mr moto

That's really hard to answer because I also haven't used enamel color coats in a long time! Try Model Master Ultra Gloss Clearcoat - meaning test it on your enamel first before jumping in. I think it's safe over enamel (Testors says "special formula won't craze or soften styrene" so it's mild by lacquer standards) and it lays down a super smooth, super glossy finish. I actually stuck my finger in a test coat and it didn't show when the finish dried!

Enamel clearcoat can give a "warm glow" if you use it over red, orange, yellow spectrum colors that can actually be kind of attractive. It can really make 'em "pop". I've also gotten a good looking result over black. It will make lighter blues look kind of greenish and, of course, it looks yellow over white. I haven't used any enamel clear coat in years because there are so many good clear coat options now.

That little filler bottle is the best thing that ever happened to Touch-n-Flow! You don't need to use it for loading the TnF if you don't want to use it for that and you don't fill the little bottle with cement and squirt it into the TnF. Here are some options: 1. You can fill your TnF the old fashioned. That means that you put the glass end into the cement bottle for a few seconds and let the cement rise up into the TnF. When you're finished insert the little squeeze bottle into the glass end of the TnF and use air pressure to force the remaining cement back into the bottle. That way your TnF stays nice and clean. 2. You can put the needle end of your TnF into the cement, squeeze the fill bottle and hold it squeezed, then insert it as far as it will go into the glass end of the TnF, let go of the "squeeze" and it will draw cement into the TnF. Repeat several times if you want more cement in it. When finished, clean it out as above. 3. This is the really great part! In the past, I had two TnF's get so clogged that I couldn't use them but I saved them anyway. Now all my TnF's work again. Whenever it gets clogged place it needle down in the cement for a minute or so to help dissolve any residue in the tip and then use the squeeze bottle to blow air through it with the tip still in the cement. Blow several times until you see a strong stream of air bubbles coming out of it. It will work just like new! I used to think the TnF was a frustrating "necessary evil". Now it always works great.

That's a great build of a long time favorite of mine! Your color selection is right on. Just a little educational footnote - not taking anything away from the build - that's actually an Imperial Crown and the Crown Imperial was a very different car. I can't imagine how that could be confusing! Crown Imperials were stretch limos that Chrysler had made in Italy by Ghia to be the "ultimate limousine" in their words. Here's a 1963 Crown Imperial:

This is a fabulous build but Revell is messin' with you. 12 volt batteries always have 6 caps - not 5.

That's a great build of a great car! I recently visited the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. Words can't describe it!

The '49 Stude didn't have a bulletnose. Bulletnose years were 1950 and 1951. So let's see a kit of a '50 Stude!!

I've done that and it works but I wish I had used metal! The plastic ones are so delicate that you'll probably break them twice before the model is finished. BTW, BRILLIANT tutorial!! That's what I'll do in the future.

If the chassis was designed to work with 1/24 and 1/32, does that mean that there will be a line of 1/32 cars in the future?

Here's a link to EJ's chassis kits. I like them because they're similar to vintage slot cars that I'm familiar with but there are actually plenty of sources out there for more modern style stuff also. Spend a little time with Google and you'll find some more. http://www.ejshobbies.com/slot+car+chassis.htm

This is INSANE!! When do we get to hear it run?

That sounds like the bottom line to me. Modelhaus stuff is always top quality.

There's actually a bunch of them, Jonathan, including a club in Lafayette. Their website doesn't seem to be working right now so here's a link to the Baton Rouge club: http://www.brscalemodelers.com/ You can use the "Contact Us" link to get more info than I have right now. And here's the Lake Charles club: http://www.ipmsswamp.com/ There's a contest coming up in Covington on Sep. 15 and there will be one in Lafayette in November. I don't have the date right now but I can get more info and contacts for you. I hope to be able to meet you at one of the contests! Here you go. Just found this. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPMSAcadiana/?tab=s It should get you in touch with the Lafayette group. There are seven clubs in Louisiana.

That's a great looking build and the 4200 is probably a better choice for that style of truck than the 4300 is anyway.

That's a beauty! Great work.

I said it's real but this one better turn out to be a model or else Harry is slipping!

I saw the Glencoe kit on Ebay just the other day - it might still be available. The box said the LeSabre was 1/72 and the Indy car was 1/60 scale. The Glencoe re-issue must be a pretty obscure kit all on its own!

Maybe the driver likes to inhale carbon monoxide?

Great minds...etc., etc.

That would look great as a gasser!

The twin supercharged engine is often referred to as the R-5 since it's rumored that a version of it was going to be put into (limited) production and it would be the next in the numbered series of R engines. Of course, it never even got close to production and only one was ever completed so it never officially became an R-5.

Things to know about the Avanti engine and the instructions in every release that I've seen - here's a couple pictures of the real thing: Notice that you can't see the distributor because of the polished guard that also covers the spark plug wires. That was standard on the Avanti along with the polished valve covers, etc. The odd thing is that the guard has always been included in the kit but they've never shown you the right way to use it - now they don't even show it. The actual distributor should only be used if you don't use the guard. It's an either/or thing. Bonus: your engine is detailed without having to install spark plug wires! The finished engine should look something like this: BTW, Round2 if you're listening, this is totally unforgivable since Round2 is home-based in South Bend, IN which is the city where the Avanti (and other Studebakers) were built. Probably half the people walking down the street could tell them that it's wrong. I'll be in South Bend at the beginning of August for the Studebaker Drivers Club International Meet when SB will be flooded with Avantis and other Studes. I'm sure anybody would love to open their hood so Round2 could take a look! The twin Paxton option represents the engine from Due Cento which was Andy Granitelli's Bonneville record car. This what that one should look like:

Gator's really good! Many of the best restaurants in the Baton Rouge area serve fried gator as an appetizer and Frank's Restaurant and Smokehouse makes their own gator sausage in case you want some with your eggs in the morning. But I think the best is a Cajun dish known as alligator sauce piquant - kind of like a spicy stew served over rice. That's fit to eat!

Wow! So that's what a 1:1 glue bomb looks like!

That's probably Revell that you're thinking of. I don't recall anything metalflake coming from Johan but, of course, the old memory ain't what it used to be!