oldcarfan

I tore out the walls and redid them. Probably been watching too many old house reno shows on HGTV. I liked the idea of using magnets to allow changing the scene but it didn't work as well as I hoped with the magnets in the walls. Also the 1/4 inch foam board warps a little with changes in temperature and humidity so they needed bracing. I added thin steel sheet to the walls and removed the magnets. Now I can embed magnets into the scenery pieces to allow positioning them anywhere on the diorama. Then I covered it with new brick paper. I'm thinking of using LED ribbon lights along the edges for lighting, has anyone tried that? With magnets on the back of the detail parts they can be moved or changed out as needed. Here's the roll up door with the magnets on it's back and a set of wooden doors I printed from a photo. Last but not least I started working on electric service to add some eye interest. I just put two tiny pellet magnets in the back and it'll fit flush to the wall. Not finished but it's coming along.

Between 1973 and 1975 Porsche offered an option for the 911 called safety stripes. They were magnetic and non-reflective to supposedly eliminate reflections from the hood. I think they look cool and I've been wanting a 1/24th version for a long time. I saved this line art with the idea of printing them as a decal someday. My wife has a Cricut and today she was working on a project in her office and it gave me an idea. I asked her to do a test for me with some scrap vinyl. She put the line art in her iPad, sized it and printed it out. This is the first attempt and it'll need a little adjustment, but I like it. Here's that first try shown on an old Monogram 1/24th curbside. This is regular Cricut vinyl which looks a little thick for scale to my eye so I'll be looking for something thinner, maybe some 3M vinyl or some decal paper? I may use the artwork as a stencil to spray the stripes. I may also get my wife to cut some other stencils too, she's pretty patient. The Cricut vinyl would probably work well for R/C cars, too. You could probably reverse your artwork and put them inside a clear R/C body before painting. If you put them on the outside and they got scratched up you could print replacements and move on. As far as the Cricut, it doesn't seem to do well with details and letters smaller than about 1/4 inch, but it did a good job on this size. Cricut says there's a fine point blade that should do more detailed work and I'll get one and give it a try. The machine can also cut thin plastic, but that's a little advanced for me right now. I can see how that feature might be handy for modeling projects. .

Thanks to both of you! I seem to always forget about ScaleMates. Back in my Navy days, a guy I knew in Naples, Italy drove a 190E. I wanted one of those cars so bad.

Thanks they were a happy accident. I wanted to order some Braid rally wheels, but I came across the Pegasus wheels which looked pretty close.

I said I wasn't going to buy any kits this week. Then I stopped at Wild Bill's HobbyTown in Arlington Texas. They had four kits I really wanted, but my wife was with me so I only got this one. Maybe not a holy grail, but definitely a "Please please can I get it?" kit. The roof was a little crushed but not broken. I think the one piece glass will straighten it out. For $25 it was definitely worth it. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if this is the Italeri kit reboxed?

I'm kind of the same way except when it comes to obscure Japanese or European kits. I just can't pass them up it they are a good price!

I can vouch for that. I bought Washi tape from Michael's and it works well, but it definitely needs a new edge. I usually put a strip on my glass cutting plate and cut a new edge first.

Sounds interesting. Is this from their Low Odor line? Is it an acrylic lacquer?

STS is my recommendation too. If it doesn't nave to be decals, you might ask around and see if anyone you know has a Cricut. They are pretty easy to use and could easily cut your artwork out of vinyl.

I had to make the hour drive to check on family in another town today. Rural highways in central Texas aren't that exciting except for the occasional speeding truck. Anyway, for some reason I remembered a picture of a Ford Courier UHaul I saved on the computer a few years ago. To keep boredom away, I planned a build in my head. I managed to think through what needed to be done and had a plan. When I got home, I scaled it to fit the Datsun truck I built a few months ago, but it should work for any 1/25th mini pickup. It's made from a plastic For Sale sign and some Evergreen #250 Quarter Round. I even managed to keep it square from every angle. You can't see it under the red putty, but the basic box is done. It really didn't need that much putty, but I was in a hurry and slopped it on. If I can stay on task, it could turn into something cool. Now I need to dig out a parts kits, I think there's enough of a Courier in there to do one like this.

I wonder if the bed off a 1/24 Monogram 1980 F100 and the fenders off an AMT 53 Ford would work for a conversion? The 1980 has the flattop bed, but it might be too wide.

Didn't get it but will go back, Hobby Lobby had a 1/24 Canadian Mail LLV Deliver Van. I didn't get it but now I want to see if they have a USPS marked one. It looked well detailed and at $29.99 it seems like a good deal.

Wish I'd gotten a picture, but on the frontage road today a Tesla Model 3 was in front of me. He went through a small puddle left from the rain and the car came to a stop. The puddle was only an inch deep. Is that a common thing? A couple guys in cars in front of me jumped out and helped push it into a parking lot. He said the water must have shut something down. He was waiting on a tow when I passed again.

I guess it goes to show we should buy stuff while it's available!

No picture today, but Charlie our new orange kitten went to the vet for his second vaccinations. He was not a happy baby and meowed loudly the whole 40 minute drive each way. Sounded like a kitty police siren. I nicely explained it was necessary to keep him healthy but he wasn't convinced.

Yes, many many layers of paint. I thought about that for a second, but couldn't think of a way to make it work.

I got the interior in the van and got it all screwed together this afternoon. How do you like the accidental denim seats? I added a matching backpack for the guys' road snacks.The roof rack and cargo box are glued on and the ladder is in place. I like the look. Still need to detail the headlights and cut some rear window glass. Maybe find some cargo for the roof rack. As for the headlights, the company went to the trouble of doing separate clear lenses with some detail and put a paper sticker behind them. I started adding decals, trying to keep it looking like something a local shop might be able to put together for a tow vehicle. A lot of these Sprinters are hitting the used market as they are retired from fleet service and they are usually cheap with a good service history, perfect for a low budget. I almost painted it Amazon gray but the yellow felt right. The only problem is the yellow chips pretty easy. Going to be hard to touch it up. I'm thinking it might need stripes or something across the middle, as it feels a little empty. There's a lot of empty real estate on the side of a van like this. Maybe an idea will hit. The exterior door handles are more like vague suggestions, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Great build of one of my favorite cars!

The white paint turned out nice and I saved the original green paint. I'll give it some clear as soon as I hit a hobby shop. I found a blue light off a damaged Alfa Romeo and a fender mirror that should work. It won't be a perfect as new look, but it's a fun change.

Worked on the van project a little, then decided to clean up 6 pairs of forceps that hadn't been cleaned in ten years at least. Took a lot longer than it should have! lol

Small progress to report today as I got distracted by another Jurassic World movie and then started on a Bburago Polizei 911 restoration. The Sprinter started as a toy so the interior is pretty sparse. The molded in seats were out of scale unless you have a six foot torso and three foot legs. Those got cut out and I built a new front floor. A little parts box scrounging delivered some replacement seats from an unknown pickup. I painted them blue, added the the plaid and then sprayed them with flat clear. I was aiming for a 70s German vibe. About the time I finished the paint, we got hit with another rain storm. The seats dried in the shop and when I went to check on them, the clear coat and the humidity had reacted to give them a faded blue jeans look. I kind of like it. For a toy, the company added some of detail kids won't ever notice. The steering wheel has a nicely done MB symbol that needed only some Baremetal foil. The dash is straight from the original toy and is decent if plain. I painted it and it needs some knobs and other stuff. I've decided not to finish out the rear interior of the van for now as I can't decide whether to do it as a work van or camper. The van screws together so no big deal if I want to do it later. That's all for now.

If anyone wants to build one of these, it seems Diolex makes a version. They also have some other really cool stuff. I think the file is available for download. https://diolexproduction.com/products/1-25-3d-print-resin-kit-1977-ford-b-250-carryall?_pos=5&_sid=be1ff5045&_ss=r

My opinion for whatever it's worth, is that the market for the AMT kit feels flooded to me. I wonder if they could do some retooling on the kit, maybe do an accurate short bed and generally freshen up the mold. I wouldn't say no if they remove the side trim too. The kit might reach a whole new bunch of buyers. Surely that would give them a 'new' kit to sell at half the price of a completely new one. I have several of the various reissues and don't need anymore. If not here's hoping Moebius picks up the reins.

On the topic of Fujimi kits, is there a definitive list of which are full detail and which are curbside? I've heard some of the full detail kits have been sold without the Enthusiast designation.

As far as kits, I many more than I'll ever build. I used to make a hobby of haunting Kay Bee Toys, Toy R Us, and even Walmart when they had kits for clearance kits. As a result I have an attic full. The problem now is how to unload them. My regret is putting off buying kits from ModelHaus, Fred Cady and others. It was just never the right time and now it's gone.