impcon

Thanks Rich, You're probably right. I have been searching but sometimes someone knows of an obscure source for after market parts. I don't know what happened to the hood from my car but it is no where to be found. I did buy a resin rally hood for the 1/25 AMT convertible that I have so I will check and see if your suggestion will be workable. The nice thing with plastic is that you can add to it and take away from it fairly easily much of the time. Have a merry Christmas and thank you for the response.

Does anyone know if there is a resin 1/24 rally hood available? I have been looking around and can't seem to come up with anything. I'd take a stock, flat hood as my second choice but I really like the rally hood. I have a built up that I have torn down and stripped that I want to redo but it's missing the hood. So, I thought why not try something besides the usual shaker hood?

Just wondering if anyone has built the '69 Camaro and opened the trunk on it and if so, what issues did you have or is it a pretty straight forward job? It appears that the sections above the tail lights may be kind of delicate - and I'll have to build up the trunk lip above the lights to make up for the knife cut so the deck lid sits level. What was the preferred means of hinging the deck lid? Just looking for advice from someone who has already done this. I am still uncertain about whether to go that far on the car but it would be a nice feature on the finished product. I am working on the trunk floor to try and make it somewhat accurate and that appears to be fairly straight forward. Were there any issues with the model that you experienced?? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Tom, I think Ebay will listen if enough people were to express their desire to custom build and narrow their search fields by omitting sellers who they prefer not to look at, for reasons as stated above as well as others. Because it would stream line their search and make more efficient use of time, their "Ebay experience" would be in many cases, be more time efficient and even more interesting without having to look at items that you can filter out because for what ever reason, certain sellers are of no interest. Ebay will listen to anyone if the numbers are there to convince them that this is a wanted feature by enough people because the happier the buyers are, the more time they will likely spend on the site and impulse buying is big on Ebay. I do not see adding this feature as having a negative impact on their bottom line but it may give them some more happy users and happy customers are much more prone to spend. " eBay allows you to refine your search - because eBay makes money if you can find what you want". Agreed and if I can do my daily searches and do them in a more timely and less frustrating time frame, then it may free up time to do other, more thorough searches. Remember, this would only be a personal choice and an option. " eBay allows you to follow your favorite sellers - because eBay makes money if you buy more things from them" I simply bookmark my favorite sellers in a folder in my book marks and that works at least as well as using their feature which I have never used and have no intention of ever doing so. That feature, to me is a bit redundant although I guess that again, by personal choice, many people do use it. I may seem a bit paranoid but I do treasure what privacy I have left in this world today and the less that Ebay or any corporation knows of my business, the happier I am. And yes, I realize that we are tracked and monitored every day on line. Still, that list of interesting sellers that I have compiled is my business and mine alone as far as I am concerned. Guess I am just old fashioned... "eBay allows the sellers in question to post loads of over priced model car parts - because eBay makes money from this seller". Personally and with all due respect, I really do not give two dead flies as to what someone wants to charge for what they sell. That is their business and if they can find people who will pay their prices, then good for them. But I am not playing their game and have absolutely no interest what so ever in what people who have a track record of wanting high dollars for what they are trying to market are offering and as such, going through hundreds of listings that they post. This is more about making a search more efficient and I guess that if I want a hood or a set of wheels bad enough to pay the kind of prices that some seem to feel they are worth, then I have the option of removing the filter and looking at the person's auctions and paying his/her prices. This is after all, only a hobby with me and I have to be careful as to what I spend and where I spend it. I don't know about everyone else, but I go on that site to look for kits or pieces and my objective is to get them for the least amount of dollars as possible. For example, I I am in need of a certain car for a parts car to cut up and if I wanted to spend $15.00 - $25.00 for those parts, I'd have had them here weeks ago. But guess what - I am like most other people and I want a good deal because if I can get that parts for for let's say $12.00 including shipping as opposed to $15.00 plus say, $11.50 shipping, I now have $13.50 that I can put towards buying something else. It's pretty simple logic to me but we are getting away from the main subject here again... " eBay won't allow you to block a seller - because they don't make any money doing that!" I will respectfully contest that statement because Ebay is all about the dollar and the squeaky wheel always gets the grease with them. If there is enough of an indication that buyers want this feature, they will listen. It wouldn't be the first time that Ebay did something that the sellers didn't like and regardless of the out cry, they just went ahead and did it. I used to sell on Ebay - I know and remember things that went down and there are reasons why I do not sell on there any longer and will throw something away before I jump through their hoops. I know that this is my choice - I am just saying that they are led by the dollar sign and not logic or concern for anyone except their share holders. And lastly, IMHO, if Ebay is all about the sellers, then it seems a little odd that they screwed up the feedback rules like they did, effectively often ( more like - usually??? ) neutering a seller who has had a bad experience with a buyer. Ebay would sell their soul to the devil if there was a dollar in it - its just business, as they say.

I think that it is probably Modelhaus as I do not think that Flintstone ever made a '59 delivery. Nice build of a fantastic subject.. VERY nice build. More pictures would probably be widely appreiated by all. AAAA++++ .

Jeff, I have a good idea who you are referring to but there are a few. I couldn't agree more that it is amazing what people will pay for something. There is not much that can be said that already hasn't been but I am losing interest with Ebay fast. I guess that what frustrates me the most is that I was involved in what was once the old car hobby when it was still just that - a hobby that was participated in just because you enjoyed old cars. The things changed - and yea, I know that change is inevitable - but as I watched over a relatively short period of time, I saw it turn into a rich man's game where pride, vanity and greed became prevalent. I wont go into my feelings on Ebay and the similarities between what's happening there and the real 1:1 car hobby here for fear that I may offend someone again. Unlike some here, I do not have deep pockets but I have enjoyed collecting models for most of my 63 years but I wish to continue doing so. My heart is with the old annuals and old kits and not so much the newer stuff although there have been some pretty decent kits issues over the last few years and apparently, there are more to come. But still, I prefer to buy the oldies and I enjoy taking something that is in sad shape and incomplete and seeing what I can make of it. That means that I am always looking for pieces and Ebay has been my source of parts most of my model purchases for close to 20 years. I used to find sitting here for prolonged periods of time just looking through the auctions and doing searches and buying here and there. That enjoyment is fading now with the ridiculous prices and the "bulk sellers" who list page after page of auctions of what must be styrene mixed with some rare and precious metals judging by the prices. That "Ignore" feature really would be so appreciated. Sorry if this seems offensive to someone or like a rant - it isn't. Trust me, you would like what I say and how I say it a lot less if it were.

Jeff and Ron, I fully understand what you are saying - believe me. And the fact that someone wants to sell one or two items for beyond top dollar isn't what I am talking about, There are filters on the site where you can enter the price range for an item at for example, between one cent and fifty dollars. My wish is for the ability to not be bothered with certain sellers in the models section who have a large number of listings and ALL of their auctions are, in my opinion - pretty ridiculous. And with all due respect, we are still entitled to an opinion the last time I checked. Sellers with a habit of charging these kind of ridiculously high prices like the example I gave of a set of truck door mirrors from a fairly common model that a seller wants $15.00 to $25.00 plus $5.00 shipping for in a previous post - forgive me for repeating myself - but he is a waste of my time and bandwidth. When I look under different searches for different parts, these sellers' auctions keep coming up and I just would like to see where I could filter those particular vendors out of my search results, thus saving time and frustration. Also, as Steve said, there are some people who just are not good to deal with so being able to not see their auctions might not be a bad thing too. Sometimes, after a bad deal, seeing a seller's auctions can trigger some not so nice feelings and stir up memories that are best forgotten. Honestly and in all fairness, I do not begrudge anyone the right to make a living and if he can find people who think that his over priced pieces are worth that - then more power to him. Granted, value is based on need and perception but this is to me after all, just a hobby and not a business. Simply put, I am not one of those who would pay what I feel are ridiculous prices for a small piece of plastic and never would, so I'd just as soon just not have to look at the auctions of such sellers and focus my attention of finding what I want at a price that to my way of thinking, is more realistic. Just my thoughts..

I look at three things before I even consider bidding on anything - first is the starting price, second is shipping charges and third is feedback. My beef is having to go through pages of items from a seller whose prices I feel are out of line and thus wasting a lot of time. Erik put it into perspective well when he said, "The reason I would use it is I sometimes just browse the whole kit and kaboodle - I just like finding oddball stuff Ive not seen much before - so specific search terms wouldn't help. How do you search for something you don't know exists? Some of the sellers list hundreds of items at once, which is fine. And it's not going to kill me to scroll through them in a browsing mode...but if I could exclude one seller at on my own discretion I wouldn't have to look at things I know I don't want to." What he says reflects my thoughts well and perhaps clarifies my original; post and the reason that I started this thread. I most often look for parts to complete incomplete old kits that I have and I do many searches on a daily basis. It just gets really old when I have to continually re-enter the search parameters as to omitting certain sellers each time I do a different search or alter the wording or spelling in a search. Or - suck it up and have to dig and root through hundreds of auctions that while some one else may be interested in them and have deeper pockets than I do, I know from experience that that particular has not one thing to offer me. Maybe a few more people will voice the same concerns to Ebay is what I would like to see happen and if the numbers are big enough, they will listen although it may take awhile. Then again, they may not but the case has been stated here that Ebay caters to the sellers and they have to. But by the same token, would you call it fair and in the vendor's best interests when the buyer can leave negative feedback for the seller but the seller can;t return that negative. Yes, some sellers get mean but there are people out there buying who are more of a scam artist than most of the sellers. We sold on Ebay for fifteen years and Delivery Confirmation was a must as we were scammed several times by people who said they never got their item and wanted their money back - which we were obliged to do. Also, buyers threaten negative feedback because they say that an item was damaged in shipment but refused to supply photos. There is no recourse to avoid a negative except to comply and yield to their threats. So it isn't a one sided coin. We sold literally thousands of auto parts and toys and had only several negatives - and often, none of those were really justifiable - but there is no way for the seller to protect himself. Perfect feedback doesn't mean anything if the guy is hosing his customers on shipping charges and using excessive rates to improve the bottom line profit on an auction - and that is any auction. Reasonable shipping costs will lead me to look at and check the feedback ( in case you are not aware, if you click on where it says how many neutrals and negatives they have, it will bring up and list all the negative/neutral feedbacks over the last year with the comments and rebuttals )feedback and if there are negatives, I will look to see what the issues were. In all fairness, some sellers get nailed with negative comments from buyers who are just unreasonable and I have seen and dealt with sellers who have had what I have perceived to be unfair negatives and had no issues with them.

ouch!!!

Sorry to have brought this up. It seems that I have offended a few who obviously missed the point in what I was attempting to convey. I'll go stand in the corner now.

Hopefully this wont start a heated discussion and cooler minds will prevail but here goes: I just posted a request on the Ebay site - for what ever effort that was worth - requesting that a default by choice "Ignore Seller" feature be implemented. There is a setting where a seller's auctions can be blocked but the sellers name must be re-entered into the box with each new search - such a royal pain in the neck.. There are certain sellers on there ( no names mentioned ) buying and then breaking up and parting out models and their prices are outlandish, to say the least. Gaging by the foolish starting prices, some of these sellers must be on drugs and if they aren't, then they should be because $14.00 to $20.00 plus another $5.00 for shipping for a set of pickup door mirrors for example, is stupid - but not as stupid as the people who actually will pay that kind of money when many times, a complete kit sells for not a whole lot more than that. There are many sellers on that site that see these prices and the feeding frenzy begins because most think that these are the going prices. When you see two identical, sealed kits on the same page and one is realistically priced at for example, $20.00 and another one down the page if $49.99 - that should suggest something about how out to lunch a lot of these sellers are. Add the fact that they know nothing about what they are selling and it just says one word - greed. Without getting into supply and demand and the guy has to make a living, it may be an idea if more people who would never buy from these people or pay the prices that they want could choose to ignore their auctions. Perhaps some suggestions to Ebay to raise their awareness just might help although I am less than optimistic; Still, nothing ventured - nothing gained. For what ever it is worth, here is the text of my message.. I have been both a seller and a buyer on Ebay for many years now and the experiences have not been with out their challenges to say the least. I look for a purchase mostly model cars and parts as well as other needs, but I spend a few hours every day on Ebay searching for things that I need for my hobby. As the greed factor seems to be kicking in with many sellers who are wanting more and more money for what they sell, it becomes very annoying any more having to look through hundreds of posts - from several sellers in particular - who expect ridiculous prices for what they sell. I would respectfully suggest that Ebay institute a "IGNORE SELLER" feature that would be in the default settings much as what order you wish to browse auctions in - lowest price firs, highest price first, etc. I find that I am starting to quit looking at a particular category when these high priced sellers have several pages of auctions, absolutely NONE of which I will bid or or interest me as I will not pay his/her asking prices. It wastes a lot of my time having to sort through these peoples' listings because inserted in the middle of the dozens upon dozens of listings may be something sanely and realistically priced that I may need or want. In all fairness, there is an "exclude seller" feature but it has to be reset each and every time a different search is implemented. PLEASE make this a default setting that can be changed at will by choice,a as it serves NO purpose being forced to look at seller's items from whom a bidder will never buy. I have the sellers who I follow bookmarked so why can't sellers be bookmarked to be blocked just as easily without having to enter their name with each search? Please consider this request as a serious one and I know based on what I have read on different forums that I am far from alone with this request or my views. Thank you.

There goes the neighborhood... Now all the wanna be sellers who know squat about models - and there are a lot of them - will bump their starting prices up again...

Yes, agreed - it does work! Now, if you can just remember the titles of your threads.. wonder if messages can be retrieved as well?? Speaking for myself, I have created a folder with sub folders on my hard drive and I will begin to save pages with information that I want to keep from the site for suture reference. I'm breaking the saved content up into groups according to categories such as "Special Interest Builds", "How to's", etc. The so called "lost data" from this recent switch is out there at least - it's just trying to figure out what you need. Russel, Lunajammer - thank you very much for sharing that information. I'll just try to find what I want and add it to my hard drive "library" now

Yeah - they can be addicting all right - especially the really old ones.The originals are diminishing in numbers every day through fires, floods and other disasters. I just like them and feel sorry for them as odd as that sounds. Yeah, I'm a bit strange, I guess.

Steve, I actually started to write a post last evening regarding the prices - both asking and selling prices - on Ebay and how I gam getting the sense that the greed factor has kicked in and is messing this hobby up just like happened in the real 1:1 hobby that I loved for mostof my 63 years. I canned the partially written post because I did not want to seem like a whiner but maybe I should have finished it because in retrospect, what I was stating were facts that can easily be backed up. but enough of that... this is kind of getting off subject.. I regularly seem to spend in excess of a hundred dollars a month on Ebay on parts and kits but I decided last night to stop buying more projects and just buy what I need to work on some of the old built ups that I have already bought - and I have a few of them. I know that lots of guys do not like using resin parts on a restoration and while I too prefer styrene, I see worn parts that need rechroming selling for more than what Modelhaus sells the same part for and it just doesn't make any sense. In the 1:1 hobby, guys restore cars and trucks using after market panels and parts and the end product is usually very nice. So if I use a Modelhaus grille and bumpers and taillights on the 58 Ford hardtop that I am workingon - is there really that much of a difference? I really enjoy and appreciate the stock look and usually do not deviate too far from that theme butthen I feel the same way regarding 1:1 cars for the most part. I can appreciate good workmanship and even the looks of a lot of customs but my personal preference is and always has been, factory original.

I actually prefer salvaging a stray puppy and breathing new life into it over a out of the box build. It takes a lot more time to put something back together and it usually ends up costing more than a new kit would, but the results are always worth it. "Nothing good comes easy - or cheap" and with the rising prices of stuff in the hobby shop, I'd just as soon put my money into something that is for one reason or another, is special to me and unique. The feeling of gratification is unequaled both when I find one that is affordable ( the thrill of the hunt - the primitive hunter and gatherer mindset - what ever... ) and seeing it come together - yeah - it's all about that! I see that prices of the old annuals seem to be rising unfortunately, and I am learning to be thankful for what I have. I like the newer kits too but like the real 1:1 thing, "old" has it's own charm and magnetism for some of us. Plus, seeing the work of some of the guys on the forum who really have an appreciation and a heart for the old kits - well, when I see some of the craftsmanship and talent here and how a fifty year old kit that was basically junk can be made to look absolutely gorgeous - well, it is always a sure thing to put a smile on my face.

Has anyone experienced issues with putting clear plastic parts into Castro Super Clean? I have a Challenger body that I have been unable to remove the glass from and was thinking of dipping the whole body and then masking the glass of before painting. I've already broken the rear glass *sighs*. I can't get this glass to budge from the inside of the roof of the car despite having had the old freezer trick work many times in the past. This stuff doesn't seem to be glued in with excessive amounts of glue but what ever the builder used sure hangs on like duck poop to a blanket. Worst case scenario, I'll just cut the windshield out and replace the glass but I;d rather not if I can get away without doing so.

So, I have a question that I am sure others can benefit from learning the answers to. One of my current projects is an old SMP or Craftsman Series '59 Impala convertible that I bought off Ebay several years ago and I have been working on along with a matching SMP hardtop. The convertible came out very clean after the paint was removed but the lower quarter panel between the door and into the rear wheel opening has a fairly large piece broken out of it and no, I do not have the piece that is broken out. I got lucky and scored another identical blue convertible on Ebay that was mangled beyond hope when some smart person decided to make the car look like it had been hit hard on the passenger's front corner. The windshield frame was broken in the center but I managed to make a repair to it that will be invisible once it is foiled. The rear part of the car however is very nice and clean. I want to ask someone who has done this before what your suggested technique would be to remove the broken quarter panel and replace it with another. I just cut some lower body pieces out of a '58 Ford and replaced them with parts from a much newer AMT '57 Ford and that seems to have worked out well. But this is a much larger panel and I think it best to replace the entire lower rear panel beneath the side trim and right to the back of the body where a seam or joint will be easily hidden. Am I wrong in your opinion, for using this approach as opposed to trying to section in a smaller section with the compound curves of the rear wheel opening? I plan to glue some .020 x .250" strip styrene along the inside of the body of the builder and use that as the guage by which to match up the panels and the main means of attaching the patch panel to the body as I did on the '58 Ford. Also, which cut do you recommend making first - the parts car or the project? I am thinking the project because it should be easier to fit a patch panel that is a bit over sized as opposed to one that may be a fraction of an inch too short. I use a combination of liquid cement and tube glue - liquid on one panel and tube glue on the other and that technique seems to give me a very good bond that is much stronger than using just tube or liquid cement on a repair or joint. I would think that CA glue will not allow enough time for the fiddly last second fitting. What are your thoughts? For finishing the joints where the two pieces of plastic come together, I'll use Squadron White Putty - or do you suggest something else that works better for you? I know that I can do this, but I am asking for input from others who have done this more than I have and hopefully some extra knowledge based on experience will make this go better with a nicer finished project. I can post photos of both cars if they will clarify what I am trying to describe and give you a better idea as to exactly what I am doing. Sorry to seem like a dummy, but as I have said before, it's better to walk through a mine field in the steps of someone who has already traversed it than try to do it yourself by feel and ear. Suggestions as always, are appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I would agree totally Art!! I wonder if the companies ever look at the prices of some of these old annuals and realize that there must be more of a demand than supply. I;d love a new '58 Fairlane hardtop and a convertible, but not at the prices that they bring on Ebay. People keep wanting more and more for most model kits on there to where it is cheaper to just buy one from your LHS or order one from a retailer like Model Roundup. It took me along time to finally get my '58 and it is taking a lot of work to make something even half decent out of it. Yes - they really need to look at some of these old kits and start doing some marketing research.

That is sooooooooooooooooo pretty!!!! Nice colors and it looks really clean. I have always really liked the '57 - 59 Fords and the '58 always seemed to be the least common. I like the black and white interior - these cars had such pretty interiors, upholstery fabric and colours and I just love the dash boards. I think the 57 is prettier inside then the '58 but I can handle either. Do you have any photos of the car before you redid it or at various stages of its life? I guess that you are now pretty happy that you didn't follow the trend back then and glue the custom parts onto it, eh? I have the same model sitting in front of me that I am trying to breathe new life into but it's a challenge, to say the least. I REALLY need a good roof for a '58 but that likely isn't going to happen, so I'll just have to pull a bunny out of my hat or something. It's challenges like the one that I have staring at me that really cause us to grow and hone our humble, limited skills, isn't it? I refuse to give up on the little car just to prove to myself that I can still tackle a project and finish it. I was very fortunate to get mine from a fellow forum member and after many months of it sitting around here in a stripped, disassembled state, I found the motivation to get at it and it is finally starting to look like a car again. Mine was less fortunate then yours as it had lots of custom stuff glued on and then chopped or broken off during it's life time and it experienced a few very heavily applied colour changes. Once it was stripped of the layers of paint and putty, it was no worse in many ways than I was expecting. I always assume the very worst with gooped up old glue bombs and sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised. Sometimes.. they are terminal and just too far gone for anyone to save like a '60 El Camino that I bought. But the worst part is that the roof is goofed and warped - not sure why, but it looks like some 1/25 scale yard apes were using it as a trampoline. Ah, but it's a challenge, but so far, a very rewarding one that I am truly grateful to have gotten. I hope it turns out even half as good as your car looks. Very, very well done - it needs to be showcased in the '57 - '59 Ford thread with more photos...

I have been working off and on for some time on a 1980 Camaro for my son that will be a replica of his 1:1 car. Where the issue comes in now is the fact that the car is not a Z28, but rather a Berlinetta. I have been wondering what to do regarding the three "Berlinetta" scripts - one on each roof pillar and the third on the rear deck lid. Has anyone here ever made decals of such scripts or emblems from photographs? I realize that one will have to transfer the scripts onto decal sheets - does anyone have any suggestions? A decal may have to do since no actual scripts are available. Suggestions???

My favorite is www.paintref.com but there are several more such as scale finishes.com and model car world. Hope this helps..

Posted this then found the set.. moderator, please delete post. orry to be such a bother. Thank you.

Oh, but that is sooooooo sweet!!! Now THAT deserves to be totally restored as there can't be very many of those left! It looks fairly complete based on what can be seen of it. No doubt there is someone somewhere who would really like to buy it and give it the love it deserves. Do you have any other photos of it? Does your uncle have any other neat stuff like that? It's good that someone preseved it as opposed to cutting it up for scrap and the almighty dollar.

This is a project that I appreciate and seems familiar and will make a nice display piece when done. The history is what makes some projects really special and you and this model obviously go back a lot of years. I, for one, am glad that it has found it's way back into your life and it is really cool to see it getting the love and appreciation that it deserves. The '70 Challenger is definitely one of Chrysler's crown jewels and I have liked them since they were new. I recently unearthed a '70 Challenger convertible that I started and almost completed almost twenty years ago and I want to do basically what you are doing. Mine is painted in automotive urethane in Panther Pink with a white interior and it is a replica of a built kit that I lost when our home was destroyed by fire in 1988. I was side tracked from building for many years and only recently have I found my way back to the hobby and rediscovered the relaxation and peace of mind that creating something brings. I want to get another decal set for it, remove the old ones and get rid of several specks of dust in the paint which means sanding and polishing, just like you. I'll be watching your progress.