Harry P.

Hey Mario...that steering wheel rim looks fantastic. Is it real wood?

I'm gonna guess....Nick???

More donks? But seriously, though... When it comes to model cars, it's funny how we as consumers eagerly buy sub-par products and try our best to justify our decision because we're afraid that if we don't buy them, the manufacturers will stop making any more product at all. I don't think aircraft or armor guys are nearly so willing to accept bad products. I wonder how it came to be that car modelers are the softies of the scale modeling world?

What they learn from this one is totally dependent on us. If the kit bombs, they might realize they made a mistake. If the kit sells well, they might take something altogether different from it, and "reward" all of us eager buyers with more bad product! Time will tell...

And Revell could also have sold us a bar of soap in a box, called it a scale model AAR 'cuda, and printed a disclaimer on the box stating that for maximum realism, the builder may have to modify the bar of soap a bit!!! I don't mean to bash Revell, but in my opinion, if the product you're selling is supposed to be an accurate scale model of a full scale car, your scale model should be just that: an accurate depiction of the real thing. There's no excuse for marketing a kit that's this bad. I understand business and monetary decisions played a part in this, but as a potential end-user of this product, I expect better. The point isn't that I could fix it and make it right...the point is, it should have been right in the first place. That goes for any model, not just this one. I'm not a big fan of the "just be glad we have a model of (fill in the blank) at all" school of thought. Just my 2 cents...

Another source...but still not cheap: http://www.admatha.com/details.html

Did someone say barrels??? http://www.larrygscale.com/servlet/the-Tan...rums/Categories

The answer:REAL!

Very clever! Sure, if you have the talent you can do this sort of work and create a passably accurate body. However, there are a lot of modelers who don't have the skill necessary to perform this kind of major surgery. But the bigger point is this: This is a NEW KIT! We shouldn't have to practically remake the whole body ourselves in order for it to be right! That was Revell's job!!!

Wow...now I know how the Wizard of Oz felt behind the curtain, pulling all those levers and making stuff happen!

Those exhaust dumps must create some awesome spark trails dragging on the ground like that! Nice to see a NASCAR racer from the days when "stock car racing" still actually meant something!

Yeah...I guess Gregg likes this game, so he decided to give me my own sandbox to play in. But he hasn't configured things yet for the ROM section to work. I guess he'll get around to it, but until then ROM will still apear here. Oh yeah, BTW...close vote. About half of you were fooled. It's a 1/6 scale MODEL! ROM #9 coming Monday...either here, or in the new ROM forum. Depends if Gregg gets his act together...

With your attention to detail, I assume that the 1/8 scale radio you'll scratchbuild for the dash will actually work...right?

Well, that depends on which dealership you're working for! Ferrari? Or Kia?

I definitely agree with you that there are a whole lot more broken families today than there was when I was a kid. And with all the stress and pressure today's kids are under, it's probably safe to assume that kids nowadays just don't have the same psychological makeup that kids had 40 years ago. I know it sounds cliche, but "back in my day" things really were a lot more laid-back...and I grew up in the city! Too many things influence our kids these days...music videos, the internet, video games, you name it. We've bred a generation of kids with the attention span of gerbils. Someone mentioned "instant gratification". Sadly enough, that's true. Today we all want everything NOW. The sense of pride and accomplishment in completing a process seems to have disappeared. All we want now is instant results.

Hey Brian... Find yourself a set of stock wheel covers for that thing! (and btw...foil the trim that runs along the top edge of the doors and across the seatbacks). Beautiful job. It's nice to see one of the rarer colors.

Cool. I like the flames. Nice color choice, nice and subtle. I prefer that kind of flame job...or ghost flames...to the "in-yer-face" style of flames that a lot of cars have.

I agree that there are a lot more things available to take up a kid's time these days. We didn't have cable TV, the internet, video games, etc. But I'd have to disagree with the notion that today's family situations are part of the cause. When I was a kid, my friends and I were all into model building, but none of us ever had any parental involvement with the hobby. We built either alone, or while we hung out together. None of my friends dads (or moms!) ever participated with us, and neither did my own dad. Nobody had to "coax" us into model building...for some reason we all got into it on our own.

Here's a thought that just crossed my mind... Today there's much talk about attracting new kids to the modeling hobby. In order to try and get more little kids and beginners involved the model companies have brought out all sorts of "shortcut" gimmicks like snap kits, pre-painted bodies, self-adhesive stickers instead of decals, etc. In other words, there's a whole new variety of "dumbed-down" models available. When us old farts were kids, there was no such thing. Kits didn't have "skill levels". Pretty much every kit (with maybe a few rare exceptions?) required glue, paint, decals, etc., yet the hobby had no problem attracting kids and beginners. In fact, most kit builders were kids! Somehow we all were able to handle these "real" kits. Actually, I liked the "harder" kits with more parts and detail as a kid. So why do the model companies think that the way to get the kids involved today is to market these "gimmick" kits? We didn't need them 30 years ago...why do we need them now? Let's hear your opinions.

Man, that is some nice, clean work. Perfect!

I tried painting whitewalls with acrylic paint...which is the stuff I thought you're supposed to use, but when it dried it cracked all over. Is there a better "whitewall paint" out there?

Absolutely right. That's why I posted my diagram...to help him out on the NEXT one...

Peter...your method could work, if in fact it's still possible to drill the holes in the firewall of the finished kit. But it will call for extremely careful measurement, because if the ends of the "C" hinges don't line up exactly with the holes in the firewall, you're out of luck. And the hinges must be glued in the exact correct spot in order for the hood to actually line up with the opening between the fenders. You have two critical items...hinge placement on the underside of the hood, and placement of the firewall holes, with absolutely no margin for error at all. A very tricky procedure to say the least...

Here's a simple way to make hood hinges. Bend some paper clip wire to make the left and right side hinge arms. One end of each arm is epoxied to the underside of the hood, and the other end goes into a length of brass or aluminum tube epoxied to the underside of the cowl (tube should have a diameter just large enough to accept the paper clip wire arms without the arms binding). These hinges are not prototypically realistic, but they work...and they're easy to do. The exact placement of the hinge arms and the hinge tube depends on the model you're building. Try it first with the parts simply taped in place, to make sure everything works smoothly, before you epoxy the parts.

Since you don't have access to the underside anymore, there's really no way to make working hinges. No matter what type of hinge you make, part of the mechanism has to be attached to the underside of the cowl...before the body is glued to the chassis. There's no other way to do it.