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Great photos Gregg! Thanks!

Always a treat to see this model. What wheels did you use? Do you have a preference for what is available for them today (mostly thinking MFH or Technomodel).

Most models don't have it molded in place because it then creates plenty of chances for sink marks in the roof. A few models have a separate headliner. I often just paint the area if it's visible...I don't really build for contests and if I can't see something I don't worry over it, but I definitely appreciate it when a modeler takes the time to add this kind of detail...Juha comes to mind first, and he almost makes it look easy.

That's really cool! Nice to see this kind of creativity

Ditto! And Lewis Hamilton won't get the orange one promised to him for winning the championship...now he has to win two more and they'll give him the car Man....none of us can catch a break!

Did the color coat delaminate from the primer, or did the tape pull up all layers of paint to the bare plastic? An experienced builder/painter can fix things like this w/o stripping, but most people will strip the paint. Depends on how thick the paint is, how thick the repaired area has to be, how easy it will be to spot in an area depending on the quality of the color coat; if it's a pigment-rich paint it might spot in okay and then you can clearcoat entire panels to get the top layer of finish to match the rest. I also agree fully with the above: do not tape the entire car! Use Tamiya tape very sparingly only for the edges of the area you are painting. My technique looks much like Bill's, but instead of Parafilm I use Glad Press 'n Seal from the grocery store, it's a great substitute for newspaper and tape to safely mask big areas of the model.

Having vendors like Kevin/Strada Sports (and Norman from R&MoM) at a show is like crack rock for model car geeks. You'll never see so many broke but happy people in one place

Thanks for posting the pics! Here's the link: Gary's ACME NNL Album

Norman/Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. At least I think he still has it in his catalog...and reminds me, I need to get a new catalog from him as I need some stuff for a new project. The MGB kits are fun...if you build it w/the chrome bumpers you need to lower it a bit; Aoshima gave it the nosebleed ride height for the rubber bumper era cars

He also had a 1/16 Entex Lotus Esprit. I'd forgotten that Bob had the SWB; there's a receipt in the box from Auto Motif...never knew Milt had that kit. We missed you!

Thanks for the pics!

Aside from the great time we had putting on our show this weekend, I'm really happy to have found a trio of holy grails that were entirely unexpected Also picked up the AMT Round 2 Digger Barracuda, that is one killer reissue. The 'Cuda kit was the only planned purchase of the day. First, an Italeri Ferrari 250 SWB. IIRC only released once, it's the best-proportioned and best overall (styrene) kit of the SWB offered. I've been bugging Ed Sexton about it for a year and glad I got this since there are still no guarantees we'll see it reissued. This one will get some MFH wheels/tires: Years ago when Aoshima came out w/their MGB I wanted a GT, I had already been doing some cars for Art Anderson & he was interested when I expressed interest in mastering a GT transkit from the convertible. It came out really good, it raised some eyebrows as it was the first "foreign" subject by All American Models, and it wasn't in the lineup all that long. They're scarce, and for some stupid reason I sold 2 of the 3 I got from Art after I built one. Dave Toups did a fantastic LHD dash for it too, still available from Norm. I've wanted another for a few years and also another MGB club racer that I also somehow let escape for no apparent reason. Long story short, look what I got from another ACME member yesterday, these two kits will be combined: And lastly a grail I didn't even know existed until yesterday. Kevin / Strada Sports handed these wheels to me yesterday, said they were a sample. I hope more are available. Ferrari 275 GTB road wheels w/tires and knockoffs from Harold Bradford/HRM. One reason I hadn't built the Italeri 275 was that I wanted to build it w/this style wheel and also hated the kit tires. Voila...both problems instantly solved. Also bought some Scale Production Audi RS4 wheels destined for my R8: Also got some Crazy Modeler emblems and a sheet of expanded metal mesh that will help with my eventual 1/24 Lotus Exige conversion from a Welly Elise Dunno bout anyone else, but to me it's a lot more fun getting this stuff at a show than over the internet

Hey Harry! If Gregg offers again to pay your way to Atlanta, c'mon...you've gotta come visit our show! Come party like a rock star I did my part...let's hope that Fed Ex envelope of subscriptions from the show gets to Colorado soon as Gregg promised. Any chance of a barcode for the cover for those hobby shops that use that system for the single-copy buyer? I see the latest couple issues don't have a barcode. There's still a lot of "closet builders" out there that don't come to our meetings, our shows, nor subscribe.

I'm not sure if it's still an issue (no pun intended), but when buying individual copies at the LHS it's been difficult sometimes because the cashier doesn't know how to enter the price because there was no bar code to scan. Won't be an issue (sorry ) for me soon as I'm again subscribing to MCM vs. buying them individually on my trips to the LHS

We'll hold your feet to the fire I don't think you'll be disappointed. We have a blast putting on the big party aka NNL/show and catching up w/all our friends. Pics soon; Gregg's uploading his from the airport, Gary Kulchock and his crew are on their way home promising to upload a ton of pics this evening, Matt Wadlinger from our ACME Florida Division took pics of nearly everything and he's on his way home as we speak. And undoubtely there are others! I had a ton of fun yesterday and was a vendor (and managed to get THREE holy grails at the show, a new record), though I pretty much missed going around and seeing all the models on the tables So yeah, I wanna see those pictures too!

If you want a mild white glue that has nearly the strength of epoxy, try Formula 560 Canopy Glue or the similar Microscale Micro Krystal Klear; they're both thick white glues that are exponentially stronger than Elmer's, and when dry amazingly strong. They both dry (mostly) clear, and are perfect for gluing in glass/lenses/chrome details/emblems and you can wipe up the undried excess with a damp paper towel...not nearly as potentially hazardous to your model's finish as CA glue as well! I'd be lost w/o my superglue and kicker; my building would slow down a lot if I had to give it up!

A lot of people say that spot putties like to be applied to primer vs. raw metal or plastic; not sure why your Bondo won't set but if you do get a catalyzed polyester spot putty like Evercoat or Dynatron Putty Cote that it does dry and is sandable in under 30 minutes. Evercoat has gotten pricey but it's easy to find in my area through auto paint stores, though recently found the Dynatron Puty Cote for half the Evercoat price at the local O'Reilly auto parts. It's still likely more $$ than plain old Bondo, but it's a lot nicer to work with in "our" scale.

We had a fantastic show, lots of fun, lots of friends showed up from as far away as Hawaii & California; one builder flew down from New York or New Jersey to Tampa to then drive up to Atlanta w/Dave Thibodeau and Matt Wadlinger! Model tally was officially 495 entered, but there were actually well over 500 on the tables as some club members didn't have time to get their entries logged. The Mopar theme was jam-packed, Mercedes and Motorcycles did well but not packed...though more motorcycles displayed than most had ever seen at one show. The tables were nearly full well before 10:30AM. We had about 30 people buy Early Bird passes to get in early and get models set up before the crowd and hit the vendor area during setup. Vendors seemed to do pretty well overall considering the economy, more than one person commented on having extra spending money now that gas is priced "reasonably". Overall we had a lot of fun, and are already taking notes on things we want to improve for 2009. Our 2009 flyers went like hotcakes, and people seem pretty happy with the themes of Retro in the Metro (build anything retro, like modern Mustang/Challenger/Mini), Speedweeks (anything that races/raced at Daytona), and web theme of Drag Racing. We're already on the calendar and have the venue covered for November 14 2009 at the Smyrna Community Center. The winners from the show: Ken Mosezar Best In Show Award: Dave Morton Peterbilt show truck Best Mopar: Clay Kemp Dodge Stratus drag car Best Mercedes-Benz: Kason Wang Mercedes 300SL Roadster Best Motorcycle: Dirk Joseph Billy Lane Chopper Best Junior: Jordan Rymer Nissan 350Z Top Ten (the overall winner of Top Ten is Best In Show, above): Frank Bennett: Pro Mod Camaro Dirk Joseph: 66 Chevelle Ken Leslie: 32 Rat Rod Gary Vandergriff: Funeral For a Friend Diorama Garland Farrin III: 55 Chevy Bel Air Bill Cunningham: Maserati Birdcage William Richter: Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Rodney Jefferson: 68 Dodge Dart Brian Fascia #44 Ducati Best NASCAR (sponsored by BSR)- Jay Savarese: Impala SS COT Augie Hiscano Memorial Award- David Morton: Peterbilt

There's nothing inherently wrong w/the Revell '49 styling, every chopped Mercury is a custom and I learned this weekend that the particular 1:1 Merc they patterned the kit after has this exact top chop. If they did the chop another way, then people might complain about that too. There's no way to make a kit perfect in everyone's eyes, especially a custom subject. I'm happy that in this case Jeff is putting his money where his mouth is and showing us how to improve the model, because there are enough model critics out there posting their thoughts on forums like this that think it's their job to point out every flaw in a model as if they're all deal-killers, yet we somehow never happen to see anything finished coming from their workbench...things that make you go "hmmmmmm...." I'm as guilty as anyone of griping about this or that on a model, and yet more often than not when actually finishing the model having all those flaws just sort of fade into obscurity because the model was so much fun to build and looks so good finished! It's teaching an old dog like me to not be quite so critical out of the gate when getting a new model, because as I'm getting older having fun is a more important than nitpicking over this detail or that. If the subject matter and price is right, I can generally deal with some inaccuracies, and offer constructive criticism where it might do some good, rather than just blowing off steam.

It was awesome! We had a great time, and Gregg thanks for coming and hanging out! It's so cool to know we have friends that fly and drive in from all parts of the country for our show, and we have a blast putting on the NNL every year, it's like a party/event that just so happens to have an NNL. I'm posting the show results shortly. By later today I'll include links to people's albums from the show.

Wes was at the airport waiting for your 4:40PM arrival, not realizing 4:40 was the Honolulu depature time He came back to the hospitality room, I asked "where's Gregg?" and he said "Honolulu" and I said "WHAT???!!!" Looking forward to it! We have your photo area set up at the right side of the stage. Early Bird passes are available Just seen Henry or Paul at the door...no problem getting in early to set up!

It's almost here! Hospitality room at the host hotel will be open this evening! Show opens at 8 tomorrow for vendors, ACME members working the show, and for people buying early bird passes. Doors open at 10AM for everyone else. See you all there!

Gregg's Photos from IHobby; see second row

I nearly flipped when the idiots called it a '71 Chevette Good use for the car, though. Props to anyone who can get cheers from the audience by driving a Chevette.

If it's the Kustom Kolor paints by Valspar that were marketed in a predatory way that said the paints were "from the makers of HOK paint", well...it's discontinued. The hobby shops will get no more. It's not very good paint anyway. Good riddance, IMHO. The colors were a bit muddy, the paint was an odd type of acrylic enamel that required a special thinner, many builders had problems w/the paint cracking...not good. This is the garbage I'm talking about If you want real HOK paints for models, order from Black Gold. The colors are much more pure, much more vivid. My only suggestion would be if you airbrush it to try to find Gunze/Mr. Hobby Mr. Color Thinner or Tamiya lacquer thinner to thin these paints. Much safer than using automotive lacquer thinners, and the paint will flow a bit nicer as well. Get Real House of Kolor Paint Here From Black Gold