charlie8575

So I'm going for it. So far, I've assembled the seats, gluing them together to eliminate the huge gaps between the halves. I'll give those a wash of The Detailer to even out the color/gloss a little. The plastic used in this kit is the softest I've ever encountered. Six-eight swipes of 150 grit sandpaper, and the copyright info on the chassis was obliterated. Before: After: I also like how they set up the window unit, with lots of texturing and recesses. It makes painting all the flat black stuff fairly easy. This is the results. I also painted the floor flat black to help make it look a little more realistic. Oddly, no shifter was provided. That will be addressed with a straight pin with a white head, as it'll actually look pretty close to the factory shifter, especially considering this car is supposed to represent the 5-speed. More to come! I think this is going to happen! Charlie Larkin

The hobby shop sounds nice, but that diner! It sounds wonderful. I want to go just to get pictures of it! Where exactly is it? I've been finding myself on Long Island a bit lately to help a friend out, and if I can schedule a trip there around his needs, grab lunch/dinner and stop in at a LIARS meeting, so much the better. Friend's business is in Ronkonkoma/Selden. I know Freeport's about 45 minutes if traffic cooperates. Where is everything in relation to one another? Charlie Larkin

Great tip on the Metallizer, Art. I see all the stuff you guys out west do...I really need to get out there to see these builds in person someday. Charlie Larkin

Those who know me know I have three great loves in automobiles. 1. Pre-1970 American cars. 2. Anything weird. 3. (And the greatest, possibly,) station wagons! With the sub-them of wagons this year at NNL-East, I knew I HAD to have something for this year. Unfortunately, the very cold winter, which super-refrigerated the basement where I usually paint, and about two months of not being able to use stairs easily due to a flare-up of sciatica, along with some other issues, made getting much of anything done impossible. I took a look at one possible contender, and decided it was going to be more work than I could do, and I was missing some parts. The other possibilities I had were simply too much to get done. So, Friday, I went to my preferred hobby shop and was poking around for an idea. And found it. The Revell Snap-Fit Chrysler PT Cruiser. This is most of the kit. I don't have pictures of the glass, chrome or tires. The car will be painted and detailed. And with that few parts, I'm not expecting this to take a long time. There will be a small amount of body work due to a molding imperfection on the tailgate, in the form of a heavy ridge that will need to be sanded down, re-polished and then painted. Can I have this ready before Friday? Given the low parts-count and minimal painting I need to do (the interior color is a dead match for the agate interior, needing only detail painting and a some semi-gloss and Dullcote to get the sheens correct,) I think it can be done. The toughest part will be the body. I intend to use some of the ancient Testors Car Colors Garnet Red Pearl I have, which will provide a nice color over the red plastic, and, at least to my eye, do a good job of simulating the Inferno Red Tint-coat. Let the challenge begin! Charlie Larkin

Tom, I found a couple of towns, which, according to the maps, anyway, aren't too far away. Are there any that are better than others for accessibility/ease of navigation? I might grab a hotel room there, otherwise, I'm on the road at midnight to get around the traffic and grab a snooze in the car on arrival. At least my nice big Buick can go more than twenty minutes without stalling again. My friend needed a ride to Long Island and it performed flawlessly and returned 22 MPG. Not bad for LT-1 Roadmaster with the towing package on the make-pretend gasoline they have now. Charlie Larkin

My brand-new sheet of BMF is MIA. A little short this week....but I have some super-thin cheap kitchen foil and Micro-Mark foil adhesive, so homemade BMF it is. Charlie Larkin

Hmmm.....interesting point. Charlie Larkin

Around here, we have Good News Garage which Lutheran Social Services sponsors, I think it's a great organization. It's nice to see similar ones around the country, too. Congratulations to you and your garage on its past and continued success. Charlie Larkin

Knew I'd find it eventually. http://www.protoindustrial.com/en/Pages/default.aspx Here are a few other resources. Kahn claims to sell only American-made tools and a whole bunch of other stuff. http://www.kahntools.com/ SurvivalBlog lists a pretty comprehensive directory of tools made in this country still. www.survivalblog.com/2013/08/all-american-tool-manufacturers.html Charlie Larkin

Given the prices Snap-On charges (!,) at least from an ethical/moral standpoint, that borders on fraud. I'm seriously looking at trying a set of Wrights or S-Ks for my next set when I need them. I have a couple of S-K wrenches and they are very good quality. I've used some Snap-On stuff before- not bad, but I thought S-K and Mac (which I've also used a couple of times) were a little nicer. There was another company besides Wright that does some contract manufacturing for a lot of the major took brands, and most, if anot all their stuff is made in the U.S. or Canada (which, to me, is the same from a QA standpoint,) and I'm attempting to locate their page now. A link will be posted once I find it. Charlie Larkin

Those are truly beautiful- the cars and the models. Charlie Larkin

Bill, I think it's great you're doing that with your kids. In this country- and I speak as a teacher, I can just hear the whining, teeth gnashing, and complaining from the parents and some of the kids. Knives, paint and all that horrible, horrible stuff. Yeah, the stuff I was playing with when I was 10 and even before then. Charlie Larkin

Very few Raptors are sold around here. I think I've seen.....two? Not a big deal to me, don't like the looks of 'em. Now, that Border Patrol truck does bring up an interesting subject. Charlie Larkin

Looking good, Mike. Another fine job. Charlie Larkin

How'd I miss this? Nice job. Charlie Larkin

Wait.....there's grass in Minnesota? I thought it was all snow!? A joy to see this in any weather. Charlie Larkin

I noticed that, too, Lee, and it really upset me. Some of their stuff is still made here, but the "gauranteed forever" is gone, and even the stuff made here doesn't look all that great anymore. Eddie Lampert has run Sears right into the ground. For curiosity, I did an internet search a few weeks ago, and there are still several American tool manufacturers, although be warned, it is EXPENSIVE, for reasons that will probably be deemed too political and controversial here. I'll just say "we painted ourselves into a corner" and leave it at that. That said, I'll still probably end up getting some of these tools at some point if my Craftsman stuff starts to die. These guys are good starting point. Shop around, you can get some better deals at some places over others. http://www.wrighttool.com/ Charlie Larkin

Second that. Charlie Larkin

Steve, it might be worth using Photobucket or similar. In addition to being able to store literally hundreds of pictures, Photobucket formatting (the format this forum uses) will automatically resize the picture for you. Charlie Larkin

Regularly-used, high-volume stuff- keep it on hand. If it looks like something I might need, I'll grab a bottle/can. Project paint as necessary, and then I have more paint for something else down the road. Charlie Larkin

Beautiful, John. This car has been a labor of love (mostly,) and it shows. Finished or not, bring it next week, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Charlie Larkin

NNL East's sub-theme this year is wagons.... Cool! I love wagons! Then I went to look at all the wagons I have to build or rebuild....not happening. And, dangit, I want something on the table. While poking around at Spare Time Shop yesterday trying to find an answer to my problem, I found it! Some people call it a wagon, some don't. I say it's about the same size and cargo space as our Aries was and front-wheel-drive. Close enough for me, and hopefully the show supervisors (Tom?) The parts count is absurdly low- about 25, and it's a nice, easy snapper that'll look good detail-painted and on the table. Deciding on color now- I may go with some sort of red to minimize problems with the red plastic to avoid a long prep process- I'm seriously toying with mixing some ModelMaster pearl clear-coat and transparent red to simulate the Inferno Red Tinted Clearcoat, as the shade of red the body is molded in is pretty close. Charlie Larkin

Hmm...a custom-bodied Viper chassis. That could be an interesting styling exercise. Aren't paint goobers just the most fun? Looking forward to more. Charlie Larkin

Proof....that Washington is full of morons! Charlie Larkin

There is much wisdom in this man's words.... Charlie Larkin