Ace-Garageguy

"Two can live as cheaply as one", and if you believe that, I have a nice bridge in NYC you might like to buy.

Mentioning the cheesy horror movies of the '30s is fine, but under the rules of the game, the line needs to start with "mentioning".

Yup, you're right. The "warm" whites render distinctly yellowish when photographed if not offset by at least one "daylight" bulb. I know this (as is apparent from the neutral color balance of my photos). I typed it backwards. Thanks for the correction. It IS important to post accurate and correct information.

Just a reminder...lighting doesn't have to be expensive either. My photos above were shot with this cheapo setup. CORRECTION: The swing-arm lamps I got at Goodwill for $5 each. They are rated for only 60 watt bulbs (any more will destroy the switches), but because a 100 watt comparable-light LED only takes about 7 watts, I installed those. LED bulbs come in soft white and daylight-balanced color temperatures, so you can mix and match bulbs to suit the kind of light you prefer. I use two soft whites (which are more blue yellow) and one daylight (more yellow blue). It's very bright, like I said, and you can put the light exactly where you need it. The actual light falling on the desk would take 300 watts using incandescent bulbs, but only 21 watts using LED bulbs, so it saves on your power bill too, doesn't dump waste heat into the house...and the switches in the swingarm lamps last forever because of the low current draw.

Expertise comes from actually doing something over a prolonged period of time, rather than watching videos on yootoob, or reading through a bunch of unfounded, often mindlessly rebleated opinions posted by people who have no successful and demonstrable first-hand experience.

Looking good.

"Fun" to some of us means rivet-counting pedantry.

Hope she continues getting better and lives a long happy life. Lucky dog to have such a caring family and competent vets.

Did laundry, a few errands, cleaned Mr. Spot's box, and hit a couple of hobby places. It's still cold and rainy, so I'm thinking about making a fresh pot of coffee and sitting at the model bench with some Christmas music on just to see if I can remember what it feels like to work on something I don't HAVE to.

Trips can have a way of getting out of hand...

Stopped by an America's Thrift Store while running a few errands, and snagged a set of artist's pastels in the box for $2.99 and a set of big chalks like kids use to mark hopscotch grids on sidewalks for $1.99. Both are excellent materials for weathering techniques. Also found a really nice heavy-duty Velbon camera tripod in its carrying bag for $12.99. I have 2 others I use for my little cheap old Nikon digitals, but I needed a heavier one to handle a real SLR. I'm happy. And speaking of weathering...grabbed these at HobbyTown:

And never confide your deepest secrets to anyone. No matter how "trustworthy" and "loving" they may be, they WILL use them against you at some point.

Today 4 hours ago is now yesterday, or more specifically, last night, but now right now is this morning.

Pretty easy straightforward to scratchbuild except for the Ford script, and even that's not impossible.

Mouth these words: "hotses" (^^^) can be led to culture, but you can't make 'em think.

Looking good. Inline sixes in rods create a whole big bag of additional problems.

Had I known several years ago what I know now, I would have done a few things differently.

I agree with everyone above. These are great kits, and produce superb models when built with your obvious care and skill.

Much of this comes back down to the fact that, as in many cases, it's not so much the tool as the user that's most important. Even though it's not particularly hard to get very acceptable photos suitable for web forums, I've seen no end of photos on here that look like they were taken with a potato covered in vaseline, dark and blurry, with zero apparent effort at composition, and distracting backgrounds detracting from shots of finished models. Some understanding of the capabilities of whatever it is you use to capture images with, and a little experimentation, will get you the best results. And "a lot of light and a tripod".

DeMille be like wun a dem Cataracts.

Smell that there roadkill?

Loud people are often compensating for something.

^^^ '57ish Dodge of some flavor. EDIT: Looks like the '57 Sierra had the patterned silver metal instrument background, but who knows what others.

Yeah, I could start a weekly record of the stuff that's dumped across the street from my house. Wasn't like that here when I moved in. It was a clean working-class neighborhood.