Modelmartin

No.

"Strong is the photoshop force in you, young Harry" is more Yoda-ish.

Congrats on making it through all your trials and tribulations. Perseverence got you a very nice result. The paint and chrome are very nicely done and the ride height is perfect. Now we know that there are two of these that have been finished! Any one else out there have this conversion?

Wow! I flashed back to the early 70s when I saw your model!! Very cool and well done!

Some French classic cars from the 40s and 50s had fully clear lucite steering wheels. One of the Bugatti Atlantics had one in the 50s (The orange Oliver car) That one has been restored so no longer sports it. I have seen them on some Delahayes, too. They didn't have the metal bar running through them like the American cars had!!

I have seen it. I prefer to go with applications of rust solvents or heat before torquing on something. I am not a professional mechanic but have had plenty of opportunities to take apart old cars and over-torqued bolts. I find that bolts break off or heads round off before a socket snaps in most cases. As a machinist I am always finding the one vice in the shop where some gorilla tightened the jaws to one gazillion ft/lbs! I have to loosen those with an allen wrench!

These topics are always interesting. About half the people comprehend the question and the other half don't. I went and re-read the original post and he was asking which company made the best quality kits. He was not asking which were your favorites! Many people were opining on subject matter. That wasn't the question. Oh, the humanity!!!

The thing is that the foreign made stuff has gotten so much better over the years. I don't frankly see the difference between the Chinese made tools I bought last year from my Craftsmen I bought in 1975. They all work just fine for me. maybe I don't try to force things as much as I possibly can. I haven't split a socket in 20 years or better. Perhaps I should get out the BFH and do some destruction testing!

Several thumbs up for the build and the subject.

About 5 years ago I started getting into cycling and went to a bike swap meet and was completely blown away much like you are now about model cars. I just knuckled down, asked questions and now I am pretty comfortable with any issue of cycling. It was learning curve. I have grown up building models and with 50 years experience it is almost like breathing for me. My one piece of advice is to listen to most advice and then pick out what makes sense to you. Everyone develops their own technique. You will also. Try different things and go from there.I am abhorred by how some paint their models but they often get good results. In a few years you will be able to post pics of your models and got to shows with pride. Craftsmanship and clean technique will do the trick. Good luck to you.

Even better.......not! Me LOL too!

That awful 69 Camaro Monogram tooled in the 70s had those on the rear. Flys on the front.

Been there! I worked at a Clark station in high school and an Amoco in college.

Try taking it to a body shop! My mother had a fender bender with her Scion Xb. The body shop ran the bill up to $6600. The insurance company totaled it. We got the car back and a check for $5500.00 I fixed it for $950.00 and that was with paying my painter $300.00 to paint a bumper cover and fender!

I did put a weber on my Mini-Sprint. ONE weber! It fit OK. I have read that whent the 1-1 Minis get webers they have to cut a hole in the dash so they stick into the interior a bit!

Tamiya have been consistently the best for the last 35 years. I will argue that to the end. Many others produce excellent kits but for sheer consistency and continuous improvement no one can equal Tamiya. I love all kinds of kits and will build what I want from anyone's offerings. One of these days I will attack my Pyro Auburn boat tail speedster. Sure it is a crappy kit but no one else makes it. I may also build my Tamiya Honda RC166 with all four detail sets. It is one of the best kits Tamiya have done....ever. It is a jewel. I love my AMT trophy series kits, Fisher Porsches, Fujimi 917, 911s, Monogram, Jo-Han, Italeri, Heller Classic cars, Pyro Brass 1/32 kits, My Revell, AMT and MPC dune buggies. I have nearly 400 kits and they are all awesome or I never would have bought them, But Tamiya is the best!!!

Most points were well covered but I wish to add a few. Styrene is injected under pressure. The heat is a byproduct of the pressure and many modern molds have liquid cooling to prevent them from overheating. Heat will degrade the styrene to the point of ruining it completely. No heat is applied during injection molding. Most resins used in the hobby are urethane. They have two parts and produce a chemical reaction produces heats which cures the mixture. Most of these resins have agents in them which promote de-molding. If you use spray cans to paint, some of the chemicals in the paint will react with the release agents and produce fisheyes. That is why most people use degreasers to clean them up. If you airbrush your paint the cleanup is much less critical. I have been pouring resin and rubber for over 30 years now and I can say the materials have vastly improved and fortunately my techniques have too! I think resin casting is one of the greatest things to happen to this hobby. It opens up the choices a builder has to an unprecedented degree.

I count 13 rivets.

Looks good Bill! I am now working on putting together the pick-up. I am stretching the chassis pan and fabricating all of the bed and bulkhead structures. I will be soaking it in RTV.

Ugh! I hope people don't make a habit of this type of car.

Very cool stuff!

You were lucky, Tom! I wanted a Sting-Ray or facsimile real bad but my parents thought they were silly so my hand me down girls 20 inch bike with sting ray style bars was all I got! They did let me get a cross bar brazed on so it would be a boy's bike! To add more angst to my juvenile situation my best friend at the time had a paper route so he could afford a Schwinn Apple Krate! AAAAaaarggghhh!

Harry, You must really dig deep to come up with these boring-mobiles from who-knows-where!

April fools day is a week later in Utah!

It's for sale! Any morons won the lottery lately?