the shrinkage is related to the material thickness--the thicker the layer of raw putty laid down, the more (visibly) it will shrink. For that reason, I used very little of the stuff--in fact, most minor bodywork I do gets done with gap-filling CA glue, which once kicked with an accelerator, becomes hard, and doesn't shrink at all, along with filing and sanding to perfect feather-edging, and, in my experience, never shows through even a hot lacquer paint job. Art

#1 I have known of Alclad for years now, never tried the stuff. #2 I have, and have used, the BMF scribing tool, still the best on the market. However, I still use a modified razor saw blade whenever I need to scribe a long, straight door or other panel line. #2, Fine (or narrow) masking tape: I've made my own for decades--a piece of thick tempered plate glass, a metal straightedge, and a #11 Xacto (no "E" in that name BTW), to cut my own fineline masking tape. It's worked for me through 40-some years of making multi-color paint jobs, starting with 20 years (1954-85) building models of Indianapolis cars--why should I change? Really, I don't know of any "modeling myths", just that I along with countless other model car builders have techniques, materials, and tools that we've used for years that have served us pretty well, so why change (unless something we see as better comes along, or some "old friend" material or tool suddenly becomes unavailable. In other words, if it works, if it's still available, why change? Art

All the Subie's I've seen are full detail! Oh, you mean model kits and I was thinking of the several thousand I see on the lot at the Subaru plant here! Seriously though, not all imported model car kits are curbside, in fact, I suspect most are full detail models. Art