Ace-Garageguy

I agree. Also looks somewhat like the ill-fated Aptera. Bear in mind, my design dates from 1984, was first shown publicly in 1996. Elio Aptera There's also a hot-rod lobster-buster car...er, Elio...

Yeah, they're practically identical. So's this.

Nice model. Excellent stance and wheel choice, and I love your wood parts. The pop-out windshield looks great too. It's definitely a Type-2, as everything built on the bus platform is. It's also known as a single-cab pickup (they built a crew-cab too) and by various other nicknames.

1/10 scale model, my avatar. Full scale mockup in my old shop

I'm a 1:1 painter too. High-end, show quality or get somebody else. I find most everything for real cars carries over to little ones. Every good painter has favorite techniques he's developed from years of experimentation and practice. They all have some things in common, but there are differences too. Get a good feel for your materials and their capabilities, and practice, practice, practice. This is how I do it. 1) Scrub the body with Comet and an old toothbrush and plenty of water. Takes off the mold lubricant and provides a nice tooth for the primer to adhere to, while NOT softening details like sandpapar will. 2) Do your bodywork, flash removal, sink and parting-line corrections and primer with a SANDABLE material of choice. Sand your bodywork up to 400. Primer will fill the 400 scratches just fine. I use Duplicolor high-build over bodywork, Duplicolor non-high build sandable over virgin plastic. Shadow-mask areas you don't want primer to build up on, like molded details you want to keep. 3) Try to learn to shoot your primer slick to minimize sanding. Sand any bodywork areas as necessary, and re-prime as necessary. Give your primer plenty of time to dry. It WILL shrink, so let it get dry BEFORE you sand it. 600 grit wet or 800 grit wet is fine under the color. If you shoot your primer slick, you can simply scrub it again with Comet to give it tooth for the top-coat. 4) Shoot your color coats. Learn to shoot them slick too, again to minimize sanding of orange-peel. As MrObsessive noted, DO NOT sand metallics unless you're having to level peel, in which case you'll need to shoot another coat or 2 to even out the flake AFTER sanding. 5) Shoot your clear, at least 3 coats if you're using airbrush-thinned or rattle-can products. 3 coats is the minimum for safe colorsanding. 6) Colorsand with sucessively finer and finer foam-backed pads. I start at 2400 and end up at 12,000 grit. Use plenty of water and swill your water container out before every grit change. That keeps the bigger grit from the last time from scratching your finish as you work it with finer paper. Ask me how I know. 7) Polish by hand with something very soft, turning it often. I use 3M Perfect It Ultrafine Machine Polish and a microfiber cloth made for eyeglasses. 8) Wax or seal it if desired. I usually don't use anything after the polish because I get the look I want without it. I've heard a lot of guys talking about Future, but I'm reluctant to put floor wax on my models. Ta Daaa...... there is extensive bodywork on this custom rear panel and where the top was chopped 4 scale inches . I used the exact techniques described above. Notice no sanding scratches show through the paint. Also, when this shot was taken, only the top of the roof and decklid had been color-sanded and polished. The paint was just that slick. You can see some fine orange peel on the back of the decklid and the front fender-door area. I've since sanded and polished this out.

Yes, welcome Taylor. Glad to have you tune in. Lots of good people and info here. May I respectfully suggest you read through the 23 page thread right here on the forum that goes into your question in some depth. Click here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83153 If you look through it and still have some specific questions, I'm sure folks here will happily provide any answer you might need.

Yup.

Amen. And now that I know, I just don't care. Amen again.

Great looking model. Love your color choice. The tinted headlights are a nice touch too.

Surely one of the best wartime aviation stories around. Very nice work on this restoration project, too.

I like whatcha got so far. My kinda car.

French cars are really different from just about anything else on the planet.

This is really impressive. Love the scale engineering, heavier chassis, widened cab, casting your own parts, etc. I've seen your other work (the '38 COE is probably my favorite) and it's always an inspiration.

I'd missed this one 'til now. Stance, wheels / tires, interior all perfect. Love that grimy Plymouth shop manual on the back seat, too. Perfect too. And your use of construction paper for the hood insulation...genius.

Here's mine. A snow strainer.

Snow day ! Yes, it's less than an inch of ice and snow, but this is the South. Everyone smart just stayed home and I'm not required to go in. Me? I've been driving in this stuff all my life, but venturing out in it around here, you might as well paint targets on your doors. Hundreds will for sure sled merrily through red lights today while they wonder why the 4WD, traction-control and ABS don't seem to be working. There have been sirens all around all morning as the first-responders rescue the inevitable physics-doesn't-apply-to-me yups from their overturned 4WD Lexi. But my vehicle is probably pretty safe parked in the driveway.

Really really really like this.

Very interesting question to me, being an ex-smoker. So I did some looking on the interthing. The answer is: yes.

On the days when the expendable-income pocket is full (not so much lately...just got paid for the first time since Thanksgiving) I'll spend what I need to to get what I want. If I'm broke, I won't.

Looks great. Good colors for it, and I really like the chrome steels and whitewalls. The subtle flames are a nice touch too, and the way the blue in them picks up the seat belt color. Very nice.

Special parking spots for special people...

All the specs and a tutorial are on their website. Melting point of Composimold is listed as 130 deg F. Says don't exceed 200 deg F. 130 deg F is very hot tap water. If you're making a mold from a modified "styrene" model car part, the usual quoted permanent-damage point for styrene is said to be around 212 deg F. This means you SHOULD be able to make a mold from a styrene kit part with no damage to the part. If you make a very thick part using a 2-part material, there's a chance it could exotherm, which would melt the mold, of course, if you got hotter than 130 deg F. Your results may differ.

Location, location, location...

And hey...who needs a Harley to pick up chicks??