LoneWolf15

How are you to get the build back apart to repair an interior part that has come loose ? What if the windshield gets knocked out , a side window , etc ? With the frame glued to the body , you're going to bust the daylights out the model trying to get it apart . Are my models going to fall apart when picked up ? Nope ! Are they fragile ? Not really . However , they are mine , and I know how to handle them and do not want anyone else doing so ! Should something happen and one gets damaged , I can easily take it apart , repair it , and put it back together , good as new !

J B , Problem being , if that particular model wins it's class the previous year , it is almost certain to win it's class again on the way to that Best Of Show award . A local club has an Ace Of Aces category where past class winners can compete against each other for said award .

Nope ! Guaranteed my Willys frame hits the deck ! I don't glue them together ! Reasons for such actions were stated in my original post on this thread . Believe me , I am not the only individual that builds this way or thinks this way due to the same considerations ! Forgot to add this .... Best way to pick up a model ? Thumb on the drip edge of the roof , wrap hand around , slide fingers under the frame and lift . Never pick up a model by it's roof or drip edges .

Yup ! That's why you use a mirror for a base , so they can see that detail ..... Without touching the model ! Four year later .... My opinion hasn't changed one bit ! Hands off !

True ! However it does play a large part in the reason behind the original question ! Austin , to answer your question , I believe in one and done . The models that I take to a show are shown there once , win , lose , or draw , they are done with that particular show forever . As for my original statement , there are individuals that refuse to accept the fact that a particular model is just not able to toe the mark and win an award . They continue to take these models to the same shows , hope against hope , that it will finally win . When it doesn't , this can and has, opened up Pandora's box , and created headaches for the host club and the other model contestants . To alleviate this problem , quite a few clubs photograph and keep records of past contestant winners . Should an individual enter a past winner , it is simply ignored by the judges . As for the continuos repeat entries of certain models ? A club has to take the three monkeys approach and let it ride !

Another not so youthful prank / folly O'l Harry story ........ Before you get the wrong impression , let me state for the record that I loved Harry like a brother ! However , like any of my siblings , Harry could be a royal pain in my behind . To top it all off , Harry suffered from manic depression . When the meds were working , he was cool as it could be . If not ? His neurons would start firing off like a chipmunk on crack , 12 different directions all at once , causing him to become The Royal Pain! It was not his fault , at times , his mind was just convinced that the meds were poison and he would stop taking them . Thus the story ..... I love to fish as much as I do building model cars . I own a bass boat , however , I love to fish in chest waders most of all . I love the early morning quiet , the tranquility that goes with it , and the feel of the current going across the waders . Harry loved to fish also , this particular time he was off his meds , therefore , Harry wasn't going with me because the lack of meds meant no tranquility for The Old Man ! When I arrived at the river , several of my buddies were already there , I spoke to them , waded out onto the flat and began casting . The fish were up and striking and I caught several in the first couple of minutes . It was so peaceful ..... Tranquil ..... Until ..... " HEY ! " HEY ! " YOU LEFT WITHOUT ME , YA BIG JERK ! " Sigh , yep , O'l Harry making his grand entrance ! Out he came , splashing through the water , making enough noise to wake the dead ! I told him to be quiet , he was scaring the fish , he just glared at me . Now , when Harry was off his meds , three things happened . He became loud , chattered constantly , and would argue with you incessantly ! After about an hour of putting up with this three headed devil , I'd had enough ! I told him if he did not stop with his foolishness , the next fish that I caught was going down the front of his waders ! He just laughed ..... The next fish hit , I reeled it in , Harry began to berate me for practicing catch and release , I reached over and dropped a three pound walleye down the front of his waders ! Harry then proceeded to perform the finest imitation that I have ever witnessed of our Lord and Savior's walk across the water , screaming and yelling as he went ! It didn't end there , Harky started laughing , dropping a lit cigarette down the front of his waders , causing him to begin dancing around . Sammy Maggs , witnessing both incidents , stated laughing , only to swallow his chew in the process . And Divots , well he just fell over and got soaking wet when he twisted around to watch Harry's progress across the water . From that day on , Harry would tell folks that I was a man who always kept his word and could be evil and devious about proving said point ! Lmao !

It's not always youthful folly ..... Harry ,my next door neighbor's mental chandelier had more than it's share of burnt out bulbs .... It had snowed 30 plus inches and was still coming down like rain ! Several of my buddies and myself took the kids out sled riding . We were sledding down the side street hill , crossing the street , and ending up in my buddy Jim's yard . The wives were down at the bottom of the hill to keep an eye out for vehicles , but as I said , nothing was moving anywhere , vehicle wise . Earlier in the day , the older kids had been snow boarding down the hill on the right side , turning their boards sideways to stop across the street . In doing so , they had turned the right side of the hill into a sheet of ice and formed a large hump at the opposite curb . We were running the kids down the left side when O'l Harry showed up . " Run the right side , Man ! " , he said . I told him it was solid ice with no way to stop at the bottom . " Watch this , Dude ! " he said . He jumped onto a toboggan and was down the hill in a half a heartbeat ! As we watched in fascination , he zipped across the street and then hit the aforementioned hump , launching him into the air , flip and flopping over top the fence in Jimmy's yard , screaming at the top of his lungs as he went . Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..... Wummmph ! Big puff of snow , total silence ! Except , of coarse , our hysterical laughter . We literally laughed until we cried , I mean , it hurt ! Several minutes later , here comes Harry up the hill , and he's Poed ! " Could'a come and checked on me , man , I could'a been hurt , ya know ? " Jimmy said , " Sorry , Dude , too busy laughing ! " Jimmy's son , Riley , whose cartoon hero at age 4 was Bugs Bunny , looked up at Harry , pointed at him and said " What a Moroon ! " Cue the hysterical laughter track ....... Again !

I'm 57 years old and that slap is still put to use on occasion ! Isn't there a statue of limitations on past transgressions ? As for the " grinding pedals of death " ? Yep ! The shins still bear the scars ! Lol ! You'd think that Schwin and Mattel would have taken our craziness into consideration during development . The bikes always broke behind the gooseneck and the Big Wheel's body always broke right in front of the rear wheels on impact . The serious " air " was always a rush , the one point landing on your head ..... Eh , not so much ..

I have to admit that during my younger years I pulled some crazy stunts , always controlled , mind you , but still nuts ! This one came back to haunt me years later ..... Late teens , we camped out on the banks of French Creek quite often . This particular trip , we took our younger brothers along with us . Spanning the creek was a very tall girder bridge which the local kids all jumped off of , using the deck or the railing as a launch pad . We did it a few times , naturally , I became bored with the same old , same old ..... I started eyeing up the structure and smiling . my blood brother , Bobby , seeing this , said , " Don't even think about it ! " I looked back at him and started to climb , laughing as I went . Remember when I said controlled ? I knew that the creek was at least 25 ft deep dead center of the bridge so that's where I headed ! There must have been 20 of us there that day and you could have heard a pin drop when I went off the top of that bridge in a front layout . I zipped in , went to the bottom , lightly touched the creek bed and launched myself back to the surface . I surfaced to sound of bedlam ! Lol ! That was just the beginning .... I graduated to 1 1/2 somersaults in the open pike position and went on from there ! Fast forward several decades later ..... We had bought acreage up over the hill and went on a sight seeing tour , my dad , my two brothers and myself . We come down off the back half of the property and lo and behold , there is the creek and the aforementioned bridge in all their glory ! The old man stood there gazing up at the bridge and made a comment as to the fact that the bridge stood uncommonly high for that era of construction . The kid brother , darling that he is , then opens his big mouth ! " Hey , Pop , ask your oldest son how high it is , he used to do 1 1/2 ' s off the top of it ! " I tried to hunch my shoulders , but it was to late ! The slap came out of nowhere , right between the back of my ears , echoing through the trees and off the bridge piers . " Dumb *** " was his only comment ! No matter how hard you try to avoid it , the past always comes back to haunt you ! Especially , when you have to deal with big mouthed siblings !

Pgh IPMS show has divided auto categories , not a lot , but they are divided ! Lol !

Kathie and I made the trip , no problems . Not very many builds on the tables , picked up a few more kits and a couple of pieces that shocked even me for future projects ! Lol ! Always good to get out to see familiar faces and hang out with friends . Weather kept a lot of folks at home , definitely not worth the risk of an accident if one had to travel any distance ! As always a well run show .

I take mine all the way up to 12000 . Yes , the paint will stick , I promise ! Again , the smoother the surface , the smoother the finish !

The smoother the surface to be painted , the smoother the paint finish will be !

I agree ! Not that these about to be mentioned are exactly your cup of tea .... What comes to my mind ? Revell's new ' 57 Ford ! I sanded mold lines off of every single piece . I had to strip the chrome , every single piece had mold lines along with blobbed on chrome work . All 4 kits that I purchased were in this condition ! I opened two of the ' 62 Vette Gassers , same conditions exist ! These are the new releases , no excuse for these conditions to exist . Reading through several different posts / threads as of late , it seems that the new Merc Woodie kit has the same chrome issues ..... So tell me , what can we do to rectify the situation ?

I rescued a pitbull pup a little over a year ago , she was found tied to a railroad switch with a piece of bull rope with a bag of rotted dog food left beside her . My buddy removed the rope and left her there as he had to resume his patrol duties . On a whim , he went back after his shift to find her still sitting there . After seeing her picture and hearing the story , I sent Brian out to pick her up at the shelter the day before she was to be put down . I walked into the house that night after work to find Brian kneeling on the kitchen floor holding her . I knelt down and told him to let her go . She walked over , climbed into my lap , and laid her head into my neck and let out an enormous sigh , she was home and I was head over heels in love ! I named her Faith , which I thought was appropriate , given the situation . She was a bag of bones , literally ! It took a few months , but I had her filled out and growing just as she should have been all along . Highly intelligent , she was trained in no time flat , both voice and hand signals . Strong , smart , affectionate , great with people and other animals , she was tens straight across the board . I took her in to be spayed last February 4th , they put her under and the anesthetic stopped her heart , they couldn't bring her back . The cruel irony of it all shredded my heart . I cried for a week , couldn't talk about it without the tears starting all over again , each time I tried . Valentine's Day came , we all went out to dinner and a movie then went back to Kathie's house afterward . Sitting on the couch , I was checking my email when I noticed that the room had gone strangely quiet , they were all looking at me and smiling . I happened to glance down and then had to look again . There at my feet sat a black and white fur ball looking up at me with his head cocked to one side . I picked him up in my arms and he immediately settled in against my chest and began to lick my face . I cried .... Again ! Lol ! Between the two households , there are now 5 Pitbulls , a Dutch Shepard , one cat , and a Charpais , the latter being the only one out of the group who is not a rescue . Out of all the dogs that I have raised and trained , both for myself and others , the Pits are by far the easiest to train . If I had the land and money to do so , I would take them all , there would not be a single one left in the shelters ! The fur ball is now 70 pounds and still growing and is my constant companion . Every night , he lays his head on my chest and sighs deeply before he goes to sleep , just as Faith did . After she passed , I had stated " Never again, it hurts too much ". I learned that I cannot be that selfish , there are far too many out there waiting to be loved and cared for , regardless of their longevity ......

I believe a lot of this boils down to can/ cannot do mentality , quite often , being influenced by others opinions , at least in my case ! I refuse to roll over and play " dead " as some refer to it as . I've been admonished to " act my age " more times than I can count . How should I act ? Walker , wheel chair , front porch seat , are not for me .... Not by a long shot ! Forget softball , play golf ! Why ? Two years ago in Canada , my nephew and I jumped 55 ft from a rock perch into 40 ft of water . The open mouthed look on the local kids faces was hysterical ! I then climbed back up and dove off ! My buddy's wife videoed it , Kathie's scream can be heard quite distinctly ! Lmao ! We won the gold in The Senior Olympic Nationals this past July for softball . Next up ? A World Series ring for the Senior world Championships . My bucket list is wide ranging , full , and constantly being added to ! It's all about an attitude , a can do mentality , that you an you alone are solely responsible for ! Constantly set goals for yourself , large or small , the satisfaction can be immense and very fulfilling ! Life needs to be lived to the fullest , within each individual's limitations . It's not a dress rehearsal , you only go around once , make the most of it ! You just have to believe !

I clean the airbrush out with hardware variety laquer thinner after using Alclad and have never had a problem ....... I think you caught them at their game ! Lol ! As for the regulator ? Yes !

If you allow the paint to completely gas out , give it a week or so , go back over the finish with 6-8-12000 . Lightly polish it with the Novus 2 , you will bring back the shine and gloss you originally lost . I believe you started your polish procedure too soon . As Bill stated , you need to allow the paint to gas out .

Danno , Perhaps I can give you a wee bit of an edge .... Stipulate that Mr Jessee must use the airbrush method that he just can't seem to wrap his head around .... He'll know what you're talking about ! Lmao ! Not that it's difficult , mind you , he's afraid to try it ! By the way , with this type of talent and workmanship ? You need to get up off your duff and start building far more often !

Don't mean to be a tool about this , but ..... If you wait to polish out after bare metal foil , several scenarios can and will present themselves . First .... A '64 T-Bolt painted white , whole lotta chrome work here , right ? Once you start polishing the paint , no matter how carefully you work , you are going to pull oxidation from the foil onto the paint . Now you have black streaks in your white finish , and they can be a royal pain to remove . In doing so , if you don't have enough paint on the body , you will create burn through on the finish . If one looks closely at the finishes of models sitting on the show table , quite a few show scratches and blemishes at the edges of the windows and drip rails where the polish process stopped short . This is also true when it comes to the edges of the side spears such as the T- Bolt possesses . When polishing out or waxing , one generally doesn't apply it to the pieces to be chromed in the first place . Again , this is just my opinion , but I very rarely , if ever , have adhesion problems with the foil .

Before and after !

Rob , Check with your local Joann Fabrics store , they sell a wide assortment !

Billy , Take a square of soft t- shirt and polish the entire body before you tape off . This way , you have an overall appearance to your steel finish .

They don't ?

My vote goes for the # 10 car !