Ace-Garageguy

A razor saw or Dremel cutoff wheels is all I use on model 'glass, and I do a LOT of model f'glass (real cars and aircraft too, so I have a little experience with the stuff...) Don't use any lubricant. Your model fiberglass is probably in a polyester matrix. Polyester absorbs moisture and other liquids. Cut it dry AND WEAR A RESPIRATOR. And yes, gluing to other materials with epoxy is preferred...and I STILL say that 5-minute epoxy is useless for anything other than temporary fixturing. You can also try "toughened" CA, like the Loctite product shown here. I usually err on the side of overkill when it comes to gluing structural parts, even model parts, that have to be handled, absorb any kind of stress, or require further work like sanding and shaping. I DON'T like having things break while I'm working on them. Also keep in mind that fiberglass is part GLASS. (I've actually had morons argue that it's not.) It has real glass fibers in it. They're very hard and very abrasive, so they will take the edge off of blades and tools rapidly.

The proof is out. Time travelers from the future are here. I just knew it. Cool models by the way, Patrick. I have a soft spot for sticks-and-linen aircraft. Odd what they did to the swastidoodle. Revisionist history marches on.

Your description of the operation of the airliner triggered a memory of another one I haven't thought of for probably 50 years. ITC (Ideal) made a 2-foot long electric (battery, multiple D-cells) diving submarine kit. It was complicated, and had what they called "cam action" that was run by the electric motor that also drove the prop. The cam would activate the dive planes and rudder, sending the thing into turns and actually diving under water and surfacing. Sorta. If I remember right, the seals on the prop shaft, rudder and dive plane shafts were nothing but Vaseline. They leaked. Duh. One end or the other would get heavy and she would stop responding to control inputs and sink to the bottom of the pool. The battery life wasn't much either, and driving all the action parts would only give you power for a few minutes. A very few. And my parents, though generous, wouldn't buy D-cell batteries by the gross. The thing looked cool sitting on the stand, whirring its prop and cycling its control surfaces...but in water, she wasn't too impressive. After she sank repeatedly through one whole summer, I gave up (though I learned to hold my breath and swim under water quite well).

The lovely Diane Webber, pinup model extrordinare and actress. Not as widely remembered as Bettie Page, but certainly worth a look or 3.

Cool toys, gennelmen. Great thread. I'd forgotten this one until just now. International Rectifier "solar" model car. The solar cell didn't make enough power to run the thing, which was a actually powered by batteries, but it controlled a transistor switching circuit that would turn the power to the electric motor on and off. Can't find a pic of it out of the box, but mine was black.

Still me, hard at work on a '33 Plymouth a couple years back. Not much change except a few more wrinkles and a little less hair. The car when I finished the metal work, just before going to paint... During the buildup...

"If you ever get a chance to see one in person you will get it"? Get what? My second to last significant other had a 1:1, I looked at it for years, I have rather a lot of design and photo interpretation experience (including scaling from photos), and I agree it MAY be camera angle...but I don't think so. I'll buy the damm kit and measure a real one.

It rook to me rike plopoltions got sclewed again. Maybe camela angre, but flont end rook too rong and pointy on modre. Arso, bottom rine of nose too frat. Shourd come up in flont a rittre, but is too high arr way arong.

German wind-up toys were wonderful little exercises in precision machining. I had a wind-up Mercedes I hadn't thought of in years...until you mentioned that very cool little set above.

Here's a thread about the FPPM 906 kit.

It's going to take some looking. Ebay doesn't have any of them right now. For the top resin kit, it's made by Fernando Pinto Models of Portugal. There's a multi-media longtail kit too. Porsche 906 L Le Mans 1966 n°30/31/32 Profil 24 - Nr. P24097 - 1:24

906 Porsche Carrera 6 1967 Arii - Nr. 11124-1200 - 1:24

Yup. The working fire truck I mentioned earlier was a Tonka Ford, like this... The hydrant hooks to the outdoor hose. And like you, I had several of the "Girder and Panel" building sets. This one had little pumps and tubing, clear tanks and colored water to make "industrial plants". Of course, at the end all the water became dirty brown as the colors mixed. Had one of this style too. The pieces were fairly brittle styrene, whereas the girders in the Kenner set were tougher polyethylene and the panels were thin translucent styrene. I remember the little V-shaped connectors on the Kenner beams would break off fairly easily, and the Elgo "Skyline" corner blocks were quite fragile.

I never noticed that before. Must be one of those early evil subliminal influences that start us down the path to the dark side.

I had a lot of stuff. Tonka trucks, Matchbox and Dinky small scale stuff, still have a couple of Wyandotte stamped steel trucks, one like this but with a different color cab. Also still have a firetruck in about the same scale that hooks up to the garden hose through a little hydrant and sprays water. Lionel trains (still have 'em, sometimes run 'em at Xmas), Tinkertoys, various building construction sets like this: Erector Set, steel construction equipment like dozers and graders in roughly the same scale as the Wyandotte truck. Oh yeah...a chemistry set. First thing I made was amorphous sulfur. What a stench. Also still have a friction DeHavilland Comet that sparks as you pull it along the ground. And one of these.

Seats, back wall of the interior and the dash are from this equally ancient Revell parts pack.

Chrome engine is the 50+ year-old Revell parts-pack Buick nailhead.

With that, I agree 100%.

Cool. Really really cool.

I was primarily addressing the line of the top, which I find to be more pleasing than the more upright production version. Frankly, I've always preferred the Hirohata car in primer over the finished version. Far as the rest of the details go, think through the process of reworking the Buick side trim to have "flowed back from the top of the cutout and not above it". It's stamped stainless. How would you have integrated the roll of the wheel opening into the curve of the chrome? Eliminated the roll? Raised the wheel arch? Lowered the chrome strip? Possibly. I agree the side trim and the darker color going at a wonky line back from the wheel arch roll isn't the ideal solution, but the car was built to the style of the times. Two-tones with less-than-successful color separation were pretty common...even on production cars. So were awkward chrome treatments. And part of the reason it's a classic of the genre is because of the level of craftsmanship, fit and finish. Joe Shmo couldn't have built this thing. Details aside, the major lines work on the Hirohata car. They just don't on that turd of a yellow Chevelle.

The '49 Merc is a nice looking car, if a little stodgy. This is the Hirohata Merc, the one that pretty well defined the look in 1953 and has never been excelled as far as flow and proportions are concerned. It's one of the most famous customs on the planet, and I personally think justifiably so. Lotsa guys have tried it, most of them get it wrong.

Wow. Never saw The Hobbit. Love her with elf ears. Gotta go get that movie.

"Lost" girl.

Or, you can make your own...in color, metallic colors, white, etc. http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/