Zoom Zoom

Preachin' to the choir! At once it's frustrating that they don't seem to listen, and it also must be just as frustrating on the inside w/the way sales have been; so they take the high road and avoid all semblance of risk. One can only hope that we'll eventually end up w/a nice kit of the Cobra Daytona w/o spending lotto winnings to get it.

Hallelujah Seeing the pink photoshopped "Hello Kitty" 512 TR was bad enough. http://images.google.com/images?q=hello+ki...rrari&hl=en

Probably just a sliver or two off the top edge of the door panel. You can do a dry-fit of the body/chassis/interior and side panels/glass to see how much interference you run into. I had no problems, but a couple of friends mentioned it being a minor issue. Other than that it's pretty much a shake 'n bake. I'll email Brian Venable to see if he remembers his fix for it.

Of all of those, the Tamiya 360 Spider is the class of the field. Don't let it's full-detail scare you off, it's a beautifully engineered kit that practically falls together, including the engine and suspension/chassis. Far less cleanup work on the body and ancillary parts vs. Revell's 360. It's one of the best kits I have ever built-great crisp detail; painless from beginning to end. Some people have been practically stealing them from Hobby Lobby lately for about 7 bucks. Best kit buy of the century. Second favorite of mine would be the Fujimi 550 Maranello; with a few caveats. They shared parts of the interior w/their 575, so the door panels aren't prototypical (there is a proper 550 dash). The seat engraving is pretty weak and rudimentary. Otherwise it's a great kit, and if you don't care about the interior design that much it will be just fine OOB. I had a lot of fun building mine, but I did upgrade the interior. Don't tell anyone, but I kitbashed the plastic bits (door panels/seats) from a Burago diecast 550 to upgrade it :wink: I also did the unthinkable and painted it a Nissan green :shock: If you do go w/stock door panels, watch for the fit under the kit glass which might complicate final assembly. A bit of trimming may be necessary. My kitbashed parts were an easy and perfect fit. I've built a Revell 612, it's really good but a bit ornery to work with in final assembly. I also did many custom tricks to mine because I wanted it to look more aggressive. I've seen Revell's 430 up close last weekend and it looks really good for the $$, and I've seen them built. I can't comment on the user-friendly aspect, but the few I've seen built looked good. Shortcomings are undersized wheels; lowering helps. I'm working on a Fujimi F430 Challenge, I have seen one built on another board and the builder was glowing at how good it was (especially for a 4-day OOB buildup); and it looks marvellous finished. It's definitely a step above their other F430's and their Maranellos. I wasn't too happy w/Revell's 360. Ended up being a parts kit. It was cheap so that didn't matter. The body is pretty messy w/tons of prep work needed for a good finish. Seats seem 1/20 scale. Mirrors are too big and sit too tall. Yet good modeling techniques will yield a good finish so it's not at all hopeless. But after the Tamiya it's a stinkeroo.

Thanks for the link; those are all really great models! Great subject matter.

I have used both black and white and color laser printers for my homemade decals; you do need to seal them. I've used the brush-on stuff by Microscale; though I have a new can of the Testors stuff to try. Decals are tricky; you never really know for sure if a clearcoat will harm them. I had Future make a minor mess (mottled the color) of a couple of my color laser decals after they were sealed/applied to the model; I don't think I'd want to risk spraying a clearcoat over the decals after application. I'd clearcoat the model first anyway since you need to apply the decals over the smoothest/glossiest (polished maybe but not waxed) surface. I'm hoping the Testors sealer is glossy enough. I have some custom Alps decals done for a club group project that have an awesome glossy finish coat, no need at all for them to be cleared over. I need to ask the artist what he used to seal them. I know he double-printed the white areas, they are incredibly opaque. Unfortunately he is so swamped now that he won't take any more custom orders...

Don't forget I did say "us" How cool would it be if it did happen? And I agree about AM...lots of potential, hope they get 'em done, and done right. I like Cobra 289's more than 427's anyway :wink:

Man this thing looks awesome 8) Can't wait to see more. Never enough 'Vettes IMHO

Hey Terry, glad to see you here!

Wal Mart? Who me?? I hate that place. But I still get sucked in from time to time :roll: They've got an awful kit selection usually. Only kit I've bought from them in ages was a price-cut (8 bucks) Revell Subaru WRX diecast kit that I snagged the wheels and engine for other projects. I did buy a D-Rodz cabover rollback from them. Oh no!! I'm killing our hobby!! :shock: Anyone else wanna fess up that they have abused the living daylights out of Hobby Lobby's frequent sales? They have a great selection for a chain store. 90% of the domestic stuff I've bought (and both my Trumpeter kits) came from them. 1/2 off a lot of times, sometimes a store reduces the price 80%...just got a $6 Tamiya kit and a $4 AMT '66 Mercury in the past month. I feel so :oops: that I should actually go in sometime and pay full price for a model kit :wink:

Is this the Model Factory Hiro kit that's not as good? For $233+ it better be! Brad's sure is nice, I can't see spending more for the Japanese kit, and I do rather despise the white metal components that MFH seems to rely on a bit too much. I guess those of us skinflints who pine for an $11 Cobra Daytona coupe by Revell aren't going to be happy any time soon

Great to see you here Lee! Today is almost like a reunion! I know a 1:1 car you can post in a little over a week :wink:

Welcome Len! Lots of refugees lately. Neat model!

Hey Ken! Welcome and glad to see you here.

Why not just use glue that doesn't cause clear parts to fog? I apply Formula 560 canopy glue to lenses and kit glass to apply, no fogging, dries very strong and clear. Cleans up with water if you have an "oops" before it dries. Superglue is pretty harsh stuff for delicate parts like clear lenses and glass. Micro Krystal Klear is basically the same stuff, and some people use watch crystal cement or a Testors cement made for clear parts. 5 minute epoxy is okay but yellows with age. Every time I had glass fog from superglue fumes it was just a powdery residue that easily wiped or polished away, as long as it wasn't sealed in place where you couldn't reach it.

The weathering makes this model! Gives it so much character to go along with the modifications and diorama. Nice work 8)

Nice work Ismael! I wish I had shot interior photos of mine. Got distracted during final assembly :roll: Jeff, the gauges come w/the kit and mount behind a clear gauge cover. It looks really good. I just cut out the decal and glued it to the gauge cover, no dunking in water w/white glue as Revell suggests. Testors Acryl has a great dark gray, IIRC it's Aircraft Interior Black or Dark Gray (sorry, my bottle is 25 miles away at this time), it's basically flat black that has a small amount of gray in it. Nice subtle look to it.

Thanks for the comments! I worked on the oil sump reservoir at lunch, was pretty easy to make. I used a leftover hub from XS Tuning wheels, the oil cap from the Z06 kit (it's there for use on the C6 LS6 kit so I used it), and a couple of wires to replicate the lines. Also used a tiny piece of styrene and P/E for the dipstick and tube. This is as good as it's going to get

Thanks guys! I had seen and heard about the final assembly problems on the standard C6 (the chassis often looked like it didn't fit), so I was somewhat prepared for them. Everything dry-fit well until the very end when the glass was installed and things were glued. The only problem I had prior to that was getting the radiator and shroud in place properly. Instructions there are vague and if you glue it in the wrong place as I did, the hood won't stand a chance of ever closing. I ended up securely gluing the interior tub to the chassis so there were no gaps at all, especially under the luggage compartment. I also trimmed some material from the hood hinge locator that seemed to be interfering with the air cleaners. No problems with the headlamp units contacting the chassis. Building it a second time I'd spend more time fitting the windshield and sanding it's sides a bit to get it to fit better. The wheel locators seemed to be in the right place, I wanted a bit more aggressive stance so I enlarged the locator holes into slots on the chassis to mount the front wheel/brake units a bit higher up.

I'm one of the select few who yawn at the sight of the new Challenger while I instantly fell in love with the new Camaro 8) Wonder if we'll see a Challenger kit?? I'm dying to get the AMT Camaro in my hands. Gotta take it to the orthodontist first to get it's braces removed from it's face :twisted: After that it's all gravy.

It's almost finished. Sub-assemblies went well; I enjoyed detailing the racing seats w/harnesses and all the P/E latches and whatnot. Final assembly wasn't fun, getting it all to fit together and sit correctly wasn't easy, the tolerance stack is too tight. The radiator/shroud was tricky to fit properly, the windshield was a bit too tight as well. I lowered the ride height a bit in front. Only minor trimming was necessary to fit the Fujimi brakes/wheels. Since there are so many design similarities w/modern Ferraris, the wheels are BBS/Ferrari CS from a Fujimi F430, brakes also stock F430 w/Corvette decals. Racing style resin seats from Arrowhead Aluminum. Paint is Tamiya Mica Silver. Tamiya XF 63 dark gray and TS Italian red interior. I still have to make the oil sump tank. I have the parts but will finish it when I'm not so tired, and will get some engine/chassis shots then. Fun kit up to final assembly... :roll:

After hearing about it from Steve Milberry, I have tried Zinsser BIN primer/sealer. It's a flat white alcohol-based varnish primer. You can get it at Home Depot/Lowes, etc. It comes in spray cans (very poor nozzle, you need to transfer to airbrush for good results :cry: ) or in quart cans (hard to mix thoroughly but airbrushes and sands beautifully-I used 91% alcohol to cut it). This stuff should be applied over a thin layer of lacquer primer, and under the color. It does a great job of blocking color bleed and ghosting from use of lacquer paints. I recently painted a '70's era Monogram model that was molded in red, it turned my Tamiya white primer pink. The BIN sealed it nicely, it went on and stayed white. The model itself is painted white.

Neat little model (I used to work w/a guy who had a yellow Opel GT); I've always been amused by it's mini-Corvette appearance and have seen at least one of the 1:1's sporting a V8 and more Corvette styling cues. Also because of design similarities I have plans to make an Opel GT model into more of a mini 275 GTB, giving it a bit of Italian flavor :shock:

See for yourself. They are both 2-piece wheels that you can paint the centers in whatever color/finish you want and leave the outer trim ring chrome if you like. Paint the centers aluminum or gunmetal or black for a less-blingy appearance. I kind of prefer the LXZ's, but without painting them I can't say which would look the best. The choice could be color-dependant. Perhaps order both sets :wink:

Those are nice (I have a couple sets of them), but they are a scale inch in diameter smaller than the ones in the F430's. They do look great on a 360 Modena. Scale Auto Style did the best ones; slightly larger than Fujimi's but SAS is OOB :cry: