Harry P.

Yeah, baby! Old school! I still have every single vinyl record I ever bought, 99% of them are in pristine condition (I was always a nut about taking care of my records). Wonder what they're worth today?

Speaking of instructions and "doing it right"... Apparently the model companies are on a quest to totally idiot-proof model kits. I was at Hobbytown yesterday, and I saw a few kits (Revell?) that had a big colorful burst on the cover. It said something like "Build in under 20 minutes!" Is that really where we want to see model kits go? So simplified that they can be built during a TV commercial break? What happened to patience and craftsmanship? Oh wait, I forgot... the entire human population now has ADD... Seems to me that if a person doesn't want to invest any time or effort into a model car, they're better off buying a pre-built diecast and calling it a day.

"PC" does stand for "personal computer", and yeah, technically a Mac is a PC... but most people, when they say "PC", mean any computer that's NOT a Mac. BTW...I also have a PC running Vista. (I bought the PC because most of my clients are on a PC and it's easier sometimes when dealing with PC-only folks to just do my thing on a PC instead of the trusty old Mac). Vista SUCKS! It's constantly asking for all kinds of permissions to do stuff, it has a problem dealing with Adobe Acrobat (I constantly get a warning that Acrobat is "not compatible" with Vista. Isn't it really the other way around-Vista is not compatible with Acrobat???), my Photoshop crashes when running in Vista, etc. This is my first computer running Vista, and I have to say I'm not impressed, coming from a Mac-only background. Vista seems way more finicky and fussy, and my graphics programs are prone to freezing. It's not a memory thing, I have plenty of that. It seems to be a Vista thing...

Oh, I thought you were going to give us a Biblical lecture...

True, as more and more people finally wise up and toss their PC forever in exchange for a Mac, there will undoubtedly be Mac viruses created by the bums who now work exclusively on the PC side. But for all these years I've never had the strange problems you PC guys are willing to put up with. While the PC folks have been tearing their hair out, I've just been cruisin' along...

I have the answer to all your computer nightmares. I know a simple way to end the torture of Vista, the agony of hard drive crashes and the annoyance of never-ending viruses. The solution: GET A MAC!!! Us Mac users don't ever have to mess with silly Microsoft software and OS, we don't get viruses and our computers don't crash or freeze. We're just happy!

Yeah, not too many curves in a dragstrip!

Looks sorta like a fish to me...

The checkerboard shelf paper works great... if you can find a pattern that's the correct size to represent the tiles in scale. If you can't find the right size pattern (or the colors you want) you'll have to go the scrathbuilt route, either cutting individual tiles to get the most realistic floor possible (with real joints between the tiles), or by masking and painting a sheet of "floor" material.

Handling??? Are you kidding??? Those were meant to go from Point A to Point B in a straight line as fast as possible. Accommodating a turn was not engineered into those monsters! I'm surprised they didn't delete the steering mechanism altogether to save even more weight!

I'd try thin sheet styrene, maybe 1/16" or so. Decide what size tile you want to recreate, and score the styrene with your X-acto, horizontally and vertically. Don't cut all the way through. Then just snap apart your "tiles", attach them with a loop of tape to some scrap cardboard and spray half of them one color and the other half the other color. Don't use the scored side as the "up" side because scoring the plastic will leave a slight raised edge. Use the other side as your finished side. If you don't want to mess with actual separate tiles, an easy way to go is to use sheet styrene as the floor. Cover the "floor" with masking tape and lay out your tile grid. Use a straightedge and your X-acto to cut along all the grid lines. Then just remove every other piece of tape to reveal your "tiles", and spray the floor with your choice of color. Then remove the rest of the tape to reveal the white "tiles". You might want to give the whole floor a final coat of either gloss or flat clear (depending on what the effect you want to recreate is... dirty garage floor or shiny, "waxed" floor.

"Following instructions"??? Is that some new way of building models???!!! I may have to try that method sometime!

If modeling isn't fun, you're doing something wrong! So hack away at that chassis, and have fun!

I love diecasts! I build models, but I also collect diecasts, and YES, they are models too! Here are three pretty cool ones I have. Note the detail level...PE pieces, throttle linkages with return springs, flocked carpeting, seatbelts with PE buckles, etc. These things are as detailed as any plastic kit you might build.

ok, I see where this one might cause trouble, so I'll repeat one of my "rules": As far as ROM goes... If it's a full scale car, whether a real running car, a prototype or some sort of full-scale "mock up" or show car, operational or not, it's "real". Anything in scale (that is, smaller than 1:1) is a "model". I hope that clears things up. Ah, who am I kidding? I hope you guys are more confused than ever!!!

Very nice! I love the beat up front license plate. Your attention to the details is superb! One suggestion: your panel lines are too harsh. The jet-black lines are a bit too obvious. Next time try a color that's not solid black, like Tamiya smoke, or even a mix of body color with just a bit of black mixed in to darken it a bit, but not so dark as to be solid black. After all, shadows are never solid black. Another technique that looks incredibly realistic, and is very clever on top of it: Spray your body color coats, then do your panel lines with solid black. Then, on top of that add a thinned-down coat or two of body color. That final color coat serves to "tone down" the harsh black panel lines and gives them a much more realistic appearance. I saw the results of this technique in several of Bob Downie's posts here ("zoom zoom"), and it looks very realistic.

Here we go again with another episode of Real or model! The answer: MODEL!

Well, Ike passed to the west, and nothing new on the horizon... besides, I'm outta here tomorrow!

Sorry about the delay...I'm actually in Ft. Lauderdale/Miami all this week on business, and my chances to check in here have been limited to my "down time" (this is the first chance today that I've had to get away and go online). Anyway, I got you guys good this time! It's REAL! And I agree that the background looks Photoshopped, but it wasn't me!!! Honest!!! That's the way I found the photo, I didn't do anything to it. Next ROM Monday (because I get back home Sunday night!)

Why does the concept version look NOTHING like the production version? What's the point of a concept if it has nothing to do with the production version? It's a pointless waste of time and money. People get all hyped up about the concept, but GM apparently never had any intention of taking the concept Volt to production. I hate the concept, but still, why bother with a concept if the production car looks nothing like the concept? What's the point? Chrysler did the same exact thing with the Charger. Concept version, very cool, two door, slick. Production version, four door pig. Nothing at all like the concept. What gives???

How about this? Real or model? The answer REAL!

Um....... nothing here. Next time click on the "Preview Post" button first to see if your post looks the way it's supposed to look.

Seeing as how your last post on this was 8 months ago, I'm guessing the paint is good and dry by now!

It's a quick little overview on how someone scratchbuilt it. Not a full-blown "how to", but a quick two-page overview of the body mods made. You should get yourself a subscription!

Have you looked in the July issue of MCM???