Ace-Garageguy

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...

They aren't sports cars, but the handling is crisp and responsive, the steering quick and direct, and the body lean not anywhere near as bad as you'd expect it to be with that much upper-body weight (including a lot of glass). Acceleration on the non-turbo cars is also plenty adequate for 'normal" driving. Again, they aren't sports cars, but they certainly handle much better than many vintage "purist" ones. When they start wearing out, the suspension crashes, rattles and bangs something fierce, but returning the car to as-designed specs fixes everything. The one huge drawback is the 70,000 mile timing belt replacement interval (folks who say 90,000 are living on borrowed time). It's a bugger of a job, the worst one I've EVER done (including many Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches, Alfas, etc.). It's also expensive, running as high as $1500, as you need to do the water pump, idler and seals while you're in there.

Yes sir, good idea, and one of the benefits of today's massive hard-drives compared to the paltry little things of just a relatively few years ago. I love computers...but DO back-up what you want to keep. Nothing more frustrating than losing permanently a bunch of never-to-be-seen-again stuff.

Plenty close enough, or you could just say you have an electric pump mounted close to the tank, not visible from the top of the car. This would accurately explain the absence of a mechanical pump on the engine, and for a high-output, multi-carb setup, would be better anyway.

Yes, a 12,000 grit final-sanding is almost as glossy as a polished surface, but I'd personally still go the extra step and polish it. Even at 12.000, there's still a hint of dullness or haze from microscopic sanding scratches...in my experience, anyway.