Harry P.

A little more progress...

I made the spark plug boots by adding a little blob of 5-minute epoxy onto the connectors to give them a rounded look, then painted them to match reference photos:

I know. And I really don't want to bother with them. My defense will be that I have a lot of photos where the wheels don't have them.

I'm liking the black fenders/yellow body idea now. I want mine to have a little more visual impact. Gray and black looks too somber to me. But I'll decide that down the road. First I have to finish the engine and chassis.

Remember... don't post any hints or answers here. PM me with year, make, and model. The answer: 1924 Kissel Speedster

So then you really are David Spade size! I was 5' 6" once. I think it was 6th grade...

I haven't decided yet. At first I was going to do it like the car on the box cover... black fenders, white body. But now I'm thinking that's kind of bland. I saw a photo of one with black fenders and a sort of green colored body that looks kind of cool. Like what you suggested. Right now I'm leaning towards that. I also like your idea of black fenders and yellow body. We'll see... I'm still far away from that point!

I'm starting the engine detailing. Block was sprayed silver, then Testors Transparent Black Window Tint, cylinder head brush painted satin black. The intake manifold was sprayed silver and then blackwashed with my Future/black acrylic wash. Spark plugs are scratchbuilt... the hex nut part is slices of hex-shaped styrene rod painted silver, the insulator is aluminum tube painted white, and the electrode is brass wire. The connectors are made by crimping aluminum tube flat and drilling a hole to slip over the electrode, then that flat end filed round, and finally the piece cut off from the aluminum tubing. I'll probably add "rubber" boots over the connectors made out of 5-minute epoxy and painted flat black. The lower wiring manifold had to have the missing "lugs" added to it (styrene tubing). Wow... it's tough to do this kind of work at such a tiny scale! It's hard enough in 1/8... working with parts only half that size is a challenge.

I like it! Very nicely done in all regards.

With the exception of maybe 2-3 other guys here, I'd say I have this era of model cars all to myself!

Well, I'm 6' 7"... and getting down low enough to fill up the Impala is a long way to go for me!

So what are you... about David Spade size?

Warshawski's on S. Archer Avenue is where it all started. Warshawski's started out as a junkyard/scrap metal yard on the soth side of Chicago, and they eventually morphed into an auto parts store and opened their block-long retail store on S. Archer. That store closed many years ago, and at some point (don't know exactly when or why) they changed the name of the company to JCWhitney. I think that for a while, "Warshawski's" and "JCWhitney" both published catalogs (of the same stuff!) and both were operating out of that Archer Avenue store... even though they were the same single company.

That's fine. For you. I do care about it. I'd rather spend less on gas and put that money towards other things.

I'm buying a new Mustang basically because I love how they look. And I'm getting the EcoBoost model not because it's a "fad," but because it makes more power and torque than the V6 model, and costs 10 grand less than the GT... and gets 32 highway mpg. Fads or "tuners" have nothing to do with it. It's just the Mustang model that makes sense for me.

Why on earth would I spend $60,000 on a car with 700 HP to use as my everyday car to drive around town in? That makes as much sense as the people who commute to work in their gigantic crew-cab pickups... driving the thing all alone every day, dragging that huge empty cargo box behind them everywhere they go. Is a 700 HP car impressive? Sure. Does it make sense to actually own one? Not to me.

The kit has opening doors.

The original question posed by Antonio wasn't "What do you personally think of tuners?" What he asked is why there are so few Tuner categories or models at contests these days. And the answer is, because the fad has peaked... and is now "yesterday's news." And I don't mean that in a derogatory or dismissive way. It's just the fact. Face it... automotive trends or fads or whatever you want to call them are always coming along... getting popular... then gradually leveling off or fading away. In the early '60s, the cool fad or "look" was to have the front end of your car jacked up, gasser-style. Then just a few years later, that fad got old and the new fad was to have the rear end of your car jacked up. There have been countless automotive fads and trends that have come and gone, and there always will be... because people are always looking for the next cool thing. It's human nature to want to be "cool" and "cutting edge," so people grab on to the next big fad–until too many people have jumped on the bandwagon, and it's not "radical" or "cutting edge" anymore... it inevitably becomes mainstream. And that's the point where people who like to be in the lead with the next "big thing" start looking for that "next big thing"... and the last "big thing" begins to fade. It's inevitable. It has nothing to do with the Tuner fad itself, or how "legitimate" it is or isn't, or anything like that. It's just human nature for people to want to be connected with the latest... the hippest... the hottest thing. And every fad that comes along can only be the latest, hippest, hottest thing for a limited time... because once enough people join in, it's no longer new or different. That's where the Tuner thing is these days. It has peaked. It's no longer on the upside of trends, but the downside. Again, that's not a comment judging the Tuner thing itself.

I'm going to add some details, but not everything. Basically what I can see in the photos. At such a small scale, it'll look ok even if I add only some of the stuff that would be there on the 1:1. My main focus is always what you can see when the model is finished... body and interior detail. Once the model is done, if the hood is ever open more than a handful of times ever again, I'd be surprised. Once for "Under Glass" photos... not much after that!

Same deal with these frame rails... much easier to add a little piece of tape over the areas where other parts will attach and paint the rails, rather than paint and then try to scrape the paint out those little "pockets" where the front crossmember, engine mounts, and muffler will go.

Another Cheap Trick: I find it much easier to tape off spots on a piece where other pieces will be glued later before painting the part, instead of painting the part and then later scraping the paint away from the glue areas. It's not always easy or possible, but many times it is. By pre-taping, there's less handling of the part once painted, and the glue area is nice and clean, with no danger of scraping too far or too much area. It took only about 30 seconds to tape off this engine block/trans assembly. It would probably have taken longer to scrape away the paint in all these areas later...

Many people paint small parts while still attached to the sprue. Wrong! (IMO... ). Think about it... you can't really get at all the mold seam lines and sink marks while the part is still attached. Plus, once you paint it, then you have to remove it from the tree and file or sand those attachment points smooth, and touch up the paint. Cheap Trick: I find it much easier to remove all parts, do all the cleanup, and then paint them. Once a part is cleaned up and ready for paint, I use a tiny drop of CA to glue the part to a "handle"... either a piece of scrap sprue, scrap wood, or my latest favorite, bamboo shish kabob skewers. (Note: I build small subassemblies that will all be painted the same color beforehand, then paint as a unit. Easier than painting the individual parts and then assembling). I glue the part in a spot that won't be seen once the part is installed. After paining, I just snap the part off the "handle" and install it... no further cleanup or paint retouching needed! Here are several engine components ready for paint: Be creative! Paint handles can be made of almost anything. Sometimes the part to be painted will "tell" me what type of handle to use... as in this case, where a Q-tip makes the perfect handle to slip over the axle stub:

Natural light, no flash:

On my '67 Impala the gas cap is behind the rear license plate. The plate attachment thing is spring loaded, you pull it down and there's the gas cap. Kind of a pain... you practically have to get on your knees to fill 'er up.

I already painted one as a test (the "bottom" spare that nobody will ever really be able to see. Looks great. Believe me, when painted black, everything just sort of "disappears." Even under the magnifier it looks good. When I have all the wheels painted I'll show you.