Harry P.

Ha!!! I'm on a roll...I fooled you guys again! It's REAL! I found the photo on a professional photographer's website. He added the hokey clouds in the background, but the car is real. Next ROM coming Monday!

There are several stories floating around. The 50-some turbine cars made by Chrysler were all handed out to celebrities, industry insiders and various other "big shots" in order to get these people's response to the car. After the "research" part of the program was finished, Chrysler took back the turbine cars and destroyed all but a handful of them. The most common reason given is that by destroying the cars, Chrysler avoided paying a hefty import tariff on the bodies, which were provided by Ghia. Another reason given is that Chrysler, after finishing the initial phase of the turbine car research project, simply didn't want the cars getting into the hands of the competition. Either way, 5 or 6 of the cars ultimately avoided the crusher. I think that they are all in various museums around the country. Chrysler still has possession of 1 or 2, and there might be 1 in private hands.

That first video is pretty cool. I've never seen a Turbine Car moving under its own power before. But that last video...man, what a shame Chrysler just wrecked them all!

I agree, better safe than sorry. Using a dehydrator for both models and food might be ok, but why risk it? Dehydrators are fairly cheap. I'd buy an el-cheapo one at Walmart to use strictly for models. Shouldn't cost more than $25-30 bucks. In fact there's one here for less than $30: http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do...ind&ic=48_0

Check the back issues of the magazine starting around a year ago. I've done a lot of customs in the Sketchpad feature...lead sleds, VW Beetles, pickups, 50s cruisers, you name it. If you like any of them let me know and I'll send you a version that you can use as an avatar.

Hey Gregg...can I write a POLITICAL COLUMN??? (don't hit me... )

The track looks like it needed a repaving!

Yeah, you can just play with the PS filters for days! And then there's the add-on 3rd party filters. There is SO MUCH stuff built into Photoshop...I literally have used it every day for many years and there are STILL parts of it I've either never used or don't know how to use!

WWJD? (what would Jesus drive?) I figure since you and the big guy are pretty close, the subject might have come up... But seriously, welcome aboard!

Because that's how many sellers try to extract a little more cash from you. Stick to the bigger and well-known online vendors (ehobby.com, etc.) They won't rip you off. Also try to group your purchases together and place 1 big order rather than several smaller orders that would each have a shipping charge. Personally I think online shopping can't be beat. I can find what I want, do a quick price search for the lowest price, order what I want and have it delivered to my door. It doesn't get any better than that! Just as an example...a while ago I decided that I wanted the 1/4 scale model HEMI engine that was just being released. The LHS were all charging retail price (around $100, I think?). I did a quick search online for the best price, and ordered it for $35!!! Even with shipping and handling, I paid less than half what the hobby shops wanted...plus it came right to my door. How can you beat that?

Are you kidding? Who needs a LHS? Fire up the old PC, get online and start shopping! The biggest hobby shop on the planet is right there at your fingertips...and they deliver to your door!

I assume you mean an operating door? The tracks can be made of strip styrene or brass, and the hangers that attach the tracks to the ceiling can be made with "L" channel. I'd paint those parts aluminum. The door sections can be made of 1/8" styrene sheet, and the hinges that connect each panel can be found in the dollhouse section of Hobby Lobby or a similar crafts store. They have tiny brass hinges that could easily work as garage door panel hinges. The rollers that ride in the tracks could be made several ways. One way would be to use slices of round styrene rod as the roller wheels. Drill a small hole in the center of each "roller" and use either a sewing pin with a flat head or a tiny brad as the roller wheel axle. Those axles can be glued into corresponding holes you drill into the edges of the door panel sections. If you want even more detail you could cut windows into the upper door panels and use clear acetate sheet as windows, make scale handles out of wire, add a half round strip of styrene, painted flat black, as a threshold gasket, etc. Look at the parts of a real door. All the components are pretty easy to recreate in scale.

I checked out the tutorial you linked to. Just as I suspected, she uses a lot of filters, 3D rendering stuff and graphic effects that Photoshop has. The difference with my way of working is that I almost never use any of the "built-in" effects. I "draw" everything by using just a few tools...Polygon lasso and/or ellipse tool to create my basic shapes, the paint bucket to "dump" color into the shape, and the airbrush, paintbrush and eraser to define highlights, shadows and details. I do each step on a new layer, but periodically as I go I merge several layers together. If I never merged layers, I'd wind up with 100 layers, and it would be incredibly confusing to try and keep track of what's on each layer. It would drive me crazy to work like that! Just about the only built-in filter effect I ever use is the Pixielate-Mezzotint filter. I use it to create the texture of asphalt...it's the fastest way of doing it. I guess I could use a rough airbrush pattern and "spray" the texture, but the mezzotint filter does the job faster and more uniformly. Basically the way I build the illustration in Photoshop is very much the same way I would do it if I was airbrushing it...one section at a time. On the purple Ford, I don't remember exactly what the sequence was, but I probably started with the body, then the hood, the grille, the engine and then the interior. I would have done the wheels last, then the background. That order isn't cast in stone...I may do it differently the next time, but I generally do it "piece by piece" like that. But as I get more "pieces" finished, I'll go back and refine areas that I had "finished" before.

I usually start by creating the basic body shape. Let's say I'm doing a blue car...I'll "draw" the basic shape of the body with the "lasso" tool and/or the ellipse tool...it depends. As you know there are about 20 ways to do anything in Photoshop, it's very adaptive to individual styles of working. Once I have the basic shape outlined I'll use the paint bucket tool to "dump" my basic color into the shape. Then I go and "refine" the shape if necessary by cleaning up the edges and the curves. At that point I'll have a solid blue shape of the body. Then I'll add highlights, shadows, etc...each on separate layers. I'll go back in with the airbrush tool, the paintbrush tool and the eraser to refine and adjust the highlights and shadows. Once I'm satisfied with everything, I'll merge the layers (to keep file size down and my sanity intact!). Then I'll move on to another area...maybe the grille, maybe the wheels, maybe the interior...it all depends on how I feel that day! Basically, I create the shape and fill with color, then define the planes and angles and light and shadow with various combinations of airbrush, paintbrush and eraser tools. Then I move on to the next "shape"...grille, wheel, whatever, and build up the details the same way. It sounds complicated when it's put into words...it would be much easier to understand if you could watch "over my shoulder" as I worked. That's why I think I'll do a step-by-step type of thing next time. In this case a picture really is worth 1,000 words (or more!).

Ok...next time I do one, I'll keep a step-by-step record of how it comes together and do a WIP sort of thing.

Glad you like it! PS: On another modeling forum, someone else also asked me if they could use that same illustration as their avatar! Maybe I should start charging licensing fees!!!

So you kinda like Skylines, huh???

Now yer talkin'! Cool!

Hey...if you could bat .500 in major league baseball, you'd be a SUPERSTAR!!!

That's a pretty interesting idea. Maybe I should do a step-by-step "tutorial" some time. But unless you're into Photoshop, it might be a little boring, don't you think? I dunno...maybe it's worth doing?

Hey...whatever "floats your boat"...

Yes, I'd be honored!

May I suggest an application of deodorant?

OK, Tim and Merk... before you guys hang me in effigy I think I'd better respond. For the record, I have NOTHING against model boats/ships. In fact, the last model I completed, just days ago, is a Mississippi riverboat! I'd be glad to post the pics if you guys are interested. In fact, I'm pretty proud of it! My point was NOT to put down model boats and ships....I was simply pointing out that this being a model CAR specific site, it may not be the best venue to stage a model boat build-off....nothing more, nothing less.

Those would be perfect in a period diorama. Maybe a 1930's street scene, with the cars parked at the curb. An old style soda fountain or corner drug store, a bank, etc. It would make a really cool scene.