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sjordan2

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Everything posted by sjordan2

  1. According to the article, they have at least SIX Miuras.
  2. Yes, I love those HDR images, very revolutionary in the capabilities of today's photography. I bet you were among the old school of photographers who used a bank of strobe lights and had to wait until the transparencies were processed to see what you got, without getting an immediate look on a laptop. I've always been amazed at the capabilities of pros who use strobes.
  3. For styrene materials - sheet, rod, strips, etc. - the most common brands are Evergreen and Plastruct. These are in supply at HobbyTown USA (at least, that's my source). For other bits and pieces and materials, you might find inspiration checking out the diorama and other supplies in the model train section of your hobby shop.
  4. So, in what category would you enter a super-detailed model like John Teresi's Bentley or many others? It replicates the original 1:1 car, using a vast amount of scratchbuilt parts and materials not found in the box, without "customizing" the appearance or mechanicals of the 1:1..
  5. Just bumping this up. Someone commented on the last one, so it rose to the top above this one and confused my addled brain.
  6. Whether it's Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or a wide variety of good (and cheaper) photo editing software, you can save a lot of agony by doing the best lighting you can up front. I remember, back in the day, when I worked with an ad agency art director who had once been in charge of shooting the Mercedes-Benz catalogs; at the time, Mercedes prohibited ANY retouching on the photos of their cars, and this was in the early 70s before computer retouching was available. To get the perfect shots, the agency and photographer had a large staff of people to set up lighting and were continually polishing and dusting the cars. That was particularly tough if you had a location in the mountains or desert, where dust was flying and light conditions were changing by the minute -- especially during the preferred "Golden Hour," when the sun was close to setting at a lower angle, and the colors were warmer on the background. But even on location, the cars had heavy lighting, with scrims and reflectors all around. And it all had to be done so you didn't see equipment and people reflected in the car's paint or chrome.
  7. The key is, forget about reflections, mirrors, water, etc. First learn how to make the car look right regardless of environment. This is not simple, and a search of tabletop/still life photography will lead you to better answers. It's more about how to shoot those general subjects than how to shoot a model car.
  8. This won't give you much in the way of specific technique, but it you look at the way this guy sets up his amazing shots of 1:1 cars. it could lead you to new improvements. The key is to have very diffuse overhead lighting, with a light from above on paper to highlight the top, then organizing your lighting from minilights at strategic locations to add highlights. For models, I recommend searching tabletop photography. http://www.photodesignstudios.com/video.html
  9. I just got my copies of the videos yesterday. I'll be watching them this week.
  10. Two years? You can see very minute in it.
  11. How about a plastic squirrel model kit? Putting on the fur flocking was a major pain. But this probably belongs in Kit Reviews or General.
  12. The Alumilite website also has an instructional video. http://www.alumilite.com/
  13. ...such as...(he's dead, so let's hear the dish)...
  14. Maybe they have enough millions already that it doesn't mean anything to them. Like I said, these guys are cuckoo. And if you don't read the article, including info about the guard dogs that will eat anyone who comes close, you won't get it.
  15. Nothing "toy-like" on this build, Beautiful job on a rare kit.
  16. Klein died in 2001. It is his sons who are running the business, and the magazine description of flattened tires and 30 years of grime is based on witnesses who have seen the car since then. The Town & Country writer was not allowed access to the car, but he based his description on what he learned from Mike Kunz, who runs Mercedes' corporate Classic Center in Irvine, CA and made the offer to the brothers for free restoration.
  17. I doubt that this story has much to do with selling an upscale women's fashion and style magazine, and certainly would attract little attention on the newsstand for their audience. The cover story is about Ali MacGraw. Christian: Please add to your story of the guy who wouldn't buy the car. I'm looking for every shred of information I can find.
  18. The Mercedes Classic Center IS Mercedes; it's part of the company. (BTW, where did you find that shot of the car being uncovered?) Here are some other cars that the Town & Country article says are crumbling at the facility, including one of 29 alloy-bodied Gullwings:
  19. The brothers are crazy. You should read the article in Town & Country.
  20. My biggest question is what the interior looks like, since there are no known photos and since there were differences between the dashboards in the convertible roadsters and fixed-head hardtop coupes; open-air roadsters had leather dash surfaces, and most coupes had wooden dashes. One of the people who has seen this car in the past few years is Mike Kunz, head of the Mercedes Classic Center USA; I have sent him an e-mail asking a few questions, and they have been good in the past about getting back to me.
  21. I've been doing a lot of research over the past year or so to help with my Jo-Han 1935 Mercedes 500K, and pictures are as rare as this one-off car itself. It was originally built by Mercedes as a gift for their #1 race driver, Rudi Caracciola. Then it was bought by Benito Mussolini as a gift for his nephew (whom he later had executed). It eventually passed into the hands of a zillionaire butcher named Rudi Klein, who had it restored in 1965. When it failed to start after a 1980 Newport Beach show, he put it into a garage at his exotic car salvage yard in South Central L.A., and it hasn't been seen since except by a couple of people. His eccentric heirs won't let anyone near it. The Mercedes Classic Center even offered to restore it for free, but they wouldn't agree. It is the subject of an article in the February issue of Town & Country magazine, which states that it now sits on flattened tires, covered with 30 years of grime, perhaps never to see the light of day again. It has been estimated that this could be the most valuable Mercedes in history. The kit... The original car as built for Caracciola... The car as restored in 1965... ...and its current home in South Central L.A., next to some roadside taco stands.
  22. One nice thing about going rusty & crusty is that you can save a lot of shelf space.
  23. The Food Network ran a reality series in 2010-2011 called "The Great Food Truck Race," which should provide plenty of inspiration. http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/The-Great-Food-Truck-Race_24018/
  24. Yup. And that's why I can't believe how politicized some of the spots became, not just here but in the media at large. The Eastwood spot is very controversial, and I still don't understand it. I'm surprised that no one has referred to the Skechers French Bulldog spot as a Freedom Bulldog spot (ancient reference. For those under 30, several years ago the French government tried to cleanse the French language by banning American words like "blue jeans" and "hamburger." With tongue in cheek, there was a responding American movement to rename "French fries" as "freedom fries." Everybody's got a problem with something.).
  25. CLINT EASTWOOD DID NOT WRITE THE BLEEPING AD!! It was guys like me, a professional ad agency copywriter (in my case, with over 30 years writing for Exxon, Texas Instruments and other nefarious companies, working for some of the world's largest ad agencies) trying to put together a commercial that was noble and reflected an important message celebrating the American worker, that few other companies would do (Probably written with the help and approval of countless agency and Chrysler people). If you've got the money to hire an American, all-around icon like Clint Eastwood and he agrees with the concept, that's a creative wet dream for people like me. There is not a single selling point about a single Chrysler product except for their sponsorship logo at the end, all part of an image campaign for the company - which I guarantee you doesn't want to alienate ANYONE. Why would you spend countless millions to develop and produce such a spot, then spend $3.5 million just to air it once, if you thought there was a problem? I absolutely cannot believe the kind of ###### that jerks like Karl Rove read into these spots.
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