Lunajammer

NASCAR has become, well, bland. Otherwise NASCAR wouldn't keep tweaking things to add interest. Danica is interesting. Though the media plays a part, they didn't invent her. I don't think they dwell on her but they keep fans like me informed. It's kind of telling though, that in Las Vegas, it was reported Kevin Harvick offered her some tips on working the track and she gained ten positions. Yes, she's still learning, but some of that knowledge would maybe be intuitive to a top ten driver. You have to wonder what her cars would do in the hands of others.

Yeah, I guess you're right Tim. I've just always thought the potential for a great story and great, real life car action can coexist together. That goes almost more so for WWII aircraft movies.

A workmate and I were just talking about how we're due for a really good, really driven (read as no CG), epic car stunt movie that becomes a lasting standard. What I don't get is why these movies always shoot themselves in the foot with brainless, paper thin scripts. Does Hollywood think that devoted car guys just want eye candy and fragmented one liners? Maybe marketing says they do, but I still have faith in the expectations of the thinking car guy.

I have nothing against the car, it appears to be a masterpiece of engineering and quality. But to me the Ridler Award goes to cars I would typically describe as "amazing grace." I see no grace in this presentation. I see the same conspicuous audacity that every corner of our culture seems to reward more and more.

Many years ago I found an awesome can of red automotive lacquer, might have been Duplicolor. It looked luscious and I used it on a bunch of models. So I'm trying to not use red for a while.

They were shipped nose down so the little cars could look at their futures.

Outstanding Eric! You're clearly an extraordinarily experienced builder. I love everything about this and your details are exactly right.

X2. Really superb. I can look at it a long time just taking in the nuances of your craftsmanship. So good.

I don't think the same model should be shown in back to back years, but personally I enjoy seeing the return of models I haven't seen for awhile. About every third or fourth year I'll bring a model I've shown before because I've always thought bringing models, whether contenders or not, is a show of support for the show hosts. I've never considered it lazy or egotistical of someone to let us see it again (within reason). I also think it's a shame to show a model once then no one gets to see it again. Why hide them? I love models.

This is great. That deck is really nicely crafted. I'd love to see it with that base on a display table.

@ Psychographic @ customsrus These are absolutely inspired and exciting. The T-bird bumper/grill... brilliant. Such different and targeted looks to the same general idea.

The 180 is almost the spittin' image of the 180 my dad flew in the 50's. It was a company plane, but the owner had a different plane he preferred to fly so my dad got this one to use for business and pleasure. He had the Monogram float when I was a tyke. He tells the story of how he'd fly from ND to Austin, MN, then drive another 20-miles to visit my mom. One day upon his return to the Austin airport, he was aghast to find out that when the hanger owner ran out of room to store the parked planes, he tipped the tail draggers onto their noses to "stack" them better. Was a very tense trip back with every vibration a worry. But my question is how do you mask BMF without pulling off with the tape?

Sickening. Brilliant recovery though. Dare I say it's even more compelling now. It's begging to be ensconced in a diorama, you've already started the process.

Doesn't it strike you that posting a thread about incendiary topics isn't in itself laying gasoline and matches out to see what happens? I'm going to the Workbench.

...and that's just the spotting scope.

Lens. Before pixel resolution was even a blip on the radar, photo hardware was all about the lens quality. That's what you spent the money on and you put a cap on it to protect it. Lenses the size of a piece of confetti pulled out of a grubby pocket or purse to grab a snap to me doesn't represent a concerted effort to take good pictures. Nothing personal Rob, it's just the bain of my existence as a graphic artist being handed cell phone snaps from clients who then expect to see glossy, rich, studio quality images on their ads because it looked okay on their 2x3 phone screen. I think lens consideration is still valid in a digital world, even if it's nothing fancy.

Well done Matti.

It's the auto equivalence of this...

"...When television is bad, nothing is worse...what you will observe is a vast wasteland." - Former FCC Chairman Newton Minnow. Seinfeld: NBC Chief of Programming: "(If it's a show about nothing) then why would I watch it?" George: "Because it's on TV."

I like it too.

A real beauty. Lovely color, great work.

Definitely artwork on the cover. That said, I won't buy it if I can't see somewhere on the box what the model looks like.

Sentimental favorite. F1 in my mind is always this car.

Thanks for the 'go juice' John. I hope I get another couple hours this week to move forward and put this to bed. I'm anxious to start the next one.

Amazing how well those wheels set it off. Very astute choice.