Harry P.

I had an English muffin once. Does that count???

For various diameter solders you might try Radio Shack...

Ditto that...

Wow, I never knew that Porsche offered a front-engine Briggs & Stratton model as an option

Alright, gang, here we go with another edition of ROM... Real or model? The answer: REAL!

If you're into the big stuff, check out this kit I'm building at the moment...Lindberg's reissue of the once motorized (now static) Exterminator dragster. Vintage drag doesn't get much cooler than this kit!

BTW...the "pro" version Is only $3/month, not $10. It allows you to post bigger, high res pics. Good if you want to let grandma download and print out photo-quality pix of the latest baby pictures, but no real reason to go "pro" in order to post photos here. The free version is all you need.

Photobucket is the only photo hosting site I've ever used...been using it for years. It's always been free, I see no reason to upgrade to any "pro" version, whatever that is. The free version has worked flawslessly for me all these years.

As mentioned, the current "Lindberg Line" is comprised of kits tooled originally by Lindberg, and also a whole rat's nest of other company's tooling that wound up in Lindberg's hands...some good (IMC Little Red Wagon), and some terrible (old Pyro kits). There's no way to rate Lindberg kits other than on a kit by kit basis.

Well, of course it's easy if you know the answer!!! And the answer is MODEL! You guys were on to me big time on this one. Next ROM coming MONDAY!

As long as the details are done to scale, it's great. But not everyone can do that.

Let's see you do that in 1/25 scale!

And it only took you four tries to find her!!!

Speaking as a guy who USED to have a wife...HOW TRUE!!!!!

I've seen a lot of models where the builder has gone to a lot of trouble adding every possible line, clamp, fitting and bolt...usually on race car models. But despite the builder's effort, the model looks like a model, not a real car. That's because so many of the details on a 1:1 car can't be very easily reproduced in scale. In fact, a lot of the smaller details on a full-sized car would be so tiny on a 1/25 scale model that they'd be almost invisible. And adding too much oversized, out-of-scale "details" is a common mistake lots of guys make. Like a famous someone or other said..."less is more".

I guess you guys must have missed this...

Assuming your model is a representation of a "real" car, wouldn't the most important aspect of a model be accuracy???

I haven't had that problem with the paints I use. Sometimes paint will tend to pull away from sharp edges, but a second coat will take care of the problem. Better two or three light coats than one heavy one. I've found that lacquers and acrylics are just so much more "user friendly" than enamels.

Pyros and Palmers weren't meant to compete with JoHan and Monogram, it's true, but a bad kit is a bad kit, no matter what. A Yugo wasn't meant to compete with a Rolls Royce...but it was still a bad car!

Don't use enamel paint! Black, especially, seems to be trouble. I use acrylics and/or lacquers exclusively. They go on smooth and dry fast.

Don't forget anything made by Pyro or Palmer...

Very nice work, Frank...that's a beauty! I love the colors. The old "brass age" cars are great model subjects. Lots of nice detail.

Take a printout of the photo with you when you go to buy the paint...and match the color as best as you can. I'm sure you can find a color that's pretty close. Personally I'd mix my own. A little brown, some white and a drop of yellow. It would take a little trial and error, but you'll get the color right eventually.

Is it real? The answer: MODEL!

Here's a part of the paint stripping process that I don't think I've ever seen covered: Once the body has been stripped by the agent of choice, any particular steps necessary to neutralize the stripper? What about long-term effects on a painted body, if any? Does the stripper actually seep into the plastic? Does a simple soap-and-water scrubbing take care of things before repainting?