sjordan2

So, it's 183 miles from Chicago to the Hall of Fame in Indianapolis - 3 hours by car. If I was going to undertake a project like that, I'd take a Pantone color chart book and a few camera memory cards and hit the road.

Interesting to note that in my Jo-Han 1/25 kit of the Mercedes 500K coupe - tooled in the late 60s - they took extra pains to make the mold lines follow the curvature of the character lines on the fenders, making them virtually unnoticeable. To me, this is one of the best-engineered kits I've ever dealt with, though there are plenty of mold lines on mechanical bits like shock absorbers.

One of the worst things about mold lines is when you find them on chrome parts. You pretty much have to destroy the plating to remove them.

Harry described well how it works. In this image of a 1/12 Mercedes Gullwing, you can see a really bad vertical mold line between the rear wheel and rear bumper, requiring some heavy-duty sanding to remove it. That's the least of this kit's problems.

Great job. PS: My guess is that the wide-angle lens just makes it look like the camber is off.

Here's a guy who built some 1/8 versions for the 100th anniversary. Maybe he could help with plans: http://blog.hemmings...scale-replicas/

Try this version and you won't stress about accuracy.

As I do with my research for some other kits in large scale, I'd start by getting a detailed diecast in smaller scale to analyze what's needed.

In my opinion, constructive criticism based on knowledge and experience (not opinions of taste) is not merely directed at the builder, but is something the rest of us can learn from.

We have a number of people here who are either currently employed or have been employed in the past by model car companies, such as Art Anderson, and quite a few who are now professionally involved in the aftermarket. I will leave it up to them to describe their backgrounds. Just be assured that we are fortunate to have many members who have upfront knowledge about model manufacturing and building.

The body looks good but the top of the windhshield frame is really warped. I'm curious as to why you took this same subject from General into this forum.

Sophia Loren knew how to do it right. And I'm sure she still does.

Very nice job on a low-detail kit that has a good body shape but not much else. Interesting how your wide whitewalls make the too-small tires look right.

That's an interesting observation. I REALLY like the skill that has gone into this kit, but you raise a point that I think is important to a lot of builds. I see so many other great pieces of work with engines that could benefit from parts that are not overly large, especially plug wires, hoses, wiring, belts, etc. It seems to me that it's better to go a bit too small than too large in those areas. Same goes for things like carpet flocking and metallic paint, which often (to me) seem way overscale.

The Hubley kit is very low in detail, and the windshield part of a Gullwing won't help you much since they're quite a bit different. Italeri made a much more detailed 1/24 version, but the shape of the windshield and frame is totally wrong - same problem with their 1/16 version, which is just an enlarged tooling of the 1/24. The only accurate roadster windshield I know of in 1/24 is on the Franklin Mint diecast. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=italeri+mercedes+300+sl&num=10&hl=en&safe=off&gbv=2&biw=1367&bih=764&tbm=isch&tbnid=nO5iWbtQydSNMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gohobbies.com/item/Italeri-Models/658.html&docid=UlNU3-3qg55p-M&itg=1&imgurl=http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/graphics/ITA/L658.jpg&w=214&h=187&ei=tLpLT86AMcGCtgfP55TvAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1001&vpy=344&dur=2578&hovh=149&hovw=171&tx=101&ty=92&sig=116823798308775703427&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=124&tbnw=131&start=0&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0

If you're running out of room to store images on your hard drive, just open an account at Photobucket or Fotki and keep them there - or burn them to CD, use a flash drive or get an external hard drive. Or get more memory for your laptop.

Excellent craftsmanship and paint, a beautiful piece of work! But while others have been dancing around it, I'll just go ahead and say that, in my personal opinion, the interior color doesn't go with the body paint at all.

Dave Z, I couldn't find your original post about all these people leaving, but do you have figures and evidence on this?

In my personal opinion, I think that a place for good links to tutorial sites would be good. I don't see how this site can be managed to provide FAQs with all things to all people. We already have the "Tips, tricks, etc." and "How Do I...?" topics, but they're not organized and I don't see how they can be. Plus, the search function on this site is very iffy. Otherwise, there are tons of good sites and topics out there, from around the world, that can be answered with a Google search.

So...what's uncivil?

Just ask questions about the General Lee and see what happens.

Any suggestions for either a laser printing service like Kinko's or a home inkjet printer that can reproduce the sharpest, finest detail for instrument gauges, engine compartment labels and ID plates, etc? I see stuff on Franklin Mint decals, such as 1/24 shift knob patterns, that are unbelievable. (The answer is NOT to increase printer resolution - that just lays down more ink that blends together.)

Few plastic model hobbyists can aspire to the quality of the high-end diecasts that Harry mentioned, and I'll toss in CMA's resin/plastic products. There are certainly others with jaw-dropping quality and detail. But maybe next time, the best comment would be: "Wow, that's awesome! Are you a professional model builder?" (Be sure to sound as unctuous as a groupie.) After all, who wants to be brought down by giving a compliment, and find out that the guy is a jerk when he objects to being compared to the high-end Mints?

Many of you are probably aware of the awesome models built by Marshall Buck and Creative Miniatures Associates. I just discovered that they put up a video with a short tour of his facility and an interview with him. Lots of eye candy. http://www.cmamodels.com/

I think we need to hear from the original poster about how many of these models are in kit form in the boxes, and how many are built. This is very vague. As mentioned above, a good overall photo of what's involved here is necessary.