vwdave92

Nic The SMS website shows a "builders kit" for the car priced at $110 but no other details as to what is included in the kit. Do you know if any of the planned PE parts are available yet? I'm going to be doing a number of these kits trying some different things on each one. I want to get the build down and all the detail painting and such before I do the builds around the autographed floor pans. I would be more than willing to help you develop parts etc for the kits. Dave

I have one quick question... what are these "film canisters" you speak of? Is that something the flash memory cards come in? I'm joking of course. I've started taping off my interior tub before I do my flocking to keep it from going places I don't want and to make sure the seats etc glue directly to the tub... sometimes the flocking makes for a tough fit and it can be hard to glue something to. HTH Dave

I've used .005 a bit and both marking pens and India ink. The india ink seems to take a LONG time to dry but it's very good on the black rubber window trim of newer style cars. I've also gone to a number of different color pens / markers for all kinds of things I used to go cross eyed trying to paint with a brush. Gauge highlights, molded in wires, body badges... It seems there are alot more colors now than a few years ago and tips sizes small enough to use for details. Spend some time in marker isle at Hobby Lobby of your LHS and you'll be amazed. Dave

The ALMS car and the cars that raced the 24hours of LM are the same cars. There is no Euro version of the car. The most difficult or challenging part of the kits will be matching the paint. There are signifigant differences in this year and last year. Most of the dark grey that comes as decals in the kit is flat back this year. Also the cars were often diferentiated by yellow, black and red "headrest" section. This was done away with for the ALMS cars. The story goes it was more superstition than anything else. Seems the car with the yellow headrests never had an outright win. Anyway... the color schemes on this years ALMS cars are all the same. Just the numbers and drivers names are different. I would guess when the SMS superdetail kit is ready we'll see a few different decal packages to go along with it. The kit is based on the 2006 24hr LM winner. According to the drivers the decals included in the kit are accurate to that race. HTH Dave

amazing looking build of a car that holds a classic place in auto / auto race history. There is a great book called "Last Open Road" by B. S. Levy that the TC plays a huge role in. Anyone that is into auto racing really should check it out. Andy.. keep the good work coming Dave

Yes. The cars are often called "panzers" as a sort of unofficial nick name. It's dirived from the tanks the Germans used in WWII. Very VERY fast compared to the Allied tanks and no less deadly. Seeing these cars in person is truely amazing but hearing them is something different all together. They make almost no noise. At wide open under full load they produce just under 100db of noise. Almost all the sound you hear is the rush of air hiss turbos... almost jet like. Dave

Absolutely amazing!!! I'm guessing you have access to your own machining tools? Dave

I picked up several of these kits from Wonderlandmodels in England right before the ALMS came to Road America in Wisconsin. Normally I would have waited to support the LHS but with a real chance for autographs I just couldn't wait. One of the two scheduled autograph signings got canceled so I was only able to get on box and two floor pans autographed. But... Pierro and Warner spent a few minutes looking over the kit and decale sheet (after emptying the box on the signing table holding up the entire line ). Apparently none of the drivers had seen the kit to this point. All four drivers said it looked great and the decal sheet was accurate to the 2006 cars. They really got a kick out of seeing it. So anyway... hopefully here are some pictures of the kit and autographs Hopefully the picture links work I have a couple extra kits if someone wants one before they are imported Dave

You could not be more right! There is a HUGE market for well done tuner kits. The trick is to do them well. Guys building "tuner type" cars want the same things as guys building the new 49 Merc kit. A few options and good fitting kit. I'm in the group that avoided the F&F Evo for the cartoon reasons. And the Mustang kit, although maybe well intentioned, wasn't fooling anyone. The reproduction of the Skyline motor was miserable... not usable. I think RC2 got swept up in the die-cast craze and it all went wrong from them. Hopefully someone will pick up some of the tuner cars. If you look at the crubside work Aoshima and Fujima are turning out and lengths people will go to get the kits I would think it would be a sure sign the market is there. dave

More color options are always a good thing in my book! I've had great luck with the 2part Testors system. I'm really not married to any one type of paint though. I'm more interested in the right color... I'll shoot anything once if I think it will look good on the car. I'm going to try ordering some Zero Paints from hiroboy for a copy of a couple of one to one projects but these new paints will be fun! Dave

I've never judged a model contest but I have done a few 1:1 car contests and competed in several contests. The one thing I can say for certain is no one will ever make everyone happy. There is always going to be someone upset about the decisions. And when you're talking about subjective judging (that one's just prettier...) it just makes matters worse. All that said... if you get the chance to be a judge... take it. Even if you never do it again, you will have a whole new respect for what the judges go through. I would guess that in most cases anyone complaining about judge's decisions has never done any judging themselves. Personally ... I never expect to win anything. Just seeing people look and comment on my work is enough for me. Dave

Update time... I got free the last couple days and got a lot of prep work done on my Ducati. The 916 kit had been started already so much of the work has been undoing and repairing someone else's work to this point. Most of the kit has been primed at least once at this time. My question is this... The exhaust is very poorly chromed right now. I would like to replicate a slightly used stainless exhaust look. Can someone help me with the colors and order of dry brushing and washing I should use on the pipes? Thanks in advance pictures coming soon Dave

Stunning!!! I've enjoyed catching up with your project. How long have you been working on it? Do you own a 1:1 Seven? Good Luck Dave

I have just started a Revell 1/9 Ducati 916 that will be using the wheels from the 996R kit to match the real cycle a friend of mine owns. I'll try to post pictures as I go along... My question is... I'm looking for a different chain in place of the plastic one. Does anyone have any ideas on what to use for a 1/9 scale motorcycle chain? Thanks in advance Dave