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Ed, thanks for the explanation, it gave me a starting point to go from, started with the chassis and interior panels then worked the body with Dremel and a sanding drum slow, speed and just a little at a time until it slipped in. It took much less grinding on the body than I first thought, in part due to the chassis and panel adjustment.

With Siamese porting only one of the shared cylinders is pushing exhaust gas out the port at a time so there is no need for a larger manifold or tube size to the center pipe. All the tubes on the exhaust are pushing out/handling the same volume at any given time, works well but maybe not the absolute inefficiency.

I think that I've seen some rounded tank ends in some of the Plastruct engineering and architectural lines, you might want to check those out. They glue right onto their round tubing, they are used a lot to model industrial tanks and stuff. Another place you might try is a model railroad supplier/catalog/shop they might have what you want nearly ready to use.

Ghosting or bleed through is seldom a problem with most of the old magazines that were printed on the heavier newsprint. At least I have not had any issue with it, not to say that it doesn't occur, been doing this for some time in B&W, color is just newer to me. I can see where it may be a problem with the newer slick paper (read that thinner paper) magazines. (The newer slick paper magazines were not the subject of the tip in the first place.) Good addition if that is what you were talking about. With the heavy newsprint the trick is to use the following pages to provide the density that blocks out the print on the backside of the page being copied.

While doing research for a project in some old Rod & Custom magazines I found some reference pictures for another Board Member's project that I copied off to mail to him. I just wasn't happy with the results, I copied them off on a pretty high dollar copier at work, still the details were washed out. I first thought that the pictures were printed in black and white, and monkeyed with the settings a little they still looked washed out. Lightbulb moment, remembered something from High School Graphic Arts eons ago and tried the color setting on the copier. Viola! The picture came out nearly as good as the magazine. The Tip is when copying pictures for research from old Hot Rods, Rod & Customs, Little Pages, etc. where the pictures are printed in the black, white and greenish blue. Copy in color and they will look very close to the magazine you copied them from. The other tip here is that I almost always copy the picture from the magazine(s) and work off of the copy, it preserves the old magazines just a bit more. I've been doing this even for artwork for a long time, just rediscovered the first tip lately.

Lighting Gels on eBay auction 271241483024 Anyone know how thick these are? Would be great if they are the thickness of the colored sheets that Revell used to put in their kits. Check the available colors, this is more along the lines of the stuff I'm looking for. Take it that you have used the Lighting Gels on a model before, what is their thickness? For ease of workability 0.010 ( 1/4" = 0.250 so 0.250 / 25 = 0.010 ) or 0.015 ( 0.015 X 25 = 0.375 or 3/8" thick ) both are stock sizes for plexiglass and would be ideal. Measured the clear sheet in a K. S. Pittman Willys kit and it is 0.006 thick. ( 0.006 X 25 = 0.150 or 5/32" thick ) might be a little thin for a race car. Oops, sorry the Engineer in me pops out every now and then!

Where can I find transparent colored sheet to use for Gasser Windows? Like Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue... Red and Green sheets on eBay what about other coolers and hopefully at better prices?

Starbucks, Barnes & Nobel... any Gift Cards. Once they are tapped out they become putty spreaders. I think I've got a stack of 20 of them, people even give me theirs when theirs are done. Once people know that you use them for something it seems like there is an endless supply, and that's just from family members! I also agree with using styrene to fill major holes and gaps. You wouldn't use putty to fill holes in the metal on a real car would you? Well, some of the old cars I've worked on sort of indicate some people would!! Do the job right and make some sort of patch panel when it's too big for Bondo alone. I know some people don't like it and it's a holdover from monster, Roth's Monsters and Weird-Oh's kits. I like using Zap-A-Gap thick super glue and tinted Baking Soda as a filler it can fill some pretty large voids. The other favorite that's good for seam filling is Zap-A-Gap and Zap-Kicker. I have models in my collection and other's collections that are nearly 20 years old without cracking, flaking or distortion using super glue. It primes just like the base styrene. I use a small hypodermic needle to control the application of the kicker. I've used the super glue, baking soda and kicker over primer before with no ill effects on/in the paint. It doesn't stink up the hobby room and half the house like Bondo either, don't get me wrong I still use Bondo. Like tools fillers have their uses, strengths and weaknesses. Match the filler to the application. Some people are intolerant to CA Glue fumes too, just be careful with any chemical in your modeling arsenal you can become sensitive to almost any chemical with enough exposure.

Nope, that's MPC trying to cash in on the "Street Freaks" running around then. That one is a little far fetched, Street Freaks for the most part were recycled Race Cars that found their way back on the street. Thankfully that look went away when we learned to narrow rear ends to put wider tires and wheels under the fenderwells where they belonged.

Terry, Great story, being a prankster at heart I loved it! A spider nearly got me fired once! Long story but it involves several bored engineers, a six inch Hairy Plastic Halloween Spider complete with suction cup on it's bottom and fishing line strung through the dropped ceiling. We waited until the boss had her morning cup of joe, engrossed in email.... Spider drops from the ceiling... Boss Lady proves unassisted human levitation is possible while screaming loudly. Peeing her pants on the process then attempting to convince everyone said liquid was coffee!!! (At times the office coffee has been classified as swill but never that liquid!!!) Lucky it was April 1st, even better the Boss Lady went home early, claiming she had an errand to run.

Years ago I remember seeing an article in Fine Scale Modeler about polishing out future. I think they used a polishing kit, even burying the decals between coats. The article was on a P-51 Mustang Air Racer, they came out with a miles deep finish that looked like the finishes seen on aircraft.

Not yet, but I'm going over there next! Thanks. Those are probably the closest I've seen so far, they still represent what you would see just as the slick hooks up.

Not a big bag fan, I really like most of what you have going with this one!

I don't see Ed Roth's original Show Cars as rat rods as there was very little connection to Rat Fink. If there were any connection to the term rat rod and Ed Roth; Ed's widow who believes she is entitled to a dollar for everything he ever touched would have already tried to collect on that too! She wasn't even around for 99.9% of anything Ed did with his major custom cars, T shirts, monsters and Rat Fink, yet she holds the rights to them. She's even taken Ed's sons (who were around and even helped their Dad work on some of the cars) to court to cease and desist from using their own Dad's name in promoting their own products and or show cars. Sad situation, doubtful Ed would be too happy about it as it pretty much represents the kind of greed he denounced early in his life.

Yep, those are wrinkly wall slicks, they are all good examples of wrinkle wall slicks under power. At rest the bulge would only be in approximately the 4 to 8 position almost a line across the lower portion of the slick that doesn't meet in the middle. I believe you are thinking of Monogram in their Funny Car kits, maybe the Badman too. Casey, if memory serves me correct, I didn't think that pie crust slicks got wrinkle walled. I thought that most of the early slicks had their beginnings as recapped street or light duty truck tires, I could be wrong. It's happened before! Several times in fact!! I remember an old Model Car Science article where they heated the slick over a candle then pressed it down on the workbench to flatten the bottom. It didn't get the pooched bulge at the bottom though. Funny that no one has ever produced these.

Or scrape enough that the surface is broken, sort of like they do to remove wall paper. Then resume your soaking. Warm, but not hot water might help, next I'd try the isopropyl alcohol. I always try to start with the mildest and work up as necessary. Or scrape enough that the surface is broken, sort of like they do to remove wall paper. Then resume your soaking. Warm, but not hot water might help, next I'd try the isopropyl alcohol. I always try to start with the mildest and work up as necessary.

Does anyone make correct wrinkle wall slicks sitting at rest, not with the wrinkles up the sidewall under torque? What I'm looking for is wrinkle wall slicks with the pronounced "pooch" at the bottom portion, wrinkle below the bottom of the rim. If you look at wrinkle wall slicks at rest you will notice that they only wrinkle up the sidewall when hooked up under power. At rest they have a pooch resembling a slick that could use some more air.

Ed, question on thinning my Willys down through the interior "bucket" area. I was just figuring on using a Dremel sanding drum on lowest speed it will spin and still cut, working it down slowly until the interior slips in. Anything I should do to keep the body stable and keep it from warping over time. I for one hope you consider keeping the '33 Willys in your lineup, hopefully with the reissue of AMT's "Ohio George" kit increases demand for a super nice stock body. With all the seams, flash and sink marks in the last AMT '33 Willys it reminded me of a poor quality resin body!

Very Nice! That green is very close to the original too. I remember Jim Green's Green Elephant running frequently at his "Home Track" Seattle International Raceway where he was a frequent flyer!!!

Thanks Bernard, that's a nice start. Anyone else got a favorite front axle, let's hear about it.

Not a paint expert but, normally a manufacturer's higher end paint product has more and better pigment in it than it's lower end product. Could mean superior coverage, sheen, flatness, deeper or richer colors. That's the big difference between those lower priced acrylic paints in the squirt bottle and the higher priced ones in the same sized bottle. Most paint manufacturers have multiple lines of product which though they look similar do not produce exactly the same results as the other. In today's world of "environmentally friendly" paint formulas it's difficult to know which one to choose, when the lead got taken out of enamels (model paints had lead too) some of the richness and coverage went away with it.

The only thing that you really need to worry about with acrylics is that they are completely dry before you clear coat. A half hour through the dehydrator or a hair dryer will solve that issue. I've shot and or brushed acrylic and clear coated within an hour or so and never had issues. With the paint at least!

I for one am hoping the "True Rat Rod" craze, fad or whatever you want to call it is over soon. I am talking the "cars" that look like they were built out of a dumpster using stuff no early Hot Rodder would have looked at. Seriously, tractor seats, toilet seats, buckets and milk crates (plastic) made to resemble seats, oil cans riveted together to make a floorboard... When I think of Rat Rod the first thing that comes to mind is unsafe, everything from tires with rotten sidewalls, no floorboards to absolutely rotten welds and just plain old poorly engineered stuff. Sure it might be a form of creativity, but at sixty or seventy miles an hour it fails to be creative in my book. Truthfully it concerns me to see some of these things driven. Sure there are some that might be safe, it's just the whole bunch that aren't that have created a bad name for the rest as well as some traditional and safe Hot Rods.

What's the best Ford based dropped front I-Beam Front Axle does it come in a currently available kit or from one of the resin casters current offerings? What's the best round tube dropped axle available? How about straight axles for Street Rods or Gassers? Oppinions and experiences appreciated.

I just got one from Ed a month or so ago along with the stock front clip, fits the AMT body quite nicely as does the AMT clip on Ed's Willys. The interior side panels do fit just a tad tight as the resin body is a bit thicker than the AMT body, nothing an experienced modeler won't be able to deal with.