Scale-Master

Thanks again guys! Beginning of the alternator. I freehand milled the front from resin. The main parts are aluminum. The back plate is styrene. Three steel pins hold the assembly together. Loose test fit pending other parts of the pulley system that need to be made.

The distributor cap; I started making it from brass tubing, but ended up machining it after I soldered it together, it is still all brass and solder. The distributor itself was machined from aluminum. As was the vacuum advance canister.

I built the housing for the trunk latch.

Thanks guys! The last piece for the extinguisher is done, the safety pin… …and it is assembled. The pin does go all the way through to the back… The one I copied has a little barb on the pin, (no chains required).

Thanks Alyn! These are the four main sub-assemblies for the fire extinguisher. 15 individual pieces (counting the needle and lens for the gauge). Three custom made decals. From the right, the nozzle, the bottle, the holder and the hold down strap.

I roughed out the top of the extinguisher by freehand milling some scrap resin (left over from casting). Then I filed and scribed in some detail.

Holder for the fire extinguisher. Beginning of the extinguisher…

Built in tandem with a friend who is building the same kit, I finished first... Out of the box, I used Tamiya Bright Green as the base and Candy Green for the color. I mixed the Ebony with Metallic Black and Smoke. I drilled out the rotors, but the rest is just the way it was molded.

1/87th scale all white metal kit by a company called The Wheels Works. I acquired two of these kits from a friend, this one was loose in a box so I thought Id play with it and see how it went together, kind of as a dry run. Ill build the other one later I found a few things that Ill do differently on the next one, but it was fun just to see how it would come out. Overall it fits well, but being as tiny as it is, there are some tight tolerances. I used Tamiya AS-21 Dark Green and Krylon satin black for the exterior, RAF Medium Gray for the wheels. There were no windows so I used Micro Krystal Klear for the windshield and rear window, Ill make actual windows for the next one. The wood for the bed is decal. I painted the silver strips and cut up the door panel decals from a Testors 442 kit for the wood grain. A little wash and light weathering on the chassis. The chassis parts even include the steering arm along with full suspension.

The headlight/turn signal assemblies are done (except for the wiring that will come out of the stems). I changed the interior color of the housing from bright silver to a flat pewter/steel tone. The turn signals also have bulbs in them now. The stems mount to brass receivers installed to the frame. On the real car they are removable by pulling out one bolt and unplugging them for track time. The notches I cut into the nose piece for the mounting receivers make for a nice positive locking fit for the nose.

I caught one over the weekend in I movie I had seen a couple times and never noticed. Mr. Holland's Opus. The son, Cole, is building a Monogram 1/12 '69 Camaro (molded in orange). In the scene where Mr. Holland tells his son to open the windows because the fumes stink (and gets his sheet music blown around). The time line is a little off, I don't think that kit was available within the restraints of the story, even though they don't cite an exact year.

Thanks guys. Yes Norm, often I'll think through several possible ways to make a particular part/assembly. "Thinking on it" is something I'll sometimes do for weeks or months depending on the part and complexity. Sometime it's just deciding on what exactly it is I want to make. These headlights are an example of that. It's taken me many months to decide what type of headlights I wanted and what would look appropriate on the car. First I had to decide what it was I wanted to make for the headlights. I considered fold away types, LED systems, "old fashion" standard sealed beams... Rectangular, square, oval, round... But I noticed the Xenon lights on so many cars and found conversions for almost any car were available and thought it would be a nice accent to the rest of the car. After research to learn the sizes and wiring requirements, I thought out the best way to approach making them (in the back of my mind much of the time) and then went for it once I fully envisioned what I wanted. I invested far more thought time than execution time in this case.

Thanks guys. The Xenon bulb and projector assemblies Installed and wired into the housings. These are the headlight mounting stems At least the beginnings of them. And the turn indicators...

I like Cameron's attitude. I too like to build, but also enjoy the fulfillment of finishing what I start. But why bind yourself to build if you aren't enjoying yourself or have a deadline to meet? I typically have at least 5 models at any given time in progress, even with the larger long term projects that are like 50 models in one. Right now I am actively working on three separate ones every day. It would be four if it weren't for my incredible self restraint... The last time I finished a multi-year project I forced myself to finish all the others that had fallen by the wayside and not been completed. Some took a few days to button up, some literally took minutes to finish. I think it took only about a week, maybe two, to finish over twenty models that were left on hold. I still have three of that batch I didn't finish yet. Maybe next year...

And many think the same about Corvettes.

That's not what I took away from what you had said earlier: Still, I don't see why any contestant should have to forgo competition to protect his entry from being handled. It's not a choice of being forced to have their entry judged; that's the point of entering a contest. If it is a past winner, it should not even be allowed to be entered in competition.

It has happened to me. Wonder if you were at the same show?

I'm in agreement with you Donn. I personally know of more than just a couple of well respected and very talented builders who have left the "show circuit" due to just what you point out in your last paragraph. It's interesting, some of the same guys that used to be (incorrectly) accused of being 'trophy hounds" (for the simple fact of being good builders) have stopped participating in many shows because they put the protection of their work above the awards.

At our show, if you place, you cannot enter that model at later shows ever again. We keep records and have caught people trying to re-enter models that placed previously. Sometimes it is an honest mistake, they forgot, it does happen. That is why we keep records. There are a few guys who have tried to pull a fast one knowing they placed previously, also why we keep records... Those few perennial models that keep showing up over and over and never placing do so for a couple probable reasons. One is that it's all that person has to enter and they hope to win (by attrition...) someday. In reality they rarely ever place because fresh and better quality models constantly replenish the ranks of the previous years winners. And by comparison, they slide further away from being competitive. I'll enter what I have built for a about a year, but if I don't go to shows for a while I see no problem bringing something I may have built a couple years ago if it has not been shown before, or at least not at that venue.

That makes perfect sense to me. But it is not what I was taking away from your first post regarding where that Chevy placed, (or didn't place...). It should take more than just a shiny finish to be competitive, especially one with a flaw. Some entrants would rather risk a lower "score" than risk damage to their model at the hands of another. But at the same time, if you display your model properly the judges can usually see all around it without need to handle it. If it is marked "Do not touch", that direction should be respected and followed by all. So why should an entrant be defacto disqualified from competition and relegated to a "Display Only-do not judge category" for not wanting his model handled? (I don't get that mentality.) Most shows covered by the magazines now put cards by the models indicating they would like to photograph them. It is up to the builder to bring them to the booth or give permission to the photographer to handle the model.

Great job Harry! Very clean!

I have seen many many models damaged by judges, magazine photographers, and ignorant spectators. I have had my models damaged by all three types of people. While the show staff should be able to ward off spectators picking up what they think are toys, it can happen quickly. But I have seen some photographers routinely put themselves above the “do not touch my model” signs. I recall one GSL when our own photographer-editor Gregg accidently dropped a guy’s model when he assumed it was attached to the base; he still had the base in his hand when it landed… hard. I saw a white metal F1 model destroyed in the same fashion at and IPMS Convention. The builder was given a higher place award than it deserved to compensate for the destruction. (Not sure how that is fair to anyone.) I have had major damage done to my models by judges at major shows. Some were honest and I think truly sorry because they took responsibility and personally apologized. Sadly that is rare in my experience. But it did not diminish the damage and I can recall three situations where the damage was so bad it was not fully repairable. While putting out a note saying how to pick up a model seems like a good idea, it hasn’t work for me. (How often do judges even read the “How I built this” notes?) Even when I had made a note to expressly not pick my soft aluminum bodied model by the sides. It had do not touch signs. It also had instructions how to pick it up, just in case it absolutely had to be moved and I wasn't around, (pick it up by the roll bar and under the nose). Later I found a judge holding it exactly as I wrote not to do, by its sides crushing the body over the frame, and now it has permanent unrepairable damage. It has nothing to do with the quality of the construction; it has everything to do with the ignorance of people handling models they don’t know how to handle. I can’t count how many of my models had the BMF messed up on the window trim/drip rails from judges and photographers picking them up by the sides of the roof. There is no one right way to pick up a model, and unless you built it, you may be very wrong in assuming the best approach.

I'm confused with what you're saying in your example. A model with just a nice paint job, and with a flaw at that, that had no detailing didn't place? Sounds like that is fair if something that did have better craftsmanship won. What am I missing?

They were shipped ready to run with fluids. Notice the reservoirs have the lids offset towards the rear of the car.

I've seen some of those firsthand. They don't disappoint. They are very well crafted and draw you in no matter the angle you view them from.