Ace-Garageguy

I'd like to know the real deal on this too. I've read opinions, but nothing from anyone who I'd really take as a trusted expert...someone who was actually an industry player at the time.

The three-window was always the first choice for closed '32s. It just has a lighter, sportier feel to me, and the suicide doors on the 3W foretold the design of the '33-'34....though I like them all. As to which is my favorite...again, it really depends on the specific car. Some versions of each look perfect, some are ill-proportioned messes.

Either or, depends on the specific car. I've seen examples of each that I loved at first sight, and many many examples of each I thought were just awful wastes of vintage tin.

It's always worked very well for me, though I disagree with the instructions on the Testors website. If your product is definitely "Aluminum Plate", it should be the "buffing" variety if it's packaged correctly. There IS a non-buffing aluminum, but it doesn't say "Plate" or "buffing" on the label. The web instructions say it must be shot over bare plastic, which is total bull. Whatever you shoot it over needs to be extremely smooth though...like 1500 grit. The web instructions also recommend shooting their sealer over it. More bull. All the sealer does is ruin the bare-metal effect and make it look like silver paint. I let my buffing metalizers dry MUCH longer than the 10 minutes that's recommended...sometimes as much as 2 days, like you. It does get more durable the longer it dries, but still buffs up beautifully...or always has for me, anyway. You can go back months or years later and buff it up again if it's dulled with time...which it sometimes will. To get the best polished-metal effect, it needs to be shot wet, almost on the verge of running, so it will slick out smooth. Spraying dry mist coats will create a pebbly, grainy surface texture that looks a lot like cast aluminum, but that will not buff up to look like polished, machined aluminum. The fleece on the inside of old-style cotton sweatshirts has worked best for me, to polish it.

I didn't assume that, as he said "era correct" when referring to his choice of colors, rather than OEM correct. Assumptions can be tricky.

From a purely logical and cost standpoint, I'd suspect the two-tone vehicles got painted the light color all over, and then masked off for the dark color. Masking prior to painting the light color, while it would save a little paint, would add an additional labor step of unmasking and re-masking. If the light color was sprayed only on the to-be-light areas without masking, the dry-spray edge would need to be dealt with before the darker color was masked and sprayed, also an additional labor step. Painting the entire vehicle the light color on the paint line would allow painted one-color vehicles that were slated to be two-toned to be pulled off the main paint line, masked, shot, and returned to the main assembly line with the least amount of additional work and delay. I'm also certain I've seen two-toned vehicles that have weathered, and exposed the main color under the accent color. This would be consistent with my hypothesis above.

White-walls in general are entirely period-correct looking, and whatever was available in a tire that would fit a rim that could be physically bolted to the car would be "correct". Somewhere, I have a pre-war shot of a '34 Ford that's had Duesenberg wheels fitted.

Now Tom, we can't be using the "b" word anymore. The politically-correct term is "follicularly challenged", or, depending on the degree of the challenge, "comb free". Please make a note of these replacements for future reference. NOTE: It has also come to our attention you persist in using the word "clueless". Please substitute the term "factually unemcumbered" in any subsequent communications.

She's progressing, so I thought some of you may like the see where the thing began to take off. This was the first styling fiddle, with the front fender filler made from sheet styrene, and the rear skirt made up from card stock. I tried several hood treatments, and settled on using a part from a diecast model of Posies Extremeliner as a start. The next thing was to draw the front wheels on, to get a feel for the overall look. Then I built a frame from rectangular styrene stock to hold the front fender modifications together, straight and parallel, and to give it all enough strength to hark on it. I started the filling-in process with rough lengths of styrene strip stock, stuck in place quickly with liquid cement. I'd previously glassed the underside of the cabin (the part the previous owner / builder had started on) to hold it together, and now I've filled the backside of the new front fender pods with epoxy / cotton flock. I've also used the same material to reinforce the attachments of the fenders to the body shell. This structure has to be pretty tough, as I'll be carving and shaping the top side into a plug for molds. The whole thing needs to be able to stand up to some pretty rough handling, grinding and sanding. The fronts of the fender pods, also rough-filled with the epoxy / cotton-flock slurry. The blocks under the leading edge of the grille were added to adjust the lines, when viewed from the side.

...and den da poleese dun tooked me away, even doh I tols em da car was mines.

Just a reminder...with careful measuring and cutting, it's really not that difficult to build your own. Semi how-to here...

Google’s Translation of Adele’s ‘Hello’ Is Gloriously Weirdhttp://time.com/4230466/adele-hello-google-translate/

Great work on the lights. Does it use LEDs of different brightness, or resistors to get the different intensities?

What about the '36 disappointed you? For me, it was the not-too-good re-tool of the chopped top, but the nice new chrome steel wheels and tires kinda made up for it. The original tops were the devil to make fit well, but looked great if you put enough effort in them. I'm not wild about the slightly different proportions the new roof section though, and the fit is at least as bad as the originals.

X4

Lovely little Alfa, Christian. I worked on those for a couple of years. Remarkably nimble and willing cars. What scale, and who makes it?

Hmmm. I always thought BAE was this. Guess I don't know much. http://www.baesystems.com/en/home?r=US And incidentally, they're a company that overuses another one of my most-hated business-speak terms..."solutions". "Solutions" has been worked to death since, I guess, the mid '90s, for products and services ranging from septic-tank pumping to military vehicles. Please stop, and just call things what they are.

Looking forward to seeing this. It's the best proportioned of all the '34 Ford kits out there, and stock is so unusual, it should be a really striking model.

Love it. There's a dead 1:1 being used as a restaurant sign close to my house. Hate to see it rusting away, kinda wondering just what I could do with it if I rescue it. Great looking model.

Thanks to Art Laski for sending me down the internet rabbit-hole in search of more information on the 1934 Edsel Ford Special that Art's beginning a model of here... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/111038-edsel-ford-model-40-speedster/ In the process of finding more about this very special car, I came across an article about Edsel Ford's first special-bodied V8 car...one I'd never even heard of before. It's a fascinating story of a piece of automotive history that just barely escaped the crusher. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016/01/25/edsel-fords-first-v-8-speedster-set-the-stage-for-fords-design-department/ Edsel Ford’s first V-8 speedster set the stage for Ford’s Design Department

And the winners are (drum-roll please)... dw1603 GTJUNIOR bobthehobbyguy 68shortfleet Badluck 13 sjordan2 GeeBee matthijsgrit Matt Bacon 1960 Porsche Abarth 356B Carrera GTL

Looking good. Seems like the press worked out well.

This should be fascinating. This is a car I've never seen done in 1/24-1/25 scale, and had seriously thought about scratching on a modified '34 chassis. The first version of the car had a different grille and headlight treatment, so I guess I'll have to try that one instead. I'll be following your progress.