Darin Bastedo

I think you are doing a fine job on your model. I appreciate the kind words Cato Has said about my efforts to research and document my Street Cobra project, but don't let that diminish your efforts here. While total accuracy is a result many of us strive for there is something to be said for getting a model finished also. My model will be a fully detailed and accurate replica, yet between sratch-building the correct wheels and having them cast, hammering out the hood and doors out of aluminium, along with fabricating the inner panels and interior parts, changing the exhaust to the correct under car layout, and many other small detail changes (some of which were mentioned by Cato) my Cobra has become a Four year project, with much more work to be done. There were many cobras that have been rebuilt or modified to the point where they are hard to determine what they started out as with out actually researching that particular serial #. CSX3181 (the car I'm building) is one of them. I'm building it the way it came from shelby, but after it was wrecked it was rebuilt to resemble a 427 S/C with side-pipes and hood scoop etc. but still has some of the street car features such as the small gas tank, and the vents in the cowl. What I'm saying is build it the way you want it to be, call it done and enjoy it. If after you want to go the route of the insane and try to fix the inaccuracies in the Revell/Monogram kit, drop me or Cato a note and I will be glad to share my research , plans and drawings with you and we can skip off to the loony bin together. Enjoy your model and have fun, that is what it's all about.

Import any of these into photoshop or you photo editing program of choice and add text to make the plate you want

Your attitude isn't superior...My attitude is!

A few years agao Jada jumped into the plastic kit market with a few simplified, but well engineered kits and then nothing. I wonder if these initial kits didn't sell or if they just lost interest?

I apologize, Dave, It's just that your posts seemed too emotional for it to simply be an objective review of a business. I guess I read too much into it.

It's not a "trend" in most states it's the law. If weather or other conditions require you to drive far below the posted speed limits you are required to drive with your hazard lights on to warn other drivers. in Virginia it's a$200 fine if you don't comply. I don't know about you but I'm able to tell the difference between a stopped vehicle and a moving one by the rate at which I get closer.

As far as I'm concerned I prefer to do the clean-up myself as too many times I've gotten resin where the item was damaged during clean-up especially around window and fender trim. The caster tries to do clean-up quickly while I have the time and patience to do it right. expecting to get resin or even styrene kits that are "ready to go" is expecting too much there hasn't been a model kit or resin kit I've ever bought even from top end vendors like modelhaus that have been ready to use right out of the box, and I've been modeling for 40 years. Now I realise that you have a grudge against Don, but to imply that his is the only resin that requires prep time is erroneous.

Say what you will about his casting but I've seen his builds and seen the clientele they attract, and they are very professionally done. There was even a spotlight on his builds in Scale Auto years ago that really show off his work.

I've seen his apartment. I don't think the two of you could fit in it.

I will state that first and foremost I am a friend of Don at Reliable Resin, and I do some of the masters that he uses, so take what I say with that in mind. 1. Don is a great guy when you get to know him but can be hard to take at first. (very outspoken, and sometimes less than diplomatic) 2. He does not suffer fools, and has a bit of a temper when he encounters one. 3. He does some excellent casting work as you can see in MCM's review of his 1968 Firebird transkit. 4. He has been in business for many years under the same name and ebay ID. thus far he hasn't had to suspend order taking or change the name of his company to hide who he is from people who got cheated out of their money. 5. He is an excellent model builder himself, and has been building museum quality models by commission long before he began casting parts for others. 6. Resin, and model building is his only job, and sole source of income. That is Don in a nutshell. Sometimes you will find that there are delays due to high business volumes or the need to repair a mold but you will always get your parts and they will be of high quality. Beyond that if you are lucky to become a close friend of his, he is generous to a fault, and will stand beside you no matter what. There are those who will throw Don under the bus, and say that I'm biased, but I don't care. I calls them as I sees them.

Considering the fact that Mark has only had that position for a few months I doubt he received any favoritism.

My fiance' Has cancer, and she never smoked, worked with asbestos, lived near a toxic waste site, and lived where there is no smog most of her life. In the natural history museum here there is a T-rex skeleton with bone cancer. Living causes cancer if we are contantly worried about how we get it we will forget to simply live and enjoy life.

I argee with Bill. The only time my cut and paste on the Revell AAR cuda is worth it is if you are doing an AAR, as you will already have the correct hood, wheels & drivetrain. If you are doing a custon, Hemi or 440 car the AMT/MPC kit is the way to go.

Yeah right next to the raisin bran

Then I have a pretty good chance...I guess that is why I shudder every time I see a Ford Probe.

Here's the one I did when The latest AAR Cuda Came out

I'm not intending to enter a particular contest with this, but would eventually. I just thiought I'd get ideas on this and if it did overstep the rules of oob class I'd add a few extra details and not worry about it, But I think I got a good enough answer.

You are getting way ahead of where he needs to be right now. The last thing he needs is a web presence. That is what kills a lot of start-ups . Look at how many casters get into the business, and get behind in order, get "spider Bites" and such and get buried in orders they cant fill. It's a double edge sword, you want and need products of High quality and desireability, but on the other hand starting ut you don't have the time or resources to fill hundreds of orders in a week. My advice is forget the web for now, take your products to shows and swap meets, find out what sells and talk to the customers. Augments your resin with detail parts from other vendors that you can sell at a profit and to help grow your own product line. Once you get a reputation for quality the sales will increase but I noticed in the link, you provided in the other post you made that there is a huge flaw in one of the steel wheels pictured. If you can't get four good wheels out of a mold, for the photo shoot, you simply arent ready to sell them. If you get only three good wheels out of four you are already at a 25% loss. Speaking of losses, you need to be able you run a business regardless of what you sell. You need to be able to factor in the cost of raw materials, the mold, your time, and even oportunity cost. running the business poorly will sink you faster than anything.

I'll take this Miata...

You forgot the ultimate "chick car" the VW Rabbit/Golf Cabrio in white.

How's this for a rare 1969 Camaro/ SS350 Yellow with a yellow houndstooth interior.

I was speaking of 1969 C.O.P.O engine packages, there were probably a lot of small special paint or interior orders, but what I was refuting was his assertion that the C.O.P.O was a regular ordering system that was used as a regular ordering tool. A C.O.P.O had to be applied to the Central office, it would have to be approved and then priced by the Central office and sent back to the dealer. not every request was approved and they usually turned out to be quite pricey. There is no documented cases of any Six cylinder cars being ordered through the C.O.P.O system ever. If he has documentation I would be interested in seeing it.

Of course there never can be a solution to this as it is such a subjectine issue with too many variables. Both the US and Japanese car companies have made some really awesome machinery but at the same time both made some real garbage too. You can go ahead and compare the Nissan GTR with the Corvette ZR-1, but at the same time you can compare the cadillac cimmeron with the Datsun B210. either way it all comes down to preferance. Even the purely objective data is meaningless, The current Camaro is faster and more comfortable than a mid 60's Ferrari 250 series car, but who wouldn't want to just once take a 1962 ferrari GTO and see what it will do around Laguna Seca? The 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S is faster than a Ferrari Enzo, but wouldn't you still love to play with the phenominal engine sounds and F1 inspired character of the Enzo? A Jaguar D-Type is crude by todays standards but who wouldn't love to take it to Lemans and see what it will do? Who wouldn't love to Take a black 1958 Porsche 356 Speedster and play Steve McQueen for a day on mulholland? Performance cars, like people, have different personalities. Depending on how well those traits mesh with your own personality, is how you choose the cars you love.

I don't know where you are getting your info from, but there were only two C.O.P.O Camaro runs The ragular 427s and the all aluminum ZL-1 Camaros. The inline sixes were the standard engine in Camaros there would be no reason to create a central office production order for them.

While I like it, it is true that it may not be for everyone, but it's definately not boring.