Zoom Zoom

The value of the used SVT Foci just went up with Ford's hideous revamp of the Escort...uh, Focus. I guess they felt their only competition was the Saturn Ion, so they aimed really low

In keeping with their latest cost-cutting tradition they are basing it off of the old 1/24 Monogram '69 Camaro tool, so it can be proportionate to the AAR and all of their other 1/24 musclecars. They'll revise it slightly in 2019, but it will still be wrong. Look for extensive how-to's featuring all the fixes necessary (combining Revell '69 Nova, AMT '72 Nova, and the AMT Ventura...all necessary for the kitbash) for you to have your own '69 Nova that actually looks like a '69 Nova. Wow, it's like April 1 all over again

For the stock wheels/tires on this (and other Revell tuners) you know that Revell's tires are pretty skinny rim protectors. If you have any Polar Lights (or AMT) '04/'05 GTO's the tires from that kit fit the Revell rims perfectly and give you a more realistic sidewall and fill up the wheel openings. The GTO tires fit the Revell wheels like they were made for 'em.

Ismael was so excited that weekend that the next picture might as well have been "look, no hands!" BTW, the Scale Motorsports BBS wheels for the C6R are gorgeous. The whole transkit is nice, but the price is pretty insane. They did include side glass.

Cool! They're fantastic little cars, I drove one before and it was much better than I expected...I liked it better than the SVT Contour and '97 Cobra that I also drove on the same day...I have a lot of Ford friends Nice to see it stock, most builders go straight for that gawdawful bodykit that Revell puts in there

Brendan, I tried Future on Alclad II and it very clearly diminished the reflectivity. The best reflectivity is to put the Alclad II on in a couple of light coats, let it dry, and then take a clean/soft piece of flannel and lightly buff off the overspray. Spaz Stix Chrome is even better than Alclad II. If anyone wants to see a shootout of the chrome sprays (Alclad II vs. Spaz Stix and Mirra Chrome), have a look at my Fotki album: Alclad II vs. Spaz Stix vs. Alsa Mirrachrome "killer chrome" Future didn't attack it as much as other clears, and it's interesting that it seals against harsher clears. It's just too bad that these chrome paints don't seem to like any clear over them.

Spend time repairing vs. stripping/repainting. You'll save a lot of time. Most modelers automatically go for the vat of stripper, and they strip away many hours of work that usually can be repaired if they keep a cool head about the problem. You mixed different kinds of paint, always dangerous. Try to stick with one brand of paint from start to finish. The Cobra Colors clear is an automotive clear, and it's much stronger than the Alclad products. Alclad chrome doesn't like to have any clear over it, as soon as it's coated w/clear you end up with silver. Painting trim with Alclad seems like a terrible waste of time; masking, laying down the black, applying the chrome...it's a very labor-intensive way to avoid using Bare Metal Foil for chrome trim which is much quicker and much more forgiving if you mess up. Save the Alclad for bumpers or separate chrome parts, and don't clearcoat. Handle with modelers gloves because it is not durable, and clearing it destroys the reflectivity. Do all trimwork with Bare Metal Foil, or if you don't mind silver paint you'll do just as well with Testors Silver Chrome Trim enamel or their lacquer (bottle) Silver. If your Alclad looks silver on the good side, you might want to just mask the areas on the bad side and lightly airbrush the areas w/the Testors lacquer silver. This way both sides will match relatively well. You can mix a bit of clear w/the silver to make it a bit more durable.

Thin it with rubbing alcohol, I think denatured alcohol will also work.

How many martinis does it take to apply Martini decals? Nice work!

Don't worry Harry, I feel much the same way with this one since it's far from a grail...I've got enough of the good 1/25 scale 'cuda stuff to keep me busy. I expect better from Revell, because I know they are capable of better. Much better.

The problem is I can't determine what color best suits someone else's taste. Any one of the combos mentioned can be perfect to a particular person; color schemes are very subjective. I'm not trying to weasel out of choosing so much as I haven't had the time to think them all through, as if it were a project of my own. Some friends and I were at an Italian car show on Saturday, one of the cars there was a black Ferrari 599 GTB. I would have thought I would have liked the color better, but I didn't. The black paint looked milky/gray-brown in the sunlight just like Testors gloss black enamel (Tamiya gloss black is a true black by comparison). The wheels were painted black, and looked darker than the rest of the car. Yet some people loved the combo. I've seen a Grigio Titanio 599 and by comparison, to me at least, it was perfect on the car. I've seen a red one as well, and I even preferred it over the black...which isn't like me Color is so subjective, and dependant on a particular subject, that I can't make a decision on this car for you. I would suggest going with a high-contrast scheme like the first one; dark on top, light/bright on bottom. If you go w/black for the top surfaces think about gloss instead of flat.

And I found out about it from Steve I do prefer spraying it through my airbrush, the spray can nozzle is pretty awful. Shame that one can't pop a Tamiya nozzle on the BIN. One thing I've noticed is that the Japanese kits molded color don't seem to bleed like vintage Monogram colored plastics.

Same kit. In fact the new one is nicer than previous versions simply because it's molded in white vs. the previous red (stock) or yellow (race). It's a great kit. Think of it as a bargain resin kit; many resin kits have the same parts count . This is the best looking 308 kit ever made (though I haven't seen the very expensive Fujimi 1/24 resin, which I'll bet is based on this kit...). All the other ones have serious shape issues, and are pretty fiddly as well. Simplicity is highly underrated. Here's mine: Izzy had great taste in colors

It works quite well either way. Some like to seal BMF w/clear. I like to apply it after clear, and buff it out to a brilliant shine. Test both ways for yourself to see what works best for you.

I don't think there's much difference at all; though if you get a Revell USA Superamerica you're getting a better kit than the Revell AG version simply because it's molded in white and not the weird combo of red with some gray panels...makes no sense at all why they did that. I suspect the Revell USA Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano will also be molded in white, so it may be a better choice as well vs. the red of the Revell AG variation.

I trust your judgement. Build it to suit yourself and to surprise and delight the rest of us

Ahh, much better.

You really had the best access possible, far better than the ticket-buying fans! You'll be on cloud 9 for a long time. Our club meeting was pretty tame and boring by comparison Glad to have you and Jose visit us on Sunday afternoon.

This morning at about 1:40am I painted (another) IROC Porsche in Panther Pink enamel (decanted). Airbrushed a number of coats, got color up, one last wet coat straight from the can. Done by the start of the F1 race @ 2 am. Into the dehydrator. Took it out of the dehydrator at 10am, wetsanded w/3600, polished w/ a bit of Tamiya mixed w/Novus #2, followed by just Novus, painted black window trim, done by noon, ready to hand off to the other builders. What's all this nonsense about waiting days/weeks/months for paint to dry

Got the Wix filters Cobra 427 on Saturday. It's embarrassingly better than any other 1/24 Cobra out there that I've ever seen. It was $25, detail level/quality is what's normally expected on Danbury/Franklin Mint. To get a Monogram/Revell Cobra 427 to look as good, with as much detail...whew. You keep looking at it, and find more detail. It's sickening Doors/hood/trunk all fit very tight. No wonder plastic is dying off. If they keep making models this good for 25 bucks...sheesh.

Looks like a winning combo. Whenever I hear or see "348" I cynically think "blah", but from seeing a few 1:1's with nice wheel upgrades, it transforms them. Stock 348 wheels are a little too "Pontiac"...not that there's anything wrong with that but it is a Ferrari, not a Fiero There's a yellow 348 Spyder running around the ATL with 360 Modena wheels. The car looks amazing with that combo.

I keep things as simple as possible, the majority of my models have the wheels glued into place. It's rare that a model's stance is correct out of the box, so I correct that by attaching brakes to wheels as a sub-assembly, then fitting them to the suspension with the body held in place at the correct ride height. I'm not paranoid if the wheel center isn't the centerline of where the kit mfg. intended. I rarely look at or scrutinize my suspensions; they're merely a vehicle to hold my models off the table. The majority of my models are curbside. Personally if I take too long on a model I often lose interest. As they say, everyone builds to their own level of satisfaction. I think it's great you make the wheels roll in a fairly prototypical way, if that's what makes you happy. Especially if the model doesn't roll on it's own off a desk or display. Working handbrakes might help that

Mark, thanks for the reply (and the phone call ). That pretty much sums up what the problems are. I certainly hope this gets properly dealt with inside of IPMS. As an IPMS member, they owe the membership a complete accounting of why this nonsense is going on. And I thought the Atlanta Nat's were all kind of screwed up...

I found out this past weekend just how ticked off the winner of best automotive really is. I can only imagine what kind of dictatorship was in charge of the judging regime at the nat's.

Bill, if you like the wheels bright, but not that bright, I might suggest a coat of Acryl semigloss clear. They then look like polished/clearcoated aluminum wheels, not chrome plated. The scale appearance is great, and better than Alclad II. Brush some on a chrome sprue to see the effect; I'm perfectly happy brushing it on as it is self-leveling. Airbrushing should also work.