Zoom Zoom

I built the '65 Comet several years ago, I don't remember any issue whatsoever with the glass fitment. Quite unlike the flaming hoops you need to jump through on the '61 Ventura/Catalina to even begin to get the glass to fit properly, because if you don't accomplish that the glass/trim looks absolutely comical on an otherwise impressive body. Thankfully I built mine after learning how to deal with the issue, it's a rather advanced task modifying the body but it can be done, it was Bill Geary who found the problem first and showed how to correct it as well as other more minor foibles with that particular kit. There are sometimes issues with the fitment of grilles/bumpers, they seem to improve most issues with each successive new-tool kit, learning as they go.

Last weekend was Plastic Undercover, a newish show up in the Akron area, and it's the same weekend that the former Toledo NNL had.

The CARBS show normally in early November? If so, it was renamed the Gem City NNL and was held on September 13th to coincide with the Dayton Concours d'Elegance weekend that also has an invitational model car display put on by Randy Derr.

Corvair...not Corvette. I have the original kit and have seen the real car in person so that someday I can build it competently. I might get the new kit to have some fun with.

He has been on a ton of podcasts recently, I've seen this one and several others. I was wondering if that was some kind of a sign. I realized the sign was the recent Monterey Car Week where every automotive influencer known to mankind was there to make a whole bunch of content.

Them? Moebius or the young man who is N.Y.S? N.Y.S is a talented builder from New York State and has a YT channel, he's not an industry insider. He shared images from the internet, and made a minor mistake sharing the image on a product that isn't ready to show publicly at this time, therefore there's no news but lots of eager anticipation. Eric Solie posts here and is an insider, between he and others involved w/Moebius there will be plenty to see when they decide to make it public, when that time comes everyone known to mankind in this hobby and especially those with vested interests on the various social media platforms will be tripping over themselves to share the news.

Error is on N.Y.S.

Bill Cunningham was/still is an amazing designer/machinist/fabricator long before he graduated/shifted gears to 3D design and printing. Different process but it took him years to perfect it. Just a different skill set, tool set and materials. The actual printing takes less time, but the work to print parts to that level of perfection each time takes him countless hours of time and countless test prints until he's happy. I watched a master machinist at the shop take weeks to get a fairly new CNC machine moved over from Mazmart's old engine shop to work properly, with help from 2 others at the shop and lots of video conference time with the manufacturer. Meanwhile I was playing with quarter scale models, now complete...

The only safe one I recall is IMPS because people mis-type it all the time. And Imps perfectly describes some of their membership...

IIRC Bandai, the producer of the lion's share of Gundam kits, is the largest plastic model producer in the world. I'm glad that there's something that younger builders actually want to build. Car modelers got a big boost from video games/gamers. I know a bunch of car enthusiasts in their 20's-40's, some of them are now model car builders, they're into it due to life playing video games. I had a Playstation 5 and wore it out. I know the Nurburgring better than my own driveway 😆 . I wasted countless hours, but I also built models of some of my favorite cars. I didn't dare go out and drive after playing Need For Speed Underground....

If a person uses CAD to design a part from scratch, and 3D prints it, and uses traditional finishing techniques to detail it, how is that any different than if they drew up plans in pencil on vellum (or a napkin...I don't care) and then machined or scratch built the the parts from various materials? It could be equal effort in time alone. It's one thing if someone buys a ready-made 3D part vs. designing it from the ground up. This is a big problem with IPMS. In previous efforts to frustrate modelers they had strict rules about using more than X% metal/metal components in models because they can't get past their "International Plastic Modelers" moniker and get with modern times. They help create all the hilarious acronyms for IPMS...many that I don't need to spell out for obvious reasons (on this forum).

I was chapter contact for many years. Then they "upgraded" their process to renew the club charter to online only. The website is so frustratingly over-complicated, spent hours on the phone with them 3 consecutive years, and then gave up and handed it off to another club member to deal with. Despite national support for our show, including some IPMS higher-ups coming to our show to see how we do it and are so successful, yet the organization just isn't in step with the times or anything outside of their sphere of aircraft/military. I will say we have a local IPMS contest that's excellent as they have a car guy running those categories. And doing it right. But he's definitely an outlier.

To clarify, I have no issues whatsoever with anyone actively competing and building for competition above all else. Personally I just don't do it myself. To me the models themselves are the true trophies, along with all the friendships and camaraderie along the way. This past weekend was just one example...the COMA dinner hosted by Randy Derr, the Gem City NNL, and the Dayton Concours d'Elegance invitational model car display and the car show outside. It was all spectacular. Well worth the ride, well worth the worry over carrying the wind tunnel models 500+ miles each direction for the Concours display. An endurance test for their trip to the ACME show next month...

He found out the hard way about "contest rules". IPMS doesn't allow a model fully 3D designed, printed and built by the creator to be considered "scratch built". That and other reasons mean I no longer am an IPMS member after decades of supporting them. Too many rules, too many of which make no sense to the model car community. I build for me, I don't build for trophies, I show my models at NNL style shows more often than contests. Why winning a $5 trophy to assume notoriety or dominance in this hobby is something I just don't quite understand. Yes, it's nice to win something, but I prefer to be pleasantly surprised than actively trying to win an award, and I'm honestly thrilled for my friends/competition when they win a trophy, including when my model is in the same category. I'm just weird that way 😁

IIRC the Modelhaus offered a '60 Dodge wagon in resin, and it would have been plated in that same fashion.