Zoom Zoom

I'm psyched on the Z06, got mine in the mail last week. I'm watching this one as well because I may try to sneak this one in the loop in the next week or so. I can vouch for the efficacy of Zinsser B-I-N as a sealer if one is using hotter paints. I used it between coats of Tamiya white primer on my recent Monogram (molded in red '70's plastic) Porsche 924. The original coats of primer turned pink, except in the areas that had filler. A good layer of B-I-N was airbrushed (go ahead and buy a can of it and mix it well and airbrush...the spray can nozzles are Testors-worthy :roll: ). It dries fast and sands like any other primer. Hit it w/a bit more "regular" primer and it works quite well. No more pink primer and my white 924 is white. It's tempting to spray my Z06 body in Tamiya Mica Silver (great new color) w/o primer because normally it goes on beautifully w/o primer when the plastic is smooth and pure white. I'll go ahead and prime it w/Tamiya gray to be safe.

Mikey pulled a pretty good prank on me a couple months ago, so now we're even :twisted: . I have a WIP Miata coupe concept, we were working on a Sunday afternoon in the same workshop, and I was in the other room doing some decal artwork on the computer. I returned to the workshop and saw my Miata transformed into a donk with a huge and horrific home-brew GT wing on it, riding really high on scale 30's (or bigger) :shock: All I could do was totally ignore it. I didn't say a word I don't know if they got a picture of it or not. I guess if they did I'm going to have to show it :shock: :roll:

I wish that was my workspace! The workspace belongs to Wayne Webers, the guy who built the Ferrari. I was just a visitor

I can vouch for it being his first plastic kit. We coached him on the paint; the C5R body is smooth enough to require little sanding of mold lines before paint, and he micromeshed the areas he sanded. Tamiya spray over white shiny plastic resulted in a stupendous finish. So good that we were jealous So jealous that we pulled a bit of a prank on him. While Mike was upstairs we took this picture to make it look like we were going to sand it with a heavy duty sanding stick and pour superglue on the roof. Then the host decided to take his half-stripped black/silver Goodwrench predecorated body and spray the Tamiya yellow on it. Then we switched them in the dehydrator :twisted: We had an 18 year old heart attack victim :shock:

It's MCW's 2064 "Lt. Blue" aka Gulf Blue. Don't know of any hobby paint that's an exact match. I have no idea of the code nor of a production car that was painted that color. There's no way I would have gotten the color right mixing by memory. The blue that Fujimi molds the kit in is nowhere near the correct shade of blue.

Thanks! That GT40 is the Fujimi kit; Matt painted it in the #11 paint scheme so he wouldn't have to mask/paint the nose orange like the #6 or #9 car; all the orange was on the decal sheet. He cursed it several times (especially the rear suspension) but as you can see he did just fine with it. You never know w/resins. I have a Profil 24 Gulf McLaren F1; it's a horrible kit to clean up but I really want to build it. Their newer kits are far better, the McLaren was their first kit and it shows.

I drive a convertible year round; I never lock the doors, don't leave anything of value to steal, and when it's too hot I hit that button called "A/C" and leave the top up :wink: It's also nice to drive around w/the top up but the windows and rear window down; lots of breeze but no direct sunlight. As for driving w/the top down and windows up, sometimes it's nice to have a little extra warmth and less wind but still open-air. My convertible has the best heater I've ever had in a car; it's a better winter car than my sedan because it heats up faster and is plenty warm. Of course it's a bit different living in the south where you can ride w/the top down all 12 months of the year (though Dec-Feb it's not too often). It's a fun car, I wouldn't feel the same w/o it. I know it's limitations, and the benefits outweigh the negatives. If you don't get it or don't like it, don't get a convertible!

Thanks guys, it was Rob and Evan that we talked with @ dinner at the NNL East; we were talking racing and we found out that both of our groups were planning similar builds around the race. I've been around sports car racing since high school autocrosses, and thankfully a good number of ACME members are also sports car fanatics-thought we also equal it out w/the Atlanta Dragwa and Atlanta Motor Speedway crowd :wink: I looked at my Monogram ex-Aurora kit and while it should build okay I didn't think it was a good "speed build" subject. Parts fit looks a bit tricky, some body details need tweaking, looks like more TLC required. With a speed build you need to pick something that you actually think can be finished in time (like picking a car to race at LeMans that you think can make it the duration). The C5R was a good one as the hood doesn't come off, so no engine detail, and the body was so clean that polishing the mold lines was easy and Tamiya paint takes to shiny white plastic like it's made for it; no polishing necessary at all.

Not sure if we'll do one for Daytona or not, IIRC we were going to do a Daytona-palooza this past winter but there was a schedule conflict. Hope we can do LeMans again next year. We met some guys from Canada at the NNL East that are also LeMans builders and part of GPMA, and we patterned ours similarly (though we allowed primer before the build, they don't). This was our first year, but they've been doing LeMans builds for several years with impressive results. Those Audis were impressive, as were the Astons and C6R's and it was nice to see a customer Panoz win GT2. We saw the Astons up close last year at the Petite LeMans and at the dealership beforehand; they had the Aston on display at the dealership on a Tuesday night; on Wed. practice it crashed/burned and it was rebuilt by a flown-in factory rep before the race.

In conjunction with the 24 hours of LeMans, a group of ACME members met at one member’s home and spent the time during the race building models of LeMans racers. Nobody DNF’ed; everyone finished by the 21st hour. My 904’s were finished at the 17th hour when the decals were applied at about 3:55 AM. I picked Monogram’s simple 28-piece curbside (ex-slotcar) Porsche 904. Originally I was going to build a red 904 for the race, but decided at the 11th hour to build two. I also had a restorable original 904 model missing a couple of wheels that I decided to build as well. 30 minutes in an alcohol bath removed the decals that were placed over the silver plastic. We were allowed to bring the models prepped and primed. I could have done that during the race, there was plenty of time (but perhaps not stamina). I painted the red car ahead of time due to my change in liveries. I saved the polishing of the red car until the race. Modifications included the use of Fujimi slotted Porsche spare wheels from their 911 Enthusiast kits (we have plenty due to a club project building IROC cars). I had to drill out the centers and re-drill some vent slots that had filled in during the years. I also cut away the styrene side glass and made the side glass from clear styrene sheet, mounted from the outside. I opened up the scoops behind the doors, and used craft-store cabachons (think bargain-basement MV lenses) for headlights. Interior-wise I added aftermarket seat belts and hardware to the otherwise simple 4-piece interior. No drama ensued building these cars at all. I was impressed with Tamiya’s new Mica Silver; it applied perfectly in a few light coats over the gray primer, and the clear glossed it up just right. The red car is Tamiya Italian Red sealed w/clear. Next year I’ll pick something a bit meatier to work on. I love how these cars look and they look great together; there’s a lot to be said about Monogram’s simpler curbside kits from the past-they certainly look right, especially w/a few tweaks. The other builds from other group members were quite impressive; a Fujimi Gulf GT40, a Fisher resin Ferrari 312 Berlinetta, and a Revell C5R. Following pics taken by Matt Wadlinger. I've been told I look like I've already been up 24 hours in this photo that was taken within the first hour Time of photo: 01:30: The finishing lineup. C5R by GTMike400, Ferrari by Wayne Webers, Gulf GT40 by Matt Wadlinger: More pics of the mayhem provided by Wayne Webers and others: http://public.fotki.com/ACME-IPMS/modelpal...ours_of_lemans/

That's called a wind-blocker. When driving a convertible the aerodynamics cause the wind to come from the back of the car, and wind blockers shield the wind to make for a less windy ride even w/the top down. They work as advertised, though I only know that from a BMW and not a Ferrari. I'll have to do more research on that

That Imperial is going to be cool! I use a metal straight edge ruler w/cork backing for "non-slip" and carefully cut thin strips of BMF for thin chrome strips all the time. It's a bit tedious, you must use a perfect new blade, but it works. I also notice the vent window/trim problem w/BMF applied over not-so-smooth surfaces. It hides nothing. You have to treat it like paint; the surface has to be clean and neat and smooth before it's covered. I think Alclad wouldn't be a big improvement; and I don't think it's nearly as impervious to fingerprints/time as BMF is.

Gotcha factor X 1000 8) Nice work, a real head-turner.

Looks great! MPC nailed the shape of the T/A. Glad I have a few in my restoration stash. The Monogram T/A needs the drip rails re-arched so the roof won't look so flat. Sure wish this car had made the cut before the big cut at RC2.

Welcome aboard! This board is great and it's fun to reconnect w/other builders from that other spot in cyberspace.

If you are just going to repaint it w/acrylic in the same color, stripping the paint won't get rid of the visible damage; that's the plastic not the paint. The Tamiya acrylic will look like the TS spray because the surface isn't smooth. I'd carefully sand those areas and then refinish, the acrylic isn't going to fill in any appreciable detail. Tamiya gray primer would probably seal the surface well enough for Tamiya sprays. I didn't have any problems w/the Tamiya red I used on the seats/floor of my Viper Venom, nor the black that I used on the rest of the interior. Sad that Revell has ignored the problem. I had hoped by now they would have reacted. Ismael, you can get PK primer at Michael's craft stores here in the states; not sure about PR.

That model is very cool, I've seen it years ago at Toledo on the primer table. He's done more w/it since I last saw it. I wish he'd get it finished! That page was last updated in '03, and he said that it would eventually be available in resin. Joel seems to be AWOL from the modeling community; guess life got in the way. I saw the NATMUS Futureliner at Amelia Island this year, it's a neat vehicle especially up close. Joel helped the NATMUS guys w/the restoration w/some of the information he had gathered to build his model.

Not sure of what year the 280 is; it's from the same time period (mid 70's) as all the others. It's an okay kit, needs a bit of TLC. It does have the giant bumpers and the factory slotted mags. I don't have the stock one; I have the racing version w/different mags, spoiler, rollbar, headlight covers, but also would build mostly stock. Might be a good candidate to kitbash w/one of the new Hasegawa 240Z's.

It's a basic curbside, fewer than 40 pieces in the entire kit so no engine detail at all and a simple 1 piece chassis w/wheels and plastic axles. They also did a later 924 Turbo w/BBS style rims and the smallish front grilles. Monogram made a whole series of European cars (and a 280Z) in the 70's in this series; and they did race versions of many of them (they may have done this as a racer too; there are a couple of locator spots in the interior for a roll bar). They are all reasonably accurate and enjoyable kits to build. I've built a light blue metallic Ferrari 308 from the series that you've seen here and I've also got another one (race version), a racing 280Z, and Triumph TR7 and TR8's to build as well. They show up frequently enough at shows and are generally inexpensive.

Finally finished the Martini I've been sippin' for the past 2 months :wink: I still want to make a better exhaust pipe; I'll do that tomorrow. These are some of the first custom laser printed decals that I designed; they came out great. I had intended to build a silver 924 like a local car, but when I saw pics of this Champion Edition (made in a brief run in '77) and realized I could make the decals, I decided to give this version a go. The Monogram 924 is a dead simple kit, it paint details nicely. A few fit/warp issues were the main challenges to this kit which has fewer than 40 pieces. This is a model you almost never see built, and I doubt anyone has attempted this version so it's a 1 of 1.

I'm officially jealous :wink: Talk about a true Corvette fanatic. You get the new Z06 kit, find out the battery from the C6 is still underhood instead of the oil sump reservoir, so you go out and get a new lathe to fix the problem! Let the obsession continue Hey, now you can turn some trim ring/spacers for the rear wheels so you can just slide on a set of new Viper tires in back.

Haven't had it crack like that. I've used it over Black Gold lacquer (car w/decals), MCW lacquer (race car w/decals), and Testors enamels. Never used it over Tamiya spray as I always used Tamiya clear over Tamiya spray. I've heard of occasional cracking problems w/people using Future, but I haven't had it happen on the few I've sprayed. I'm not sure what B-501 is composed of, figuring that it's a strong acrylic I'd think the 91% should work, but perhaps it's not strong enough (I've used 99% on some prepaints with good results). You might try some ammonia and see if that works. If not, Polly S Easy Lift Off seems to work on everything, but it will take off the paint below the clear. I was looking at my unbuilt Revell predecorated Goodwrench Corvette the other day and it had some cracks in the clear over some of the silver.

Prominent it is! Shouldn't be hard to Dremel away. Is the battery visible in back?

I've built one and partially built another, it builds up fairly easy, the one I partially built (it was a group effort) did have some mild warp to the rear glass but careful gluing of it under some pressure got it to fit just fine. The wheel/tire fit is the one area to watch for especially if you're going with non-stock rolling stock, especially in back. The wheel housings are made for the very narrow stock tires.

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see this one finished 8) About the missing dry sump tank; I looked at pics on the net and my non-Z06 C6 kit and it looks like it would be invisible on the model; trapped behind the fender and not visible in the engine compartment. Is the design of the passenger side engine compartment different between standard and Z06, or was Revell smart to not bother to tool this part if one would never see it?