62rebel

planning out a representation of the Ron Dunn '50 Ford coupe; and wondering what the engine/trans combo was and if it even had ANY modifications from stock flathead V8? read through SEVERAL articles and photo album but NONE had an engine pic or details about the powerplant.

i think the angle of the first engine pic made it look as if the covers were incorrectly installed. it was difficult to tell without seeing the later pics.

i had one of these in a larger scale some time back... i found it at the flea market and had to repair lots of broken parts, then sold it to an antique shop. Stanley held the speed records for YEARS on end with these machines... a steam engine has optimum torque from takeoff, meaning that it does not have to change gears to get up to speed; top speed is available almost instantly (limited by the axles, tires, and wheels, mostly) from the start. they can also be valved down to an infinite crawl using the enormous torque available. there were many other steam cars extant up into the '30's, but widespread availability of a much cheaper fuel and less maintenance hungry vehicles spelt the end of American Steam cars. i wonder what modern materials and techniques would do for a steam powered car...............

regarding the seam; imho if the rest of build is exemplary and all that remained was this engineered-in quirk thanks to the kit maker.... fuggedaboutit! let it ride! there are many ways to deal with it, but all require invasive "surgery" to the kit that some folks aren't comfortable with. i'm entranced by that shiney paint, myself.....

i applaud your efforts AND your choice of subject! i do some scratchbuilding but NOWHERE along the lines of this project! BTW someone queried who owns Land Rover and Jaguar now... that would be Tata Motors of INDIA, not TATRA of the Czech Republic. dudes; this thread illustrates that NOTHING is impossible if you get past the little nagging voice saying "i can't do that." and we thank you for showing us!

according to my understanding of the rule as stated, the codicil to "thin to scale" such parts as might need material removed, covers a multitude of applications. IMHO, as long as the part is still readily recognizable as sourced from the kit, i feel that you're okay with OOB. but, as always, check with the ruling body of the contest in particular, to avoid having a model DQ'ed.

that's a pretty nice rendition and well thought out, unlike many customs i've seen. i wouldn't apologize for a little dust... that means it was good enough to keep on display!

imagine trying to shoot the tires off those spindly wheels from 6-800 yards away, while under fire yourself ! WWI was a maelstrom of change in tactics from start to end; the combatants used everything at their disposal to develop new weapons and platforms. i'd imagine too, that a standard T would be hard pressed to handle very much armor plate; i bet most of it was less than 3/4" thick..... the operators would have to rely on nimble driving as much as machine guns and armor! neat set of models, BTW.... i wanted to build T E Lawrence's Rolls-Royce armoured cars from the Turkish Campaign, but finding the correct base kits at affordable prices is ... difficult.

i'd be surprised if no examples of a certain class of ship are represented, even if the specific named ship isn't.... seems like almost every warship has a basic version somewhere to start from. some might only exist as relatively tiny waterline models...

wow.... not only did i flub the b pillars with my swisscheese memory banks, i replied to the wrong continental thread. did i leave the cap off my liquid cement again?

i used paper towel and super glue for this for a while, but i discovered that cyanoacrylate loses bond strength reacting to the paper. now , if i need to strengthen a joint, it's with epoxy and bits of paper clips or pieces of styrene and liquid cement. on one of my models from a couple of years ago, i used business cards from my job for making a floor pan and side panels, used a LOT of ACC glue on that. i need to dig it out and see how well it's holding up. i use ACC and sanding dust for backfilling joints i know will get severe stress being worked; i used this method to put Chrysler dual headlamps on one of my revell Merc's.

well flog me senseless. i was completely wrong, and at the top of my lungs. color me humiliated and apologetic.

ahh. well, never had one of the original kits. kinda makes sense that they put window frames on a kit of a car that would almost never have it's windows down, since it had factory A/C. actually , one of my worst peeves about kits is not having side glass in them.

this is proof in the pudding that dissing AMT kits is lame. put some effort in and look what you can get back! very nice. sometimes happy accidents like your pearl over flat paint turn out very nice.... those bumpers are in most issues of the '40 coupe, IIRC... very delicate things. i have to dig out the '40 i widened the fenders on.... trying to emulate a Merc... it's in a box somewhere around here.

i'm curious as to why you think someone hacked out the "B" pillars... the '61-on suicide door Connies are ALL 4dr hardtops, the actual "B" pillar ends below the belt line. i've owned both a '62 and a '64. no visible "B" pillar. when the windows are up, the chrome window trim and rubber gasket fits neatly against each other.

seeing as my rapidly diminishing tire stash is... well, diminishing; i'd buy some repop tires also. i'd like to have some of the MPC "polyglas radials" from the mid '70's also.... replacing "no-name" kit tires with good tires from my stash has been painful, as some of the ones i've used are darn near impossible to replace.

make friends with the counter guys in a local AutoZone.... the endcap signage they use is screen-printed on what i think is .020 or .015 styrene, and they have to change signage fairly often. they chuck the old signage out... well, not ME, when i worked there. i kept all of it. i'll never buy sheet styrene again!

i've got a modifed Matador X and a stock '75 in my builtups.... AMT did the stock matador coupe for 3 or 4 years running. the X kit has the coffin nose but the rest of the kit is stock parts. the Bobby Allison nascar kit i have never had, so i can't speak for what it has in common with the stock kit at all. AMC managed pretty well for a couple of years in Nascar.... hard to imagine from a company that fizzled out selling Renaults.

i tried three different times to build an IMC 46-48 coupe... i think i still have some of the pieces in my stash. i KNOW i have the front seat from one in a Stone/Woods/Cook Willys i modified. i've been to the LHS several times in the last few months and seen nothing of note except the sprint cars..... that, and rapidly rising prices. i will be glad to see pics of "what's in the box" when this kit arrives.

i have to agree; refinishing a kit is a load of effort and you're constantly worrying about ruining it.... IMHO, leave the old builds as-is and enjoy them as early work. i have several old kits in Testor's white with clear that have gone "amber" and i let 'em be..... but i don't clear over white anymore.

what goes around.... comes around! that is a great revival tip. what the '60's method lacked was good adhesive and possibly fine tuning of integrating the cloth into the kit parts. often, after a while, the cloth would pull loose and ruin the effect. the method you're using looks great and also looks plausible in scale. great tip!

what adhesive/solvent is used to hold it together or to a standard styrene body? the stuff sounds great for imagineering.....

seems like Ford should have invested in oil soak pads with HD logos as well.

looks nice! see what happens when you challenge the right guys to "make something out of this Dodge A100 pickup, and do it quick".....

that line across the trunk needs to go, but unless you're de-trimming the car, the lines along the fender caps are there because the real car has separate chrome fins there. i built a couple of these and IMHO you can get the body to fit better by removing the tab area at the front of the windshield, as IMHO the clear plastic is too thick there. well; it's too thick period. the first one i built was a replica of the 1:1 i owned when i was in the Navy; white, with a black roof; light blue interior, and seventies Thunderbird polycast wheels.... i couldn't find suitable wheels for mine, so i used Torq-thrusts instead, as i'd have liked to do on the 1:1. it's a fiddly kit but it looks nice when finished and foiled.