Zoom Zoom

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

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.

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.

I've also heard of the "white gas" treatment to enlarge a mold; have you much or any experience with it?

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.

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.

Nice! Only the second one of these Tokyo Marui kits I've seen built. I need to build mine someday.

A guy in our club bought some, tried it, wasn't terribly impressed. Let us know how it works for you.

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.

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:

Great rig/trailer combo! The details are perfect and the color scheme rocks 8)

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:

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.

Is "whereing" even a word? :roll:

How can you hold your breath when you never inhaled?

Lucky you; it's been about 95-98 degrees here for the past month and a half; everyone feels like they're hibernating from the heat, staying indoors in the A/C. They say it may get all the way down to 85 here over the weekend. Promises, promises :roll: :wink: And a food dehyrator really is an awesome tool; drying paint, primer, putty, warming cans of paint before spraying, drying off a model after washing, drying decals. I can't live w/o it But your model should be fine after a few days, Tamiya dries pretty rapidly. If it were Testors enamels I'd say you could deal with it by October.

Tamiya sprays dry rapidly; but I use a dehydrator so I'm not sure if you are letting it dry in ambient conditions. In this summer heat overnight/24 hours should be fine. If you can still smell it, it's too wet. Put in a warm, dry spot and you can work on it in no time.

Very nice 8) I thoroughly enjoyed the one I built. Your display is really cool! Hope we get a chance to meet if you get to Atlanta this September

Ken, you didn't do anything wrong whatsoever; you were "played" like everyone else by that identity thief and his malicious prank. Don't feel bad for doing what you felt was the right thing! Even though most of us haven't met Darin, he's like a great friend and family member from his contributions to our hobby. That anyone would take advantage of Darin and all of his acquaintances like that is appalling to me.

You and me both! And wouldn't it be cool if it was 700hp??!! I think I've heard that it might happen.

Darin, from the bottom of my heart I am so grateful that it was only a prank and that you are still with us! And that you continue to display a great level of humor over it. I hope the person who did it pays the proper price for doing what they did to you personally, and to all your friends and extended family in the aftermath. I'm appalled that it happened and I really hope that it results in better security for all who participate there.

Now he tells me.

Thanks; I've bought some of their stuff at a show and agree-they're supposedly coming to our show in November, so I can wait until then (I would have to wait for the order anyway considering all I've heard...).

Looks great! I should have gotten this kit instead of the Crusader. I'll probably combine parts between the two.