MrObsessive

Don't forget that Mr. Mays also gave us the "New" Beetle (lost its appeal quickly) and the absolutely terribly proportioned 2002-05(?) T-Bird. I agree with you about a lot of today's designs..............odd proportions (thank front wheel drive for that) and goofy lines have certainly made the roads and driveways uglier over the years.

To add what Mark said----I like to use Ambroid Pro Weld, but I found it works best if you have what's called a Touch 'N' Flow applicator. You can check Micro Mark for one of those. I had a problem with Tenax as it seems to evaporate quickly and seemed to lose its potency over time. There's also another liquid glue out there which can bond ABS and styrene-------it's called Bondene. It's fairly new on the scene and it's good stuff! The only trouble is if you use the applicator, it tends to clog up the tip after a short while. Forget the brushes that come as part of the caps-------they're thoroughly useless. I gotta disagree with Mark about Testors Tube Glue. While it does dry thoroughly, it also never stops eating its way through the plastic. I've got models that were built with it from years ago, and one can see the glue spots on the outside of the body where the part was glued on the inside. Maybe the amount of it is the key..............I'm just not a big fan of it. One rule of thumb when it comes to putting parts on a finished and painted body is to use NONE OF THE ABOVE! You'll want to get yourself some good 5 min. epoxy--------glue smears are nigh impossible to get out of a paint job, whereas you can get rid of epoxy smears with Windex and wax. Just my humble 2¢.

I have both the Harold Bradford kit and the Gunze kit I can tell you that Harold's version is MUCH NICER! He started with the Gunze kit, and made it MUCH better! There's no fiddling with getting the chassis glued (or soldered) together as in the original, no soft to bend white metal parts, and he even gives you nice reference photos for detailing. The price is VERY well worth it! Click here to get a close up look at what all you get. Also you can click here to see a fantastic buildup of the car. I know of no one, (including myself) that's actually built the Gunze kit.............if you're a novice at this, I'd highly recommend getting your skills up to par as that kit's not for the faint of heart. While the Model Factory Hiro's kits are nice, IMO they tend to be heavy handed in the molding of their bodies and other parts...............I'm not sure the kits are worth the 260 bucks that they're going for.............

It's just sad to see what's become of the American Auto industry. Go back to the late '50's, early '60's and GM was on top of the world. No one could touch them as far as design and name recognition. Problem was, they thought they WERE too big to fail and sat on their hands while the Europeans and more recently the Asians were eating their lunch. What did they do to respond? Build more soulless, pointless, poor quality cars. Now they'll pay the price. I guess I'm an old gearhead at heart............I don't like how a lot of cars are engineered today. Must EVERYTHING be front wheel drive?? It has its place with small cars, but I absolutely hate the goofy proportions it gives to larger cars. Dashboard to front axle distances are all the same, windshield angles all the same, rooflines all the same-------everything same, same, same. I agree with fordsixty------they should have just failed and let someone else pick up the pieces.................about 20 years ago.

George, they would be under "Bookmarks" at the top of the screen------that's what Firefox calls 'em. One thing she might want to do is export her bookmarks to a folder somewhere in Windows Explorer. That way if she ever gets another 'puter, she could simply take a thumb drive, drag and drop her folder right into it and then import it into her new computer.

Excellent.

Oy! Calm down my man! We're only stating what we have experienced! In all the time I've run Mozilla, I've never had a computer crash! I've had AOL (Almost On Line) crash my system once, but that had nothing to do with Mozilla. I don't have the high credentials that your relatives have, but I know more than the average bear when it comes to software, and I'm telling you with me-------Mozilla has caused me MUCH less trouble than Bill Gates' Internet Explorer.

This site is a little slower than most George...............so it's not just you. Not that it's a big deal, but when I first click on my bookmarks for here, it seems to take about 5 seconds or so to load up. In contrast, a graphics heavy page such as eBay, it loads instantly. Now I'm typing this from my laptop, which has 3GB of RAM and a very zippy CPU..............my desktop is the same setup as they both run Vista, and the forum has a lag time on both. I'm on DSL BTW, and I have 3 MBPS per second speed on the line............which is cable territory (or better in some areas).

I've been a user of Mozilla Firefox since 2004 and have NEVER gotten a virus from them! I've found it MUCH more user friendly than Internet Explorer in a lot of ways. Interestingly, Microsoft saw fit to make their new Internet Explorer 8 even more like Firefox..................tabbed browsing, navigation searches and all.

And if you thought some of the past/current designs were ugly............you just wait, you haven't seen ugly/funky looking yet if the recent crop of showcars was any indicator. Just one man's 2¢...........

I gotta agree with Dave here.........it's one of the reasons I don't like to answer questions on paint as there can be a thousand different ways to do a nice paint job. What works for me might not work for the next fella............... The best teacher is to JUST JUMP IN AND DO IT!

MMMMM............I love Karmann Ghias!! ;) Yours is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!! That Beetle is no slouch either.........super duper clean the way they were meant to be built!

You might want to swap the kit mags for some aftermarket ones if you plan to use 'em. The ones in the kit have unacceptable sink marks in the spokes. At least the mags in my sample do. Some nicer ones can be found here from Scale Equipment.

I LOVE IT!! But there's no way I could sell something that beautiful! I guess I'd have a hard time making any money at it! Yes, 1/43's can be VERY therapeutic as they'll make you challenge yourself as to what you can do in that small of a scale.

I love the sleeper looks of that! In fact I like this version of trim better than the Fairlane 500. Excellent work so far Mike! BTW, WHERE did you get those engine bay decals?? I've got a '57 I'd like to do similar to yours................I've got the interior decals (Keith Marks) but the engine bay details would be great.

???????????????????????? Looks like your trolling..................go somewhere else with that drivel.

I was thinking that too George with it being motorized and all. Also the AMT and IMC kits didn't have opening doors..............(well the IMC kit MAY have......). The odd scale is a giveaway too that it might be an import.

:lol:

Looks a lot like this......................... I just can't remember what Ford called this one though.....................

Thanks for the compliment! When I rub out metallic the key is very light rubbing out. I only do this to get rid of any dusties, and sometimes I may airbrush a very light coat back over where I sanded to even it out. Making sure where you're spraying is mostly dust free will go a long way to eliminating any dust in your paint 'til it cures. Yes, metallics shouldn't be sanded much because you can end up with a mottled, swirly appearance to the flakes. Some can get away with sanding/polishing metallics, but I've found it best to very lightly rub them out and then clearcoat. I don't have any special method for epoxying wheels..............mostly I eyeball everything to make sure it sits square on the ground. That's the main reason I like to pin the wheels on first to get an idea of how it'll sit, and then epoxy the wheels one at a time and eyeball it for straightness.

Thanks Len and Tommy! Len, those aren't Herb Deeks wheels on that........though I originally got Herb's wheels off eBay. He has a bunch listed on there now. Check the link below to see the "Buy it Now"............ http://snipurl.com/lsziq I didn't use them because to my view for this particular car, there weren't enough spokes to make it look correct. The wheels here are from Detail Master............the ones that are IMPOSSIBLE to get now. Since I last ordered them from Circle C Hobbies, they're completely sold out of 'em now. I would like to get a few more sets down the road for some future builds. I've searched around on the 'net and every place that listed them are sold out. Technomodel makes a nice wire wheel kit too............but they seem to be OOP also.

Okay! I finally got the wheels last week, so since I was off this week, I put 'em together. These look MUCH better IMO than the kit wires and the tires fill out those wheelwells much better too. I had to cheat with the rear window................while the front glass is the clear stencil sheet, the rear window is out of the kit. I couldn't get the acetate to cooperate with the curve at trailing edge of the backlight, so to move this along, I went and used the kit window instead. Nevertheless, the hard part is done............clearcoating and polishing are done, just some minor touchups to do. Also there's those niggling little details one needs to do before I can call this done. I wish I could work on this more often than I do...........but too much of life has gotten in the way lately. The wheels are just "pinned" on for the time being..........I just want to make sure the stance is what I want before I permanently epoxy 'em on. The roof of the car I decided to cover with BMF.............I didn't like the painted aluminum look of the roof, so I decided to take some "artistic license" with it Hope to get some more done soon...............but we'll see.

My choice of clear is plain 'ol Tamiya X-22................yeah the water based stuff. Yes, you need an airbrush though to use it............... You messed up? While it's wet, a simple spray of Windex (or any other ammonia) will take it right off. Put the body in the dehydrator for 8+ hours and it's hard as a rock. Just my 2¢.

I do have a beat up '64 Corvair coupe that could serve as a good base for that Karmann Ghia Type 3. On the other hand it's begging to be restored as is--------so if I can find another (at a reeeall cheap price) I might consider it. I've only ever seen one or two here in the states.............VW never exported that model here, so the couple that I've seen were definitely gray market cars.

Well from one Sports Car/Vintage Race Car lover to another....................WELCOME! Any questions ask away--------we'll try not to get too technical!