Chillyb1

Are you thinking of any in particular? I've built several and would only warn you off of the 360s; they are not good. The 612, besides being the only one available, is a really nice kit. The Enzo is a good inexpensive alternative to the Fujimi or Tamiya kits. The 430, though similar to the 360, is a much better kit. The more recent ones I've not built (599, California, 458) are all getting very high marks from modelers on this forum and elsewhere on the Interweb.

Here's one I found when I visited a couple of years ago: http://www.thehobbydepot.com/. Highly recommended. They extended to me an out-of-towner discount just to be nice. Excellent, extensive selection and good (not great) prices. And one kindly patron even drove me back to my motel when I mentioned that I'd walked there and thought I was going to die because of the unbearable heat! How do those people stand it?

One of these days I'm going to have to start listening to your advice, Donn. I've always found the #5 on my VL to be overkill. I'm not sure if I doing something wrong when I use it, but it never satisfies. I use my #3 almost exclusively. Maybe I need to experiment more with both the #1 and #5 needles. They are so easy to change, it isn't like that's what's stopping me. Sometimes I see that dreaded "tiger stripe" when I'm painting but find that it disappears when the paint dries. Anyway, good luck with your new airbrush. You are going to love using it.

While I recognize your great good fortune and am happy for you, I wouldn't take any of those kits if you paid me. And I sure don't want to build any of them either. This is one of the things I love about scale automobile modeling: the vast, vast diversity of subjects available to us. I think a lot of us probably fantasize about scores like this, but substituting our own preferences, of course. I am glad your got your desired goodies.

Are you using an airbrush or shooting straight from the can? Airbrushed, the stuff is dry as it is going to get about a second after it hits the surface. The cans shoot more paint and, therefore, it can take a couple minutes to dry. Either way, you don't have to wait any significant period of time before clearing or sealing it. Post up some photos of your result when you get the chance.

I've used it as well as both the buffing and nonbuffing aluminum varieties and they are outstanding. They will cover in one coat and will stick to bare plastic. The sealer for metalizer is a good product to use on top of it if you are planning to leave it as bare metal.

Rob, you'll be hearing from my lawyers. I think those decals are way beyond ugly. In any event, I think this is my favorite GTO. I really like the looks of mid-sixties Pontiacs. I don't build a lot of American cars but do have a strong desire to build one of these.

Yes, that is seriously cool. It is a rare thing to see.

This thing is just gorgeous in these colors.

Man, oh, man, is that cool or what? I love it. Do all the carbon fiber decals come with kit? You've done an excellent job. And what about the tire markings? Did you do that yourself or are decals involved?

That is a spectacular delight. The first picture is just captivating. I can't stop staring at it.

That's very cool. I'm not a fan of Camaros in general, and only this first generation appeals to me. This one in particular is outstanding.

It is refreshing to see this kind of build coming from you, Marcos. Who knows, maybe you'll switch over to nothing but open-wheel and Le Mans racers now. Who makes the kit?

Rodney, I'm loving the retractable armor over the windows. I've been trying to come up with some way to do something similar. I'll try to get some photos of my project once I finalize all the stuff I'll be using. Keep up the inspiring work, folks.

So what's your verdict, Pat? It looks good in the pictures and the decals seem comprehensive.

How did I miss Barry's arrival? Glad to see you here. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my Volkswagen. But I'm sure I'll draw some inspiration from all the cool vehicles you guys are coming up with. Keep it up!

I use the lighter method but it requires more than one pass with the lighter. As you noted, keep your distance and allow the heat shrink stuff to shrink a little bit at a time. It usually takes three tries to get it where I want it.

I've often wondered what those Arii kits were like; they have some wonderful Porsches not undertaken by other manufacturers. Anyway, I guess you pulled off quite a save. Looks great to me.

Rodney, that is very cool looking welding. I've been considering whether or not I want to try something like that on my build. It just looks awesome!

I almost skipped over this thread, then my eye caught the name "raisin" and I just had to check it out. Long time, no see. It is a very pleasant treat to see another of your builds after such a long absence. Very clean, very cool.

Gentlemen, here's an example of Alclad chrome on top of Tamiya's TS-14 gloss black: I think it looks magnificent.

Here's how the wheels in the above thread turned out:

Take it whatever way you want, but the pictures do nothing for the build. Delete all the blurry ones and take some daylight photos so we can see what you've done.

I usually peel off as much of the paint skin as I can and throw that away. The rest of the putty and what little bit of paint is residual mixes together for reuse. I imagine there is a finite number of times one can do this, but I haven't reached that point so far with just two containers of putty in use. It doesn't melt it exactly, but it does make it really, really sticky and stringy. So, I add this word of caution: Never, ever try to remove the putty before the paint is dry. And refrigerate the parts for a little bit before removing the putty because it comes off more easily when below room temperature.

I shoot them as-is after settling. If I have paint left over and I don't use it for a while, then I add a little lacquer thinner and that seems to work fine. I wanted to chime in on this, too. The most notable feature of the paints to which Scale-Master refers is that they are almost impossibly glossy right out of the can. I absolutely love the maroon. These are without any clear coat: