Ace-Garageguy

This AMT parts-pack contains a smallblock Chevy V8 with 2 build options, an old blown 392 Chrysler FirePower Hemi, a V8 Pontiac, again with 2 optional setups, and a Corvair flat-6. The Allison aircraft engine in the background is also in there. You do NOT get 7 engines, as the package photo suggests, but the 5 you DO get are very good quality. Revell also made excellent engine kits over the years. The last release of the smallblock Chevy V8, Pontiac V8, Ford 427 V8, and the Cadillac (labeled wrong as a 354 but actually correct for all 331-365-390 engines) didn't sell well, and they can be had cheap on ebay. Revell also made a Buick "nailhead" and a blown Chrysler Hemi in the lineup years ago. They are both exceedingly rare and somewhat expensive now.

Thanks Tom, for taking the time to post the advice. I've watched a couple of videos and wasn't particularly impressed with the results shown, but your recommendation to use pieces well larger than the intended coverage area makes perfect sense. I was also completely unaware that the stuff took almost zero force to cut. That was the part that had me concerned most...marring the paint permanently if my lines wavered during the cuts and required correction, as I'm SURE they will until I get a real feel for it.

Well, since you work with the technology professionally, I'd think you'd be able to recognize a re-touched image even quicker than I can. Some things are just too perfect to be true, or colors too even, or the flakes in a particular "metallic" paint appear to be smaller than anything commercially available (these things I know), or reflections just a little off, or textures differ from image to image, etc. There's also a "look" that images have when they've been "colored", and it's as obvious to me as the old hand-colored postcards made from black-and-white photos were. If you look at some advertising that shows images of the product in several colors, it's painfully obvious it's all the same basic image, and the "color" has been changed digitally. The same "look" appears on some models here occasionally. I routinely sharpen the focus of the images from my older camera, or tweek the color balance to compensate for ugly lighting, or lighten or darken the image for clarity, but I never enhance the model...ever, ever, ever.

It's always unfortunate when people get stereotyped because of their interests, but the truth is that stereotypes exist because, in a lot of cases, they ring true. We've all known, I'm sure, the A student, or engineer, or model builder, StarTrek fan, gamer...whatever...who may be somewhat lacking in conventional social skills, fashion sense, or may be a little behind the curve in personal hygiene. Because people so often tend to focus on the negative, the negative personality aspects evinced by some members of a particular group take on a life of their own, and become the popular defining characteristic of the group, rather than the actual focus of the group defining it. Sad, but true. For me, being single, since I've aged to the point where I couldn't get a date if I had a $100 bill tied around my neck (or is that a pork chop? I never seem to be able to remember), I'm glad to have model building as a fall-back replacement for a once-active social life. I'm also glad that my limited club involvement lets me interact, in person, with other folks who share some of my interests.

So, what do you guys think about models presented as being as-built, but are in reality significantly retouched and improved with photo-editing software? Every now and then I see this, and granted it makes the car look great, but it seems a little misleading to me. I know folks complain about the manufacturers doing this with box-art builds, but everyone seems to let it slide here. Just curious as to everyone's opinions.

I blame the deer...

Yes, I meant for the deer, for exactly that reason...

This is another case where bottom-feeding filth with no self-restraint and no respect for other human beings, even little helpless ones, have made things complicated for the rest of us...the old lowest-common-denominator-human-garbage-ruining-life syndrome. It's hard to believe that even members of the clergy, and educators...people in positions of what should be unimpeachable trust with young ones... can justify to their sick, sick souls that using children for their pleasure is somehow OK. And some of these twisted predators even have the audacity to call it "love". I'm surprised they even allow Santa Claus at malls and stores anymore. If the guy forgets he has a little flashlight in his pants pocket, and some kid runs and tells his mommy he felt something...funny...while sitting on Santa's lap, ol' St. Nick could be tied up and burned at a stake. On the other hand, any adult who actually DOES have inappropriate contact with a child should be cut up into small pieces, very very slowly, and flushed into a septic tank.

This would be embarrassing...

The 1960 DeSoto was based on the Dodge unibody, so the older body-on-frame of the '57 Chrysler would be inappropriate. A Lindberg '64 Dodge chassis would be much closer. http://www.allpar.com/fix/body/unit-body.html There is an appropriately marked DeSoto FireDome engine in the old AMT '53 Ford pickup kit.

Deer hunting??

Wow. I opened this thread and immediately said "wow". Great looking images.

Like the man said, a beauty supply store or cosmetic department in a larger store is always a good bet. Great way to meet women, too. And like the other man said, most craft stores usually have a decent selection of various tools to do all kinds of things. And more women. I've found that some of the tweezers sold specifically for model work are made from cheap, soft metal, and won't stay aligned. This CAN be helpful if you need to bend a pair to get to a particular oddball part in a weird location.

Nice hack-'n-whack going on here. Looks good.

You might want to scroll down to this topic you've already asked, and that we answered at length. If that's too hard, just click here...http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=92185

I LOVE this model. Perfect "survivor" look, and a real inspiration to me to learn the BMF thing. It's entirely possible a car could actually look like this, with good paint on the sides, after being cleaned up...especially if it had been sitting under cover, but not covered. Think of a layer of dust and bird droppings on the top, holding moisture against the paint and fostering surface rust, but not sticking to the lower sides.

Yes, you can. If you only go to 2000, you'll have to do more polishing to get rid of all the fine sanding scratches, but you can do it. It will just take more time to polish. 2000 is usually as fine as anybody bothers to go on real cars, but you can use a machine to rapidly polish the scratches away on a real car. Patience with your hand-polishing WILL pay off.

You do actually get that in Arizona (and the desert Southwest in general) sometimes. Local thunderstorms can turn dry washes into unexpected rivers pretty quick.

Whole project looks great. I for one really appreciate the progress shots, and all the information on the real car and how you achieved your results. Nice work, sir.

I don't think the Prius is embarrassing so much as it is an expression of bland, insipid, crowd-dulled mass-appeal-striving. An eco-Camry. I like the tech of these cars too, though it has a long way to go before it's fully evolved, and works well enough to really justify the expense and complication...but the only one I actually find myself kinda lusting after is the Honda Cr-z, purely because of its looks.

I really appreciate the encouragement, guys. Frankly, I'm apprehensive about buggering a nice paint job during the learning curve. I had set aside an AMT '57 Ford to practice on, thinking if I really screwed it up, I could just remove the chrome trim, drill holes where it would have been, and make a ratty gasser out of it. Guess it's time to forge ahead.

Pretty generic mechanical Ford pump, just forward of the oil filter, photo above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo below, fuel-pump location blocked off, would use an electric, remote mount pump. --------------------------------------------------------------

I know this is getting farther away from the thread topic, but I was just talking to a Miata buddy and he seems to think the Ford V8 swap, if you use alloy heads, adds almost nothing to the car weight and supposedly slightly improves the overall balance. I know this was the case with the smallblock Ford swap into the old Z-cars. Vehicle weight went up by about 50 pounds, but it was farther back in the chassis (V8 being shorter than the inline 6). Another hot swap for the Miata would be the 252 HP Ford EcoBoost all-aluminum 2 liter 4-cylinder. Crate motors, including the intercooler, are available for around 6 grand. Building the old Miata motor to make that much power, reliably, would cost at least as much.

This is as close to my feelings about this hobby as anyone has ever come. I don't actually "lose interest", but it almost becomes a chore to go through the mundane motions of actually doing the "grunt work" to get the things done, once the new of doing the conceptualizing and mockups and initial fitting and verifying-it-will-work are all over. I KNOW I can do primo paint, I've done it, and it's work, so i put off doing it. I KNOW I can do primo bodywork, I've done it, and it's work. Same with detailing, etc. 'Bout the only thing I DON'T know I can do is BMF, and I've put off trying it (possibly to avoid failing at it??) for years. This is a character flaw I have to constantly battle in EVERY facet of my life. I'd probably end up enjoying this hobby a lot MORE if I knuckled down and started finishing models. Of course, the flip side of that is that I can work as much or as little as I want on the models and they NEVER HAVE TO BE FINISHED. I still HAVE FUN doing the mockups and rough-ins, the purely creative parts. WORK, on the other hand, involves actually FINISHING CARS FOR OTHER PEOPLE.

I assume you've seen the smallblock Ford swaps into Miatas...