2002p51

First of all, well said Bluesman Mark. Now, I hesitate to even bring this up, but I just went from here to another thread and the very first thing I saw makes our point exactly. In this case it's the photos that are bad. Maybe the models are too but the photos are so out of focus that you can't really tell anything about the models. And what do you suppose is the very first response? Yep, you're right; ". . .great job. . ."

Then none of the rest of us learn anything! Honest, constructive criticism can not only benefit the builder of the model but also anybody else reading the thread who may be struggling with the same issues. There is a vast pool of knowledge and experience in this community. It is of no use to anyone if it isn't shared.

I agree with Jantrix on this. When you come here you should be wearing your big boy pants. Criticism, constructive or otherwise, is how things get better. Saying nothing out of the fear of hard feelings is counter productive. We're all adults here, at least most of us, (or we all should at least act like adults) so we shouldn't need Romper Room manners.

Okay, you asked for it. No deep gloss here: Or here: Not here: And certainly not here:

And that's exactly my point. If I was building an AMBR winner, (Highly unlikely BTW ) I'd load on the clear. If I was building a more practical, everyday street rod, not so much. The point remains that the level of finish should be appropriate for the subject matter. Oh, and seeing as how I have a '28 roadster, a '47 Mercury coupe, and now a '62 Falcon, I get to plenty of show and shines.

I have never agreed with this philosophy on the hobby. My goal with every model I build is to attempt to duplicate the look of a real car. Whether it be a replica of a race car that actually existed, or a fictional one, a factory stock, or even a street rod that exists only in my mind, the finish MUST match what the real car would've or should've had. So no, I don't believe you should shine it up how you want it.

Excellent work. WOW!

It really depends on the subject. A full on show car should be very glossy. A factory stock replica, not so much. Race cars too, most race car modelers go over the top with multiple clear coats and polishing.

That's correct. They ARE sprint cars. If you look closely at them, you can still see the same basic shape of the tail. That's about all that's left!

It's a similar car in design and layout but larger and more powerful. "Back in the day", as they always say, a driver would start his career in track roadsters and jalopies. If he was good he would usually get a ride in a midget. The midgets raced on smaller tracks. Then, the next step in progressions would be the sprint cars,like this model. Sprint cars were larger, raced mostly on half-mile tracks, and usually for no more than 50 laps. The really good sprint car drivers would get a ride in the "big cars" or "champ cars". These cars were bigger yet and raced almost exclusively on 1 mile dirt tracks in races of 100 miles. The champ car season also included the Indy 500, and races on pavement like Milwaukee and Trenton. This was the big time in open wheel racing. But even after making it to the big time, many of the drivers continued to run sprints and midgets because they could make a living doing it and they loved to race. And I'm sorry, that was a way longer answer than you probably wanted!

Oh I like this one just fine, I'm happy with it. It's just that it isn't what anybody would call "contest ready", if you know what I mean!

Well, this one will never grave a contest table, but I'm calling it done. The fit of the body panels isn't the greatest, but that's kind of a trademark of the Grant King kit. I modified the rear and side nerf bars and scratch built the roll bar using Evergreen styrene rod. The windscreen and cowling gave me fits and it was repainted three times! Wheels and tires are from the parts box, rear tires are hand grooved drag slicks. Here's the link to the "On The Workbench" thread: Offy powered Sprint car under construction As usual, comments and criticism are welcome, PC comments are discouraged!

That's something I've done with every Grant King kit I've ever built. I always thought AMT got the nose too tall.

Update! Spent much of the day in paint and decals. Paint is Model Master Classic White and Chevrolet Engine Red. The decals are from an old Chris Etzel sheet. The roll bar is made from .080" Evergreen rod. And of course, now that everything is glued in place, the hood no longer fits like it did in mock-up. I still need to make nerf bars all around and the exhaust, but this thing is getting close to being done!

Building up that Revell midget got me in the mood for more open wheel dirt cars. So I dug out this long ago stalled project, an Offenhauser powered sprint car. Here's a mock-up of the work so far: It's based on an AMT Grant King sprint car kit. I cut the nose and the side panels down to give the hood a better line. The rear nerf bar has also been modified with some Evergreen rod. The engine is from an AMT Watson roadster. Since these photos, I've revised the intakes, made a roll bar from .080" Evergreen rod, and shot the base white color on the body panels.

This really is the essence of it. An artist doesn't paint each individual leaf on a tree, or the veins on the leaves. He or she just makes some dabs of paint and from a normal viewing distance we see them as leaves. The same goes for a model car. Unless you're a really intense contest judge, the normal viewing distance from our models is from about 15 scale feet on out. What can you see on a 1:1 scale car from fifteen feet away? I'm a firm believer in the adage if you can't see it, the model doesn't need it. For example, there are no pedals of any kind in 90% of my models. (I can hear all the purists gasping in horror right now) But looking at a typical closed car, coupe or sedan, you can't see down in there, so if the model has separate pedals they stay on the sprue. I spend my time on more important things like what Dave said above; proportions, colors, appropriate finish (This is mostly missed on race cars), stance, and believability.

And an excellent one it was. He's right on all counts Kiddies. That's the way it all came down.

I'm opening a Swiss bank account, I'll let you know.

Check it out: Click here for all the details.

You know what, it just looks like too much work to be worth it for me. It's kinda like building an accurate 2010 NHRA Top Fuel car. There's virtually nothing from a kit that will work. I see these T/F models at shows and contests and I take my hat off to those guys who do them right. But at this point in my hobby career I just don't want to work that hard. The new NASCAR racer (I just can't call it the COT anymore) is wider and taller than the old car. So frame and roll cage from the old kits won't fit. So to get it right you'd have to scratch build everything. There's no correct current engine available (And believe me, they look very different these days) so there's more scratch building. So let's say I do all that work, and I have a chassis that's fine scale in every way. What then, put that thick, heavy snap kit body on it? Nope. Building an accurate fine scale NASCAR Cup car from that snap kit doesn't interest me in the least. I'm having more fun right now tackling much easier projects.

I'm sorry, but this looks like a toy car, not a scale model. If they want my $20, they're going to have to work a lot harder than this.

I've done that too. You're not using the spray can, just the paint that was in the spray can. There are two main reasons for not using spray cans; 1) You have no control over the spray pattern 2) You're trying to apply a 1/25 scale paint job with a 1:1 scale spray nozzle. It just puts out way too much paint!

I'm an old poop who's well set in his ways. I use Testors Model Master line almost exclusively, both for brush painting and airbrushing. Spray cans are for painting patio furniture, not model cars.

Yes. Depends on the car. Actually most often they are connected to the frame, down low, near the rear end.

I'm with you. I wish all model cars "tires" were made of the same plastic as the rest of the kit. It's much easier to make them look real with various paints. I do like resin tires, like those from Modelhause and others. But rubber or the usual vinyl, hate 'em!