MrObsessive

Now we have that pesky gap to deal with. As I mentioned I don't know of a sure fire cure to prevent the gaps from getting too big when you're cutting out doors...............it's what goes with the territory in model building. One of the things that's turned me off when I was a judge at a show, are too huge of a gap when someone has taken the time to open doors. Some may recommend buying two kits--------cut out the doors in one a bit larger than the door opening, and the second kit is the one with the doors cut out per normal. In this day and age of high unemployment, not to mention high kit prices, I'm not an advocate of that. A much cheaper method is to simply add plastic back to the perimeter of the door to lessen the gap. Here's a pic of the door put back against the body after it was cut out.............as careful as I was, I still have a huge gap which to me is woefully unacceptable! I have a method of getting acceptable shut lines when doors are opened. Here's how I do it................ Take some .020 sheet styrene and add it to the parts of the door you want filled in gap wise..............I like to use Ambroid Pro Weld for all my liquid gluing BTW. Now sand and shape the piece to the contours of the door, and let's see what we have here................. A door that has acceptable shut lines with no super huge gaps. The bottom part of the door could stand to be filled in a scooch.........I'm not building this one as of yet, so I won't worry about it at the moment. I also like to use the "3x5 card method" for checking gaps. If a 3x5 card will slip in and out without binding, that should be good enough to allow for paint so there's no scraping. Here's a pic of the Turbine Car I was building a while back which shows this............... Anyone who's built this kit knows how the door fit is just a bit dubious! Anyway, I hope this helps you out...........anymore questions ask away!

Okay! I must be old fashioned or something as I still like to use a plain 'ole back edge of the Exacto Blade. Gaps are going to be caused by how thick the plastic in the body is. If you've got a really thin body, you won't have to scribe as much to break free the door, trunk, or what have you. If the plastic is overly thick (some of RC2's are the worst) you're going to end up with a sizeable gap simply because you're going to get deeper in the blade, scriber, etc------and those tools get a bit wider the deeper you go. I've got a mini tutorial here which I'll show how I cut open doors........this is what's worked best for me, and I've been doing this a little while. Of course, your mileage may vary................ This example here was the guinea pig for an article I wrote for MCM a couple years ago...............I won't go through all that was in the article as it dealt mainly with hinging-----but if you check the back issues here on the site,(Nov '08 IIRC), you can purchase the mag and get the whole skinny on what I wrote. First, I had an overly thick body such as this AMT '55 Chevy Bel Air...........a nice model that was done during AMT's second good 'ole days before RC2 took over. I made an approximation on where the door lines were, and got out my Dremel and started grinding away around the perimeter of the door................. Once I was satisfied on how much was ground out, then I took the back edge of the Exacto and starting going around the door lines slowly but deliberately............. As I started to see daylight, I then took the back edge of the blade and went on the inside of the body........... And PRESTO! The door is now free! But wait! There's more-------------stay tuned!

I had heard that PA might be in it's crosshairs as well. At least the eastern half of PA. I live in a flood zone so I'll need to keep a watch on this one!

BTW, I just received from Norm the other week, his EXCELLENT V-12 engine for Ferrari 250 GT SWB's as well as an interior set for same. A usual, there's nary a flaw in the castings, and his turnaround time was super fast!

Here's another link for Norm's catalog..............and it is working! http://public.fotki....casminiatureof/

Very Nice! I like how you blended the 'Vette and the Cougar II together! Looks quite seamless! Now if only Pontiac could've had something like this as a Corvette twin...........................

Sorry to hear that Harold. I don't know what's worse, losing some of your prized models, or losing all your data on your computer! I too am a HUGE fan of Carbonite! I had to reinstall everything on my desktop due to a nasty virus a while back and Carbonite restored everything. The $60 a year is well worth it! BTW, do you know what started the fire??

For me generally no. If it's thin enough to come out of the can through the spray nozzle, it's thin enough to airbrush. The only exception is if I have some left over, and it's been sitting in the jar awhile, then I'll add some thinner to it to minimize any drama.

That sure is nice Ron! The corrections to the roofline make the difference!

We'll keep you in our thoughts Juan. I see you live in Caguas! I was there to visit back in February '06 and had a great time with some folks! Would love to come back there again soon!

For the resin parts Drew, I like to use 5 min epoxy for outside body work-------ie: attaching bumpers, glass, etc. For inside stuff that folks won't see, you can use a CA (super glue). Be cautioned though that resin soaks up CA like a sponge, so make sure that the part is where you want it before putting it on. Plastruct tubing I would use liquid glue such as Ambroid Pro Weld (if you can find it) or Tenax. If it were me, I'd try to find the Plastruct that is styrene based and not the other kind as that's been harder to glue for me in past experience. The embedded wire kind I've never been a fan of in particular............... Hope all this helps!

I'll try to help out here............... This is the body that you get from MCW.............I can see what Ron's talking about in regards to the rear backlite and quarter windows. And here's the changes that Ron did..............these are the pics he sent me earlier with the body still in primer. It looks MUCH better Ron with the changes you did!

I've always LOVED this car ever since they were new and wanted one badly when they were intro'd in 1982. But as a 21 year old making no more than 10K/year at the time, the $14,000 price tag was a bit too steep for me. I have this very kit you're starting (sans the box), and it was one of MPC's nicer efforts at the time. Looking forward to see what you do with it!

I was cruising some of the 1:1 car websites before I head off to bed, and I came across this gem of a concept from Kia of all companies! I was BLOWN away by the looks of this car, and one can only hope they come out with something very close to this. Now I'm sure this is not everyone's cup of tea, but for someone like me who's not real big into four doors, THIS I would buy! Check out the link below................ http://www.autoblog....an-concept/med/

Tapani does make an 1800ES (the Sportwagon) from pictures I've seen of it it looks just like the 1:1! I believe the master was done by Juha Airio, so you know it'll be correct.

I have Tapani's P1800, and while it will need some cleanup----it's quite nice and there's no pinholes that I see to deal with. I once owned a '65, and I'd like to replicate that car. His builds up into a '61-'62...........wouldn't take much work to turn into a '65.

When I was a kid ('60's), '58 Chevy's were quite common, although not as common as the '55-'57 ones. Back then they were "just another car", but today like you said they are very rare, and collectors will trip over themselves if there's a Impala coupe or convertible in pristine condition. The fact that the body style was a "one year deal" from GM, makes it that much more unique. Yeah! Try your hand at a '58 Convertible! With the job you did on the sedan delivery, it'll be quite nice! Some minor tweaking of the rear deck would be needed if you're doing the Revell one (AMT as well) but it's not a hard conversion.

Rob that IS good news! I just found out this morning that 50 people on my job were laid off yesterday. While no one in my section was let go........it did involve some people I know and a couple buildings in my area were hit. This is the second time in as many years that we've had layoffs. This time is not as bad as two years ago, but any layoff is unwelcome at this juncture. Yes, it's VERY tough finding gainful employment these days, and the sad thing is-----it's not going to get any better any time soon. In fact, things will get much tougher before long.

NIce and clean! Not many of those seen in model form or in 1:1 You're allowed 5 pictures per post if you're linking from a hosting site (Fotki, Photobucket, etc,). Your attachments can be whatever size limit the site will allow...............this will depend on how big the photos are which will determine how many pics you can post.

Oh I know! They've added more lanes which has resulted in more folks going to and from Knucklehead City!

Back in 1977 when I was learning to drive, my Mom had a '69 Javelin SST with a 390 and auto. I LOVED that thing as it could still squeal the tires despite the fact that it was an eight year old car, and probably about 80,000+ miles at the time. Of course I only squealed the tires when I was with my Stepdad--------never with my Mom in the car as that would have been the end of me driving her car! There just something irresistable to a 16 year old with 315 horses under his right foot! My Stepdad at the time also owned a pretty neat car...........a '69 Lincoln Continental Mark III which was also no slouch in the horsepower department. I got to practice driving in that quite a few times as well, learning to deal with the knuckleheads that made up the Washington D.C. Beltway back in those days!

I get this question from time to time when I show someone my more detailed models. I don't log time because as Nick says, it's more about enjoyment than anything else. Heck, I punch in and out at work-------I don't want models to be as if going to a job!

Now this is a real beauty here!.............. Looks like it was a nice show! Sigh................you guys just don't know how badly I'd like to get back down there!

Hmmm..............I hadn't noticed that about the fenders. I have an unbuilt kit, and a junker but it's been quite awhile since I looked at 'em. I'll have to check that out down the road.

Yeah, I figured it came out of the old Grand Prix kit. IIRC, Juha mentions in the article that's where he got his. That's an EXPEN$IVE kit, and I don't want to rob a rare kit just for the dash. Too bad Modelhaus doesn't cast just the dash from this one 'cuz I'd sure snag it.