Zoom Zoom

Excellent; that means time over holidays to work on Civic, Turbo, and hopefully the Ebbro Honda Jet (they claim December...).

It was great to meet him and his crew at the NNL East this past spring; his work has inspired me for decades. I'll be building the Marauder X100 resin kit he mastered soon. His eye for both design and detail is amazing; his customs are really cool. I won't be surprised if they're a yearly fixture at NNL East; they sold a ton of product this year and it easily covered their trip expenses (Airtrax resin from Juha and Tapani Rauramo, and Eero Kumanto's Highlight Studio etched products mainly for vintage VW's).

Completely understood, I was more venting than anything with my previous comment. It's sad that only a HK based company seems interested in tooling plastic kits of modern-ish US trucks primarily for builders outside of the US. The US companies are showing us all how much interest they have for the subject.

Hopefully this time next month the Civic has landed, and I'll combine shipping w/my pre-ordered 2002 Turbo.

Well, there are experts, and there are experts. Any interest in plastic kits of modern American pickups is falling on deaf ears. There's far more of a pulse in diecast and RC at this point. Pic for attention: Quite probably the last modern pickup from Revell that has anything close to detail that might satisfy an adult builder. Thankfully my interests are broad enough that there's always plenty to buy and build when companies are asleep or worse, and my 100 year backlog is available as long as there is paint and glue and my vision and dexterity remain. Personally I can't wait for the Ebbro 1/48 Honda Jet to hit my workbench.

And the upcoming 2 door Wrangler...when the Wrangler Unlimited sells 3:1 vs the 2 door, and judging by the popularity of modified Wrangler Unlimiteds at local gatherings, I don't think Meng has their finger on the pulse of the US market at all. Revell can't be bothered to do any new trucks beyond the two snap Raptors, the latest the kiddie Build 'n Play. Meanwhile Maisto has a far nicer Raptor in 1/24 diecast, true to scale...as well as a Wrangler Unlimited. Hate to say it, but people wanting modern truck kits better get used to the fact that if they want a model, they're going to have to rip apart a diecast...because the plastic companies have no interest, just apathy.

To answer your question, the 1mm is my go-to for fine detail work, it's more of a pen tip and not a felt tip like the 2mm and 4mm. If I want to rechrome a bumper I use the refill and run it through the airbrush. The 1mm is great for mirror faces, door handles, door locks, lug nuts, window cranks, raised dash details. Use it "wet into wet" and you can chrome smaller parts with ease, just make sure to let it dry 24-48 hours and try not to handle too much. It's far stronger than Alclad and it doesn't require any special surface prep or base color. Window/side trim is still far better served by using bare metal foil. The 1mm might be a bit much for fine lettering style emblems; though if you have refill or take the pen apart to access the reservoir, you can use the chrome ink with your tiny detail brushes. It's more like paint than ink when it comes to brushing or spraying.

.030" half round is what I use.

Excellent advice; I've been told Tamiya developed their lacquer thinner specifically for their acrylics so they would spray and lay down on the surface like traditional solvent-based paints. Mr. Thinner/Mr. Leveling Thinner can be used for the same jobs as Tamiya lacquer thinner. I use Mr. Thinner products all the time to thin decanted paints and when shooting flat acrylics I use on interiors, and thinning Mr. Hobby solvent-based bottle paints. X-20A just for occasional panel line washes.

I don't know "a" Bill Stillwagon, I know "the" Bill Stillwagon. Incredible, talented modeler, and a really nice guy too. And he's been known to go to the CKM show in Clemmons, NC in August where you can meet him and see his models up close and personal.

Glad to hear they have addressed the droopy front end issue; wonder how much new tooling is involved? Really happy they didn't gloss over the misshapen front end on the Boss.

It's Revell. I seriously doubt they'll fix it. And if not...no sale. It literally ruins the entire model having such a disfigured face. *Edit* : Glad to hear they have likely fixed the shape issues. Great news!

Amazing and inspiring; such a beautiful car to begin with and you've done it proud with the upgrade.

Word of warning! I restocked late last year U-Pol Power Can Clear and it resulted in 3 failed clearcoats. It cracks...badly...over time, unlike the previous cans I used. A friend had the same bad results. He got some of the pricey UV-resistant stuff and it hasn't cracked. I've since reverted to mixing Gunze solvent-based clear and have been given an old can of U-Pol clear by a friend who likes using Gravity Colors clears.

Revell was not at Atlanta last year and won't be there this year. Looks to me like the only shows the "big 3" will be attending w/any regularity will be the NNL in Detroit and NNL East. Toledo vendor area was way too quiet this year.

The problem w/the car is it uses the aforementioned Coronet doors/side glass, but Barracuda front and rear glass intended for a far lower roofline. It really spoils the appearance. If it were a true factory concept, they wouldn't have cheaped out on the glass...it would either have the front/rear glass made bigger, or the side glass/frames chopped...which would have been preferable. As-is it's awkward at best.

I can't wait, love these 1st gen Civics. I see the interior bucket is yet another one that's going to be a big letdown compared to the rest of the kit, at least when it comes to side panels.

Beautiful work, the base model is good but you took it exactly where it belongs!

I only use it for filling areas no deeper than a scratch and it dries amazingly fast. You've got either a chemical reaction to the surface applied to, or applied it too thick, or perhaps both.

For airbrushing you can use either one for your Tamiya acrylics. The lacquer thinner was developed later primarily to make their acrylics spray more like lacquers. It will also help gloss acrylics dry somewhat faster. If you ever decant Tamiya spray cans for use in the airbrush, use the lacquer thinner to thin it a bit more.

Nice job, I've built 4 of those rotten Fujimi short tail F1's including the LM...seriously flawed kits, but looks like I made the right choice building them since it seems Aoshima gave up after the odd longtail they did.

Nice work!

That was Academy, who are owned by the same folks as Italeri, I believe. The kits aren't knockoffs, they're just marketed to the Korean market as generic to get around Ferrari licensing which is a monster pain in the backside for just about any company outside of Tamiya and Fujimi. Notice how Revell doesn't have a single Ferrari anymore?

No tooling ended up in China, they're simply poor knockoff copies of a Tamiya original. They are lousy kits by comparison, and $10 isn't a deal, unless you like ragged mold lines, poorly printed stickers instead of metal transfers, etc. I've seen some of these kits up close, and having built and bought the Tamiya versions, I can tell a lousy copy from the original with ease. I can find Tamiya originals for about $15, no question of value by comparison. The closeup of the engine intake? Horrible quality! The Tamiya engines in these are magnificent, they are so well molded they practically hold themselves together w/just the pins & receivers, and surface quality is perfect. Not on that lousy copy!! There are a few Tamiya kits copied, but it's been many years ago and isn't even close to a common occurence.

Ditto. I never look at mobile site, but tried it just now. Have no idea why some people referred to me by the name of the town I live in, since neither show on Safari on my phone.