Harry P.

Where's global warming when you need it?

If it was my call to make, I'd do just that. But Gregg wants a separate big scale section... not really sure why. Same as I'm not sure why we have to have a separate NASCAR and Drag section. I've tried to get rid of them, but the Big Cahuna said they have to stay. Why do only those two subjects have a special section all their own, and not customs, or rat rods, or show cars, or factory stock, or .... The mysteries of life...

Supposedly we're in for record-breaking cold next week. Have a nice trip!

Just think, Nick... after we get through the next 3 months of blinding snowstorms and subzero temps, we can look forward to tornado season! Gotta love midwest weather...

I just got in the house from another "shove-lable event"... second time today. This time maybe 6" or so. Gotta make room for the snow that's coming tonight and tomorrow! Took the Mustang out this morning to go grab a cup of coffee (after excavating the driveway!). Only lost the rear end once... and that was coming out of a turn doing about 5 mph! Definitely not a good snow car...

It's still a way off, so things could change... but as of today the forecast high temperature for this coming Monday is minus 4º. That's the expected high temp for the day! And it's supposed to snow for the next day or two. Possibly up to a foot by Friday.

The front spindles are not very accurate... plus I decided I wanted to add posable steering, so I needed to rebuild the front axle and spindles. First step was to drill a hole in each spindle with a pin vise: Then I cut the spindles apart, in preparation of rebuilding them. The reason I drilled the hole first and then cut the spindles apart is that drilling the hole is much easier when you have something more substantial to hold onto as you drill. Trying to drill the smaller part after cutting apart the spindle would have been much more difficult: Finally, I added the rest of what I needed with styrene rod and strip. I added the 90º ends on the tie rod, and drilled out some hex-shaped styrene rod to create the "nuts"... Once these components are painted and installed, the model will have posable steering.

I didn't see those photos before, but apart from the chassis being red instead of black, that's pretty much exactly what I'm going for.

This kit is so simplified that the frame rails and body are molded together. I decided to go with a yellow body, black chassis/suspension, black fenders, and dark red wheels. Here is the body after painting, with the frame rails brush painted gloss black: Floorboard and radiator installed: The corners of the frame are part of the springs, so once the springs are attached, the "frame" is complete. I added some coolant lines made of brass rod: The radiator was sprayed silver, then blackwashed, then the end caps painted black:

Here is the finished steering column/tiller/hand control assembly after "the treatment" (Rustoleum Metallic Brass, Future/acrylic black wash, and knobs/handles detail painted.

The website was last updated in May of 2007. My guess is that it was never finished.

That's assuming that the kit is on the shelf at HL. Might not be...

Oh man... I just now noticed the title of this topic!

It is kinda cute. Reminds me of a golf cart!

Oh yeah... we come from the land of the ice and snow...

It's snowing right now... we're supposed to have a series of waves of "shovel-able events" over the next 24-36 hours... total snowfall by Friday morning is forecast to be anywhere from 6" to a foot before it's over, depending on where in the metro area you are. We'll see... the weather guys (and weather babes... ) have been wrong before.

I wouldn't be totally surprised if something like that happened. After all... somebody has the DM tooling...

I would love to spend New Year's Eve with a model! Unfortunately, they're all booked up for tonight...

Hey Ira... I know it's not the subject of this topic, but I love the way you made the "light beam" the attachment point for the UFO to the house. Very clever!

The diagonal edges of the panels won't line up if you flip them. They won't be / /... they'd be / \

It's all good, Lee. Let's call it a "teachable moment"...

You all know that Danbury's entire tooling was "confiscated" by the Chinese government some time ago (at least, that was the story as I heard it)... putting DM in a tough spot. Now even more bad news from what used to be the premier 1/25 diecast model car manufacturer. Got a letter in the mail the other day... "Dear Classic Car Preview Society member, ... regrettably, I must announce the end of this popular program. We are no longer able to cost-effectively produce enough new models to continue the Preview Society"...

The brass plated parts are a bright neon yellow... not exactly "brass," if you ask me. Compare the steering column to the actual brass pin vise collet... that's the color I want for the "brass" parts: The first step in assembling the steering column and hand controls is to clean up each piece... remove mold seam lines, etc... these are really tiny pieces, so I had to be careful not to break any of them. Once I had each part cleaned up, I glued each to a scrap of sprue, so I'll have a "handle" when I'm painting the parts:

To tell you the truth, this model isn't worth the time and effort to scratchbuild wire wheels. I do intend to add some detail, but my goal in this case is a good looking shelf model, nothing more. If this was a 1/8 scale model, then yeah, I would definitely redo the wheels somehow... but in this case, not going to bother. I seem to remember seeing a source of realistic 1/16 scale dragster wire front wheels somewhere, but I can't remember the name of the supplier. Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? If I could find a set of replacement aftermarket wheels, I'd do that... but I don't want to raid another kit for its wheels or bother scratchbuilding them.

You have to remember that this is the Kit Reviews section, not the Love Letters to the Kit Manufacturers section. A good, unbiased and informative kit review will cite both the positive and negative (if any) aspects of a model. Obviously a seven-cylinder distributor cap is a mistake, and just as obviously, that's worth mentioning in any review. You may think it's "nit picking," but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is a mistake and it is a legitimate point to mention in a review. The importance or significance each modeler places on a seven-cylinder distributor cap (or any other mistake or flaw that a reviewer has pointed out) is up to that individual modeler... but why slam someone else for pointing out the mistake? That what a review is for!