Lunajammer

Meh. I'm always in favor of design drama. But a Challenger? Are you sure those are the right wheels? Now, If they gave that treatment to a knocked down, two door Charger... that would be an enticing accomplishment.

True, but shouldn't the judge have not assumed everything was rock solid? Should they not have requested your assistance if they wanted to move something that was displayed differently than a typical static model?

In another topic in this forum, Jon Cole writes, "I personally do not understand the host clubs fear of handling of models (at shows), much less the builders themselves. Has anyone ever broke a model at a contest? Yes, actually. It wasn't a car but a bomber with operable, motorized propellers which belonged to a fellow modeler. Each time we drifted by the model throughout the day, another blade was laying on the table, despite a sign placed directly in front of it requesting it not be touched. Infuriating. So I think Jon's questions is intriguing. Have you seen models broken while on the show tables?

Ssssmokin'! Somebody he'p me!

It's a paper model Jon and it's free. Download at this link and print on card stock. There are plenty of images with a google search. I also see there are free offerings floating around for the new Freedom Center. http://www.buildyourownnewyork.com/WTC2002.pdf

Nice work indeed. Yeah, as time availed I built one of those models too. It's at my desk at work. Talk about an awesome tool to help you visualize the entire center.

"Oh, those wonderful awful cars!" - Conceivably spoken by my wonderful awful Aunt Helen.

I don't think the cold will be an issue. My experience is heat will slightly accelerate what your vinyl tires do to plastic and clear parts if they are left in contact. Bag 'em. I'll bet our members in the Texas region will have some thoughts about your concerns.

What a fantastic tutorial. I've learned much. Thanks for sharing. Heck I thought you were done about ten steps back.

Dominik, I didn't want to repeat myself on different threads so at the top I included a hyperlink to the pre-restoration photos in the CBP forum. Thanks Dominik and the rest of you again for the warm compliments.

Which, ironically, is happening here. Have you noticed there are complete sentences and few spelling errors in most of these posts. Is everyone crossing the T's and dotting the I's just for this discussion? Carry on. It's been my experience the cryptic shortcuts, communications indifference and writing decay went into high gear at the dawn of the Blackberry. I assume when I'm plodding through someone's sanskrit, I like to think it's because they are texting.

I loved the '93-'97 Probe and test drove a 5-speed... twice with the intention of buying. But each time my feet got tripped up on each other and concluded it was designed for two pedals, not three. So the money went to a Mustang I've been driving for almost ten years.

If I'm not mistaken, the new avatar size is 200-pixels x 200-pixels. All other sizes and measures will take care of themselves.

Ka-BOOM. Yeah, that would let in about a foot of water.

Now that is crispy. Nice dio too. Pretty convincing in the sunlight.

Thank you so much to everybody for the warm comments. This was one of my favorite builds. Monty that was an awesome color. With a polished Duplicolor clear over the top I liked it so much I emptied the can on two other builds, then yes, SAVED the empty can. Keep in mind this was completed in the mid 90's. Code: DS-CC 295, 1977-78 Chrysler.

Yeah, and a neighbor of mine back in the 80's owned one of them. He told me the same story, I just didn't believe that fact. One day he no longer had it and he told me some "guido" he'd never heard of from New Jersey called him at home offering $45-thousand, which at that time was the price of his house. He got spooked at the idea strangers knew who he was and where he lived and what he had in his garage, that he felt it was too hot to keep when all he really wanted was a nice Mopar. He sold it at auction. That's an excellent clean build Dom, nice work. If it was white on blue it would've been exactly like my neighbor's.

Paint, paint, glue, glue and viola'. Sorry, I didn't have more photos of the conventional assembly but you know the drill. This is how we ended up. I invite you to view more photos in the Under Glass section. Thanks to all for your interest. http://www.modelcars...18 Here's the final vinyl top result. Not too convincing.

This is the result of a glue bomb restoration from some years ago but it's never been posted. I invite you to view the WIP in the Glue Bomb Invitational Community Build section. Thanks for your interest. http://www.modelcars...ic=45487&st=100

The '70 Olds Toronado was primed with Plasti-kote. It's a little thin but I don't like heavy, filler primers that soften details. Color coat was Dupli-color from the parts store. I used a 70's era color but I don't think it's a true Toronado color, I just wanted something regal. I attempted to create a vinyl roof effect by sanding the top with 60-80 grit sandpaper in a cross hatch pattern of short strokes, then sanded off the crumbs with fine grit. Seemed like a good idea but by the end of the build I didn't care for the result. The bumper was broken so I ended up removing the chrome, repairing and sending out to Chrome-Tech. Remember, this was before Alclad II.

The seat was a write-off. There was no back and was glued so heavily at the front I broke the plastic of the interior floor trying to get it out. At least I was able to salvage the interior bucket. The Eldorado seat would have to be used but the Eldo has a taller roof and the seats wouldn't fit into the Toro so I had to cut off the headrests and fill the gap with Evergreen. I also had to sand off some of the base to get it to sit down a little too.

Glue buildup on the rocker panels was so dense I couldn't determine where the body ended and the frame began. I needed to guess at its proper contour by measuring the thickness of the plastic as I cut. I smoothed the hardened fingerprints, a dozen glue drops on fenders and doors and the cut area first with used 180, 220 and 360 grit sandpaper. I like the efficiency of the course grit but sandpaaper that's used doesn't leave the deep gashes the new, sharp sandpaper does. Low spots created by warpage from heavy glue were filled with Testors contour putty.

I'm afraid I'd have to include the Magnum in the category of 70's dark ages. It may have been a great car but to me it was a last gasp of unrequited muscle car glory. As a NASCAR it did look hot, as much as it looked bulky. A sad replacement for the early 70's Chargers and with the aerodymamics of a brick, was abandoned by most Dodge teams halfway through its first season. The Cordoba rode like a dream but it wasn't pretty. The Magnum, to me, just seemed like a Cordoba with tilted headlights and bulgy fenders. Another on a list of overly large, aesthetically disproportional 70's homages to excess. My bias was forged from culture shock a lot of us suffered when Detroit took us from the muscle car era to the age of ambiguity and as mentioned in previous posts, the clunky 5mph bumpers sort of symbolize that change.

I'm in with a Johan 1970 Olds Toronado. This is actually an older restoration that I documented with film but never posted anywhere. I'll add photos as I get them scanned. I found this at a show in a vendor bin labeled "Free" It was the end of the day and the remains of the picked over box were going to get tossed. The story goes it was built by a handicapped person who built models as therapy. No paint but the glue was abominable. This is what I started with. It was clear the chassis was ruined and the 1970 Cadillac Eldorado would have to donate running gear and engine. A club member helped out with the missing chrome. The interior wasn't bad but it was incomplete. Surprisingly, there was no glue at all on the glass, in fact it wasn't even glued in. By the time I decided to take photos I'd already sanded and smoothed many of the glue blobs from the body as you can see by the scuffs. The engine was missing parts and was glued in sideways. It was bonded to the chassis with so much glue there was little detail left at the base and trying to remove it would destroy the whole area. Great gobs of glue mixed with paper towel created a sort of putty. I'm clueless to what was trying to be accomplished.