Zoom Zoom

Great work! Thanks for sharing them.

I can't wait to see more of this! I've been meaning to get the new plastic kit, so I can build my metal version stock and a plastic version as a racer...now I can crib all the good stuff from your progress! The metal hood is a lousy fit too. I think the hood was tooled slightly undersized for the hole it's supposed to fill. One of our Best In Show models for our NNL in the '90's was based on one of the plastic reissues done previously. Lots can be done w/this old Monogram model.

I saw a test of RIT dye on kit glass a number of years ago by Tim Kolankiewicz and Tommy May, and those guys can build circles around most of us. They melted a few parts before figuring out how hot/how long to dunk the parts for success. It sounded like a complete fiasco and hassle; also because the clear parts might warp at different temps depending on manufacturer. I think it's probably a lot better to tint Future w/food coloring and dip the clear part in that. You can easily remove Future...you can't remove warp from clear parts.

You either buy them from him via Ebay or order from his Fotki site by sending him an email. You tell him what you want, he tells you price. I've only ordered once, but it was painless and the decals are good quality.

It was intentional Thanks for the comments! This will be a fun diversion compared to all the Porsches I've built lately.

After getting stuffed in a baggie with a stripper (Easy Off) the Caprice came out nearly nekkid

Sorry, the '74 was my missing link...I had every year of Caprice/Impala kit except this one which completes the whole set. This will be build 100% stock, and if it goes to Birmingham (if I get it done in time) it will have big wheels only on one side, and not attached to the car permanently.

A good friend of mine Henry Trent (and our club president) is a Porsche fanatic and mountain biking fanatic. One of his biking buddies found out he built models, gave him a big bunch of old models...some pretty cool vintage stuff. Henry didn't want/need the Caprice, and ended up giving it to me for an Xmas present in '06. When I first saw the model we put some crazy Revell Donk wheels under it... Anyway, Birmingham's flyer shows a '74 Caprice Donk. I have this model...so I photo'd the model as received; and taken apart. I was lucky, it wasn't a glue bomb and everything popped apart w/o damage. The only damage is the wheel backs are slightly melted, the wheel covers are fine. Plan is to restore it, paint it in Chevy's "pea soup green" from that year, throw a white vinyl top on it, and call it a disco cruiser. It might get Donk wheels on one side only (stepped base) just for a fun display at Birmingham, IF...if I get it done in time. We shall see! Sorry for the lousy photos, it's all I have though before I stripped the paint. I'll get a picture of that later...one round w/Easy Off and most of it came right off. I need to hit the interior w/one more shot. Even the flat black came up. Here's what we did with it the day we first saw it (see other models in the same group that were given to Henry):

To go along w/my "heritage" Boxster built last year, I built a companion Cayman. Basic Fujimi kit painted in Tamiya racing white (black panel lines added to primer before finish color). Interior has some racing white (door panels, lower dash, seat backs), the rest is Porsche "terracotta". I used some nylon mesh for the luggage net, worked very nicely. Wheels are from a Maisto 356, tires from a Revell PT Cruiser. Aside from wheels/tires it's OOB. A little bit of chrome detailing was added; to the "cayman eyes" in front, around side glass, and on rocker panels. I'm also working on a Cayman GT now which is the polar opposite of this build; it's painted in GT3 RS colors of silver w/orange stripes. I like the "heritage" look on this one, it manages to be modern yet the retro parts look pretty cool on it, and I love Porsches of the '50's. Sorry, no in-progress shots. Boxster I built last year: Both together last week at club meeting:

It's actually less messy. Gravity feed brushes use every drop of paint or thinner you run through it. Much less cleanup vs. any suction-feed setup. That feed tube is a PITA to clean out by comparison, and as such wastes a lot of paint and thinner and cleanup time over a lifetime. I have an Iwata HP CS Eclipse that's gravity feed; has a big cup and a lid, and I prefer it over any of my previous favorite brush, the Badger 175 Crescendo. I got my Iwata on sale for $90 w/a 40% off coupon. You can get Crescendos for up to half that amount...but honestly once I got used to gravity feed (about 30 seconds...) there was no turning back. Not really. A dual-action brush isn't hard to learn at all. A few minutes practice and you're ready to paint anything. If you are new to airbrushing it won't matter at all. You'll spend much more time learning the proper thinning rations, air pressures, and cleaning procedure. Get the best brush you can afford. You should be able to get an Iwata and a compressor and the required hoses etc. for your budget.

NNL East 2008 Information

I bought/build mine when it was a brand-new kit, and my chrome was not as bright as it could be, it's sort of between satin chrome and bright. About what "perfect" Alclad looks like. The self-adhesive chrome was also a problem. I couldn't get the thin chrome strips to stay down, so I cut pieces of BMF to replicate the thin side chrome. Nice kit overall. I painted the wood dash/door panels w/my own home-brew concoction which I felt looked better than the decals.

That's gotta be real.

I got my Bonneville HT for about $16, and it was still too much considering I have to do a roofectomy from a Revell kit to even begin to make it look right. From subject matter to execution, Trumpeter just didn't get it when it came to model cars.

It does not need thinning to spray. It's already almost too thin to spray.

There was a recent buildup in the magazine by Dave Thibodeau, check that for all you need to know. It's basically a modified Enzo, the only visible problem w/the Enzo and FXX kit is that the engine cover doesn't fit very well, there's something (I believe on the inner wheel wells) that keeps it from closing tight...test fit and grid from behind if you want it to fit properly. The Enzo is painted flat/satin black under the engine cover (not visible carbon fiber), so a bit of grinding followed by some brush-painted flat black acrylic will look just like the real thing.

I go for good looks, and if they're accurate, all the better.

I have nine airbrushes My oldest is my Badger 150. Nice brush, but high-maintenance. The enclosed tip is a paint magnet, hard to clean. It's also prone to getting a small bit of dry paint on the tip of the needle that deposits itself on a paintjob when you push the trigger down after previously spraying. It's best to spray the model without shutting off the flow. So many times I blamed the dirt in my paint on dust, when it was this buildup. I watched a friend spray w/his 150 and he got nearly perfect paintjobs in the exact same conditions where I was getting "dirt". He never let off the trigger, he kept on going, spraying the body in one fluid motion w/o shutting off the flow at the end of each stroke and that was the key. I tend to use this technique now on all paintjobs, as a precaution. I have a Model Master/Aztek. Nice when new, tips are terrible because they wear out far too quickly. I have a Paasche VL. Nice brush, but then I got a Badger 175 Crescendo that I far prefer. The Crescendo has a higher-flow; better suited to bodies. With a medium tip it's better flowing than the Paasche with the wide tip. I eventually got two more Crescendos so I could have one for solid, one for metallics, and one for clear. I have a Rich AB200 for fineline work. It's also a gravity-feed brush, and made by Iwata. Great brush for intricate camouflage or even windshield tint strips. My lastest brush is an Iwata HP CS Eclipse. It's a gravity feed w/big cup, and it's become my favorite brush by a wide margin. Until you get/use a gravity-feed brush, you never realize how much paint/solvents you've wasted because there's a lot of paint to clean out of those suction tubes. I spend a lot less time cleaning up now, and the brush is amazing in it's flexibility and quality. I wish I had three of these vs. three of the Crescendos, and I've raved about how good the Crescendo was!

Very nice! Did you photograph the car in the foreground? Was there a Mercedes sitting next to it? Looks like a Mercedes wheel/hubcap reflected in the Packard door

I stayed well clear of that one over there I figured if you couldn't convince 'em with your references, nobody could. Ed Sexton told me that it was fairly easy to modify the tooling to run styrene. Of course I've learned that even when you support what you know with facts, some people will still not believe them.

It's a tough call. Often it's something new, often it's something inspired by a car or model I've seen previously, or building for a theme. Or getting a review sample that needs building. Right now, in addition to at least a half-dozen models I started last year, I'm working closely on two models that are similar. One inspired by a model I built last year, another inspired because I got a resin transkit for it, and it's part of a group build project.

Amen to that. '58 Chevies don't do much for me anyway, that's a subject that appealed to me more in the past (been there, built that), while newer subjects are grabbing my attention all the time. I've got the MPC-based Trans Am and AMT '62 Corvette, and the newer Revell versions and they trounce the earlier kits. Not only that, but there's a significantly excellent chance they'll get shifted to all-plastic kits for less $$ than the diecast. I'll buy more of them if that happens.

The Superformance Cobra Daytona is not a copy of the vintage C.D.C; it was restyled and improved upon greatly over the original. It's got a longer wheelbase and a lot of subtle changes. Designed by Pete Brock, the same guy who designed the originals. He perfected the design of the new car; not unlike how Ford updated the GT40 into the Ford GT. You cannot fairly compare any Cobra Daytona models to the Superformance car. I'd love to see a model of the Superformance Cobra Daytona Coupe; I prefer it's design over the original. The other Superformance cars, the GT40's and Cobra replicas are much truer to original.

I was on HLJ today and I see that the model and wheels are available for preorder again. No worries

Nice MG model! I had the race version at one time, but I don't know what I did with it. I did the MGB GT resin master for Art Anderson way back when. Fun project. It's the only MGB I've built. And the Cosmo...cool car. My buddy used to work at Mazmart, which was owned by Jim Downing...one Saturday afternoon we took Jim's Cosmo for a ride around Chamblee, GA. What a neat car! And nobody looked at it. Nobody had a clue how rare the car was. It's a tiny car, probably the same footprint as my MX-5. I've got the Hasegawa kit, haven't built it but it looks great for a curbside. I've also built a Nichimo Cosmo Sport, they did the car in both 1/24 and 1/20 scale. The Hasegawa kit is superior.