sjordan2

The Italivette roofline also looks a bit like the Mercedes SLS AMG.

That's pretty awesome. Is there a version with open seating on the roof?

I'm not entirely sure how it works with this magazine, but I have to expect that the editors are constantly contacting the most accomplished members on this forum, and perhaps elsewhere, and asking for their contributions. Am I wrong? How does the magazine handle it? I know there are a couple of Japanese builders at SAM who don't participate here and whose skills are beyond imagination, and I have urged them via personal mail to join this forum, apparently with no success. I also look to other international modeling forums and am continunually blown away by the quality of the work; it's not that difficult to get proper translations and editing done.

New documentary out today in major markets (not here in Knoxville) on the career of legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna. Rave reviews everywhere, winner of Best Documentary at the Sundance Festival and British equivalent of Oscars. Motor Trend says it's the best super hero movie of the year. Some clips available on YouTube. Check movie trailers at Quicktime: http://trailers.appl...ependent/senna/ LA Times review and clips here: http://www.latimes.c...0,1565995.story Another quote from Motor Trend: "The movie is uplifting and crushing, and though it isn't typical Hollywood, it may be the best film about racing ever made." Read more: http://www.motortren...l#ixzz1UqD7QZ78 Release dates by city: http://topalwaysdown.com/2011/08/11/senna-movie-release-by-city/

Just saw some archive photos of the #17 Mustang, and you've done a great job for accuracy. Interesting to note that this post comes during the 41st anniversary week of Jerry Titus' death. This is from motorsportmemorial.org: Notes: While practicing for a Trans-Am race, expert driver and automotive journalist Jerry Titus was killed at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States, when his Pontiac Firebird apparently lost its steering and struck a bridge abutment. He passed away from his injuries on 05 August 1970 at Milwaukee hospital. Jerry Titus had been the 1967 Trans-Am Champion in a Ford Mustang prepared by the Shelby Team, in 1968 and 1969 he was third in the series. In 1969 he scored an impressive 3rd place overall in the Daytona 24 Hours, sharing his Pontiac Firebird with Jon Ward.

Erik, that is just spectacular. Fine, precise work. I'd love to see some shots of the interior.

Mark, your tiny models are like precious jewels, executed with all the skill of your larger builds. Kudos.

This is looking awesome. Did you score the panel lines more than the kit has?

What happened to the pictures?

I was taking a look at the listings at Fantasy Junction and thought you'd be interested in this '59. 75 more shots at the link below. http://www.fantasyjunction.com/cars/1104-Austin%20Healey-Sebring%20Sprite-Original%20Type%20XSP%20Factory%20Racing%20Engine

"Budgeting could be the best way to buy this model. The length of time it takes to build it suggests buying it in sub-assemblies. It would be easier on the pocketbook at any one time and the budget would be the same as buying a number of other models to build over the same length of time. Depending on how much time one can spend on their hobby, the total model could take a couple of years or more to complete. " If this is so Syd, the market for this kit would be comprised of approximately 5 or 6 patient and wealthy modelers worldwide who are willing to deal with it. As much as I admire TDR's mission to turn out something extra-special, the strategy of this eludes me. It is not at all accessible to the most avid Cobra builders. PS: Is that tiny air filter for real?

John, how do you feel about making another silk purse out a sow's ear? I would love to see what you could to with the 1/12 Renwal/Revell/Monogram Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. While the body is reasonably accurate (though it is loaded with ripples and sink marks), the rest of the kit requires about 90% modification and scratchbuilding, and needs a complete tubular space frame. This is an example of blind men describing an elephant, where no one was talking to each other, from the body designer to those who did the rest. I have about 2 GB of reference plus lots of other books and manuals, and I would be happy to send you a free 1/12 kit to start with. It will take you longer to review the reference than to build it. I can advise you every step of the way. This car is my number one passion, and I have never seen one done accurately or with enough detail, and I haven't had the opportunity to approach it myself.

Where did you get the kit? Was it new, or was it used from a second-hand source? If these parts aren't shown on the instructions, they look like parts from another kit.

And without the side seams. As for the opening hatch, Bandai's rare and megabucks 1/12 kit had it. Don't know how accurate the rest is. Harry did a nice job on opening the hatch on his (still unfinished) Monogram kit. I still want an accurate 1/12 or 1/8 kit of the 300 SL Gullwing and Ferrari 275 GTB.

Show him your car, Harry

I forgot to mention that today, most of the kind of stencils I was describing are laser-cut, providing incredibly fine detail. Over the years, I've received samples from printing houses with amazingly complicated lace patterns and once, even a spider web. It might be worth talking to a sign company or custom T-shirt shop to see what they can do for you if you want to use stencils to paint the white part. I'm sure it won't be cheap.

I don't know exactly HOW ALPS art needs to be prepared, but I would imagine the white parts would have to be created as a separate file layer. My guess is it's something like silk screen printing, where a photoetched stencil would need to be created for laying down the white color (in silk screen, same goes for each different color). You'll note that the decals in some kits, such as the Dukes of Hazzard Charger, come in 2 stages, with the white decals to be laid down first, then the color parts applied over them. This looks like a relatively easy-to-follow tutorial: http://www.clubhyper...ustomDecals.htm EDIT: The 2-stage General Lee decals I saw the other day may have been aftermarket.

The big question is whether the artwork requires having some parts in white against colored background paint. Kinko's can't print white on clear decal paper, and the art needs to be specially prepared for an ALPS printer.

Old-Hermit and Grandpa: Can you guys save this for your checkers game at the retirement home? Loving this build, Don, what's next?

You'd probably be better off finding a 69-70 charger and building your own clone. There are plenty of ways to do it, and experienced custom shops, that are on the Internet. Otherwise, you would be into even bigger (REALLY BIGGER) money to retain a reputable dealer such as Fantasy Junction or The Auto Collections to seek and negotiate for you for anything that's close to a real studio car. In any case, you'll easily be pushing into six figures.

Just to add something on a similar subject, at the same time I was at Warner Bros., I took a tour of Disney studios and saw the storage area of the studio backlot, which was covered in a sea of about 3 dozen white VW beetles in various states of disrepair - Herbie, The Love Bug.

The sad fact is that no one can surely document which was an original General Lee TV car. Some restorers say they rescued one or two from the studio back lot dump - hero car or stand-in, who knows. Supposedly they kept either original gold or blue/green engine bay and underhood-under trunk lid body parts, one restorer says they had an original that they added air conditioning to, it's endless. About the only documentable car is John Schneider's "Bo's General Lee," created for the 1997 reunion TV movie, which sold for $285,500 at Barrett-Jackson in 2009. When I was at Warner Bros., I'd often lurk around in the prop department. They had a glass case with movie treasures, including about a dozen copies of the Maltese Falcon. No one knew for sure which ones were used in the movie or how many were just for standbys.

As shown in the image above, it appears that the Roadrunner/Superbird decals with a choice of black or white lettering would only be available from the original issue of the Revell Petty Superbird. Is that kit expensive or hard to find? It would be hard to imagine a Superbird build without the roadrunner decals.

We have no factory specs on the heavily modified General Lee, which bears little resemblance to a factory car. Remember, the show ran from 1979 to 1985, and the cars were from 1969 and 1970. All we would have to go by would be records from car suppliers Andre and Renaud Veluzat, then Ken Fritz, and eventually in-house at Warner Bros., with studio prop department work orders. And, having worked as an intern at Warner Brothers (prior to DoH) and watched their automotive department at work on a Bugatti Atalante, Packards and lesser cars, I can tell you that the work was pretty haphazard. It would be interesting to see screen shots of anything on DoH that shows the hood open, and whether such shots match up with each other over time. And, as I mentioned above, there were over 200 stunt cars used for the crashes, most of them similar to the hero cars only with the paint job and graphics, so nothing about them is particularly relevant.

Yeah, it started out innocently enough, with a simple question about which way to go with a 1/16 build. Somehow, any discussion on this subject seems to deteriorate, though in this particular case I found some good advice, for which I am grateful. Anyway, as I mentioned above, I would still like to see nominations for a great build of the General Lee. Wouldn't you? Should I start a new thread? After all, this is possibly the most discussed build among all those ever posted on this forum, and I say again that I think it would be of interest to experienced and new General Lee builders. I bring this up because most of what I see here is criticisms about what's wrong with these kits and builds, and no one ever proposes what's right. However, I have a feeling that as soon as someone posts their idea of a good build, it will be like trying to get off of an LST at Omaha Beach.