Zoom Zoom

You go over the area 2 or 3 times if necessary to get the black at full saturation. It's really easy...

The two Challengers were painted because one gave me nothing but trouble; it was a rainy, damp week and nothing went right. The second one was painted in much better conditions, and came out perfectly in about 1/4 the amount of time. The first body (primed Tamiya gray, coated w/Testors Italian Red, Tamiya Mica red, Tamiya clear red, Gunze clear, Tamiya clear) that had problems was stripped the other day in 99% rubbing alcohol, and it came off pretty quickly. It was stripped because I needed the body for parts and it was going to be combined w/another body that is raw plastic.

I've learned the hard way about clearcoats and have a new system that's working quite well. I shoot a lot of Tamiya paints, and I prefer Tamiya TS13 as my clear on just about everything. But it will eat colors if applied too aggressively, as in a good final wet coat. It might screw up the metallic/pearl, it might cause the paint to get thin over panel line edges. Between my color coat and my Tamiya clearcoat I apply a few light coats of decanted Gunze B501 Topcote or it's bottle equivalent which is their new solvent-based acrylic clear. This is a good base for clear, it doesn't attack the paint underneath, and it seems impervious to wet coats of Tamiya TS clear. I like airbrushing the first coats of Tamiya clear, and then applying a couple wet coats straight from the can to finish up. Often this is so smooth it allows me to skip any scuffing w/micromesh before using Tamiya compound.

When you use a hobby paint like Tamiya or Testors you don't need to pull out heavy artillery for primer, such as any Duplicolor primer. That stuff is terribly harsh on plastic. Especially the primer/sealer if it's laid down first. I've painted two AMT Challengers w/Tamiya sprays, I used Tamiya fine gray primer on one, and Testors Italian Red lacquer as the primer on the second, as a base coat for Tamiya Mica Red. No crazing whatsoever. There's enough sanding of the mold lines that if you do use an automotive primer you'd best use some sort of sealer, like BIN, or Future (BIN over primer, Future can go on bare plastic or a layer of primer), or liquid styrene cement and then primer, or whatever concoction you like. Spraying Duplicolor primer/sealer first is a recipe for disaster. It's best applied over other primer. And generally best to avoid if you're using mild hobby sprays like Tamiya or Testors. Some of my best/easiest paintjobs are when I shoot Tamiya or Testors sprays over bare plastic w/o any primer. Primer has it's place, but it's not necessary all the time. How to fix it if you're in the color stage? I've been known to shoot a layer of Future or decanted Gunze B501 Mr. Topcote or properly thinned Gunze solvent-based acrylic clear onto a body that's painted/crazed (and sanded smooth) to stop the damage. Then I shoot a thin layer of color so it's all even, then go onto clear. To me stripping paint is the last resort.

Okay, here's a little optimism... Maybe Revell will do some retooling and do the kit justice, just at a later date. It would seem odd that they wouldn't utilize at least some of what they already have. But they've been beaten bloody with commentary on some of their best kits like the '49 Mercury and '69 Nova and '57 Chevy Black Widow and '32 5-window because they are not absolutely perfect, they don't have the kitchen sink range of options and you can't jump in and fire it up and drive it away...if their good kits manage to get some people so riled up with venom, I can imagine what some guys who want an '87 stock 442 will post on these forums if it came out as an "almost diecast" kit with fad-like custom stuff to make it only a lowrider or donk. We'd never hear the end of it...

Someone who used to work for Revell and is a lot closer to insiders there say no matter what anyone claims, that Cutlass isn't likely to ever get issued. If it was dumbed-down for diecast and lowrider/donk duty, perhaps Revell has decided they don't want their name on what they perceive to be an inferior product. I guess if it ends up on the shelves that people will be happy, but when it comes to any new model kit from the domestics, I don't believe much of anything until it's actually on the shelves. There have been way too many cancellations and delays after a kit has been announced. The Japanese don't play that game, they announce something when it's already well on the way to being on the shelf. Generally there's about a 3-4 month gap between the announcement and the kit on the shelf. How refreshing would it be if the domestics were as confident about their upcoming product?

I wonder if Gregg "It's Nice to be King" has his yet? I know they're just starting to get out to the magazines for review...

I have all of those in the stash. I got them all back when Wal Mart had them in every store for $2.88 each. Your stack would have been $15.20 after tax

Ditto. Same basic color scheme that I painted my Revell USA kit; Tamiya Mica red is almost a dead-on match for Ferrari's new F1 color and therefore offers builders a great shade of red that isn't just the old standard "resale red". I don't remember having any assembly issues aside from adjusting the front ride height by whittling down the plastic stub axles in front where they glue in. It's pretty straightforward. Revell's kit is better than Fujimi's. Also it's a nice basis for doing a full-detail Maranello using a Fujimi body.

Considering the fact that there was quite an uproar at the time, and there has not been any uproar as of late, I'd say Revell must have fixed the problem. At some point someone said that Revell was looking into it. I've never had any problem w/the plastic, but I tend to use hobby paints and when I do shoot auto paint on models I take the necessary steps to prime and seal the plastic.

Did you catch the chatter on Speed during the race where they said Luca di Montezemolo had stated that he'd very much like to see Ferrari compete in LMP1? If that isn't a big 4Q to the FIA and Bernie, nothing is. Not that Ferrari didn't completely dominate GT2, so they're already well into sports car racing and winning...and keeping Porsche on their toes. Good stuff. I can't wait to see how Corvette does in GT2. Sports car/prototype racing is likely going to benefit at the expense of F1's incessant rule-changing and excitement-choking madness bringing down that house of cards. I feel like Bruce Willis saying "Yippie ki yay, muddertruckers!"

We do a lot of pre-race preparation that helps, we help each other, and we try to pick easy subjects to model! The reason I have no idea when Mike finished is because he was the only one awake at that time I got up at 5:30AM and shortly thereafter he took over the sleeping duties. That 370Z... It's a few hours from being finished. I was just showing it off since it's still unobtanium. To quote Gregg "It's nice to be king"

Outstanding finish, even better considering what you started with

Thanks! I did as much online research as possible; I found out about this car when I was shown a picture of the "White Whale" Ferrari that Fisher is making. Below that vintage racing photo was a picture of this car at LeMans, and I had already asked friends if they remembered any P4's that ran with a white livery. Turns out Model Factory Hiro did this car, there have been decals done for it in the past. The vast majority of pictures for this car are all of models, and they all have slightly different details. I know my model isn't 100% accurate, but neither is anyone else's model without a lot of work. The graphic scheme was easy to lay out and print, I was happy that the blue stripes came out nice from the laser printer in a color that seems right for the car; my NART logos for the sides came out w/a terrible yellow but I layered them over yellow decals that I cut from the donor kit decals and the color was perfect (laser decals are translucent, fine if you are building a white model). Most models show the car w/light blue stripes on the tires. I haven't figured out how best to do them, if at all. The decals I had for it were too dark. They might have been gold. I could do the stripes w/a white gel pen, but I didn't have my circle template w/me at the palooza. We'll see...I might do them, and I might do a panel line wash to the model as well now that I've had 24 hours to recover

Thanks; I started a kit like this when the kit came out, but got sidetracked. Someday I'll finish it!

Nope, there's no magic cheap software to do blueprint layouts, if there was I'd already be using it and looking for the cheap/easy 3D program to carve stuff out from computer files...still a few years down the road before feasible on a hobby basis. You can always scale your photographs or copies to make the rough cutout patterns. You can do them the old-school way using vellum paper and drafting pencils and circle templates and ship curves. That's how I've done the layouts for the various Hot Wheels cars I've worked on, a couple masters for resin (one '91 Crown Vic that was never finished, the MGB GT that I did for All American, the Toyota GTP car for BHP Enterprises). The computer is fast for a lot of things but drawing the complex lines of a car still seems easiest to me the old-school way (I can trace over a photo, whether on the drafting board or the computer).

We enjoyed our annual LeMans palooza immensely This is my entry; I took a discounted (missing p/e fret) $18 Fujimi 330 P4 from Hobbytown and made it the 412P NART entry. The kit was molded in a very dense white, making painting a breeze. I did the decal art and printed it on a color laser printer. Started at 9:00AM yesterday (painted it outdoors w/Tamiya TS Pure White applied over primer, only needed buffing w/Tamiya compound), finished it up (mostly) by 1:00AM today, adding a few details like winglets and tire decals this morning before the race ended. Thankfully this kit was simple enough for a 24 hour build with few build issues. Mirrors are from my parts box, winglets were scratched from .015" styrene.

This is Scuderia-Ferrari after finishing, doing his impression of a human burrito:

Sorry, I didn't take photos all day long. I didn't get my camera out until about 8 AM this morning We had a blast as usual (good thing there weren't any open flames, with all the soda and junk food being consumed...) and 6 models were finished. One of those was a detail-intense Ferrari F430 GT that was started earlier. The rest were started (we allow primer before the race) at 9AM on Saturday when the race started on the east coast. Builders: yours truly, Ferrari 330 P4 NART; Henry Trent, Corvette C6R & Porsche 962; Wayne Webers, Alfa T33 1967 LeMans test vehicle; Mike Edwards, Ferrari F430 GT; Danny Edwards, Fisher Ferrari 512. Brian Venable DNF Ferrari 250 GT Sperimentale; Bob Cline DNF Ford GT40 (only joined us for part of Saturday). Next year I'm building "Lucybelle" 1958 Testa Rossa Models were mostly finished in order: Danny Edwards: Midnight Henry Trent: Midnight Bob Downie: 1AM Mike Edwards: Sometime between 1-5:30AM Wayne Webers: 8AM Henry Trent (model #2): 9AM/checkered flag. We allow a model to arrive in primer. Parts can be ready for paint. Fun is the most important aspect. Bright sunny weather outside helps as there's only one spray booth and 7 builders; I did all my painting outdoors, and the sun works as a good dehydrator (and we had four inside the garage running until after midnight). My work area; had wireless internet before the neighbor pulled the cord. Henry Trent working on his Porsche: Henry's C6R, Mike's F430GT, Henry's 962: Danny's yellow Ferrari, my white Ferrari, Wayne's Alfa: Wait. What's this doing here? It's not on sale until June 25th in Japan. Hmmmm... A well deserved rest after finishing first: Mike's imitation of a human burrito, after finishing/before the end of the race: All the finished models:

They had some great stuff; hope it ends up in good hands.

Ding Ding Ding!!!! You are quite observant C'mon Harry....give everyone the news!!

It's up my alley, I love the car and eventually I'll get the model. Looks great so far

I have yet to see one, I imagine I'll notice it right away when I do. I think it's a great looking truck. On another board frequented by a lot of fuddy-duddys the styling was panned mercilessly This would be a great subject for a kit, as models of new trucks are pretty rare. If they made a kit of it, I think I would probably buy it, and I'm not really a truck builder. If only a kit manufacturer would kit the truck from Duel....

Mine could use some new foam blocks, and I've scraped the buildup off a few times. I take terrible care of it, but it works like a champ.

I never, ever trust something will really get reissued (or issued in the first place) until I see it on the store shelf. There are probably a lot more original '66 Impalas showing up on Feebay these days as well.