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Zoom Zoom

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  1. Though I've been using a dehydrator since the early 90's, I can't really recommend any of the ones that I see on the market now, I don't have experience w/them. If it does have a temp. control, that may help. My dehydrator is very simple, like a Ronco unit, but it's a cheap knockoff that I got at Big Lots for $12. One simple coil at the bottom, rotating vents on the base and lid provide some temperature control. Interior gets up to about 110 degrees. I cut out the bottom part of several trays, to make them into spacers. You can do this with any of the units. A friend has one that the fan motor is in either the base or the lid, and it's good, but it's a pain to use-the lid is heavy if it's got the fan in it. It does have a temperature control. There's a unit w/a fan and a motor that rotates the trays. It works okay, but has hot spots and the trays are very shallow. It's best to just keep the lid off it, and set the bodies/parts on the top tray and turn off the rotation. I think they got it at Bass Pro Shops for about $20 or so.
  2. I have the same problem, I usually tape fascias in place when painting so they match the body, unless I know I can glue them ahead of time and still get the chassis to fit. Separate hoods are even worse to get to match, I always paint the underside and underhood area first then loosely (but securely, just don't want the paint to "glue" it in place) attach the hood in place for the rest of the color coats so everything matches.
  3. One thing I don't like about the pens is the very short working tip; sometimes a panel line is so tight to get the tip in there and the ink to flow. Sometimes you have to go back and forth w/the pen to get the ink to flow. While I say it's easy; I do tend to go over the spot several times to get the line as uniform as possible. In general I make three passes; one perpendicular (and to make sure the line is complete), one at an angle facing one of the panels, another facing the opposite panel. This gives good coverage and a uniform line when viewed at different angles. Another option is to do the panel lines w/a brush and a black wash before the second round of paint. The panel lines need to be pretty black for the effect to work underneath the final layers of color. With a bit of practice I've had nearly perfect luck w/the pens, and definitely find it easier than mixing a colored wash. I don't like black panel lines on light-color models, too harsh, too much contrast, and as I said before yellow models are especially hard to mix a darker yellow wash that looks convincing, and white isn't easy either.
  4. Color looks great on it! If you are layering color coats and still planning to add more, I can suggest a trick that helps the final appearance. I generally lay down color coats in two steps; I get the color up to the level you show now; I Micromesh w/3200/3600, and then apply panel lines w/a Pigma Micron pigment liner, a black pen sized .005. It's relatively clean, any excess cleans w/a damp towel or swab, and then you lay on a few more color coats. The "sandwiched" black panel lines become a darker tone of the surrounding area. Works very well w/Cobra Colors (and Tamiya, and Testors..but the Testors lacquers are pretty color-dense). I find it easier than doing an acrylic panel line wash after the paintjob is finished, but sometimes I still do that. The "sandwiched" panel line trick is nice and subtle, and eliminates mixing some odd colors...yellow and white cars are the most difficult to do panel lines w/ a color wash. The sandwich technique is ideal on lighter colors.
  5. Be very afraid. You haven't seen his 1/12 Tamiya Martini Porsche 935 yet :wink:
  6. Just gorgeous 8) It reminds me how good Monte Carlos were, and how grotesque GM let it become :roll:
  7. Question about the lenses as they relate to the lights on the model: Each of the three lights on each door of the car is an array of three very bright green LED's; therefore there are a total of 18 lamps per car; 9 per side. Are these MV's that small, that you can use three of them for each lamp? Or is it a bit of artistic license to use one MV lense per "disc" to replicate the lamps? The lights on the car are slightly raised over the surface, the surface of the black disc that contains the array of three lamps is flush, and each of the three LED's appears gray/silver unless it is lit. I'm probably going to do the light clusters as small decals w/three clear openings for the lamps, and paint the recesses in the doors either silver (for lamps that are off) or flourescent green (for the lamps that are on). Of course if the model is a static display (car is off), the green would never be seen. I'm also going to spend the time making vented side glass, a rather significant omission by Revell. Or maybe I'll wait to see if the aftermarket steps up w/some goodies for this kit. It's a good enough kit that I hope the aftermarket responds to satisfy the detail hounds. Thanks for the MV info!
  8. Eric, glad you joined the fray here and the new model is awesome 8) I hope to see it next weekend at the park :wink: You need to post pictures of your 935...
  9. The photo isn't of a model; it is an Automobile Magazine photoshop fantasy combining a Z06 with a C6R with a stock Z06 interior. While it looks like it would make a killer model, this is only a "what if". Pics of the real car are not public yet. I like it, a lot. Though the front splitter is awful, and I'd change out the OZ wheels for the more current BBS style. Will be interesting to see what the real car ends up looking like, and how many ponies under the hood. I'd build my kit in jet black :wink:
  10. Hey Bill, I'm looking forward to the show! It's going to be a lot of fun as usual. I wonder what sort of hybrid we'll see from the guy who hates to travel alone :wink: As for BMF, I'll consider putting it in the fridge...it does always tend to dry out and crack over time, also losing adhesive quality. I don't use a lot of it, but can't live w/o it
  11. I don't know who made the one by Testors, but it's not a Fujimi. IIRC Fujimi never did a 308. Those taillights on the Testors version look enormous. The best one in overall looks is the Monogram curbside. Gunze made one that's good, but it has fender flares. Revell's was full-detail (and it might be the one reboxed by Testors, seem to be of Japanese origin but I have no clue) but the shape leaves a lot to be desired. If it were me and I was buying what's on Ebay today, I'd happily get the Monogram version even though it lacks an engine. The styling is the best part of the 308, and the Monogram does the best job of capturing it.
  12. I guess I need to contact Bob (he's the source I had heard about through GTMike400). I have a few wheels I would like to cast if I could get them enlarged reliably.
  13. I've also heard of the "white gas" treatment to enlarge a mold; have you much or any experience with it?
  14. Those wheels in the new Mini are too small, even for a Mini Cooper S. Fujimi's typical "one scale inch too small in diameter" syndrome (supposed to be 17's, they're 16's in 1/24). Even if the design was right (they're not), they'd get lost inside the Mustang wheel openings.
  15. I'd love some wheels like that too. Vintage Panasports won't cut it; one too many spokes, wrong offset, and the 14" or 15" diameter of those Aoshima rims (or just reissued 4-lug versions by Fujimi) are far too small for a new Mustang. Not to mention the Aoshima wheels are likely not in stock, they haven't been made in a looooooong time, Aoshima is terrible about short runs and dropping them. I'd also like to see some of the Saleen wheels used on the '05/newer Mustangs available in our scale. While these wheels have one too many spokes vs. the Penske Mustang; they are probably the closest to what you're looking for and not terribly difficult/expensive to find. They're from an Infiniti FX45 diecast kit by Maisto (find the kit, there are two sets of the rims in it, buy the preassembled and there's only one set). They're 20's but you can stretch 18's over them. They'll fill up a Mustang's ginormous wheel openings quite nicely.
  16. Nice! Only the second one of these Tokyo Marui kits I've seen built. I need to build mine someday.
  17. A guy in our club bought some, tried it, wasn't terribly impressed. Let us know how it works for you.
  18. I can usually bend one precut strip of BMF carefully around a wheel opening molding w/o creating seams or visible wrinkles, but it's kind of tricky/painstaking to ease it around and get it to seat using both hands/fingers and a QTip. If that simply won't work for you, you'll have to cut one large piece that covers the whole area, and trim very carefully. Since the foil burnishes/polishes so well, small imperfections can usually be less noticeable w/careful burnishing/polishing of the area, you may need a QTip to apply the polish and then carefully buff/remove the excess. All depends how comfortable you are w/the materials involved, and how picky you are w/any imperfections. Over time my BMF skills have improved tremendously, from prep work to application to trimming and polishing. It's time-consuming but worth the effort.
  19. I found a primered Gremlin (already bought a green one from HH), it's a pretty neat kit. The body looks fantastic, I'd say body/interior are better than AMT's kit. I see mine becoming a mainstreamer w/poverty caps. Nice that it's a 6 cylinder standard Gremlin; I can restore my AMT kit as a Gremlin X, especially w/Keith Marks decals. I already have all the vintage plastic kits mentioned. I was hoping to find a C6R or Caddy lowrider kit but haven't seen them at Wally World. I did get the Ace of Spades chopper too. Neat stuff but horrible for my modeler's ADD :roll:
  20. Great rig/trailer combo! The details are perfect and the color scheme rocks 8)
  21. You are lucky. Ismael's building a vintage Monogram kit in red plastic that is notorious for bleeding when lacquer/automotive paints are used on it. I just painted a similar Monogram kit from the late 70's using Tamiya white primer to start, and it turned pink. Using enamel/acrylic hobby paints for the interior doesn't seem to cause problems, but automotive paints definitely will especially on vintage yellow or red Monogram plastic. Been there, got the pink T-shirt :wink:
  22. I don't think you'll have any problem w/color bleeding using MM enamels or acrylics (or even the MM lacquer interior colors); I almost always use acrylics on interiors so the bleed isn't a problem. I rarely prime a seat/interior unless it's molded in a color that won't be covered well by the color I'm choosing.
  23. Is "whereing" even a word? :roll:
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