Erik Smith

Beautiful builds. I really like the '62 and the AM Corvette. Try and get a little variety for 2012 (sarcastically typed).

I like the little Mazda at 1:11. Some impressive paint jobs too. How many of those cars can actually drive?

That looks like a nice lamp. I also have a FL magnifier and a replacement bulb was about as much as the lamp. I will go check out Office Depot. I also like the length of the one you picked out - my older one was shorter and got in the way when not being used as a magnifier.

Very nice looking Hudson. Nice combo on the paint. I like the engine colors too. Cool. Do Buick grills look good on everything?

Ohhhhhh...one of those!

Paint jobs all look fantastic Virgil. Love the green on "Money Honey" 32. You are tempting me to get some templates/filters.

Paint the wheels first (silver or yellow). Then, use flat black, thinned down, applied with a brush, and let it flow into the crack that separates the wheel and tire. It should just flow via capillary action and leave a perfectly crisp line. After the thinned paint dries, come back and paint the rest of the tire with the flat black but not thinned (or not as much) until your desired color is achieved.

Paint on that thing looks beautiful.

Honestly? I could care less what year. As long as the kit is as nice as the '48, I am in!

How about just paying to fix the damage? Worse things like that happen to a lot of people everyday. Had a child been maimed or something, I could see getting a lawsuit going, but as nobody was injured, what's the point? I like that show and I hope this doesn't shorten its lifespan.

I love the look of Rally cars - but all those decals are daunting. You did a great job on the decals - they look flawless on my screen. This is a cool build.

I wouldn't say the NEO is iwata quality. It is "made for" iwata. I think it is an okay AB. At first, it sprayed great. But, after shooting some lumpy Alclad black base, I had to disassemble the AB to clean the nozzle. Upon reassembly, I accidentally over tightened (easy to do) the tiny nozzle and the even tinier o-ring immediately crumbled. I sealed it up best I could because HL does not carry replacement nozzles (or any parts for the NEO - a major drawback). Then I assembled the remaining parts and was getting a lot of splattering. So I double checked everything and figured out the seal of the nozzle cap was poor. There is some thread seal or something from the factory, but after one time taking it apart, the seal was gone. I noticed this as I was cleaning the brush with windex and bubbles were coming out of the threads. So I sealed it with some thread tape, got it all put back together and it works fine. Until I have to clean it again. My eclipse is easy to take apart, clean, and reassemble and I can easily find part for it - so, I would recommend highly spending more on an eclipse.

I use tamiya thinner and have found I need to go almost 1:1 on my Iwata eclipse AB. Any thicker and it clogs the tip.

Why would the airbag go off?

Looking back at those sprue shots I am pretty excited for all three of the new tool kits (Ford, Olds, and Corvette). Even though none fall into what I would say is "my thing", I can really appreciate well thought out kits with possibilities - and all three of these kits meet that criteria. Separate frames, steel wheels, separate dog dish caps, separate leaf springs, etc - so many ways to modify and so many parts to use. I would be interested in variants of the kits too - a wagon would be my first choice based on the Ford. I could see myself buying multiples of that - even though I have sworn to stop buying new kits unless I REALLY need (I guess want) something.

Doesn't look too bad. Retro styling? Not on the Dart. While it has a following, a lot of the car buying public could care less about the old Darts - they didn't like them then or now. Small engine? Who cares. It would probably outperform most of the engines from the bygone era - do it more reliably and efficient too. I am looking for a new smaller car and would like to get something knthe next year or two - will this be a consideration? More likely than Chrysler's current options.

Very cool. I just ordered one of these kits with plans for the wagon. Nice job. I like the paint scheme and color choices. Thanks for posting.

What? Don't be an idiot! You totally forgot the stop at Starbucks!!!

This was one of my favorite kits about 25 years ago! I always loved the centerlines and the engine. Great job on yours. Really nice looking paint. Like Dave said, it's cool to see it built like the box art. Nice work. Oh, I've got to add...cool looking back drop too - foggy trees.

Yes. BMF (fresh) is much easier to work with.

Wow. Exquisite taping job. That is a lot of work - tedious work. It looks stunning already. Photographic tape? I'll have to look that up. Nice work on the little details too - I love seeing work done that doesn't get all the attention but really makes a model stand out. Whenever I see a T-Bird from this era, I am reminded of one around town - it is lowered and rusty and never clean and a the guy who drives it sits and smokes cigarettes in it at the gas station where he works (nice sentence structure). I actually kind of like the color combo (white, black, yellow) of the masked model.

Saw a video of a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yEL8SPf0Es. Haven't noticed anything locally, though. We're not really a cutting edge kind of place.

Thought I would add to the pages of multiple, incoherent conversations regarding Walmart, oil plugs, hobby shops, and jungle gyms. Pretty simple - it's not Walmart that's killing local hobby shops. People not shopping at LHSs is killing LHS. Walmart quit selling models years ago and LHS are still closing. I am fortunate to have a few LHSs in Spokane that have large selection and good prices. If I didn't, it would be where ever the cheapest kits could be found. And I've heard tons of rumors regarding substandard products at big chain stores and find it completely unsubstantiated. Why would a manufacturer sabotage its own product? Return customers... You really think the assembly line in China sounds a whistle and says "Walmart products coming, get out the cheap parts!"? I do know Walmart has driven companies into bankruptcy because of its tactics - some of them mentioned in Art's post. As long as there is business models for lowest price products, you will have the same situation - Walmart, Kmart, etc.

These are great looking engines and they definitely fill a gap. Love seeing all the scratch building involved.

Very cool look. I like the choice of wheel covers and the paint colors. This is one kit I have put off buying for some reason - makes me want to get one.