Ace-Garageguy

Georgia's governor is already declaring several counties as having weather-related states of emergency and the first snowflake hasn't fallen yet. Several counties are cancelling school classes for the next couple days too. Hmmm. This will be interesting.

Paint shrinks as it dries, sanding scratches become more apparent, and the overall result is that that nice high gloss goes away. If you got a gloss you were happy with, I'd suggest you just let your materials shrink in longer before you sand and polish. Back in the 'day', high-end shops like Barris who shot 1:1 cars in lacquer primers as undercoats would often let them "gas out" or "shrink in" for months before shooting color, just for this reason. The longer you can let your materials dry, the more permanent your gloss will be. If you want to accelerate the curing / drying process, consider shooting catalyzed materials rather than air-dry enamels (and lacquers).

I really like your idea of a slammed Nash. Does anybody do that body in resin?

Though I'm a born and bred Yankee and grew up driving in the stuff, I got weather-related stuck for the first time in my life this time, as the roads were so clogged with accidents, there was no way to go anywhere. I ended up pulling my truck into a parking lot and walking the 5 miles home. The timing of the weather is what caused the worst gridlock in the city's history. Though people had been advised to stay home, few heeded the warning because by the morning rush hours, there were only a few flakes harmlessly blowing around. The whole thing looked like it would be another weather-media hysteria non-event. Wrong. Temperatures had been well below freezing all night, so the precipitation didn't melt when it landed. Cars passing over it during the rush melted it, but as soon as traffic lightened after about 9:30, it all re-froze and started getting slick. By 10:30 it was becoming apparent there might be a problem looming, but decisions to close up and leave offices and schools were delayed until the ice was 1" thick on most roads. The Metro area has very few sanding trucks and fewer plows, and by the time the extent of the icing was really obvious to everyone, there was no possible way to deploy any sanding trucks anyway; the roads were already jammed. Couple that with the facts that Southerners don't ever seem to realize that if you go fast on ice you crash into something else when you hit the brakes, and the complete lack of chains or studded tires down here, and you have a real mess. Almost every main intersection was blocked by crashes early on, and by the time the wrecks were cleared, the ice had built up to the point where cars with conventional tires had no hope of getting any traction. You don't realize how hilly the Atlanta area is until you drive a 2WD pickup in ice here...and it's always amusing to watch 4 wheel-drive vehicles (on conventional tires) go sliding into one another as their owners think they're invincible. Most wreckers here don't have chains, nor do many of the emergency vehicles, and the city's roads soon became impassible with abandoned and hopelessly stuck cars. Reports of 17 hour commutes, running out of gas while idling in stopped traffic, and stores like Home Depot opening all night as warm refuges were the norm. The Atlanta Mayor promises to throw a lot of money at the problem and hire some expensive ice storm consultants. Uh huh. Snow and freezing rain are in the forecast for the next few days, but the temps will be higher, so ice buildup may not be an issue this time. We'll see.

This is very common with some older kits. I've seen it in Revell, AMT, Johan and MPC from the 1960s mostly. Although I haven't researched the exact chemical reaction, it has to do with the plasticizers in the vinyl tires (which keep them flexible) leaching into the styrene they're in contact with, and acting as a slow-working solvent that allows the styrene to locally soften and 'flow'. It's also a problem between mounted tires on styrene wheels on older models, and can be controlled by wrapping a wheel with one layer of BMF before mounting the tire. I've had some older models significantly damaged, in sealed boxes, and I've seen wheels turned to rubbery goo over time when in contact with vinyl tires. Here's a thread on another forum...http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/large-scale-motorcycle/2179-plastic-vinyl-time.html

Keen green mean machine !!

Arm & Hammer deodorant comes in nicely sized oval plastic packages that I've been saving for airport fuel trucks. That might work for your water tank...

Looking forward to seeing something other than a Ferd hot rod, much as I love 'em.

Well, that's good news anyway. Glad to hear from someone in the know that the tooling still exists.

Yup. The silicones are in there to help prevent water spots on glasses and such, and can play merry jell with paint. That's one reason i began scrubbing my model bodies with Comet and hot water (with a toothbrush) before primering, and washing them off with 70% isopropyl alcohol if they sit around for a while. Since I started the 'overkill' preventative procedures, I never have fisheye problems...ever. Casey's right. Strip it, clean it properly, and start over.

The two-tone gasser look is really cool. Nice work. The little car has a lot of instant appeal.

Man, your paint looks great and your pipes and PE wheels really bring it to life. Nice work sir.

Great looking work, cool concept.

Probably just have the entire model-building experience in virtual reality by then, but why bother with models anyway, when you could just as easily have every Playboy model at your VR, full-function beck-and-call instantly?

Call it "snowfarming". It could revitalize the rust belt economy.

Jeez. If Atlanta had snowfall like you guys, the city would be paralyzed until June.

Even if some kits appreciate wildly over the years (which I sincerely doubt), I won't live long enough to see it. Kinda glad too. Just one less thing to worry about IMO. If I HAD to guess, I'd put my money on things like the Galaxie '48 Chevy Aerosedan and the Accurate Miniatures McLarens and Corvettes. Great kits, already climbing in price, and out of production.

Thanks for the interest, guys. I'm still moving the house, studio, shop and office. No progress on anything else, but should be clear in maybe 2 more weeks. Man, this has been a nightmare.

There are, however, often considerable differences in the actual quality of the repairs your vehicle will get if it's insured by the lizard guys or somebody old-name. The lowball companies INSIST on aftermarket sheetmetal parts, lights, bumpers, and a host of used LKQ junkyard bits...which very often don't fit correctly or are just plain worn out, and they cut the labor rates to the bone, so the shops that specialize in lizard repairs sometimes don't get the top talent in the body repair biz. And I've had claims reps in my shops from the lowballs that didn't have a clue as to how to write a correct estimate. Just a reminder...you almost never get what you pay for, but you ALWAYS pay for what you get. I've got more than a little experience on both sides of this industry.

Yes, the body shells of all the AMT '32s are too short (vertically) at the firewall, but it's not really due to the fender design...just an incorrect scaling job by AMT for whatever reason. The Revell bodies, which ARE correct heightwise, more or less, will fit the AMT fenders pretty well. This shows how much too short the AMT body (on right) is compared to the Revell body. ALL the AMT and Revell shells share these dimensions. More on the AMT height problems and corrections here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/?showtopic=78983 This is the primary reason i did the "wedge" channel job on the model in post 10. Here are 2 more looks from the same kit.

With a little work, it's a great base to build a traditional car... Build thread here...http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59708

We had 2 to 3 inches of powder on Tuesday. It turned to ice on the roads and crippled the entire metropolitan Atlanta area. Things are almost back to normal this evening, but I passed 2 fresh slid-off-roads this afternoon, and my driveway, on a steep hill, only became passable at 3PM.

There are several criteria that determine wheel offset on 1:1 cars, and for FUNCTION, best design practice strives to produce a wheel that places the center of the tire contact patch roughly in the center of the wheel bearings at the rear, and at the center of the steering axis in the front. Various offsets are necessary to accomplish this depending on the type of suspension system employed, the design of the bearing carriers or spindles, and whether the car is front-wheel-drive, or rear-wheel-drive. Model cars that are models of existing vehicles usually get this pretty close to right, but not always. Deeper or different offsets are employed in custom aftermarket or racing applications, to go for a specific 'look' that fills the wheel well, or to allow running wider tires. Offset explained (backset is also referred to as back-spacing) http://cocomponents.com/dealer/blog/wheel-offset-explained/

"...basically you could find old plates in good condition of the same year as your vehicle and register them to use on your older vehicle as long as the number/letter combination didn't coincide with anything currently in use." Ga. has something similar.

Pinterest is an interesting source for reference photos too. I found a collection of aviation photographs that were just spectacular...each and every one. Don't sell it short until you've looked around over there.