Tom Geiger

Why do any math? Here's a couple 1/25 scale rulers. Put it up against your model and measure it off accurately in scale!

Hey! Wouldn't it be cool to pull up in a US car show in that? People would be surrounding it all day! Note that they did a lot of interesting and creative things in South America, making something outta nothing! With the close proximity I'm amazed we don't see more of their collector cars in the USA.

Good move! And you're not alone. My Blue Beetle restoration has taken me to new depths of frustration. I regularly walk away from it.

Welcome Peter! I quoted the above because I grew up as a US Army dependent and lived in Germany. Most of the available kits back then (1969-1972) were Airfix 1/32 scale cars so I built a mess of them! And as an adult I have collected a bunch of them. So I can identify with you Brits!

Oh I'm a sucker for family connections and gift models! Great concept and build. You must share the reactions when you show them! Here's mine, done some 30 years ago... sitting in my wife's Christmas Village.

The seller is gone now, ended when Ray died and stopped providing product. The original seller was MightyMouse, who died and his wife kept the business going as MsMightyMouse. Ray / R&R Resin was one of our regular vendors at NNL East. Ray was a bit of a character, a little gruff at times. Ray had found MightyMouse as his eBay reseller and he stopped doing our show. So I was surprised when I sat at the NNL East admissions table and Ray strolled up. He declared he was there as a spectator, to see everyone, and he had an armload of R&R kits to donate as door prizes. I offered to let him in for free as a donor, but he wouldn't hear of it and paid the admission fee. He was smiling and pleasant, and told me that he had burned out at doing shows but once he found a reseller, he could enjoy the part he liked, pouring resin and producing kits. I was happy for him. Unfortunately he died around a year later! RIP Ray!

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Bah! BMF is a learned skill, but skill worth learning. Ask a few of us and you will hear different techniques for applying it, but there is nothing that will replicate chrome as well. People laugh when I say that applying BMF is fun. There is no one step in the build process where you accomplish so much improvement immediately!

Very nice work! A great car! What did you use from the '58 Plymouth kit? Did you open the hood and install an engine? I'm asking because I have the Modelhaus '57 Plymouth wagon kit to build.

At the end, I realized that there wasn't time to take inventory of all my restorables to order parts from Modelhaus. So I decided just to get a few of their complete kits. The list started out long, and I finally culled it down to: 1957 Plymouth wagon 1962 Chrysler wagon 1965 Chevy wagon And no, I haven't done a darn thing with them yet!

Beyond words! I've never seen chrome valve covers glued to a trunk lid! And that single tail light, classic!

I have an older exacto brand battery power drill. I've never seen another one! Having a power drill is the way to go. I cannot imagine doing it all with a pin vise. I drill a lot of things in my building. Even with the smaller collet, the smallest bits are difficult to hold. I have glued them into short lengths of Detail Master heater hose, which is hollow. That solved the problem!

Ah Pat, one of my favorite kits, from my favorite series of Monogram kits. This baby goes back to the early 1960s as the Blue Beetle, and has been issued a number of times. These are fairly simple kits that go together well and give nice results. Here's two of them, the green one was built from someone else's unfinished project. The blue is an original Blue Beetle kit that I'm currently rebuilding.

Welcome Blake! You will find that most folks on this board are friendly and happy to help! 1. Instructions in the kit recommend to wash the unpainted parts before gluing and painting - is this really necessary? In a perfect world you could.. note that the parts may have some oil on them from the molding process, or dust from sanding. I will blow off parts prior to priming, and wash the larger important parts like the body. You will want to glue together assemblies that will be painted the same color prior to painting, such as engine parts to the engine and if the rear axle is two pieces. I'll glue all that together and eliminate any visible seams. 2. I was looking at the decal instructions and there are some that it says have to be submerged in water first - is this accurate? seems like it would effect its ability to stick to the surface. Decals are water slide, that is once they are wet they will slide off the paper backing onto your model. If you haven't used kit decals before, try one that you won't use on something. Note that the decals all have glue on the back of them that is water actuated. I suppose that if you left them in the water too long, the glue would be ruined. 3. Is it recommended to use a primer before painting? If yes, does this count for all parts? I prime everything! I find it necessary to spot imperfections in the parts, in my sanding and any in my prep work. I use Duplicolor automotive sandable grey primer in the spray can. I think they sell the brand in the UK. Like Jim, I use hotter paints, so this primer keeps the plastic protected. 4. Is it recommended to use a clear coat on the body after painting? You can if you wish that level of shine. In my own work, I believe a lot of the paints I use already give a real world shine, and adding clear gets to being an unrealistic or show car level shine. 5. enamel or acrylic paints? which is best? I mainly use Tamiya hobby paints, and Duplicolor automotive lacquers all from the spray can. I would recommend this, especially going all Tamiya sprays for your first project instead of investing in air brush equipment early on. Wait for that purchase until you are sure you want to pursue modeling as a hobby. Or you may decide that the spray cans are just fine.

I'm seeing them too, all but the latest post.

Neat project and a good use for a ruined body! Beware! I once created something cool from a model in the club give away, and the guy who previously owned it got upset!

try fnplastics@aol.com

Very nice! Glad it came out well. Foil on!

Nice work Rich! Glad to see you finishing something! Didja know Lyle Willetts has a '56 Dodge. His is green tones.

Fingers crossed for ya! ?

I always say it’s not the mistake, but how you recover!

A company I worked for years ago put a few of the rubber ones in the road in front of the office building. A fairly senior guy tripped over one and hit his head.. bumps were gone immediately!

And sheep urine

I was friendly with Michelle and sent her some parts. It was fun because she used them immediately. When she hadn’t posted in a while I PMed her and she said she was taking a break from building so she wouldn’t burn out on it. But that was a while ago

I saw the Wienermobile on the New Jersey Turnpike within the last 10 years. Only for a few seconds since it was going the opposite direction. Hey you can work on the Wienermobile. Website says there are six of them on the road right now! Oscar Meyer Site: https://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile Job application at bottom of the page!