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Not sure about decals but any cleaner with ammonia will remove the Future and shouldn't harm the paint. Windex should work...

We build, boast, and post about model cars. We collect them. We're all fracking insane. But yeah, I hear you Thankfully a Spaz Stix and BMF budget works just fine 90% of the time. I guess our model car parts are kind of small and too easily lost for an enterprising individual to offer up this kind of replacement plating in lieu of the more traditional vacuum plating.

Thanks! Nothing at all to fear if you keep the bulkhead part separate from the chassis. In fact once everything is done on the chassis, before the bulkhead is installed, go ahead and do a test fit of the chassis. Place the bulkhead on the chassis/interior where it belongs to see how it fits. Then turn the body over and lay the bulkhead inside the body, a bit forward of where it will seat. Then install the chassis, rear wheelwells first, and rotate it so the chassis snaps into the locators at the back of the body. The front of the chassis should slide upwards into the body, you might have slight contact of the headers on the very edges but it shouldn't be an issue. Turn the model over so it's sitting normally, and you should be able to simply snap that bulkhead in place; the pieces of tubular chassis on either side of where the seats go will hold it securely. After making sure it fits (I had no problems at all), you can disassemble and do the assembly permanently. The seats simply drop in place once the body/chassis have been mated. Test fit, then glue. Bottom cushions first, then seat backs. It's really easy. And don't worry that you didn't glue the bulkhead; it's in there pretty tight and the seats once glued in place will keep it from moving.

Sometimes it's just easier to hijack a thread. Spray on chrome. I did not invent this. It is cool. Now, where is the love? LOLOL

Thanks for the comments! As for 24 hours; well...I worked on this one before the race, over the period of a couple months actually. One weekend during the early spring I got the body smoothed and ready for primer, another about a month ago got the body painted and polished, and while building a couple other kits recently I was able to do the painting on all the sub-assembly parts, so that come race day my only painting was to mask/spray the stripes (the masking took some time), and a few brush-painted details on parts that had been previously sprayed w/the airbrush. I essentially spent the day in "final assembly" mode. Total time on this kit was probably close to 24 hours, but my cheating was doing all the prep/painting beforehand. Hey..the racers spend months preparing, so I figured I could as well

There is no truth to the rumor that the wagon inspired the Ford Flex.

Spaz Stix website You can order it direct if you can't find it at your LHS.

Can't say, I don't have any others. I would expect the MFH wheels to be nearly perfect, as they should for more than double the price. They're also OOP. I didn't get mine right; too late in the build sequence I realized that no matter how hard I was trying to get them lined up correctly, I had gotten some of the steps wrong. You have to follow the instruction sequence to a "T", that would also mean looking at the parts carefully to make sure they are oriented correctly to each other, and to the alignment pin on the wheel rim. That said, hardly any photoetch wheel looks just like a real miniature wire wheel. The only way to get that is to hand lace them. These look a lot better than the plastic ones, and look better in person than in photos, I'm pretty picky and they look fine to me. Just like some modern Revell bodies, you have to "be there" to get it. Judging purely by photos isn't necessarily a ticket to happiness.

This was my annual LeMans palooza build this past weekend with a crew of other ACME friends in north Georgia. The model is the Hasegawa '57 Testa Rossa with their optional photoetch wire wheels, and an aftermarket set of Renaissance decals for the 1958 NART #22 Testa Rossa chassis #0732. Rather than stick to rules that only allow primer and parts cleanup, I "cheated" by painting the white body and prepainting most of the parts before race day, since I wanted this model to come out a bit nicer than I'd likely get doing a true 24 hour build. If you are counting, I already built two other white Ferraris in the past month and I did my prep work for this one while working on the others. There's something to be said about "economy building" when you spend a lot of time at the bench building similar subjects. I masked/sprayed the stripes on race day with Tamiya TS 15 blue; I didn't have confidence that I could get the decals to conform over the hood bulge and I couldn't match their color either. This was a truly enjoyable build, it is a fantastic kit to work with (if you remember my ranting about the other Ferraris I built this month, this was the polar opposite of those in this respect), just enough detail to make it interesting, and takes aftermarket parts well, and engineered to fit like the best in the business. I learned from my previous TR build and from other builders that the rear bulkhead is a tricky fit as the instructions have you glue it in before final assembly. This is not necessary and places extreme stress on the body stretching over the interior where the side pieces are glued. It's easy to avoid; place the bulkhead inside the body and then snap the chassis into place, the only glue needed at the crossmember under the radiator in front. The bulkhead will then snap into place on the floorpan between the tube frame pieces, and the seats will drop into place without problem from above. Our club prez Henry did my seatbelts for me; I forgot my own aftermarket seatbelt kit and didn't want to use the kit-based decals for them. I shot a nice shiny coat of white on his M1. All of us LeMans-palooza builders were helping each other out with tools, supplies, and encouragement. My seats were pretty easy to get the white piping; I primed them in Tamiya white primer over the black plastic, shot them Italian red, shot dull clear, then carefully sanded/scraped the red off the piping areas...it worked really well. Can't wait for next year

Personally I found my email inbox so inundated with notices of replies that I killed the entire subscription deal for all forums and keep up with the boards in the "view new content" format. I don't need nor want an email notice for every single reply to a thread that I've made a reply to. I do get emails to notify when I get PM's.

Ooh yeah, we do need that too. And let's hope they do well this weekend...

Viper ACR and Corvette ZR1 B)

That came out great

Not sure if anyone mentioned this here, as Winston didn't want anyone to know what was going on with him, but he passed away a couple months back. He had been diagnosed w/lung cancer in February; last year it was clear his health was failing. His wish was to be cremated, no service, with his ashes spending eternity in one of his old spray guns. We're going to have a tribute for him at our NNL in November. Joe Cavorley really knew how to put on a how-to demo at shows. His humor and talent were very inspiring, and he made scratchbuilding look easy.

Aw shucks My simple models can't hold a candle my personal favorite, who would be Juha Airio. He consistently nails the look of a car, in-scale, and with not only incredible fidelity, but stunning craftsmanship. I don't think he even makes fingerprints Not only can this guy build killer replica stock models of very unique subjects, but when he does a custom it is always amazing...he's not just a builder, but he's a great designer too. He has an eye for proportion, detail, and design that is stunning. It's really hard to pick a "best", because there are so many builders who inspire and build amazing models. Probably my favorite model in the world, by one of the nicest and most talented guys you'll ever meet, is the 1/12 '69 Sunoco Camaro by Randy Derr. Bill Geary impresses with a stunning amount of detail, and often perfectly working details. I know he'll get that working soft top one of these days. Clay Kemp, Bill Cunningham, Dave Thibodeau, Dave Morton, Ken Mouton, Chopper, Pat Covert, Tim Kolankiewicz, Bill Stillwagon, Gary Kulchock, Rob Mepham, Pico Elgin, Eric Cole are just a few of the guys I look up to.

Very cool! Very "Chopper". Nice

They recently reformulated; it's even more reflective, they now offer a black base and clear. That said, with hobby equipment it's pretty much the same but slightly better reflectivity, and it was already better than Alclad. I haven't tested the new stuff w/any clears, I don't think in our scale it will work. You can check out the new Spaz Stix on their website; they recently were blowing out the old stuff for a good discount. Both are fine.

It was fun to throw this car together right after getting it, just like a kid again I love the 458, I've poured over photos, "built" ones I like on Ferrari's configurator. Can't wait for Revell's kit... This kit is overpriced by a factor of two. It's clear that Fujimi didn't put forth any of the same effort as they did to the F430 or Scuderia. It honestly seems both rushed and over-simplified. Quality issues like some fitment issues (short rear axle, side glass), significant sink marks in the rear spoiler, seats, and windshield over the rear view mirror detail... No photoetch, no transfers, no window masks...but priced like Tamiya's Aston DBS that has all those extras. And none of the quality issues. It does look pretty slick when finished. If you have to be an early-adopter and have a 458, this kit is adequate; I'm not suffering buyer's remorse, I'm just disappointed that Fujimi winged this kit. Maybe Fujimi will revisit it like they did after the initial RX8. The interior is the biggest disappointment; with integral seat bases and door panels molded to the floorboard/wheelwells. When built, the only obvious issue is with the door panels. The dash and seats look good; I did not paint over the molded brown for part of the interior, so the sink marks in the seat bolsters remain..but the seats do look pretty good, even having the hinge areas. I'm on a roll w/white Ferraris. This is my first color choice; looks great w/my 612, and this weekend I'm building a white Testa Rossa "Lucybelle" that was race at LeMans in '58. My Revell 458 will be a completely different look..

It's better than Alclad and will stick to Tamiya TS gloss black, unlike Alclad. The new Spaz Stix is really impressive.

Test these first, but you should be able to use either rubbing alcohol or cheap lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner works some of the time, but not always. Tamiya makes a bottle of lacquer thinner that is excellent for shooting their acrylics; it makes the paint flow and lay down more like lacquer and not so much like water-based paint. I clean my airbrush of Tamiya acrylics w/lacquer thinner all the time.

On common kits I use Tamiya fine gray or white primer. It's the best, by far the smoothest, it's lacquer. It's also very expensive. Alternatives are Duplicolor and Plastikote automotive sandable primers, and I've heard good things about Duplicolor's primer/sealer, they say it sprays incredibly smooth and in nice thin coats. In general, an automotive primer will be good, as long as it is labeled "sandable". You can also get away without primer on a lot of models, especially using Testors lacquers, as they're mild and won't hurt the plastic, and they cover very well.

Looking forward to seeing more of this one! Your models never disappoint...

Outstanding model, and Lee Baker (the man who mastered the woody for AAM) would be proud

Definitely looking forward to it. We'll be having out traditional LeMans palooza in north GA; about 7 or 8 builders. I'm building the Hasegawa Testa Rossa using aftermarket "Lucybelle" decals. My prep work is done, just waiting for the green flag on Sat. morning.

You said a mouthful! They're the last company I want to touch a subject that I want. Thankfully, they seem adept at choosing subjects that I could pretty much care less about. No biggie...even building like a madman I can't keep up w/all the good stuff that I do want that is managing to debut.