seeker589

That van is Sick!!! I want!!!

I found a whole lot of empty shelves where the Clearence signs were. Must have some modelers in the area!

Yea! I just realized where I had placed my Accurate Miniatures Grand Sport Vette and Tamiya Beetle while chatting with some modelers at work. I was going nuts taking inventory and I knew I hadn't traded or sold them!

Thank you all for your replies! I now have a great many ideas on how to "skin the cat" of cheap scale fittings. Now I need to go searching for a six sided pin vise (mine is knurled and round) and beads at Michael's or A.C.Moore to try these techniques out. Maybe a combination of the three ideas given (Plastruct hex, filed alum. round, and beads) will give a veriety of sizes that can be used for different sized braided line.

Yea! What he said! What craft store do you use? Do you have a part or stock number?

These seem like a reasonable alternative. Getting the hex filed correctly on each bead will be a challenge. Casey Posted Yesterday, 08:04 PM If you're looking for "close enough", you can make tubing, grommets, beads, and styrene rod work, but it's a PITA to put the proper bevels and rounded edges on each fitting, cut them perfectly perpendicular to the rod's long axis, and then drill the hole perfectly centered. Pre-made fittings are not cheap, but they are well worth it IMO, both in terms of time savings and how the finished product looks. I don't think the price has increased all that much since I used them on this project in '95-'96, but I know I never could've gotten homemade fittings and line to look as much like the real parts as the Detail Master parts do. Close enough is close enough. I just can't see paying Detail Master's or Pro-Tech's retail prices. You build one detailed modern race car - your gonna have to buy 20 to 40 dollars on just the fittings. This doesn't include the kit, paint, the braided lines and other detail parts. I just don't see the logic of the expense. Pro-Tech wants $8.95 for eight fittings. Yes, they are beautiful fittings! But almost $9 for eight fittings?! Let's say you invest $60 total materials in the build of a model - not including your labor. Are the two to three packages of fittings really worth 30 to 45% of the entire model's build budget? As a comparison - A friend of mine paid $10 for a small box of 15 to 20 very useable (some new!) 1:1 Russell fittings at a swap meet for use on his race cars. Just some food for thought.

OK the title and sub-title say it all. After seeing $10 for 8 Detail Master fittings, I knew there had to be another way. I'm looking for a cheap way to make fittings and what materials to use for each size fitting. Does it exist? If it doesn't - It needs to!

A perfect example of perfect vehicular casting performed perfectly. Just perfect.

That would make a really cool Autocross or entry level road-racer with a little work - Cage, harness, lowering with racing decals. Do a web search for Improved touring scca.

If you have money - It doesn't mean you have good taste - it just makes it easier to force your taste on others. This car makes me chortle.

I always love those "Scottie's" decals from the Monogram F100 kit! You used them PERFECTLY! Great stance - nice weathering. The whole model just looks 'right'!

NOTHING looks better than a sleek Riviera mild custom. To me it was the high water mark of GM styling. Almost every thing else is not as pretty. Come to think of it - almost every year Riviera is beautiful - even the 80s models. Very nice build! The color is a knock-out!

Nice build! Love the engine! Great look with the Webers.

You do good rust! I love it. The wheels, too - nice contrast.

Now that took some endurance! Get it? Endurance. Nice vision on how these cars look as endurance racers. Your stuff just blows me away!

Great build on a unique subject! The world needs more Lotii! Lotuses?

I hope my first resin kit effort looks half that good! Nice build - good flavor.

Yea! What he said! SICK!!

Love the Cragars! They have a certain flavor that I just love! The grill is BOLD! But it seems to contrast with the peaky body contours. Riviera bodys are svelte and sleek and flow quite nicely from the front to the back. The build is yours - If you feel strongly about the block grill - great. If you use the grill I recommend rounding them to a vertical peak with the front edge running up and down. Mirror the verticle peak of the headlight covers. Great chop! Thanks for sharing.

I never would have thought to scratch-build seats! outstanding! They look great. They will look a bit smaller with some clean-up. The paint is sweet!

I'm digging this build. The Orange and Carbon fiber contrast nicely. I'm not the biggest fan of three spoke rims - but it really works here. Looking good!

Good GOD! This build is progressing very nicely! Your build quality is outstanding! You are blurring the line between hobby and ART. How do you control your heat on the brass to keep from melting joints when bonding adacent joints ?

I wanna know more about the Porsche! The graphics seem to complement the lines of the nose very well and the color selection is very eye catching!

This looks great! One thing that irks me the most in 1:1 scale is when people set suspensions back too far when swapping/upgrading. The forward location of the wheels makes the car look longer, sleeker and faster. Since the car is modified anyway - I would leave it just like it is - maybe even lower! You just can't get those wheels up into them wheel-wells far enough for me!