Art Anderson

PM me, I am sure we can work out a solution. Art

"Climate Control"? As in humidity? Ever consider a simple dehumidifier? I lived with those as a teenager, in my parent's house, where I had a huge basement room from age 14 through early college (and I was a serious model car builder back then, and this was in the city in which I still live, in Indiana, where on a humid night we can cast a line into the air, catch catfish--it is that humid!) Seriously, a dehumidifier will do the trick in a basement, or even upstairs if one does not have air conditioning. Art

Julian, For trimming BMF around the edges, why not use an Xacto (or whatever is available in the UK) #11 knife blade? Those are as sharp as a razor blade, but being cut and sharpened at a very steep angle, are MUCH more controllable! Art

It seems to me, in watching this thread, that far too much complicated advice seems to be the norm! Even though I live in HUMID Indiana, I too have had to put up with dust blowing in and around my house, back when I lived in a subdivision on the edge of Lafayette, which meant farmer's fields, with plowing and disking in the spring, the incredible dust of wheat harvest in July, and even worse with harvesting soybeans and corn in the fall, so I do understand dust! For starters, a closed room seems but elementary to me--after all, who among us in this day of central heat in winter, central air in summer would put up with constant dust inside our homes? Now I do understand that many modelers, due to the requests/even demands of spouses, have to contend with being banished to the garage for painting, but that's not a major problem, nor does it require (in my stupid, caveman-level engineering skills at least) a huge, technological solutions. Just think of it in terms of how you would set up to paint a REAL car in a desert, or otherwise often dusty environment (and yes, back in the late 60's, I had to paint a Model A Ford restoration in my Dad's garage which was just one city block downwind of a HUGE gravel quarry) so in a way I know whereof I speak here! Visqueen , the rolled plastic sheet that builders use for many and varied purposes, can be used to block off an area for a "clean room" in a garage--just use Duck Tape to hold it together, and tightly down to a clean concrete floor!. Blown in dust, that which is soil, sand, "earth oriented" dust, is heavy, and what might come in even around the tightest of temporary enclosures is HEAVY, it really does not float in still air, unlike say "lint"--no, it falls to the floor and pretty much lays there! The most sophisticated "HVAC" needed to eliminate that is a freakin' vacuum cleaner, anywhere from the wife's Hoover to a Shop Vac--seriously! If paint fumes are a concern, well--there are any number of small spray booths available with an exhaust system--again, plain and simple. If you must, a simple plastic spray bottle or two (like your wife might use to mist her house plants!) with just plain water will serve to "lay" such dust as might be on the floor--beyond that, a simple dust rag will do the trick--in my past life, in that subdivision garage back now 25yrs ago all these things worked!--so I do know whereof I speak here. I'm not trying to denigrate any of the HVAC professionals here, but geez, KISS! (Surely you all know the meaning of that acronym?) Art

Jeff and all: NEVER underestimate the helpfulness of people on real car forums where us model car builders (from age 10-100!)--I've found that they are more than willing, almost excited even, to help out with reference information, to the point of being downright encouraging. What a change that is, from say, just 30yrs ago or so. "Back in the day" we were often looked at as kids playing with toy cars, but not that much anymore. Art

John, That sounds very like "urban legend" to me. I do know that the promotional model version of this made it to many Chevrolet dealerships--there's been far more than 50 of those up on eBay over the past 15 or so years that eBay's been running! In addition, I've seen at least 50 of the kits at shows all across the US (and I've been to model car shows, contests and NNL's coast-to-coast and border-to-border over the last 30+ years. Even the great Joe Henning of Rod & Custom and Rod & Custom models, in an article in R&CM showing how to scatchbuild a model of the 1911 Indy-winning Marmon Wasp used the wheels and tires from an SMP 1911 Chevrolet on that model. My local Chevrolet dealer in 1963 (I was away at college that year) told me some years after that his dealership bot a "couple of dozen" of the kits, and at least that many promo's as well--he showed me the very first example of that promo I'd ever seen, in his den (John Horner was the father of a HS classmate, and a pretty good friend of mine in later years. Last, I was told, on one of my frequent visits to AMT Corporation on Maple Road in Troy MI, by an AMT Corporation exec who was there at the time of those '11 Chevy models being produced, that they produced something in the neighborhood of 5,000 of the promotionals and a run, as he recalled in 1976, of 10,000 of the kits, per their order from Chevrolet. He did confirm that GM officials were present to verify that the tooling was destroyed after the production run, however. Art

Being on staff at a major (Big Ten) university, and having lived near it for almost all my life: Is there really any such thing as "Normal college stuff"? As for model building in college, I did that, 40-50 years ago. Art

Monogram did two series of metal-bodied.plastic everything else 1/24 scale model car kits in 1978-79: The first series of three kits was the 1948 MG TC sports car, a 1956 Thunderbird, and a 1953 Corvette. The second series included the Packard dual cowl Phaeton, a Duesenberg boattailed convertible coupe, and a 1948 Jaguar XK-120 roadster. All but the Duesenberg and Packard kits in these series was reissued in later years as full plastic kits, the complete first set of three by Monogram in 1984, and the Jaguar XK-120 by Revell of Germany with the body, hood, and fender unit molded in styrene (also packaged by I believe, Doyusha in Japan) in the early 1990's. Art

That kit is quite straight-forward, given the simplicity of automotive design back in its day--but if you can access an instruction sheet for either of the Monogram all styrene Packard Speedsters (Phaeton or Boattailed roadster), the chassis and engine assemble virtually identically to the metal bodied dual cowl phaeton you have. Art

John, I think there were a LOT more of the 1911 Chevrolet kits produced than that. Art

Kenneth, I can second what Keyser posted. That Packard is a 1931 Model 745 Eight-cylinder dual cowl phaeton--and it's not really all that plentiful a kit either. It builds up, in quite the tradition of Monogram's Classic Car kits--in other words, very nicely indeed. You might want to take some time with primer and fine sandpaper to get a smoother surface on the metal castings, as those are done in Zamak, which tended to have a bit of a problem with miniscus--that is, a thin "skin" that forms on that metal quickly after it's melted for casting--not hard to do, I took care of in one I built a good 30 years or so ago. This one differs from the other Monogram Packard Phaeton, in that the all-styrene kit is of a 1930 Model 734 Speedster Phaeton, which being a Sport type body, has no second cowl or windshield for the rear seat area. Art

All fair questions. My moisture trap is a Binks that I got 50 years ago when I experienced water droplets coming through my airbrush (basement of my parents' house back in '64, Indiana summer humidity), which is a simple, solid brass (nickel-plated). It's a simple moisture trap, in principal no different than the water traps on old cars. It has a knurled threaded petcock at the bottom for draining any moisture, which hasn't been a problem for years, since I've had central air conditioning in every house I had, and now in my apartment. That petcock (drain), being threaded, now serves as a simple pressure regulator--it's quite easy to relieve a bit of the air, for a softer spray along with eliminating any residual pulsation from the compressor. The added 6' of hose also serves to dampen a lot of that pulsation too. At the time (1964, and I was working in a hobby shop back then), Binks strongly recommended a 6' length of hose between compressor and water trap, which makes a lot of sense, as that first section of hose acts like a condenser coil--any moisture due to humidity has room (it's also a larger diameter hose) has room to condense onto the inside of that hose, and flow toward the water trap, the hose allowing the warmer air resulting from compression to cool, which triggers condensation. As for a diaphragm compressor, I've used other compressors (my first was a simple piston unit, which required a simple "bypass" airbrush (one in which air must flow constantly, merely being "stopped off" in order to push the air through the airbrush--very crude setup back then). In addition, that cheap piston compressor, not being able to pump up a pressure tank, also gave a lot of pulsating effect to the air itself, making it literally impossible to get a decent paint job. In the middle 1960's, true airbrushes were just about the most exotic piece of equipment in the hobby--most hobby shops didn't stock them, and a lot of them (my then-employer among them) often tried to discourage a customer from even considering buying one. Badger hadn't yet come on the market, leaving that covered by Paasche, DeVilbiss and Binks, of which only Binks bothered to enter the hobby market, with their Wren external mix unit (that works exactly the same as a Badger 350 and the Paasche H), and the only readily available hobby compressor at the time was the Binks diaphagm unit, which itself is exactly the same type of unit as today's Paasche D500 and the Badger 180. Beyond that, it would have been a shop compressor, which at the time were quite expensive, and of course, noisy as heck, requiring a pressure regulator which was then a pretty expensive accessory. So, the Binks Wren and diaphragm compressor it was. While my original Binks compressor has gone to the great scrapyard in the sky (it ran for several hundred model cars for 30 years before breaking its connecting rod (Binks no longer could supply a replacement con-rod for one that old), so I went with a shop compressor, but once I moved into an apartment (divorce, SHE go the house), that wasn't an option anymore--so on to the Badger, still being used with the same, very reliable and arguably versatile old Binks solid brass water trap and my tried and true habit of using that for lowering air pressure, which I do by 'fit and feel" still. Living as I do, in an upstairs apartment, it behooves me to not unduly disturb the downstairs neighbors, so an old, large beach towel, folded into about 2" of soft pad deadens the vibrations of the Badger compressor, making it almost completely silent (the older lady downstairs never hears it either). Long description, I know, but it is a system that has worked very well for me for now 50 years. Art

Owen, First of all, welcome to the forum and even more important, welcome as a young guy passionate about a hobby I started out in over 60 years ago (1952 to be exact)! Hopefully none of this thread has frustrated nor intimidated you--I really don't think anyone here had that in mind. Now, with what I would assume is a rather limited budget, there are a lot of model car kits out there that probably fit in very well, depending on your particular area of interest. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a FUN hobby, and for the vast majority of us it is just exactly that--fun (with a few frustrations and the occasional downright failure or even an anger-inducing moment or two along the way, but keep in mind that even life can be that way sometimes. Above all, don't be afraid to speak up, ask questions (even though this isn't Middle or High School--because that's how you will learn and progress. And even more important, be courageous enough to show us what you build--you'll find that most of the feedback you will receive will be positive, or at least constructive criticism in intent (I am right on that, guys--hmmmmm?). Art Anderson

Actually, I've used nothing but diaphragm style aircompressors with my airbrushes, and have never had any problem with pulsating out of the airbrush. Part of that is that I use a water trap connected to my compressor with 6' of hose, and an additional 6' of hose from water trap to the airbrush. Second, I do almost all my airbrush painting with the air pressure reduced at least a bit by opening the petcock on the bottom of my water trap slightly. I've had the Paasche D500, it did just fine, currently use a Badger 180-1 which is the very same type of compressor. Art

DOT-3 brake fluid will strip most any paint off of a styrene body, and almost always with little or no damage to that kind of plastic. However, it's sheer death to resin bodies. Of course, as with any petroleum based product, proper disposal is a must, not just simply tossing it in the trash. Art

Pretty much because it will take only a few added bits of tooling to mold the Ventura--body shell (pretty much only the side slide-core dies) along with seats and interior side panels. Frankly, I think the interest in both versions is quite high, so why not? Art

Studebaker Hawks really weren't all that heavy--they ranged from about 3100lbs for a '57 Silver Hawk, up to just over 3400lbs for the 1956 Golden Hawk. Much of that extra weight of the Golden Hawk was due to the rather heavy (even when compared to say, a 50's Chrysler Hemi even!) Packard V8, which apparently was designed and produced without much thought given to its weight, considering that it was designed for a full-sized luxury Packard. What really hampered the '57 Golden Hawk was the handling. With the extra 200-250lbs of that Packard 352cid V8 (used in the '56 Golden Hawk as the only engine option) positioned as far forward in relation to the centerline of the front wheels, that car had a nasty tendency to "plow" into a corner (push in racing terminology) and then suddenly spin out. Studebaker Packard discontinued the Packard V8 (first introduced at Packard in 1955) and sold the tooling and rights to AMC, leaving Studebaker with their original small block V8, which started out at 239cid, ultimately to be poked out to 289 cubic inches. While that engine was comparatively heavy, compared to say, a small block Chevy and certainly to the 221/260/289/302 Ford V8 of the 60's, it didn't affect the '57 through 64 Hawks all that much, given that the basic Hawk design is almost exactly that of the 1953 Studebaker Commander coupes and hardtop. Art Definitely a drooling-instigating model coming up! Art

You can start with the Heller Hispano Suiza 6B, it's the very same model of Hispano Suiza as the Tulipwood Speedster, just has different coachwork. Art

Uh, the Franklin Mint diecast has a body machine carved from solid blocks of wood, where the actual Tulipwood Hisso Speedster (which I've seen several times in real life) has its bodywork, and fenders made from thin strips of tulipwood, with something like 3000 brass flush-headed marine screws. IIRC, the coachwork was done by craftsmen who worked for Nieuport, builder of the WW-I French fighter plane. In short, the FM model just didn't "cut it" with me. Art

FWIW, the Pontiac Tempest "slant 4" was nothing more than the left half of their 389cid V8. It was essentially identical in that way--Pontiac even produced them on the same production line, alongside the V8--down to using the very same cylinder boring and honing machines and tools. I believe the cylinder head was also the same as a 389. Art

That was what I found, back in early 2004, when I went to develop a '67 version of the Johnny Lightning '66 Charger (simply by a new paint scheme)--the interior upholstery patterns were different, and no front fender-mounted turn signals. Art

Looks like you shortened the wheelbase down to 106" from the 33-lather 112"? Art

Oh, and Harley Earl, when styling the first LaSalle for Cadillac, boldly copied most of the lines and themes of the very stylish, French-built Hispano Suiza. Art

It doesn't, of course. Just pointing out that this sort of thing has also been done by our country's forefathers as well.

And, downright copying of other's (even from the UK!) patented designs by Americans goes all the way back to the spinning jenny, that machine which made thread from bolls of cotton! Stolen industrial secret from England in the early 1800's by an American diplomat. So, this stuff cuts both ways, I think. Art