MrObsessive

:lol:

Don't forget their arrogance! That seems to run rampant among a lot of folks at GM's upper level management............

That was a very interesting story Harry! I wonder now that all of the dragging of the feet is now out in the open, could he reopen his case against GM? I just received another official recall notice for my Saturn regarding the electric power steering. So now, I have to carve out more time to have it taken in the shop to have this fixed. Or just wait until it breaks down and have them come and get it.

:lol:

One fly in the ointment that no one has mentioned, is the fact that our dollar has been GREATLY devalued over the last few years. This is for various and sundry reasons, but it's a fact that a devalued currency will ALWAYS lead to higher prices.

I was told by a co-worker today that she got ANOTHER recall notice for her Saturn over the past weekend. This time it's for the electric power steering box (under the dash), and this could "give out" without warning making the car incredibly difficult to steer at low speeds------like in parking. She was wondering because I have a Saturn Ion Quadcoupe, and I had told her I haven't received one yet, but I'm sure one is heading my way very soon. This would be the second one in as many months, and I told her to expect more as there are more things about the car that should have never left the factory the way it did, For example: Wipers completely failing due to PLASTIC wiper drive arms (Mine failed in a rainstorm at 60 mph! ) Clutch pedal assembly failing due to a PLASTIC clutch pedal (Mine had already gone out). Weak steering knuckle/sway bar bushings which I had to replace only six months after I bought it (I bought mine in '06). And I'm sure there are others.......... Now I'm not really complaining-----it's been a good car with relatively few troubles at least until this past year. It has about 140,000 miles on the clock now, but the engine is still very tight with no oil usage and no exhaust smoke. It's just the other annoyances which can turn out to be safety problems, as GM wanted to go low buck on certain things when they shouldn't have.

Hmmmm........I thought the fins on the '56 Hawk were just fiberglass add-ons. I've seen them stripped down, and they looked liked they were just fiberglass caps over the existing '53-'56 rear fenders from the lesser models. I've seen the later years under resto, and yes those fins were metal bolt ons. I'd sure like to be surprised by ANY '56-'64 Stude Hawk kit!

Very interesting! This vacuformer has a lot of potential for me................. I'll definitely be saving my pennies!

Harry, maybe they'll carry Mustang spare tires with them since they know those are the only folks that don't have a spare!

I'm sorry, but as much as one pays for a car these days-----------there shouldn't be any reason why each and every car has either NO spare, or that stupid doughnut which looks ridiculous on any car going down the road. I think that's one of the reasons people like trucks and SUV's so much............at least you get a FULL spare and not a dumb doughnut to go with it. At least as far as I know!

I had one of those vacuformers Tom, but when my house got flooded a few years ago, that was one of the things that I lost. I can't find it anywhere else in the house, so it must have been tossed out along with the other things that were water damaged. I tried it many years ago, and while the part came out OK-------I didn't like the idea of the plastic sheets being so proprietary. You can only use certain sheets with it (the perforations), and not just any sheet that can be available over the 'net or locally. BTW, I have a HUGE sheet of Vivak that is crystal clear with no waves (like PET bottles can have) and could easily be cut down for whatever size I need. Didn't know about the Micro-Mark vacuformer..............I'll have to check that one out.

Nope. It's been shelved for the time being until I can get the glass sorted out. I'm thinking about investing in a vacuform machine (Widgetworks), which I can use for some other projects as well that will need new glass molded. I won't do any painting of the body until I'm sure the glass looks good, and is well fitting into the body. With summertime upon us, and with me being quite busy these days with the warmer weather and whatnot, it may be a while before I get back to this one. I may do a quickie out-of-the-box build in the interim, but for the time being it's on hiatus.

It's a mystery why the '55 T-Bird has never been offered as a full detail glue kit. Nevertheless, I would be all over one despite the fact that I did build one years ago, converting Monogram's '56 kit. And Tom's right........I can see this being a very big Moebius subject!

Welcome Stefano! That '78 Trans Am is a really nice kit and shouldn't give you much trouble.

Are you listening (watching this) Moebius??

I can't believe it either, and there's no hope of them ever fixing that-----along with the rear deck and fins. This one is on my to-do list among long term builds. It won't be the next one though after the Impala, but maybe a coupla three down the road. I have on the "drawing board of my mind" how to fix that-------it's that I want another couple projects out of the way first.

Very pretty car Steve! When I was a kid, my dad owned a '57 Belvedere which was a similar shade of green on the body. I see what you mean about the wide whites. To my eyes they don't seem wide enough from my memory as a kid, and having plenty of pics of the 1:1.

I also wanted to add------I'm a just seeing things or is the AMT '57 T-Bird just a tad small for 1/25 scale? I ask because I have both the 1/25 '56 and '57, and the '57 seems to be on the small side. We could REALLY use an up to date kit of that one........along with a really nice '55. One crazy idea I had in mind was to try to kitbash RC2's '56 with the '57 by mixing and matching the fenders and such. In 1:1, there were a lot of similarities..........save for the different rear fenders, grille and interior. Would be a lot of work, but I'm not counting on anyone to do a new tool '57 any time soon. Edit: I want to rephrase my kitbashing idea.........my idea is to kitbash the 1/24 scale Monogram '56 T-Bird with the 1/25 AMT '57. True the scales don't match by I just want to swap fenders and grilles between the two, and leave the inner structure intact. Crazy? Well witness my username!

Don't forget RC2's '56 T-Bird in the "American Graffiti" series. While not a bad kit, each one I've seen appears to sit too high-----or rather the frame rails seem to hang too low below the rockers. That's not really seen on the 1:1. I built Monogram's '56 years ago, but I converted it to a '55-------One model year T-Bird that's NEVER been done in 1/24-25 scale for whatever reason. Not a hard kit to build, and it's been around forever so they're easy to find.

Excellent! Very realistic! It looks just like a clunker my Uncle once owned back in the early '80's, 'cept his was the pickup.

All I can tell you that if you do a search here on Reliable Resins, and any threads that are related to it, more than likely the thread is locked. They are a VERY passionate subject as a number of fellas here on the board were shafted out of their money. Unfortunately the threads got out of hand, and I hope that doesn't happen to this one. Just sayin'..........

Nice build! One thing I've found that helps with foil is to use your Exacto blade, and make a slight "trough" in the area you want to foil when your doing your body prep work. That way after painting, your blade will have somewhat of a guide to run along, thus minimize the chances of the blade slipping. One car that comes to mind that this is a must is AMT's ancient '58 Chevy kit. That chrome along the rear fenders is a real CHORE to foil! As Harry said-----"Practice makes Perfect!"

Neat video, and it looks like the brand she's using is the same that I posted. Thanks for showing that.............I've never seen a demo on how that's done.

'68's would have vent windows, the '69's do not. Tailights were different between the years as well (I once owned a '69).

I'm a big believer in embossing powder ever since I started using it for carpeting about seven years ago. While flocking is OK for certain applications, IMO in 1/24-25 scale it seems a bit out of scale to my eyes, and seems more suited to 1/16 scale or larger. Here are a few pics of what I've done with flocking............ In the rear cargo area of this Dodge Magnum (my first attempt), the flocking was actually silver as I didn't know (or see) any other colors. So yes, flocking can indeed be painted to whatever color you wish, as long as the flocking is a "neutral" color such as silver or gray or maybe white. The interior floor of my '63 Cougar II when it was under construction.............. This is the brand I use...........I originally picked this up at Michael's, although most arts and crafts stores should carry some type of the powder. Hope this helps you out!