Zoom Zoom

That's killer! Nice work on the replica. Someone needs to do that in resin *cough* DARIN *cough*! I wonder if the designers at Dodge were influenced by the Barris-designed Mercury Super Marauder that was on the show circuit a year previous to this? I've been working on a Super Marauder for about 10 years now and it's still not ready for primer

Hey now, I'm not a chrome dome...yet, at least You know if you eat at the Dead Lobster you might get crabs!

Nothing to worry about, the caps keep the pens fresh for years, unless you use up the ink! They're basically an archival-quality opaque black ink inside a disposable technical pen, almost like a Rapidograph but none of the hassles of refilling/cleaning. I used to do patent illustrations the traditional way; pen/ink drawings on bristol board. I started using these pens when they came out and I was happy to never deal w/Rapidographs again. Of course now I do the drawings on computer and they're laser printed, my pens went to my model workbench upon their retirement The pens are only 2 bucks and change, a bit cheaper if you buy a set.

Nice work I started a coupe conversion w/a GT1 roof 2 years ago 'cause I didn't like the stock Carrera GT. I saw a CGT on the track at Road Atlanta earlier this year, and then decided that I really do like the stock Carrera GT You might think about changing your "handle", you're knocking the exotics out of the park and we haven't seen a Mopar from you in some time!

Amazing. Now I have to find one and build it and do wire wheels. It's all your fault Great work, the color scheme is great and out of the ordinary. Doesn't seem that long ago that these cars were relatively common sights.

I use the Sakura Pigma Micron .005" most of the time for my panel lines (and then bury them under a bit more color to tone down the black). Sometimes the .005" is still to big if it's a tight panel line. I've never used the .05" on a model (I think the largest pen I have is a .03"). They're very handy for detailing.

Looks great I've seen this kit in person; a friend was given one with LMM's prepainted body. Pretty decent paintjob they had, but the green areas weren't too great. Perhaps he can race-weather it and nobody will notice

Looks good so far! I know the multi-piece body looks intimidating, but at least the real car has seams and a small bead on the tops of the fenders where Revell split the body. The original release of the kit came w/some neat racing parts; a rollbar, tonneau cover and perhaps a few other goodies. They're pretty rare, though I found a built one Hobby Heaven in Toledo a few years back and I was never happier to personally hand Tom my cash for such a cool and rare buildup, and the price was dirt cheap too

Testors (and Tamiya) spray lacquers don't have to be sprayed over primer; they're mild enough to not harm plastic. Testors has more pigment, so it's not as important as Tamiya spraying over a suitable "primer" color.

I have no idea when it will happen; I do believe it's been discussed on this board before, and Tom may be a member here. Perhaps he'll see this post? Since I have a Vega and the Keith Marks Cosworth decals, I also want a set of the correct wheels. If I hear anything I'll make it known here.

Yes, it's an awesome model. So are your T/A models. It's a brand-spankin' new kit from Bill Bauer. You should have no problem getting it. He'll probably be set up at the ACME NNL in November, if you plan to travel down again for it. Kevin/Strada Sports and Ed Cervo will also be vending, so I'm sure the Jag will be at the show for sale.

The new Corvette custom rims are pretty sorry representations of Minilites or Panasports, or Cosworth Vega wheels, which really aren't Panasports. There's a guy on Hobby Heaven named Tom Mooty who is purportedly going to design the Cosworth wheel and have it made using rapid prototyping methods. Someday he'll have available the proper wheel for a Cosworth.

Thanks for the photos, Gregg! I hear the judging and awards were controversial, to say the least

I was at the Buford WM early last week and they had three Mercs and one of the Dodge L700 combo kits. The WM in Tucker doesn't have them. It's a great kit.

The color looks awesome! My only comment...don't give into any temptation for gold wheels. Keep 'em silver I tend to agree about being careful of the clear; I apply clear in two sessions-the first to build it up, I let it dry and hit it with 2400-3200 grit micromesh, then apply clear again, which generally gets sanded with 3600 only and then liquid. I rarely have problems with that combination.

No, you'll just have to build more to use it up 36 cans of primer, roughly 5 cars per can of primer (likely more), that's 180 models, let's say 10 models a year, that's an 18 year supply. If you only build 2 per year, you have a 90 year supply

Looks great in that color

I can't live without it! I use it for temporary assembly, holding parts while painting, and I have a few models that have a bit of it holding something permanently

Dave, I can't fault any fun $10 build, I have plenty of them myself and there is a certain satisfaction that comes from "saving" a turkey of a kit, or turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. However, let's look at the AMT F&F Evo for a minute (Dave, yours is the only one I've ever seen built; the younger builders on a couple other forums I visit avoided it like the plague)...here they had a chance to satisfy a market that had been ignored; every Evo kit out there is a curbside. Fujimi's Evo VII/VIII/IX has a few minor issues with appearance and the wheels all look too small. Had AMT designed the Evo like Revell did their "Uptown" kits, I'd have been relatively happy. At least Revell keeps the stock body proportions, including wheel openings. AMT made the Evo a complete caricature; not only does it have the huge wheels, but the wheel openings themselves are huge. It went from "bling" to "cartoon" with that one decision; I can't even justify it for parts, it's just too over-the-top. The Mustang kit was another example; the tuner wheel design was far too big; had they included wheels that were of the proper size, it would have been pretty cool. The Skyline GTR engine was a nice touch, but the wheels are obnoxious. AMT just didn't "get it", they were simply filling Wal Mart orders with little care for content inside the boxes. Thankfully the Model King makes sure the content is something we want, and the boxart is accurate, and we get some great new decals that AMT never included. That adds tremendous value to the models. The AMT team as of late was anything but "value added", they were just churning out reissues and somewhat half-hearted new stuff that look embarrassing next to anything by Revell. I have seen a couple AMT F&F 350Z's built, it seems to fare a lot better than the Evo for proportions, but nobody is fooled that it's a Tamiya kit that's been customized. The shape of the car is more adaptable to a wild tuner, and the Z car already has huge wheel flares and wheel openings. Let's just hope whomever buys AMT returns the competence that they were previously known for. I'm not expecting miracles, but the Model King is proving that there's plenty of life left w/AMT when there are competent people making the decisions and working on the details. Heck, there are plenty of Model King issues coming to pretty much satisfy the entire AMT lineup without needing to bother with big-box retailers. Something like 16 kits expected by the end of the year, and a couple for early '08.

Amen to that; unfortunately the very few new releases AMT did in the past couple years, the Camaro Concept, 300C, Escalade EXT, a couple of Fast and Furious Tuners, all missed the mark in some fashion. The Camaro was probably the best overall, but issues such as sink marks (especially on the wheels), & some missing body engraving showed them to be somewhat asleep at the wheel; the 300C is riddled with clumsy detailing, the body is mis-proportioned (compare it to the Revell 300C which captures the shape/details better, even if it is a bling-mobile), the engine is generic, the wheels seem far too small, the stance on most built ones seems off, the Escalade has the generic motor, the tuners are Jada-like. AMT lost the battle of enthusiasm when they canned the US design team, therefore the only kits that are any good are the Model King kits because the Model King understands the customer and product in a way that RC2's people cannot comprehend. Let's hope whomever purchases AMT has a soul, as the minions running the AMT brand from RC2 certainly haven't a clue, and haven't since they fired the whole team.

Persistence pays off!

If it won't spray water or thinner alone without trouble, there's a blockage in the system somewhere. You may want to disassemble it and clean everything, if you are using the bottle/cap make sure the small hole in the cap is there to vent, make sure the o-ring bushing that the needle goes through from the body into the chamber isn't damaged or worn out. Hard to say what it is w/o seeing it in person, but the symptoms indicate a blockage somewhere restricting the flow of either air and/or paint.

That's sad indeed; what's happening is that the biggest, best-run shows tend to be thriving, and the smaller shows are hurting in this period of change w/in our hobby. It's hard to get vendors to a show if they don't feel confident they'll make the sales necessary. With Ebay and the internet, they don't have to travel nearly as much anymore. A show also thrives if the "show" part is well-run and especially if there's a contingent of well-known and talented builders that are likely to show up. Running a show is a lot of work, year after year, and a bit of luck as well. Our local NNL took years to get where it is today; it's become the largest in the region and we've got a great group of club members that all pitch in and make it the best show possible. It seems to be working; we're still experiencing growth and big crowds, and our vendor tables are nearly sold out now, 2 months prior to the event, earlier than ever.

At the current time, AMT is pretty much out of the kit business. I believe they have one more kit to produce, a reissue '66 Wildcat, and that's it until they sell the brand. Since the line is being discontinued, retail stores are no longer able to order more if the warehouse is empty; so most chain stores put AMT kits on closeout. They're disappearing fast. But AMT produced a ton of reissue kits in the late part of last year and early this year, so the pinch hasn't really been felt yet. Next year may be a different story. We all hope someone who cares buys AMT. They are doing private runs of older kits for the Model King and a few others. To be honest, these private run kits are a lot more desirable as they haven't been reissued over and over and over and over and over and over as they have the standard kits. Our closets are full of that stuff. They need to either reissue the kits that haven't seen the light of day in decades, or tool up new kits, if they're going to survive or thrive. I feel no need to hoard any AMT kits; I have plenty to see me through. And I'm enjoying a good number of the Model King reissues.

Hey Jackie, glad to see you made it here! I think you'll like this place just fine. Any progress of note on the Marauder X100? I really don't wanna have to do one myself, but I will if I have to-though I'm rooting for the one you're doing to be in resin at some point, considering I have 3 or 4 of the '69 Galaxies No hurry though, I only have an inbox of front-burner stuff that's almost punishing right now