Kit Basher

Thanks for the heads up. I picked up a '57 Chevy and a '69 Z-28 for $5.99 ea., and 2 Hemi Darts for $6.99 ea. They also had a '63 Impala, but I passed on that.

I spent the last few days going thru all 38 pages of this. Time well spent. The effort you have put into this, and the results you are getting, are simply amazing. Plus your writing style is humorous, informative, and entertaining. I've learned a lot from this thread and enjoyed reading it. Well done! I will be following the rest.

Welcome aboard! It's nice to see some more young blood on here. It's mostly old guys like me, but we're always glad to help.

I don't have to log in each time, but I have MCM forum as the home page on my browser. That might make a difference.

Honestly, I can't really tell. It seems like everything is smaller, but that could be just an impression. I walked away for a little while, and it's hard to remember exactly what it looked like before.

I like it. It fills the screen on my laptop, is easier to read, and photos look better.

I am totally blown away. That engine is amazing! Chassis, firewall, interior, equally amazing. I know I am going to be impressed with the woodworking, as I was with the 1/16 model. You rock, Harry!

Cool idea!

WOW! I'm glad you posted a WIP of this, it would be hard to appreciate all the work that went into it otherwise. Beautiful job!

One of my pet peeves with a lot of car models is that there are no brakes! You try to do a nice detailed chassis, and then you're stuck with toy wheels. I dug around in my parts box until I found a brake back. It had an arm attached to it: With some cutting and carving I ended up with this: I made a mold to make one copy of the kit brake, and then used that and the copy to make a two brake mold. Brake factory! Got Brakes!

I hope you have lots of display space for that B-52! I had one back in the day, and had to hang it from the ceiling. Nowhere else to put it.

I am a total cheapskate. I mostly buy what I can find for peanuts. I have a few kits I paid retail for, but most of them are from yard sales, auctions, Ollies, or 40% at HL. For example, today I bought an AMT Prowler (open/started) for $1.00. Since I usually find them for $5 or less, I'm guessing I have spent $400.00 or so for my 60+ kits. What are they actually worth? Don't know, don't care. If I want to build something, I got plenty to choose from.

I don't think you should try this on your Mini at this point, but sometime if you want a really shiny gloss black that dries fast, take a look at the Model Master Gloss Black Lacquer in bottles. Sprays really nice and has a killer shine. I hope you can save that Mini, it looks awesome so far.

It does look like it's drying before it hits the car. I wonder if there is some variation in cheap lacquer thinner. I had good results with this process, and then had to buy a new can of thinner. When I tried to paint a body, I got smooth paint mixed with clumps. No changes in thinning ratio or air pressure would help. For my next paint job, I thinned the enamel with Testors Universal Enamel Thinner, and it came out nice. The stuff aint cheap, but if you buy the 8 oz. can at HL with 40% off, it's halfway reasonable. If you can sand the texture out of that roof, maybe try the gloss enamel and the Testors thinner. On the other hand, it looks like you have discovered an excellent way to do vinyl roofs!

If I was just going to own it: Ferrari 250 GTO. If I was going to drive it: Dodge Viper SRT convertible.

I've never tried it over decals, but I use Testors Clear Gloss Lacquer. I don't have to decant it cause it's sold in bottles. Usually needs no thinning to airbrush nicely, and is a thin coat so it gives a nice gloss without looking too thick. I use it over Testors enamel and lacquer with no problem. It's water clear, and after 3 years I haven't noticed any yellowing. I've also mixed it with pearl powders, and that worked well too.

Seems to work different for me every time. Sometimes Totally Awesome gets it all, other times I may have to use brake fluid or oven cleaner.

You must know some very talented blind monkeys! Looks great to me.

This kit is a curbside, so no engine... but the real car had this 4 cylinder hemi.

Left on, brother!

I gotta say in advance, I have never done this, so take this second hand info for what it's worth. I'm told that acrylic display cases are made by clamping or taping the joints together, then applying a solvent (probably something similar to Ambroid Pro Weld) to the inside of the joint with a syringe. The solvent wicks into the joint and welds it, just like liquid model cement works. The outside of the joint is then polished. I have no idea if this process would work with styrene and liquid cement for your purpose, I'm just throwing it out there.

That is absolutely spectacular! Love the surfing pig! Brilliant imagination and execution.

The recently re-released version has those engines also.

The Lindberg '64 Dodge 330 has a slant six, and Kitchen Table Resins has a Ford inline six in different displacements. Here is his 300 c.i. EFI.

Those came out great, Mike!