LDO

######, Vince. That's just unreal. I'm hoping for a full recovery for you. I hope they catch the scumbags who did this.

(Etzel's Speed Classics resin kit...x2...MIB

You need to "enclose both ends" of img and /img .

I have nightmares about non-descriptive thread titles on modeling forums. (No, yours is not one of them).

Dave- You can post photos by adding [ i m g ] in front of the url and [ / i m g ] behind it. Eliminate the blank spaces. Like this Cool project, btw.

And my guns have killed one less person than Laura Bush's car. I'm moderate. I think all politicians are full of it.

Cool. I thought the same thing when I saw those in Wal Mart a couple of years ago. What engine will it get?

I live and work near Austin, TX. It seems like there are a lot of "old" Beetles out and about these days. I don't know if it's my imagination, if it's Austin being a bit less "cowboy" than the rest of Texas, or if there really are more being driven. What about where you live? Are you seeing more old Beetles than normal? It could be that people are pulling the old cars out of the garage because Bugs get better fuel economy than their normal daily driver.

Three more links to get to a message that no longer exists.

Wanna get rid of it?

That's the same photo as page 127 in Fred Roe's book. I'm wondering what the back end looks like. I'm not going to get too hung up on making it perfect, just a representation of what it might have looked like.

70mach1- Great job on a beautiful car. I love the pre-war classics. Nick- the engine is indeed a straight-8.

Pretty much. I'm guessing you're talking about the traditional Roots-type blower. Most of them have one or two carb flanges directly on top.

I'll see if I can scan it or take a digital pic of the page.

It's on page 127 of Fred Roe's Duesenberg The Pursuit of Perfection. There is only a side view. The body(passenger compartment) is shorter than the Murphy Town Car as modeled by Monogram. There is no trunk. I need to kow what the back end looked like without a trunk there. It's a long shot, but hey...

I picked one up as part of a package deal at a garage sale. I'm wondering if it will lay down a show car shine...well, the start of one, anyway.

Eh. Cool enough. I love the Twin Mill, BTW. Do you have any magazine articles on it? It was in Street Rodder a few years ago.

Just out of curiosity, why side by side in a land speed car? That's gotta be more drag than two engines in line.

Like others have said; they may not measure up to a modern Tamiya kit, but some are pretty close. Monogram's Packard boattail speedster is very nice. It goes together with no real problems. Their Duesenbergs are nice, too. Jo-Han's Merecedes-Benz kits are very nice. Their shortcomings are very minor; shallow door panel detail and the chrome trim on the trunk lid doesn't have any locating pins. You gotta be careful when you put it on. I really like these kits. I built the coupe while deployed to Afghanistan. Paint is Tamiya clear red over grey primer. Heller...oh boy. I love their Delehaye 135. It's a beautiful car, BUT, you really have to love the car to build the model. The kit engineering is poorly thought out. The front fenders are skirted and the skirt stands out slightly. The skirt is in two pieces. I just used sheet plastic for the entire raised skirt: There should be a peak running down the center of the front fenders, but it isn't there. I added it by gluing a piece of .010" brass wire down the center and fairing it in. The photo is of poor quality so I can't really show that. To be fair, those two things may not bother everyone. BTW the body is by Chapron. I read a post from a guy trying to make it look like a Figoni & Falaschi, but that's just not happening. Heller's M-B 540k is garbage. Its body is split down the center, as in left and right halves. Italeri's Bugatti Royales are nice. One really cool thing about the pre-war classics is that no matter who the coachbuilder was, the basic shapes were pretty similar. Biscuitbuiler told me about making a Duesenberg Judd coupe out of the Duesenberg roadster with a modified roof from Monogram's 1930 Ford coupe. Somewhere around here I've got a heavily modified '37 Ford body for a Duesenberg Mudd coupe project.

BTW- if you have Java on your computer, go to this site http://client.sigmachat.com/sc.php?id=12510 It's a place for live chat about models. It gets fairly busy in the evenings. I'm talking with a guy who calls himself "Alfa" right now.

Yeah, but to tell the truth, I'm a big fan of curbside models. That is, kits that don't have any detail under the hood or chassis. I like cars in the "natural state"; hoods and doors closed, sitting on all 4 wheels. Concentrate on the body. That's what grabs everyone's attention. That's why contests have a curbside class. There is no competition category for "detailed engine/unpainted body".

You find cleanup easier if you use oven cleaner or Castrol Super Clean. It's not a good idea to clean up something covered in brake fluid in the kitchen sink. The paint in a jar should only be used with a brush on interior/engine parts. You will not get good results painting a body with a brush. For the body, use spray cans if you don't have an airbrush. It's hard to go wrong with Tamiya spray lacquers. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

DO NOT use paint thinner to strip the body. It will dissolve the car. Use brake fluid or oven cleaner. Oven cleaner should be sprayed on, then put the parts in a bag or Tupperware container. After a while, the paint will just peel off. Once stripped, clean the body under a faucet with a toothbrush. Once that is done, clean it up in another sense; sand off any mold parting lines and sand any areas like the nose cap/front fender/hood area to make them all blend in. Your paint job will only be as good as the bodywork below it. Once you are satisfied with the bodywork, lay down your base coat. I've gotten great results with Tamiya lacquers in a spray can. For a candy/metallic red, your best choices in base coat will be silver or gold. Is you use gray primer, you will get a very dark red. Warm the can in a sink full of hot water. DO NOT USE BOILING WATER. Hot water will raise the pressure in the can, letting you lay down a finer coat of paint. GO slow. Just put on a very light coat. Don't worry if you don't cover it all in one coat. Wait 15 minutes and put on another coat. When you are happy with the primer, go on to your color coat. Use a warm can and go slow with it, too. Even though it is transparent, don't worry if one coat has streaks. Give it another coat in 15 minutes. When you are happy with the color coats, go over that with clear. Go slow with clear, too. That's the most important advice I can give you; going slow. If you try to get all your paint on in one coat, it will get drips and runs, ruining the paint job. A polishing kit will help you get a mirror finish, but it needs practice and patience, too. http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?M...ct&ID=80939 Good paint takes time, patience, and practice. If this one is not perfect, try again. Each one will get better. Keep us posted on your results and ask any questions you come up with.

IIRC, the body is accurate for a Lola T73; the Aston Martin V8-powered car. Charles Fox at the GPMA Yahoo! Group can tell you more. He was working on an Aston Martin engine for his. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gpma/

Have any of you "Fishbowl" fans ever been to Germany? Over there, buses and trucks are popular subject for models and diecast. Much more so than in America. A Fishbowl would be a dud. Not enough people here would remember it or care enough to spend $150 on a model of it. In Germany, however, this Neoplan is a current subject where, once again, buses are popular models.