MrObsessive

Very nice and clean job on what I know can be a very difficult and fiddly kit! Your paint is exceptionally smooth, and no other color makes this car look best 'cept red! I've got both the Spyder and the coupe, and someday I'll get the ambition to wrestle with 'em again.

Grab that Tamiya Wrangler while you can! Those are getting hard to find, and the eBay prices can get crazy for one of those!

It may be that it's too thin and it's drying up before it's hitting the surface. This is one of the chief reasons I don't like to buy "pre-thinned" paint. You're at the mercy of someone's idea of "thinning". I'd try to turn the pressure down and perhaps spray just a touch closer with slower passes and see how that works. EDIT: Also if the paint is too thin and washing away quickly when you swill the jar, you could always leave the cap off for awhile and let some of the solvent evaporate. Other than that, I've always found it best to buy the aerosol brands (Plastikote is my favorite) and decant the paint into an airbrush jar. If the paint is good enough to spray out of the can, it should be good enough to spray out of your airbrush.

You need to thin your primer to the consistency of milk. My rule of thumb when thinning paint is that I should be able to swill the jar, and see just a translucent film of paint coat the inside of the jar as it settles. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule, but one that works for me and may take some practice on your part. HTH!

Tim, I got to see this up close and personal at the show today, and it's stunning seeing it in 3D! Very nice details, and the color is outstanding!

You mean a Belvedere dontcha?

Well hang on to your hats! I've found one of his recent auctions here, and you'll be floored what someone paid for it. I'm not against what he makes on his builds. If someone is willing to spend that kind of coin for what are truly one of kind cars, more power to 'em! I couldn't do what he does because it would suddenly become work and no longer a hobby. Not to mention when I spend that much time meticulously sweating the details, it would be mighty hard to part with it afterwards.

Those that can afford and appreciate high quality!

That's one of Paul Hettick's masterpieces and you can best believe the price may double before the auction's through! He routinely gets hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars for his builds, but he's been at it for quite a long time.

Most of those I've seen were painted black with the ram tubes painted red. Not sure if they were all done that way, but for a future build of mine ('61 Chrysler 300G) the block was painted black.

Hey theirs looks pretty good! A bit fancier than what Keith offers I must say, unless this a just a better pic as its color is not as washed out. If you click on the pic, it'll take you to Slixx's site. Scroll down a bit if you want to order 'em.

Scott, every Corvette I've seen of this vintage has had that "curve" or sag as seen in the pic I've posted. Here's that same car again with a dead on side view............... As you can see in this shot that sag is not as noticeable, and the top appears to be quite taut as intended by the restorers. My issue with the appearance of most kit tops lies in this area here............ Here I put different arrows on the original pic to show where this detail on most kit convertible tops I've seen is most lacking. This area (most rearward bow) is always too shallow, and doesn't poke out far enough on the sides lending the appearance of the up-top appearing too "blocky" as I mentioned before. This would apply to mostly convertible tops of the '40's through perhaps the '80's. Newer/present day tops that last bow is not as pronounced. Practically every convertible I've ever seen of those decades I mentioned, including the three that I've owned in the past, have had that last bow poking out like that as that's what holds up the entire rear of the top itself. Some are more pronounced than others------in the case of the 'Vette, it's more due to how the top operates (goes under a lid) as to why it appears the way it does. Taking a look at this pic here that Robert posted.......... Yeah as Steve had mentioned, the top appears to have a bowed out appearance somewhat at the trailing edge of the sail panels, and once again that last bow should be much more pronounced than it is. Just another one of those things I guess I notice "too much", and why I'll take time to fix 'em if I really want that neat up-top look.

Mike, Keith Marks carries a sheet that looks like what you're looking for.............. He can be contacted at........mofobow@hotmail.com And yes, that is ridiculous what that eBay seller is asking for shipping! Customs notwithstanding, that is just way too much!

Indeed they are George! Check out this video here and here. And if you click here, it's the model as it was at one time just bits and pieces.

Just a small update this time around as I'm still dealing with bodywork and will for some time yet. I managed to get the driver's door cut out as this'll make getting the rear part of the bodywork done that much easier. I was a little overzealous in trying to get things smoothed out when I sanded an unwanted trough just above the rear wheelwells. I had used a sanding block to try and get this smoothed and still managed to get a trough. One of the reasons that I might have got this is that while the different bodies mated up fairly well, the '66's upper fenders are not quite as beefy as the '67-'68's. This led to me trying to even things up and that led to a trough. On the actual cars, I'm sure they're about identical, but in the model world with two different cars tooled up at different times, things will change in the interpretation. Nevertheless, it's body putty to the rescue, and I've dug out my old tried and true Dynatron Putty-Cote and filled in those troughs as best I could. I've found that this putty will work fine over bare plastic, but I had already primed the area to see how much of a trough was done. This will work over primed areas as well, but I like to let things sit overnight to fully cure. It probably doesn't need to sit that long, but I can do other things awhile. Note that I got the windshield header cleaned up where the new roof mated. I'll have to raise the upper windshield/trim up just a bit as it appears too low to my eyes. The trailing edge of the inner fenders will need to be thinned out to allow the doors to turn inwards as they pivot instead of swinging on gooseneck hinges. So I'll break out the Dremel Moto-Tool in this instance, and grind away. The doors themselves are awfully thick (as well they should be for manufacturing purposes), but in the 1:1 world real doors are nowhere near this thick when viewed from the trailing edge. I'll thin this area out too as well and add plastic around the perimeter to tighten up the shut lines when the doors are closed. I'm leaning very heavily to building this model with roll up windows. I'm planning in my mind and doodling on a 3x5 card how I might want to go about this. For the front side glass, I'm debating whether or not to go with the watch gear method, or the simpler "pulley" method such as how I showed in an article I wrote years ago in MCM on a '55 Chevy. I'm leaning more towards the latter as this will provide more "turns" than the watch gears.............we'll have to see. The rear windows will definitely be of the watch gear mechanism type, and I'll have to brainstorm that one as that type of geometry and movement I've not had to deal with before. In a video I downloaded the other day in how to install the rear window regulator in a '66 Mustang, they appear to go pretty much straight up and down. However as we all know in model land, things in 1:1 don't always translate obviously to 1:25. I'll try to figure out something as to how to miniaturize this into something that's not "gimmicky". It's on to cleaning up more on the body, and then building up the door jamb on the body and then on the door. BTW, I'm a BIG believer in only cutting out one side at a time. I need as much strength as possible as the rocker panel area is a bit thin. Once this side is done with the jamb, then I'll cut out the other side and do the same. Thanks for lookin!

Oh yeah Steve, today's convertible tops especially those manufactured since the '90's are a lot more taut out of the factory than those of old. I have a kit of the first gen Revell Mazda Miata, and its up-top looks pretty much dead on per the 1:1. I'm more referring to cars out of the '50's-'60's where the tops definitely had some sag to the rear. Maybe not as severe as that Corvette, which was endemic to that particular series (I notice it in Sting Rays too), but nowhere near as blocky as I've seen the kit manufacturers depict.

Chris, it would be too drawn out here to explain how I did the top on this stillborn '64 GTO project, but I basically modified the existing hardtop that I cut off with some reshaping of the plastic, and some putty. If I ever decide to revisit this one, I'd make the ribs in the top a bit more subtle, and I'd reshape the sail panels somewhat to make it more like the 1:1. As I mentioned, a lot of up-tops are too blocky appearing for my tastes. When you look at a convertible from a front 3/4 view, the trailing portion of the sail panels always should have some kind of "sag" or droop to it. Here's pic to depict what I mean.................. Where the arrow I have pointing is where most kit makers never seem to get right when it comes to modeling convertible tops IMO. You can see here on this Corvette where the rear part of the top sags a bit. Most tops I've seen this area is too straight lending it a hardtop like appearance. Just another one of those things I guess I notice too much!

You can also just "hover" your mouse over their name or avatar in a post, and a window will appear. It'll have a message feature within that window.

No, No, No! No vinyl top! It wreaks havoc among those of us that want to built it without it! Sanding down the vinyl texture can be tricky for some, and I'd rather have the option to add the texture with paint, than to get rid of it.

I've been on the lookout for quite some time for the up-top that goes with Johan's '67 Plymouth Fury Convertible as I have one built. Trying to find one is as scarce as hen's teeth, and when they do show up on eBay for instance you can bet there'll be a bidding war. Just the same, what I'll probably end up doing someday is make my own out of another car's roof as the shape of the original Johan top isn't quite right per the 1:1. This might sound crazy, but I like my up-tops to have a bit of "droop" and "sag" in certain spots on the tops, and most I've seen always seem to be too "blocky" for me. But then, I'm compulsive about things like that anyway!

John, that is just WILD!! Love the colors and the "art" of the concept! Imagine if you could somehow get that phone to actually start ringing!

Sometimes, if you leave the board for awhile (I'm not sure of the time limit) the board will "reset" and it'll clock your latest visit to start adding new content for later, or from a certain point. I've had this happen a number of times and it can be a bit frustrating. I'm using Chrome as my browser and it happens with all my devices across the board. iPhone, laptop, tablet, PC-----doesn't seem to matter. They all have reset, and I get nothing in the way of new content until someone puts up a post.

Doug, that .stl file is lookin' good!

Ha! That was a complaint that my Mom always had when I was a little kid. I was always "too observant"!

Ken, I have a Dremel Moto-Tool with the diamond wheel, but I was reluctant to use it due to the width of the wheel itself. I wanted a thinner slice to cut through the plastic as there's those scoop contours behind the trailing edge of the doors. The wheel may have ground into that, and then there's the hassle of trying to get the original contours again. On cars that have flatter panels (and larger scales) yeah, that's a good idea to use it. The way I did it takes longer, but in the long run I avoid grinding into an unwanted area and of course, I try to use as much plastic as possible to fill in any gaps. I don't want a repeat of what happened to my '55 Ford Victoria using just pure putty. I did use the Dremel to grind away at the inside to separate the body section where I was making the cuts as the plastic is somewhat thick in spots. Today I managed to get the driver's door cut out, and the Dremel came in handy for that as you can grind away at the shut lines where you're cutting-----makes things go a little faster in popping those panels out. As of now, I'll be building up the door jamb for the door, make a support structure for the door hinges, clean up that side of the bodywork a bit more, and then follow up with the other side. As I get a sufficient number of pics to post, I'll show more of what's going on.