Jairus

A Q-tip and a rusty nail, but I understand that this is generally not for everyone....

Yup, Rod & Custom magazine used to have a regular model column! Not only that, but they started a periodical called "Rod & Custom MODELS", which ran for about a dozen issues or so.... In 1964 R&C paid a visit to AMT so lets see what they saw: Don't 'cha wish you could go back in time? Really a shame that the current owners of AMT have let it degenerate from a leading force in the hobby to the shadow that it has become? I fault RC2 and all the stupid greedy managers... but that is another story!

When I was a snot nose kid... my 3rd all-time job was working at a car lot. I suppose the year was 1976 or so and the owner had me changing batteries, washing cars and warming them up each day. I even got the chance to drive most of them too. The car he drove home each night was whatever the heck he wanted to drive because he had his pick of the fleet! One day it would be a '72 Chevy Nova with a 3 speed and another day it might be a '70 Chrysler New Yorker. We sold about a car a day and he seemed to manage to keep the lot full somehow.... I remember one day I was washing an AMC Matador and my Boss began mumbling about needing to run an errand or something. Anyway, he jumped into a bright/light green 1971 Mustang coupe with hubcaps and no extras except a 351 Cleveland, air and auto. He then... promptly drove off the curb and burned rubber half way down the block! So, if you had your chance to take any one of more than a dozen cars home each night.... what would you choose? P.S. One day he showed up with a converted Volks Wagen van with a 70's ish Popular Mechanics inspired fiberglass body on it. He was sooooo proud and I could hardly keep from gagging.... P.P.S. The little green pine tree air freshener always brings me back to those days because the Boss (cannot remember his name) put them in nearly every car. P.P.P.S. There was a '70 Datsun 4 door station wagon on that lot nearly the whole time I worked there.... I wonder if it's still there...

Are those spring shackles really brass or just plated plastic? I am thinking that the brass is pretty enough and your build is beautiful. But, the real car would NEVER use brass in this location! Brass is too soft a material for such a critical part. J

Ajulia, Bill is correct and furthermore there are some details do not reduce well at all! There are tiny details on cars that would virtually disappear when reduced to 1/25th. So we usually will "fake" it by giving the illusion that all the details are present. For instance, the coil usually has two wires screwed to the top along with the thick power wire to the distributor. Very few modelers will bother adding those wires because they would be about as thin as a human hair in all reality. Yes, I started on the Martini-Porsche! Cleaned and sanded the body, mounted it on the chassis and vacuum formed an interior yesterday. Today I hope to prime and get a coat of silver on it so it can cure for a few days before decaling. Actually building three of those cars by the way! Besides the Porsche there is also a 1970 Ferrari 512S Coda Lunga and a Ford GT40 MkII at the same time! J

Colin Spark is the guy to talk to about the wheels and rubber. Did I give you a link to the web site? By the way, it took me 3 weeks to get a reply to my email when I purchased a set of tires a couple of months ago. Colin was on "Holiday" when I sent MY first request. The "we are on vacation" message was on the home page of his web site which I missed! Needless to say he was disappointed at my "rudeness" after he read my three emails accusing him of ignoring me. It all worked out eventually. Anyway I just read the home page and he mentions that he and his buddy both work full time jobs so they may be slow to respond but are not ignoring you. Just be patient. As for the Lexan, I hear it is hard to find in Europe. I will ask around and see if I can find some friends over there who can connect you. J P.S. Nice web site!

Must been the rare air in Oregon... but what?

Steve, you are an uppity dude arn't 'cha? I shall remember you in the future...

WHADEVER! I have corrected more spelling errors of other persons posts on this forum than you have dollars in the bank I'll wager my friend.... sheesh. :D

Your welcome Dylan! But the web site was Gregg's brain child and he pays the bills. I just check in from time to time to make sure the kiddys are all playing nice in the sandbox.

Very cool looking build so far Harry! I am looking forward to seeing this one. A note on the wood.... if I had heard you were going to use balsa for the wood planks I've tried to talk you into using "Bass wood" instead. The grain is denser, the wood stronger and it looks more realistic in my opinion. BUT, you pulled it off with the balsa my friend. I agree, the look is perfect!

Thank you Ken! You may have a point there about the custom painting... I knew there was a reason I wanted a two car garage!

Dave is right! 91% rubbing alcohol is your best choice as nail polish remover is actually acetone with perfumes and will damage the plastic.

This is a completely scratch built Ferrari P3.... ah, slotcar.

Welcome Ron and thank you for READING the rules the of this board. TOO many do NOT!

Wow Guys, fantastic answers and a lot to think about so I guess I should post a response. Ok, this is the deal. I have been building slot cars “for hire†for the last year now. The graphics & illustration market has dropped off of late… AMT is no longer asking me for work because they want the office secretaries to pull stupid images off the internet or some such rot… but we won’t go into that right now. Johnny Lightening, who I lived off for 3 years, is pretty much going the Hot Wheels route of a generic blister card. Auto World keeps saying “projects coming soonâ€â€¦. Revell’s, Ed Sexton went on to other jobs recently… and they also keep saying “projects coming soonâ€! Accurate Miniatures basically has been mouthing the same words… but THAT has been going on 2 years now!! I cannot live on “projects coming soonâ€, so I have to either make money in my home studio doing something, ANYTHING or get a full time job working at Wally World! (All the good Graphic Arts offices are in Portland and I am NOT GOING TO COMMUTE!) So, I have been keeping busy…. VERY BUSY by building vintage slot car replicas and painting Lexan bodies along with writing articles for Model Cars Magazine. Okay enough background, the Resin Porsche is just one of many projects that a slotter dude sent over to assemble and paint. Even though he talked me down some on my price, I feel that I am still in the ballpark. No, I am not getting rich. Heck I still wait for the “shut-off notice†before paying a bill. But I am not starving, nor will I go away anytime soon. But the builds sent over require only a chassis assemble, mounting, paint/decals and Tamiya clear coat. I DO NOT DO POLISHING! Most of my paint jobs don’t need it as I learned a long time ago how to get very smooth paint! However, the customer has asked me to build up interiors and put in a provided driver figure. Each project is a little different so flat rates do not apply HERE but still a viable business opportunity none the less. Thanks to all who provided me information and I open up this thread to further discussion on the subject of building models for hire. P.S. Steve and Bill asked something like: “why make a fun hobby a business?†Because I LOVE it! I really like avoiding the stupid office politics of working in a business. The commute from bed to toilet to coffee pot takes only a few minutes. PLUS I get to listen to the radio as loud as I want with nobody complaining. I have a good work ethic so I can get a LOT done in 8 to 10 hours and I am home when my daughter gets out of school! The only way life can be better would be if….. ah, .. I can’t think of anything so never mind.

This is the perfect way to make parts from a 1/24th fit a 1/25th scale model! Excellent tip, I might have to "borrow" it for the "Ask Gregg & Jairus" collumn in Model Cars Magazine. 'course you get the credit! ubermodel, the site police have been notified of your failure to abide by forum rules. Please put your name in the "signature box" found in your My Controls section. Thanks! (Otherwise, how can I give you credit for this fine tip? Hmmmmm?)

Mike, Link to what? Pros: The 1/24th Boss 429 body is scaled beautifully, looks great from any angle and seems perfectly rendered. Heck, even the hood dosn't fit right just like the real car! Cons: Grill is not recessed deep enough. Front suspension is way too simplified. I have built two of these Boss 429 kits, modified actually... Built one into a Boss 302 before the kit came out and the other into a 1969 GT Convertible (pictures of which are buried somewhere in this forum). For a resin caster to make the correct parts for a conversion means that the master maker needs, NEEDS, NEEDS to have the car in his garage to get the shape of the headlights and grill correct. I owned one for 7 years and still messed up my conversion with my scratchbuilt front end. Other corrections for conversion are the entire exhaust system has to be converted, front chin valance corrected, the rear shocks corrected, the front fender braces converted from one piece to two and of course the taillights/panel changed. Oh and the seats are wrong for 1969 as well or so I believe....

Why cancel? The answer is yes, you can view the forum without the subscription... but why not keep both? The magazine contains a lot more that is not on the forum.... and likewise, there are things on the forum that are not in the magazine. I would say that you need both!

Actually.... it is worth it! Bare metal foil contains very thin material that works perfect, and has just the right amount of tacky glue. Using this glue is great if you can find thin metal foil to use. Aluminum sheet foil like you would wrap around your roast in the oven is just not thin enough in my personal opinion.

I guess that explains why nobody was listed as the writer and builder for that article.... Mike, the issues were put in the mail about a week ago but they do not hit everybody’s mail box at the same time unfortunately. Depending upon where you are located in the USA, some readers may not receive their copies for two weeks. Gregg is one of them as Hawaii gets the issues flown to them via pigeon from what I understand....

From the Local Hobby shop of course! Sheesh..... Hey, by the way when you register with a "handle", forum rules state that you MUST post your real name in each post. Easiest way to do this is to put your name in a "signature box" which is found in the "My Controls" section of this board. Failure to do so will result in suspension of posting abilities. Thanks for complying... Jairus - Moderator

Jee, thanks Rick...

Opening doors, hoods and trunks are great. All openings should have some sort of hinges or don't bother opening them! There is nothing worse than making a judge or friend feel stupid when he or she picks up the model only to drop the hood when turning the car over to see your "superdetailing"! Right? So I always add a hinge... and latch if possible. As for wheels, the first time a car rolled off the detail stand and onto the floor.... that was when I decided to glue the wheels solid!!!! Are we building toys here or "STATIC" scale models? Hmmmmm?

I have been painting clear slot car bodies for 3 years professionally. I have been painting Slot Car hard bodies for just a little less. I have been building and painting model cars for more years than I care to think about, some of them professionally but mostly for myself. For those of you who paint well... and know what goes into prep, painting, decaling, clearcoating AND rubbing out for a beautiful finish.... What would you charge a customer to paint something like this? Please post your estimate for the number of hours you think it will take you as well. Thanks! There are no right answers here, nor are any of you going to get to do this one.... sorry.