Dr. Cranky

Great news for those of us addicted to Ira's eye candy. Looking forward to it.

I saw this this morning and it made me feel good about making mistakes and falling down and all that jazz that keeps the brain thinking it's okay to be a perfectionist, etc . . . I think this is definitely a healthy attitude to take when building models. Build what you want, they way you want to build and do it in a way that brings you joy and happiness. Is there anything more important in order to enjoy the hobby?

Thanks, everyone. Donn, we'll take you up one of these fine days, and we'll give you plenty of notice before I arrive. LOL. The T-Bird is still fighting, dying and rising up from it's ashes. After I had painted the hood (and good did it come out beautiful) I find out that I had not made enough space for the distributor head to peek through, so out came the Dremel and to my surprise, the bird rose again from it's ashes. Enamel is very forgiving and although I had to cut out the plastic, not much happened to it, at least not anything that could not be fixed. Stay tuned in for more progress.

Wow, talk about the perfect daily driver. Nice model indeed.

The flake in that paint is beautiful. What brand is it?

Some wonderful builds taking place in this thread.

NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

Bryan, thanks for posting this one, now I have an idea of where to put some wires.

I pre-ordered two more copies just to be on the safe side.

Man, that does sound like a great invitation. I might take you up on it one of these fine day. I can prep like ten bodies and then go spray them in your shop one weekend. Styrene, food, drinks, friends, talking and shooting the breeze about building models. Ah, lord, that would be so freaking great.

Ah, the shine and the color are sweet. Nice job, Jim.

Super details and beautiful results.

Yes, what Mike said. I need a couple of those tripple stackers!

Lordy, that's just crying out to be built.

If they are going to charge a dollar extra, they might as well throw in more than just one little extra treat. For example, I have paid the range of prices on the Special Edition 49 Merc, from sale prices all the way to 26 and 28 dollars for that kit, and I am happy to do so because it has so many parts that I can use else where.

A very unique model. I love it.

I've been working on all the little parts for the engine and the chassis: Enamel sure is forgiving: Painted the pads on the brakes. The engine is coming together, of course, but very slow: Stay tuned in for more.

Finally we were back on track, and so I got everything ready for paint, and here's a round of pictures showing the first road of enamel. The headers in the body color are a mistake. They've already gotten stripped and are being done in Alclad. This is a very rich and deep color. I love it.

My only consolation to any of this was that I could do it, had done it before, but was still focusing on the little stuff like the wire mesh grill I had done before prepping the body for paint:

Anything to get the right look is fine, but I whined and complained like a little girl, right Donn? Because a big part of me was afraid, the other part was simply the part that always settles for less. We finally had the right stance.

Here was the fix. All it took was a 1/4" splice of styrene and it took care of it: We were making progress at last . . . getting the right look.

One of the big problems that surfaced was that the rear tub was not far back enough and neither was the front clip . . . This was a problem: Of course, I didn't figure this out until Mr. Yost told me there was a problem, and he was right. I already had the original body in aluminum plate, but it was necessary to mock it and get it right. This would not do:

This model has already gobbled up parts from at least 6 kits and counting . . . and it would not surprise me if it stopped there. It's been a beast of a build, but we don't always build through all the sweet spots. If that were the case, it'd be pretty boring. These tires came out of the parts bin, and they turned out to be the wrong ones for this model. These were it:

Thank you, Mike, and thanks everyone. I am making steady progress, although if you asked Donn Yost he will tell you how many times this one has gotten so close to the trash bin. Therefore, I felt there needs to be a name change on this sucker. It's now going to be called PHOENIX RISING for all the times it's come close to getting tossed. Rising out of its own ashes. Also, the color I have in mind is going to be perfect for this. So stay tuned in for more progress . . .