2002p51

Ron (Ramcharger), I wish your post had a "like" button.

This is absolutely true. Those who restore and "recreate" vintage race cars are notoriously less meticulous about getting the details right than we modelers are. I have always maintained that modern restorations of vintage race cars are very unreliable as references.

So far today I have screwed up two separate paint jobs, a Bare Metal Foil job, and one decal job. Suddenly I'm incapable of doing any modeling! I wonder what's on TV tonight?

Oh I've got boxes and boxes of unfinished projects out in the garage! Projects that turned out to be more work than I wanted or just were sinking into a morass of constant problems. Boom, back in the box. "I wonder what's on TV tonight!"

I know my strengths and weaknesses and I'm not adverse to bragging about one while admitting the other!

Thanks Dave.

I appreciate the thought, but you haven't seen it in person! The only thing this could win is the "Glue Bomb Award" Thanks for the tip Cato, I'll try the next time.

Update! It's done, here's the link to the post in Under Glass: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65445

Have you ever had a model that you had high hopes and plans for but, in the final execution, it just didn't live up to your vision. Happens to me more often than you might think and here's the perfect example. The basic kit is the Revell '32 3-window coupe. This was supposed to be a showcase for the engine from the new '50 Olds kit. My big mistake was trying to chop the top. I really don't do work like that very well. Mostly because, no matter how careful I am with my cuts, I end up with more filling than I'd like and I have little patience for the "fill-sand-prime-repeat" routine that good custom work takes. However, having said that, I did a pretty good job on the cut across the top of the roof that I filled with a strip of Evergreen. It came out pretty smooth and you can't see the cut or feel it except there's a very prominent "ghost" of the filler putty itself! That's when I decided to leave it in primer and the fiction is that that the owner is driving it while he saves up the funds to finish the bodywork and get a paint job. (Actually a pretty common thing in the 1:1 world.) I know, lame excuse. Anyway, here's a shot of the engine that started it all. It's really the best part of the model! ) So go ahead, rip it, I can take it. I'm probably more critical than any of you are anyway!

Very nice, I love old British cars!

Flat paint does not a rat rod make. This thing looks like it's pretty well built and safe and I wouldn't call it a rat rod. I wouldn't call it cool or neat or anything else either and I wouldn't build one like it. But it being butt ugly aside, it ain't no rat!

That's exactly right. The knowledge of photography and the managing of light is every bit as important to the success of those photos as is the modeling, if not more.

I can't keep dust off of them, Harry. From time to time I'll dust a few of them and eventually they all get dusted. It's like those guys who paint the Golden Gate bridge. By the time they get done painting from one end to the other, it's time to go back to the beginning and start again!

Already thought of that. They'd be too high, I'd never see the models way up there.

Ha ha, no, moving is out of the question!

Well, okay you asked for it. You can't really use the term "display case" though as you can see. This is the main side of the combined model room/office that I share with my wife. And this is the opposite wall. At present there are 323 built models on these shelves. Well, actually there are only 315 on the shelves and that's my current problem. I've run completely out of shelf space and I have 8 completed models sitting around on my workbench and stuck in a corner. My wife and I have been talking about where I might find room for more shelves and we have a couple of ideas but I still haven't decided what to do about this little problem. Or I may just have to stop building!

Nice work on the Vega body.

That's okay, nice works for me, thanks.

That's what I figured too. I do have a photo of the car in the race with white walls on but, like you said, the race was over 2100 miles through the Mexican back country. I'm sure they went through several sets of tires and they weren't ALL white walls. That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

I make my own coffee at home.

Wow, where are you buying coffee for a buck anymore?

If it is, what do I win?

Hot off the workbench before the glue is dry. As I said in the "work in progress" thread, the paint is Model Master Radome Tan. Those of you who saw the photos I posted of the 1:1 car will notice right away that the model lacks white wall tires. Well, there's no way I'm using decals for white walls and I'm pretty sure any paint would have been ruined by the bending and twisting that it takes to get these tires on the wheels. Besides, to me it looks more like a race car with black walls!

The other day somebody mentioned on here that The Modehaus had whitewall tires available for the '50 Olds. I emailed them for more information and got this reply: "This tire is in development. The decision to make it was mentioned to a friend, who mentioned it to a friend, who put it on the internet as current fact. The part will be listed on our internet site soon. The cost will be $9.00/set of four. Delivery time will be as usual - 4-6 weeks."

Huh?