Harry P.

There are no other crossmembers besides what I used. The kit is simplified, there is no brake system, either. No problem... once the car is built and on display, you're not going to see the bottom of it...

Lots of progress to report. I got the fenders mounted to the chassis, and have started building up the interior. In my never-ending quest to do stuff "on the cheap" , I've tried yet another way to create "carpeting." This time I tried plain old table salt. First I "painted" the floorboard with white glue, then just sprinkled on the salt (just like flocking): Then I painted the "carpet" and installed the floorboard to the floor. I also added the rear seat, the lower cushion of the driver's seat, and the two fold-away jump seats in the back:

There isn't an online forum in existence where someone hasn't been offended at some point, legitimately or not. If some people think we're "elitist," there's nothing we can do forum-wide to make those people happy. And even if there were, and we managed to make the right changes needed to make that group happy, you can bet there would be yet another group ready to be upset or offended. There are always going to be people who find fault, no matter what we do or don't do.

The final product. The effect is subtle yet effective: Adding black washes, IMO, is one of the most important steps to making a model car look less like a toy and more like the real thing.

It depends on how obvious I want it to be (more obvious on engine parts, less obvious on upholstery)... but I don't measure, I just eyeball it. I squirt a little Future into a plastic cup, and start by adding a small brushful of black and mix. Then I see what I have and either add a few more drops of Future or a tiny bit more black to get where I want to be. On engines, since Future dries glossy, the Future wash looks oily and greasy... just the look I want on an engine. If I use it for interiors, I have to add matte acrylic clear as a last step to kill the gloss of the wash.

I painted all the interior panels and seats with a color I mixed using three different shades of acrylic craft paint. It took two coats to cover the kit pieces. Then I sprayed everything with a coat of matte clear acrylic: Then I used a mix of Future and black acrylic craft paint and a very sharp, small brush to "highlight" all of the seams and crevices: I use Future instead of water in my wash because Future flows better, stays in place better, and is easier to control than a wash made with water. But because Future dries glossy, the final step is another shot of matte clear: Adding the black wash is one of those little tricks that really adds to the realism of the pieces. It's a subtle effect, and people looking at the model may not even realize that a wash has been applied... but the parts just "look right." I believe that a black wash on most parts of a model (if done correctly and not overdone) adds a lot of subtle but unmistakable realism.

Can you sing "Communication Breakdown" without hurting yourself? If so... send Branson an email and tell him you'll do the vocals on the tour.

Shame on you. But hey... you're young... you'll learn...

Even cheap masking tape doesn't leave marks like that. My guess is that the blue paint was not fully dry.

I guess... but IMO who better to replace John Bonham than his own son? If I was Robert Plant, I would have gone ahead with the tour, done it in honor of John Bonham, and donated the proceeds to a charity of the Bonham family's choice. A win-win. The fans get to see Zeppelin again, John Bonham's legacy is honored by his son, and a worthy charity gets a nice chunk of money.

Yes, that's the story I heard, too. The other three were like "heck yeah, sign me up!" while Plant was a little tougher to convince... I guess Plant didn't have a "whole lotta love" for the idea and left his bandmates dazed and confused...

That reminds me of the old SNL skit from years ago on an episode where George Harrison was the musical guest. In a skit with George and Lorne Michaels, Lorne told George that he had a check made out to "THE BEATLES" for $3,000 (shows the check to the camera)... and he tells George that if the Beatles reunite for just one appearance on SNL he would pay them three grand. George looked at him sort of disgustedly and says in his great British accent something like "Three thousand dollars? For a reunion of the Beatles? That seems a bit chintzy"... So Lorne gets flustered and repeats that he's willing to pay them three THOUSAND dollars, and to sweeten the pot he tells George, "Look, you guys can split this up any way you like. If you want to give Ringo a smaller share that's ok"... It was hilarious, because they both played the skit perfectly straight and didn't break character at all. And the story is that John and Paul were at John's apartment in the Dakota in NYC that night and were actually watching the show and almost went down to the studio to surprise Lorne Micheals, but at the last minute decided not to go.

There was no problem, really. That last "reunion" show in London was just a one shot deal up front, everyone knew/agreed to that. There was no tour attached to that deal. I know none of those four actually need the money, but you have to wonder if Jones, Page, and Bonham aren't just the tiniest bit peeved with Plant?

The story is Virgin president Richard Branson offered Led Zeppelin an $800 million contract to do a 35 date world wide reunion tour. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Jason Bonham were in... but Plant reportedly tore up the contract! http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2014/11/10/robert-plant-reportedly-tears-up-800-million-led-zeppelin-reunion-contract/

I've posted them all here in the past. Don't know how many, exactly... maybe 15-20 or so. Here are just a couple... too many to post them all here.

Remember, don't post any hints or answers here. PM me with year, make and model. The answer: 1939 Studebaker Commander

I'm pretty sure this kit is simplified and they left out some pieces.

Does this mean that you're now allowed to show plumber's crack?

That's not a bad way to celebrate. Congratulations.

No, I'm doing my own color scheme.

I got the basic chassis built. Here you can see the unusual way the exhaust is routed in this car...

And here you can see the "before" wheel on the left and the "after" wheel on the right with the new rim. It's a liitle hard to see in the photo, you have to look closely...

The wheels and tires are very poorly engineered, and will not fit together correctly without a little re-engineering. First of all, there are molded plastic whitewall inserts that are supposed to snap into the rubber tires, but the whitewalls are so thick that when you insert them into the tires, they stick out past the tire sidewall. So I had to sand them thinner from behind, and also had to slice off part of the inner circumference of the tires so that the WW inserts would fit flush with the tire sidewall. Another problem... I painted the rims silver for a little contrast, but the wire wheel doesn't fit flush into the WW insert. The rim looks odd sticking out of the whitewall insert. So I fixed that by making new rims with silver beading wire. I wrapped a length of the wire around a bottle of paint that had just the right circumference, then used tiny drops of CA to glue the new rim in place. In this photo you can see how the wheel rim is sticking out too far...

No idea. Never saw a layout like that before.

It's a V-8.