Jeff Sauber

Who's picking on poor Zoom Zoom? or "ruffling feathers"?.... I guess you missed my "thin skin disclaimer" and took the sarcastic comments literally... Relax, there buddy. I'm just having a little fun kicking around what actually turned out to be a rather interesting thread with differing opinions.... YOU seem to be the one who's freaking out a bit.....Try taking a deep breath and unclench your fists...It'll be ok.....No really, it will. *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*......FOR THIS PARTICULAR RESPONSE, I'M BEING SERIOUS.

Thanks, Bill. Theres still a few more bugs to work out, but it's getting a little closer to the finish line each day.......[i really have to do something about the God-awful headlight bezels]... Robbing their replacements off a diecast is starting sound like a really good idea...

Thats some very cool stuff there , Dave. These old lincoln bodies do have some potential once you get past the intimidating body work....I had orginally intended to do a replica stock version, but after researching the 1:1 car, and then seeing how much additional work was needed to the kit, I decided to just go with a mild custom. I don't think I can deal with any more tweeking and adjusting on this old horse....I'll just be happy when this thing finally gets a coat of paint and I can put it up on the shelf...

Theres alot of different things you can do with this old and crude kit. The grill is ok, but at least it comes "opened up".....For a replica stock application, the overall grill shape is a bit off, but since I'm going with a custom here, I can live with it being a little inaccurate. The "stock" door lines were terrible. they were sloppy, too wide, too shallow, and needed serious attention. The trunk lines were also lousy and needed to be cleaned up and "narrowed" as well. The rear splash pan is part of the rear bumper, so that needed to be cut away and made into a seperate piece that will be painted body color. The uptop roof fitment was awful and needed lots of tweeking. It also has no stitching and/or "seam detail" so that had to be added on with evergreen strip. The kit does not come any mirrors or hood ornament so I robbed a set of mirrors from a 39 ford kit and the hood piece is a modifed '48 ford item. The kit supplied wheels are nothing more than chrome plated disks, so I also robbed those replacements from the same 39/40 ford kit that I stole the mirrors from.

Thats a good backup plan to have.... I'll try and see what I can come up with at the work bench but if all else fails, I just might have to give your suggestion a try.

Those do look pretty good, but I hate to shell out 40 bucks on a parts donor just for a shelf model build up. If I was going all out and doing this thing for a show or something I would probably consider it...

To be honest, It's really not the most hatefull kit I've ever played around with, but it does need some extra attention in order to get it all looking good. The body work alone is really what building this thing is all about...Just about all the panels come seperate and carefull tweeking is needed to line all this mess up correctly. The overall dimensions as far as accuracy goes fall a bit short of the mark, but for a mild custom like I'm doing, it's not too bad, although I did have to lengthen the hood and rework the front fenders a bit. The detailing parts in the kit however are atrocious and will need to be quickly replaced. The chassis is quite subpar, but again, I reworked most of it so it panned out ok in the end... The head and tailights as well as the wheels are a complete joke and seeking an alternative is manditory.

I was able to get a little more done on the lincoln tonight. I scratchbuilt a new set of headlight bezels out of aluminum, plastic, and phtotoetch. Now I just need to ditch the rhinestones and find some nice lenses to fit. I also smoothed out the body a bit more as well as made a few last adjustments before it heads over to the paint booth. I'll clean up the windshelid frame and likely spray the color coats later this week. Here are the newest images....

I always take all the parts off the trees.... It's really the only way I can get full access to cleaning up the seams and pin marks and other imperfections and such, as well as checking to make sure the item will fit properly. I also spray all my parts, so theres really no need for me to leave anything attached to the sprue. I simply remove the part, clean it up, check it's fitment, and then mount it seperately for spray painting............I can't even recall the last time I brushed painted any parts while still being attached to the sprue trees.. *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*......DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY.

Meh, I think I'd rather put the 5 bucks towards a backup can of paint in case I get the urge to join the "Zoom Zoom hack club" and end up botching a paint job that I applied in advance of the buildup..... *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*............DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY

Nah, I don't think so. The subtle insinuation was certainly there, so reading between a few lines wasn't that hard to do, although perhaps maybe I read a little too deeply? Only you yourself know if the comment was directed at "anybody in particular". *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*....DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY

LOL @ the "Zoom Zoom hack club".... Does this mean you guys actually paint and polish the bodies before you even hack 'em up?. Wow!! talk about saving time!! . *Thin skin warning and disclaimer*............[Yes, I'm actually just kidding with this response]

Who exactly on this thread is being "arrogant"?...... Some of us have stated different opinions on the matter, but who the hell is being arrogant? Should we get out the flame suits and fire hoses just in case? ...........Is that a little smoke I'm smelling?....LMAO!! *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*..........DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY

Six months?? Are you serious?........... Sheesh. Other than the "money issue", I would have likely forgotten about the project entirely, and moved on to something else by then... Life is way too darn short to be waiting around for that sillyness...Six months is a ridiculously long waiting period, regardless of quality....

Very clean....That turned out really nice!!

Covering a model with sparkly doo-dadds and other distractions would be a good way to hide a crappy paint job...

Bill thats usually what I do. When I reach a point that I'm sitting around waiting for paint to cure, I'll just open something else up and get started on that... I typically work on 3-4 models at once, bouncing back and forth between them. It's a good way for me to avoid burnout on a particular project, and it's also a good way to finish several kits at once [considering I do alot of comssioned work and sell off most of my projects]. By the way, that Merc clinic you have going is great!! I'm really enjoying following along and revisiting the basic techniques of a good clean buildup.....Keep them updates comming! *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*.........DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY.

Relax people, I'm not trying to say it's right or wrong to build that way... I'm just saying it's a risky way to build, if no test fitting has been done before hand, [which was exactly the case with those particular folks I had mentioned]. In fact, one of them stated that they "hoped for the best" when they began work on the rest of the kit. I think I'll stick with my routine of painting and polishing out my finishes AFTER the rest of the model has been assembled, and no surprises remain when it's finally time to sandwich all the parts together for final assembly. Sorry, but I'm just not really all that big on gambling with the chances of having glue smudges, scratches, gouges, smears, and fingerprint impressions on display along with my finished replicas.... To each their own I guess. *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*.......... DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY

I was browsing around on a couple of other model forums tonight and saw several threads where the builders had painted the body and polished it all out, added on the foil trimmings, then gave it a final show shine wax job.............So what's wrong with that you ask? It's because the builder hadn't even begun to assemble the rest of the darn kit yet!! Why in the heck do some builders try and do all the delicate body and paint work first, without ever assembling the rest of the kit? Don't these guys realize that they could encounter serious fit problems that could require modifications to the body such as trimming and additional heavy sanding and/or tweeking? And to make matters worse, all of the handling of the body during fitment sessions and mockups are going to potentially wreck that newly polished finish, and tear off that foil trim. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the final body and paint work as well as polishing out the finish, are the VERY LAST things I do on a model. Seems like an awfully big gamble to spray on a nice paint job, before you even know what you could possibly encounter during the buildup process. *THIN SKIN DISCLAIMER*........DON'T TAKE THIS THREAD TOO SERIOUSLY

Beautiful work, Ron. Talk about a diamond in the rough..... From a complete mess to a sparkling gem...The wheels really give it some pop. Very nice!!

I have to agree about the Enzo and Merc kits..They are both very well engineered. I have copies here of both cars and have done a dry mockup of the mercury, and the car practically builds itself. The Revell Nova is also superb and is another "box shaker"...The kit has almost no buildup problems to speak of at all. The accuracy is a little off at the rear panel, but it's not enough to cause me to really complain.

I was never brave enough to try one of those turbine cars way back when...I opened up the box and put it right back in my closet... I eventually gave it to a buddy of mine several years later, and the finished buildup was of course, a mess... We ended up putting a bunch of big firecrackers in it and sent it off a cliff at a nearby stream...The explosion probably sent the tires into the next county!! Needless to say, there wasn't enough of the model left on the ground below, to put in a doggy bag to take back home.. One again however, your version of this "monster" is outstanding. Excellent work!

Thats about as crude as it gets....LOL. I kinda feel sad for that little Porsche......sort of reminds me of the "Charlie Brown Christmas tree".

How about that horrid Revell chopped custom ranchero that came with all the seperate body pieces? I remember that thing was a bear to assemble and had serious alignment issues.

The Pyro '48 Lincoln is getting alot of flack, and rightfully so, but just give me a couple more weeks, and I should my version finished. It is buildable. I think most here will like what the'll see...It's a very mild custom, but I have been carefully nursing the buildup along with some careful parts swapping and some scratchbuilding along with lots and lots of body work. It's a dreadfull kit, but with a little TLC, it does seem to be turning out much better than expected. Trying to produce a serious and convincing replica stock version from this same kit however, would be a monumental task.....