Ace-Garageguy

Me three, but the custom/rod pickup truck thing Mr. Welda mentioned has me kinda on the fence too. Some of those really aren't a good fit with working vehicles, but then again, there are a few wild modified big trucks as well. So very confusing.

Man, I can't even finish one of anything, much less multiples.

Liking the hardtop-look too.

Yes, Casey is a good guy. He sent me a resin body several weeks back, and I STILL haven't sent him my end of the trade. He hasn't complained. Thanks Casey...it's in the package, really. Joker (aka James Scott) sent me a set of period-perfect wheels (and a bunch of other good stuff I certainly wasn't expecting) for the '29 lakes car I'm currently building. A very generous gesture on his part. Thank you, sir.

Yes please, more please...

Check fitting the rear axle and spring cutouts... I want a windshield like on this old Monogram Kurtis... ...so here's the hard tonneau getting marked for it... Also cut down a unit from another Kurtis gluebomb to make a bomber seat... ...and here's where we are now.

Fitted the chassis w/ rear suspension mocked-up in final location... ...to flip it over and verify the stance is still right. Started filling the cockpit opening with styrene strip for a hard tonneau, and filling the rear wheel wells with clean styrene sheet inserts. Then, because the rear suspension is in the right place, was able to mark and cut the new wheel wells for correct axle and spring clearance.

Looks like you may need a slightly modified driver to go with it.

Airbrush, but like in "air guitar", if you know what I mean.

True, but no floating alternators either. Yes Joe, it was almost overwhelming.

Nah...I just happened to catch the alien light in the act of beaming them up.

Well, I'm gonna get at least 3 times as many done this year.

Beautiful work, as always.

"Metallics" consist of tiny metal or plastic particles suspended in a tinted clear. This is so you can actually see the particles, or flakes. If the flakes were mixed with an "opaque" paint, they would pretty much disappear. Because the flakes are suspended in a tinted clear, it can sometimes take as many as 5 coats, even when using Teasors "one coat" paints, to achieve full hiding and even color with no basecoat or primer show-through. This is why painters of real cars use "sprayout cards" with black and white squares. When you can't see the black through the paint any more, you know you have enough coats of paint to provide full-hiding. This is especially important if the color is not going to be clear-coated, but sanded and polished. It's necessary to provide additional coats of paint after full-hiding is achieved to allow for the removal of paint on high-spots that is inevitable during polishing, to avoid light spots and primer show-through.

Stopped by my LHS (which in this case is a HobbyTown) and was struck by how many great old models have been re-issued, and how many newer ones are available from folks like Moebius. There's more variety in models on the shelves now than I'd ever thought I'd see again. Only downer was that the HO train-car kits were almost all gone, and have been really light at this store for years now.

England has much the same problem. Many Brits regularly make jokes about the factories and industries and exports they USED to have. I recall one British economist warning of impending economic doom many years ago, saying something to the effect of "essentially, we'll all be taking in each other's laundry".

I recently bought the AMT '62 Corvette "Sock it to Me" edition solely based on the box art (that, and it was marked down to $11 for clearance). I knew better. I know these old AMT Vettes have horrible blobular chassis and the nose details are not well-scaled or proportioned. I was disappointed when I opened the box...BUT...it's got some cool parts, nice tires, and will end up being a flip-nose drag car on another old gluebomb-based Vette chassis. I'm happy for $11, and I LOVE the box art.

Why not just use pins, as above, that don't require all that rework?

See post #4. Also known as "drawing pins" or "map pins", they can be found in a variety of sizes and colors.

The problem with the ones that come in kits is that they have a mold-seam right around the middle. They're small, and getting the seam removed cleanly while keeping them round can be a real bugger.

Gotta agree with that, but to people who don't fly, it's just junk. The old airframe may have so much fatigue cracking and corrosion that it would never be flyable again anyway. Better to go out as a silly race car than Bud cans, I guess.

I was just looking for some of those the other day. I found some very nice SPHERICAL-headed pins, in various colors and 3 sizes (different scales) in the local fabric store. The heads are plastic and very symmetrical. You can hold them by the metal pin-part while you paint them, and then clip it off. The nub of the pin goes down the injector stack. Ball bearings (you can buy individual balls at some hardware stores) work too, but are harder to paint. Sticking them to a piece of double-sided tape works.

Don't worry about toe-stepping. Nobody here got to be good at what they do by ignoring techniques other people have developed. It's ALWAYS good to be shown something new, or pointed in a helpful direction.

Here's a link to the story of probably the most famous of the Bonneville Studebakers. http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1953-studebaker-coupe/ Here's another link, to a tech tutorial on making hinges for a flip-front-end that fits right every time. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70025 And as far as filler goes, you can't go wrong with Bondo Professional glazing putty, #801. It comes with its own hardener, in modeler-friendly packaging. Here's a link to a current project of mine, and you can see that it works very well (post #36) http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96942#entry1324599