Harry P.

It matters if you vote!

I think you should include a dime or a quarter in these photos to give people a sense of scale.

What do you say? Real or model? The answer: REAL!

Yeah, but that's just you. Most modelers vote price first.

Manufacturers do that for two main reasons. 1. The tooling is already paid for; reissued kits bring much more profit per unit than newly-tooled kits do. 2. People keep buying them!

I suppose it's possible, but needing to use Alclad to get a realistic chrome finish would probably be a turnoff to most modelers. If scripts were included in kits, I think the vast majority of builders would prefer stainless steel PE parts.

Adding separate PE parts would drive up the cost of a kit. Many people are already crying about the cost of kits... they'd be screaming if the price went up any further. The manufacturers know that model car kit buyers are incredibly price-conscious (or in plain English, cheap). That's part of the reason that manufacturers cut corners... to keep the price down and appeal to more potential buyers. Military modelers are willing to pay for quality, and in general they get it. Most car modelers aren't willing to do that.

There is no one "best" place online. That's like asking what's the one "best" hobby shop. Do a google search for what you want and you'll find dozens of sources.

Individual small parts like carbs can very easily be improved upon without the use of sliding dies. Much external detail could be added without any undercuts. Any halfway competent tooling designer can do it.

That's a nice bike!

And I appreciate your business!

Chris, nice idea and nice tutorial.

That's a moderator's decision. It's not specifically spelled out, but if someone gets a point and stays "clean" for a while, I'd remove the point. But it's a judgement call, depending on why the point was assigned in the first place. I have a feel for who the troublemakers are, and who maybe made a one-time mistake. The easiest solution? Follow the dang rules! That way you'll never have to worry about any of this.

Did you notice the cool single-spoke steering wheel on the one with the red upholstery? Very "Citroen-esque"...

I remember one of McDonald's big advertising campaigns from the 70s... burger, fries and a Coke and you get change back from your dollar. Wow, times have changed.

Or just go with rod in the first place and forget the tubing. Aluminum rod bends very easily, you can bend it using just your fingers, around an appropriately sized round mandrel of some sort. "Armature wire," while soft and pliable, usually comes in a roll. Trying to form perfectly straight lengths is a pain. Better to start with straight aluminum rod, like that sold by K&S, IMO.

Wow, what a nice find!

Would that be 220 Pounds? Why so cheap?

I think that's a perfectly legitimate request. If I ever issue any points (none yet so far from me since we did a "reboot" a few days ago and put everyone back to 0), I'll send a PM explaining it.

That's a possibility. Hey John... how about it? What a magazine feature that would make!

Yep, that's the midwest in summer.

No problem, as long as you're ok making $3 an hour...

"Drawing" the panel lines in with black ink is a pretty common technique that looks horrible, in my opinion. It makes the panel lines way too dark and gives a toy-like appearance to the model. Panel lines should never be black (except on a black car, of course!). They should be a darker shade of the body color. One way to do it (I think I first read this in a post by Bob Downie) is to paint the model, then run black ink into the lines, then shoot another couple of coats of thinned-down body color, which covers the black ink, but not completely... the result is a realistically dark panel line without that stark, black, toy-like look. Marcos Cruz has another great technique for dealing with panel lines. Maybe he'll see this thread and post.

From wikipedia: A majority of North American-spec vehicles for USA and Canada had a 3-speed column-mounted shifter - the first generation Chevrolet/GMC vans of 1964-70 vintage had an ultra-rare 4-speed column shifter. The column-mounted manual shifter disappeared in North America by the mid 1980s, last appearing in the 1987 Chevrolet pickup truck. Outside North America, the column-mounted shifter remained in production. All Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric taxis in Hong Kong had the 4-speed column shift until 1999 when automatic transmissions were first offered. Since the late 1980s or early 1990s,[vague] a 5-speed column shifter has been offered in some vans sold in Asia and Europe, such as Toyota Hiace and Mitsubishi L400.