Harry P.

And they got it. Then they asked for another section to cover non-commercial and street trucks. And they got that, too. Like I said in an earlier post in this thread, right now the site is not arranged in the most logical way. That's because it's been altered and added on to over time. Sort of like a house with a bunch of additions tacked on over time. After a while the house begins to look a little odd. What we really need is a new, logical breakdown... and I have posted it before, several times. And I've asked Gregg about it, several times. But so far he's not decided to do it. Until he does (or I should say if he does), this is the layout we have... and we have a separate Truck section, so that's where trucks go.

Mike, those shots are very cool. Nicely staged and photographed. I'd say you got about as close to being "real" with that model as possible... but once again if you look closely you can see the things that give it away... the seat stitching, the thickness and optical distortion in the windshield, no wear on the brake rotor, etc. Not that you didn't do a fantastic job on it, you did. But the camera sees all, and that illusion of reality is tough to pull off.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=54209

That shot is done in a very realistic manner... the lighting, the background, etc. all look cool. But if you look at the model (and this is not meant as a critique of this particular model, but to illustrate my previous point), you can immediately see that the panel gaps around the door and the door handle are not real separations, but just molded in. All the little things like that have to be perfect on a model for it to really pass as "real" in a photo. In this case, yeah, a quick glance and this car does look like a real one. But only until you look closer. Believe me... I know how bard it is to fool people into thinking a photo of a model is a real car... It takes an extraordinary model, shot perfectly, to do it.

Right. It's not his initial question that was the problem, it's everything that came after it. I just sent him a PM too, to let him know my responses were not to his question (which I answered in the first post), but to several of the posts that were made by others in his thread.

Very nice!

Hmmmmm... guess not! I always thought they were.

The truck section has a specific area for pickups, SUVs, etc., apart from the big rigs. The truck area was added due to member requests for a truck area. It wasn't always there, so there are plenty of trucks in the cars area in many old threads. I don't go back and edit 2 and 3 year old threads. And if I suspended all the members who either don't know the rules, don't understand the rules, or flat-out refuse to follow the rules, I'd have to suspend a lot of members. You guys are really something. You want a separate truck section. You get a separate truck section. Now you cry about why a truck should be posted in the truck section? And I'm the bad guy in this???

You would think it's pretty self-explanatory, wouldn't you?

Is it a pickup CAR? Or a pickup TRUCK? From one of the categories in the model TRUCKS section: "Pickups, SUVS, Non-Commercial Trucks For those who like pickups, SUVs, and other non-Big Rig Trucks." People, this is not rocket science! The reason we have a Truck section is because people ASKED FOR IT! They wanted a specific area for TRUCKS. So we gave it to them. And now you ask why a truck should be posted in the truck section and not in the car section????

The fact that you never noticed that we have an area for Trucks is your fault, not mine. If you would pay attention, you would see that the first group of topic areas are all under the "Model Cars" header. The we have a section called "Modeling Q&A" with its sub-sections, then we have a section called "Contests and Shows," then we have a section called "Model Trucks," then "Links, Advertisers and Web sites," and so on until the bottom of the page. Is the forum arranged in the best way possible? No. In fact I've suggested a reworking several times, and posted my idea here. But until that happens (if ever), this is the layout that we have to deal with. If you need further explanation, PM me.

Did you read the previous posts? Apparently there is a need to shout.

Weren't the Superbird and Daytona front ends fiberglass?

It takes a lot more than a specific photo technique to pass a model off as a real car in a photo. For starters, the model has to look like a real car! And that is a very hard thing to accomplish. Only a handful of the very best modelers can build at that level. And even then, there are a ton of clues that'll tell you if it's "real or model" if you know what to look for.

It's....um..... you know, "snow"....

Or... pay attention to the way the forum is divided into specific sections and post models of TRUCKS in the TRUCKS section. Do I need to rephrase this using smaller words???

Or..... seeing as how we have a Trucks section and the model is of a truck, you could post it in the Truck section! Because... you know... that's why we have a Truck section.

In the Trucks section.

I posted a link earlier. Amazon has them for $19.99

Yes, it works that way. Think of the pedal as a foot-operated "dimmer switch."

OK, obviously you haven't told us what the story is, and that's fine... apparently there was a personal crisis or event of some sort concerning your models, but how/why does that mean you can't be a member here anymore?

Definite "Real or Model" contenders! You do some awesome work, Chuck!

Interesting story...

So those would be "formal" Chuck Taylors?

Both. We have some people who supply us with material regularly, but also if I see something really good posted here on the forum, I'll contact the person and tell them I want to do a magazine feature on their model, or a "spotlight" type of thing on their work in general. A lot of what you see in the magazine is in there because I saw it here first!