Harry P.

That is looking really nice!

Nice and clean! Looks alright to me!

I agree with Rob. The whole point of posting photos here is to let us see your work. Posting "artsy" nighttime shots where we can hardly see the model doesn't really serve much of a purpose, does it? It's cool as a photo experiment and to play around with... but for posting your work here, better to stick with good lighting so we can see your work!

Oak's grain is pretty big... probably out of scale. I'd stick with basswood or popsicle sticks.

Very nice work.

I would assume that practically all of a Prius battery pack is recycleable. Anyone know if Toyota dealers take worn out battery packs in trade towards a new one? I think Prius has been on slae long enough by now that the first ones out would need a replacement battery pack by now.

Agreed, the electric "refueling" infrastructure doesn't exist. But there's no reason why a gas station couldn't also install a few electric outlets to recharge electric cars. The big "but" so far is how to get a full charge into a car in just a few minutes instead of a few hours.

Yeah, the technology is still not quite there yet. But it will be soon. I think electric cars will be a big chunk of the new-car market within our lifetimes, and not just for the treehuggers and eco-freaks. They will become practical and affordable, and will make sense for a lot of buyers. They're not quite there yet, but they will be.

They could. But at what cost? That's the trade-off. Hyper-productive batteries are still way expensive. The technology that's in that car, you're not going to see in a run-of-the-mill Prius. At least not yet. But they're working on it.

I agree, there are mega-buck cars out there that run on gas that are just as impractical. I guess I see electric cars as being a "solution" to the problem of cars that burn gas. Maybe that's because electric cars have been marketed as being practical, sensible alternatives to cars that pollute, and I've bought into the sales pitch. So seeing an electric car that's priced where just about nobody can afford it sort of defeats the purpose of it being a practical alternative to cars that run on gas, and it becomes nothing but a useless automotive exercise (unless, of course, you happen to be in a financial position to drop a million dollars on a car). I guess it's sort of like solar panels that are so expensive to buy and install, that it would take you 20 years worth of electricity savings before you recoup the initial investment and actually begin to start saving.

Three more winners! You sure do have a unique style...

The only truly "clean" energy is electricity created by dams, solar or wind (that is, after the dam or windmill is built or after the solar panels are installed). Electricity created in any other way (nuclear, coal-fired plants) produces pollution and hazardous waste. So electric cars may themselves be "clean," but you have to remember how the electricity they use got to the end of the plug...

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/05/01/croatia-80000-electric-supercar/?intcmp=features

I agree that balsa isn't the best choice... strips of basswood are better. Another way to "age" the wood: First, make your cuts and chips and splits like Dave described, to make the wood pieces look old and beat up, then simply paint the wood strips with watered-down black (or brown or gray or a mix, depending on the look you want) acrylic craft paint (the kind that come in those 2 ounce plastic squeeze bottles with the flip-top cap)... then just wipe off the excess with a paper towel. You can get different effects by varying the time you leave the paint on the wood before wiping, by mixing more (or less) water with the paint, etc. And no messing with isopropyl alcohol... all you need is good old H20. Practice on a scrap piece of the same wood you'll use for the finished product to see how different colors, different paint-water ratios and different wiping times look. Another alternative: wood stain. Comes in water-based or solvent-based. Same technique as with the acrylic paint.

It does look a lot like a VW Beetle.

A classic scene where Ed is helping Ralph learn how to play golf... and how to "address the ball"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvN8BNCdeN8

Ground effects on a cop car?

I realize this doesn't answer your question immediately... but the next issue of MCM (May/June) has a big step-by-step how to, including buildups by Bill Coulter, Len Carsner, Sean Svendsen and Dave Metzner himself!

Yes, exactly. I forgot to mention that. The Moebius kit has the lettering slanted the right way!

I hope Marcos Cruz sees this. I'm pretty sure he posted up his Miura, and it was spectacular. At least I think it was him...

I think that military/aviation modeling has always been more popular than model cars. Just look at the sheer number of kits offered in military and airplane subjects. Thousands of different subjects, probably a whole lot more than there are car kits.

At a big independent hobby shop here, the space allotted to military/aircraft/ship plastic kits is waaaay bigger than that for car kits. Car kits get both sides of one aisle, the other kits get several aisles plus all the wall space.

Do a google image search for the logo, save the image to your computer, size it to scale and print it out on a color printer. If you cut it out so that the red area covers the whole side of the cooler, you won't have to worry about the edges of the paper showing. Color the edges with a red sharpie so they don't show as white lines after you glue the emblem in place. http://internetsuperstores.blogspot.com/2011/08/vintage-drink-coca-cola-in-bottles.html

Goldsmithing.

I did a little research online. Here's what I found: 1911: Arnaldo Pocher born. Studied godsmithing/engraving in school. 1932: Moved to Turin to carry out his trade. Late 1940s: came into contact with model railroading, began producing model railroad accessories for a local Turin shop. 1951: Founded Pocher Micromeccanica in Turin, producing model railroad accessories, and later, locomotives and rolling stock. 1956: Ocean liner Andrea Doria sunk, carrying thousands of Pocher locomotives and rolling stock destined for the US market. 1956: Italian model railroad company Rivarossi was commissioned by Fiat to produce scale models of the Fiat 500 and 600. They were sold in fully assembled form as "disassembly models." and included instructions on how to take them APART! 1961: Fiat commissioned Pocher to produce models of the new Fiat 1300, which was to be introduced at the Turin Auto Show in April 1961. The model was in 1/13 scale and featured operating steering and an opening hood with engine detail. 1963: Rivarossi and Pocher combine their operations to produce both automobile kits and model railroad products. 1964: Pocher/Rivarossi continue to produce new Fiat 1/13 scale models to coincide with each new model introduced by Fiat. 1966: At the Milan International Toy Fair, Pocher introduces its first 1/8 scale automobile kit, the 1907 Fiat F2 Grand Prix race car. The model was also sold in preassembled form in a glass display case. 1968: Pocher introduces its first 1/8 scale Alfa Romeo kit, the Monza. Arnaldo Pocher leaves the company. 1970: Pocher introduces its third 1/8 scale kit (and their first Rolls Royce), the Sedanca Drophead coupe. 1972: Fire destroys the Pocher plant. Plant is rebuilt. 1975: Pocher introduces its first 1/8 scale Mercedes kit, the 500 cabriolet. 1977: Pocher introduces the 1/8 scale Rolls Royce "Star of India" kit. 1980: Pocher introduces its first 1/8 scale Bugatti model kit. 1981: Pocher becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rivarossi, production moves to Como, Italy. Late 1980s-early 1990s: Pocher introduces their "modern" series of 1/8 scale kits: Ferrari F50, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911 and Volvo truck. 1995?: Rivarossi goes bankrupt, company is sold to English company Hornby; automobile model kit production ends. Not sure of what happened to all the tooling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: Some of the Pocher "classic" kits-Alfa, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Bugatti-were also sold in preassembled form... not sure which ones, or for how long. For a time, Pocher kits were also imported into the US by Tyco, who put their name and logo on the boxes along with the Pocher name. Not sure of the years that Tyco was involved with importing Pocher kits. Pocher produced only four different chassis for their "classic" series of kits (Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Bugatti). The various kit versions of those four makes all had the same chassis/engine with different bodies, interiors and trim. For example, all the different Rolls Royce kits (Sedanca, Star of India, etc., share the same engine and chassis). Pocher 1/8 scale auto kits in their "classic" series (Alfa, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and Bugatti) underwent changes/revisions over the years. The early kits had better quality, better stamped metal "chrome" parts, and real wire spoke wheels that had to be assembled spoke by spoke. Later kits have simplified, molded plastic spoked wheels, inferior metal "chrome" parts and worse parts fit due to aging molds.