Harry P.

They are very tire hugging... they turn with the wheels.

Welcome! (But you need to add your full name to your signature. Forum rule).

No room for a Viper V-10 in there... I like the look with the front fenders... the bumperettes you could toss, I agree.

I don't think it's a good idea to glue the tires down. I have seen a setup where the builder cuts small wedges of wood, paints them flat black, and then glues them to the base, wedging them to the front and rear wheels so that they act as wheel chocks.

Generally models released in "collector tins" are priced higher from the manufacturer than the same kit in a standard cardboard box (and of course that higher price is passed along by the retailer). Is the extra cost worth it? Maybe... if you buy the kit with no intent of building it, but just as an "investment." Somewhere down the line, depending on the size of the initial release and collector demand, you could conceivably make a profit by selling it on ebay a few years down the road. If you really just want to build the kit, it makes no sense at all to pay a bunch more for the kit and a fancy tin box. The empty tin box alone will probably never have much collector value. So bottom line... buy the model in the "collector box" if your intent is to try and resell it in the future. Buy the kit in the regular old cardboard box if you intend to actually build the kit.

These are the paints I use (there are a couple different brand names... I get them at Hobby Lobby. Depending on the brand, they cost between 99¢ and $1.69 or so apiece. But they're all pretty much the same exact thing, so I buy the cheap ones!

Nothing looks better on a "woody" than steel wheels, chrome trim rings and baby moons! (this is a quick 5 minute hack job... your model will look much better!) BTW... nice idea and nice sketch! Should post it under "Auto Art"...

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

I gotcha. Carry on!

Sort of. Instead of flour and water I used acrylic (first Future, then acrylic craft paint). So it's one piece of newspaper, two coats of Future and several (3-4) coats of paint. The cool thing is, it's still flexible and feels like a real tonneau.

Tonneau is a piece of newspaper. I laid a piece of plastic wrap on the model, then a piece of newspaper that I first saturated with Future. I formed the tonneau into shape while wet. After it dried I added another coat of Future and several coats of acrylic paint. Then I took it off, cut and trimmed to final shape, and glued it back down. The bead along the edges is thread that I glued down along the edges after I trimmed the cover to shape. The "snaps" are straight pins. The dash lights are just short lengths of round styrene rod. The mounting brackets are made of cardstock, and there's a cut-off straight pin at each end, going through the bracket and into the rod.

Sherman "took over" for Grant??? Lee surrendered to Grant. Both were the leaders of their respective armies. Sherman served under Grant. So if the "General Lee" would represent the southern states, then the counterpart for the other side would be the "General Grant." Hey, if he wants to do a "General Sherman," that's fine... or he could do a "General Meade" or a "General McClellan," but they're no "General Grant!"

Uh, wasn't General Grant the union counterpart of Lee?

:lol: :lol: :lol: Now that's funny!

Gee, I'd love to make a bid, but I just dropped about $20 million on my new private jet... so I'm a little short this month.

Duplicolor is "real car" touchup paint... it's sold in auto parts stores.

I added the dashboard lights: And I made a tonneau cover to replace the kit piece: It's actually a lot darker than it looks in these pictures.

Where did you get those photos?

I've been checking around. Apparently the money to keep the preservation process going ran out, they couldn't find any corporate sponsors, and the car is sitting in storage somewhere with no plans to continue the work as of now.

That's why they were talking about replacing the frame. Not for restoration, but because the original was so rusted that it wouldn't hold the car anymore.

They plan to use a Savoy as a donor car and do that, also the electrical system is totally shot so they will be replacing that. From Wikipedia: As of June 2008, the preservation process was still underway, as shown in a video posted by the New Jersey Star Ledger, with the stated goal to preserve the car as an artifact, not to restore it to roadworthy condition. In December 2008, Ultra One deleted all the topics in their forum regarding Miss Belvedere. Attempts to contact Ultra One for comment went unanswered. The vehicle condition and state of repair have been presumed unknown until May 2009, when Dwight Foster of Ultra One participated in a podcast and provided details and new pictures, showing the Belvedere's restoration to be still underway, the car's exterior having been virtually freed of its rust and mud concretions[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Belvedere#cite_note-4]. In that same podcast, Foster noted that he has purchased a rust-free 1957 Plymouth Savoy as a donor car to replace needed parts to keep Miss Belvedere from further deterioration. The frame and trunk underframe will be used from the Savoy to replace the weakened parts in the Belvedere. Miss Belvedere's ignition system is totally fused into a useless lump of metal, so the Savoy will provide replacement parts for this as well. Foster stated that be believes Miss Belvedere's engine may be salvageable; however, they have not yet tackled the drivetrain. He was confident that Miss Belvedere can be returned to a condition that would reflect her state had she not been exposed to the damaging moisture that caused such extensive deterioration of the car's condition.

The car is currently in the process of being cleaned up. They are removing the surface rust and gunk and stuff, but they will not restore the car to "as-new" condition.

You might try keeping your work area a little cleaner!

Not really into the exterior color scheme... I would not have used a two-tone approach... But the interior is beautiful! Nice work!

The past couple of nights we've had thunderstorms, and someone's car alarm went off a couple of times right after a real good thunderclap. The one time, it even shook my house... I felt it!