Dragline

Since I use enamel for my clearcoat [except white] I always use Novus to polish my paint jobs. The results have been excellent. That Mequires sounds good though. I have some at work and I'll get some and try it. Bob

Both of the examples are VERY nice guys. I'll bet that aluminum one will not be cheap though. Whale, yours is in the same spirit as mine. On the cheap. Either way you go, they look a darned sight better than what comes in the box. Bob

Quite the color. Hello Pinky! You are a bold man... Bob Did I say it was nice? NICE

Geez Brett, first time I'm even seeing this car at all. As usual, it's a visually arresting paint scheme. Looks like a PL kit would be a great start for this one. Time to break out the striping tape if you are going to tackle this one. Bob

Here you can see an extra piece and a piece installed. I leave about an 1/8th of an inch over the top of the strut to get a nice tight coil and a little tension. I pre installed the bottom retainer before I slid the coil over the strut. All that was left was to install the top and VOILA'. A strut.... Give an extra roll of wire on one end and keep those together. That way it looks like a coil spring end. They always keep 2 coils tight at the top and bottom. I did only one here because that may be the toughest part of this. Getting one end isn't so tough. One end ends up being a pain. But you can do it! A strut needs a spindle so out comes the styrene rod again. I use a small round file to put a indented cut into the spindle so it sits tight and strong. That's the way they cut em, so that's the way we will. I put a small angle in mine since struts are always angled and if the spindle is at a 90 degree angle to the strut the wheel caster will be wong. Every application is different so experiment with yours for proper angle. AND FINALLY.... here is our strut! There are many factors in determining length and angles that I couldn't possibly go into here. Your build will differ in almost every respect so this is a general build of a part that is always woefully lacking in most kits. It's not their fault though, they have to make it from one piece of styrene. Buy building ours from several pieces we get a much better representation of the real thing and pride in saying we did it ourselves. Bob

While making these struts for my Reher Morrison build last night I thought I'd make a little photo tutorial of how I did it. Nothing fancy as far as tools or styrene needed here. Just some patience and the will to improve this kits weak spot. This works for any strut you may need but please remember to measure, measure, measure. I'll leave it up to you how to do that but I'll show you how I built convincing struts from some basic raw materials. Please forgive the photography. At times I was one handing it and I'm not as solid as a camera stand. That's something I'm going to pick up when I see one cheap enough. On to the strut. Here are the basic materials we will be using. A piece of K&S alum tubing and an Evergreen styrene rod assortment. Glue of your choice of course. Find a solid rod that fits into the alum tubing snugly. I will spare you all my measurements since I eyeball a lot of times and sand to final dimension. Once you get your strut top measurement you simply roll it under the knife till it seperates. Go easy, it'll shoot across the room! Sand em to final dimension. I use an Exacto to ream out the center so the rod will slide in. It's already looking like something. I found a piece that fits over the styrene and is a little bigger than the alum rod. This Evergreen pack is a dream for this kind of thing. They fit into each other and are of similar dimension to K&S rod. I cut disks out of that rod and sand them thinner. You can get em real thin if you want to. On my car I sanded them very thin and are better to scale. These look OK, but thinner would be better. The ole eyeball test will tell you when you got it right. Here the piece is attached and looking pretty cool. Not much more to go.... Here is the wire I'll be using for the spring. Not sure of the size, but it's what I use for plug wires. Color choice is limited by what you have on hand. I wouldn't recommend painting the wire though. Buy the color you need since painting it would probably mess up the scale fidelity. Use the same alum rod you used for the strut top for a nice snug fit. Just wrap it tightly but not overly so. We'll tighten it up in a sec. Now is time to tighten up the wire. I force it gently all together in a nicecoil and then twist it till I cannot twist it anymore. Then hold it for a bit. Let it go and see how you did...

Yet another beautiful nuild. We have a LOT of talent building drag cars around here these days. Classic detailing and great paint. Time to step up my game I think. Bob

I've been staring at this for well over an hour. I just cannot get over that paint. I thought I painted my Pop's car well. That is such a sweet color. Please make that recipe available to the avaerage and not so average builder again please. So phenomenal.......... Bob

I couldn't jot em all down in one hour so I'll say . MOST of em. Then, there are those that just end up going together. Bob

WOW, what a color! That thing just POPS! Excellent build of one of my all time fave kits. Whattayall guys waitin fer? Go getcha pull. Bob

I've never seen that kit built. If I built one I'd want it to come out like this!!!! Excellent use of wheels and paint to turn a humdrum kit into excitment. Well done broski. Bob

More proof these old Revell kits still have legs. Looks great John. I can see your improvement more and more as you post older builds, then current projects. Amazing progress in skills. Bob

Very clean Brett. This is one of the prettiest cars that ever ran. Bob

First, LOVE the color. Nicely laid down. Tip. To avoid molded in belts taking a dark tone due to the seat color I paint them first. That way I'm assured of a rich color and coverage. I then paint the seat. It's easier to creep up on the belt line that way than try to get the paint downn along the edge of the belt to help it have depth. Looking good Brett. Bob

Period perfect Lyle... This is how knowing your subject allows you to build righteous rods from various sources. As always Lyle. NAILED! Bob

Gorgeous paint Wayne! I have one of these [natch], I'm going to do the fade I think. Yours looks great and shows that those old kits still got legs baby. Bob

THAT is the reason I do not watch NASCAR. Viva La HEMI! Bob

I use Detail Master and the #2 line is what I use mostly. The #1 seems too small to my eyes. Bob

Let me be the first to say WOW! It looks as though Revell as upped the ante yet again! A GREAT time to build Funny Cars. Bob

How did I miss this one??? KILLER color combo and I dig the running stock. When I was younger my girlfriend and a white Gremlin with the Levi's interior. That thing was quite a party bucket. This looks so 80's with a touch of modern. Diggin it. Bob

This is looking outstanding. The finish looks great. Nice work on the stripes as well. Better than the decals in my opinion. Let's see it with all the decals on. drool...... Bob

Gorgeous car Dave. Is that a resin body? I need to add one of these to the fleet. Stunning paint. Bob

Thanks for all the nice words on the finish guys. Let's hope Pop's likes it too. Bob

A couple more glamour shots and one about those channels I was talking about. First, the channels. You can see how they are 2 seperate pieces. It's clear they slide into the channels provided. All you have to do is take em out a bit for a higher rear stance. These are buried to the hilt and I can still get the body bar into the space provided for it so I may be not all that off. It's just the the wheel opening hits the tire in the rear. No biggie really but I thought it was worth mentioning. I love the backwards Champion decal on the passengers side. Classic. Bob

Hawk, the 2 pivot points for the body flip ups are not part of the interior tin, but are seperate pieces that slide into channels in the tin. They can be placed deeper up into the channels or can be slid up and down. What that means is the rear of the body will sit where you want it to [within the limits of the channel]. It can be higher in the back or lower as mine is. It looks killer lower like I have it but the trade off is the body will not come up as high as it may to display the chassis. The back portion of the wheel opening hits the tire limiting the up position. I have them all the way buried in their channels not realizing they were made that way for rear ride height. Bob