Ace-Garageguy

First impression...beautiful kit.

Yeah, and that's a really unfortunate truth about media in general. The awful stories are the ones that get top billing, not the good-guy stuff. I don't know if the public actually WANT to hear all the horror-stories, or if the media trains them to. Just for the record, the last two police officers I had contact with, both detectives for my home county, were two of the most intelligent, professional and helpful people I've EVER had the pleasure to do business with, in ANY context.

Jon, I see I offered to send you a copy of the instructions last year in July. Guess I slipped up there. Sorry.

Lucky the "D" isn't close to the "L". Could have been much more entertaining, but I'm afraid if I spell it out, I'll be banned for life.

Just like in the real hot-rod world, no rod, or two rods, are going to have the right "look" for everyone. Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder when it comes to building cars. What Revell has done here is to present two great starting points for building what YOU want, or building fine looking models right out of the box. This is a far better jumping-off-point than has been previously offered (and mine came today...the FIRST kit I've ever been enthusiastic enough about to order when it was introduced).

This generation Riviera is SO good looking and well-proportioned, it's almost impossible to improve on. My hat is off to you, sir. You made it better. Your chop proportions and pillar layback angle are absolutely perfect.

I agree Del, the Redhead is a real beauty. Probably the most sensuous shape ever built as a car, and about the only one I can think of that I'd make the effort to scratch-build. I haven't searched the internet thoroughly, but so far I haven't come across any bare-chassis shots. Do you, by chance, have any reference material on that fabulous car? For those who don't know what we're talking about, here she is...

Both good looking models, and nicely useful to see both out-of-the-box possibilities presented side-by-side. To have built either of these from what has been available previously would have taken some serious kit-bashing, a very well-stocked stash, and more knowledge of '29 Ford rods than most model builders posses. Even after my critical comments, I have to say, overall, nice work Revell.

I don't see how anyone with even half a brain can fail to respect police officers who routinely and voluntarily risk their own lives, daily, to protect the lives and well-being of clueless civilians. There's something seriously wrong in the world today.

Right on.

Mines otta bee heer enni day.

This one looks like he's not sure whether he's scared or not...

Great to hear that. Model building is one of the fun things that can have a very positive influence on young people's understanding of how things work, help to foster an interest in engineering, science and mechanics, contribute to developing fine motor skills and increased attention spans, teach patience and perseverance, and contribute to improved reading comprehension and the ability to understand written and illustrated instructions. These are good things. All that many kids need to become interested in things outside the tiny sphere of the peer-group-experience is exposure to alternatives, and adults who have the interest and who will take the time to show them things beyond their daily existence are helping to make a better future.

Not working so well here... Missing point entirely...

Check your pockets. Seems to me it's not a card makes you a man.

Once again, a BIG thanks to everyone who's following this thing, and everyone who's commented. I kinda wondered if someone would call me on the 4-link front-end. I did my homework on this a few years back, after seeing a 1949 movie with sprint cars running 4-links on tubular front axles. I did a double-take and ran the scene several times. I even went so far as to make blowups of the movie frames and to verify in other...dated...still shots I've found of period track-cars. Not a lot, but they were out there. Even a Kurtis or two. Honest. I agree, it wasn't 'til much later the setup became ubiquitous on the street, after Pete & Jake's kits hit the market, mid-late '60s I believe. Far as the polyester primer goes, I use it when I think it's appropriate, and you're absolutely right about it being a big time-saver. I usually have it in stock for doing work on the 1:1 cars anyway. It helped a lot on this one. As you may be able to tell, I'm a little obsessed with lakes cars. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/65965-mickey-thompsons-challenger-one-still-alive-feb-8/

A Lambo Miura engine in the back seat, right?

Yeah, looks like either a baby Volvo or something on the Chrysler K-car platform. But it's not.

Beautiful work.

That's a new one on me. Gotta try it. Thanks.

Nice project, but now you've discovered on your own another of the reasons not to try to use the ONE-PART putty for heavy fills. Even though it's "Bondo brand", it's NOT BONDO. The generic term "bondo" means a TWO-PART, catalyzed polyester putty. The red stuff you're using is a one-part LACQUER PUTTY. Lacquer putty contains lacquer thinner, which is a solvent that melts plastic. When the one-part putty surface dries, the lacquer thinner goes down into the plastic instead of evaporating off of the surface. Result...sometimes badly warped model parts, as you've now learned.

Another one of those warning signs about the folly of over-reliance on technology. Sure, it's great when it works. And when it doesn't, if there's no backup plan in place, everything stops. But hey...most everyone seems to live in a la-la-land where computers never crash, all data is secure, the power never fails, ad nauseam. Many systems this society increasingly depends on are horribly vulnerable to a lot of things besides weather. Might be time to take a little time-out for a reality check.

What Mark said. A decent (not 5-minute garbage) epoxy-and-microballoon slurry is probably your best bet to stabilize the groove (rough it up IN the groove thoroughly first to guarantee adhesion), then repeated primer / block sand / primer / block sand on top until you can't see any ghosting in the primer.

Thanks to everyone who's followed and expressed interest. Rob, the hood, hood sides, nose, front and rear bellypan sections and hard tonneau will all be copied in molds made from the original parts shown here, and the final model will be assembled with those components being openable and / or removable. The parts, as shown here, are all klugey cobbled-up looking things on the hidden sides, just plugs for the molds to be made after the thing is painted. I've shown my technique of making almost-scale-thickness real fiberglass parts on several WIP threads on this and other forums over the years. I've been honing the process, and can produce a near-perfect copy now. From another of my track-nose builds...plug on the left, mold in the center, copied part on the right. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/66744-chopped-34-track-nose-3-w-coupe-new-nose-finally-july-13/ More recent type of mold on the left, copied part in the center... The completed parts are very thin, and because of the exceptionally high-strength of the 1:1 aviation materials I use, they are significantly stronger than either resin or styrene, and don't warp over time.