Ace-Garageguy

Oh yeah. I just love a ground scraping woody. Gonna be good.

Hmmmmm....I see a lot of really fun but not-at-all contest-quality builds getting praised, a lot. I really just think it's important for each individual to do what's fun for him (or her), and not worry too much about whether it pleases ANYBODY else. Of course there's a flip side to that. I think we all enjoy having our work admired by our peers, or else why would we post here at all? I have to admit I like it when someone "gets" what it is I'm trying to do, and only fellow modelers can possibly get it. I'm inspired by so much of what I see here, and certainly not only by blow-me-away spectacular builds.

Again, thanks for the interest in saving this little car. It was such an oddball, I really didn't expect it to be very popular. Casey, I'm definitely keeping the forward lean of the front fenders, but I'll probably stay with a more rounded look for the tonneau to harmonize with the door tops. Rick (pharr7226), I'll definitely have it far enough along to bring to the next ACME meeting. Hope to see you there. Steve (route66modeler) The glass cloth is something I've had on hand for a while. It's not really scale, but it's the finest weave I've seen yet. We use it to repair control surfaces on sailplanes where weight is absolutely critical. I'll contact my associate in Arizona and get a supplier name for you. OR, I have enough to last me a lifetime, and I'll be glad to send you some if you want. I've got progress shots, but my last camera battery died just moments ago. I'm sure the tail-lights will not be to everyone's liking.

Major cool build. I've got a friend who actually raced one of these when he was stationed on Okinawa during the VietNam era. Looks GREAT, and I'm sure my old buddy will get a real charge out of seeing it.

Cool. Thank you.....I''d forgotten I had some of this stuff too.

Oh YEAH YEAH YEAH !!!!! I really want to know this too !!!!

Well, logic would pretty much say it HAS to be different plastic formulations then. Maybe several kit manufacturers tried something "newer, better, cheaper", and you're stuck dealing with the results. It sounds like Revell has gone back to something more solvent-resistant. I have NOT YET used Duplicolor COLOR over Duplicolor PRIMER, but I know many people swear it works fine, every time. I'm looking forward (yeah, right) to experimenting in the near future, 'cause I've got a build almost to paint that I can only get the color I want from the big D. I've had outstanding results from Duplicolor primer under everything Testors. Ace Hardware's rattlecan black lacquer is hot enough to go through the D. primer and pull up or shrink bodywork, but with enough coats and final colorsanding, it will slick out fine. There was a time I was having pretty good luck with SEM High Build primers, and their Self Etching primers, but I've had very erratic results lately, sometimes crazing insanely, sometimes not.

IMHO your reducer or thinner in your color coats is so hot, it's re-wetting all of your basecoats and, as you say, it really looks to me like it's soaking ALL the way through and melting the plastic substrate. The swirl pattern at the front of the door is what makes me think that, and I'd be pretty ticked if it was happening to me. Can you use a not-so-hot reducer or thinner for your color? Since it's a model and won't be subjected to UV and real-car weathering, you can often get away with non-recommended color coat reducers. If that doesn't work, my best guess is that a 2K urethane or polyester automotive surfacer is going to be the only way out. Once 2Ks are fully hard, they're pretty well resistant to any topcoats. They are also high build, and tend to obliterate detail. Just as an aside, I recently built two Revell '70 Chevelles, same tooling, different releases and plastics. The older blue one, no prob. The recent white one.....when I hit the chassis with rattle can (aircraft engine) ENAMEL that I've used successfully on MANY models, it crazed like crazy. It DIDN'T craze the scratch-built styrene roll cage attached to it, however.

Then they got an A+++.

Yeah, nice save for sure. Love to see junk turned into a good looking model.

I quit building when I was about 15, took it up again a while back after 40 years, and recently got to the point I don't gag when I look at my work. it's never EVER too late so long as you're above ground. I've found that the close work has actually forced my vision to improve during the last few years too.

Some sticks of .080" X .060" styrene and a bottle of Plast-I-Weld liquid cement. How boring can you get?

I've had a lot of models that have fought me every step of the way. I've found it helps if I can convince myself that I'm smarter than the plastic.

Yup, great build.

That's one of the best builds of the old AMT kit I've seen. It's not easy to get such nice results with the fiddly way the upper body goes together, and yours looks great. Reminds me again why the '36 Ford is one of my all time top 10 favorite car designs. Killer color too.

Another pretty much perfect build in my opinion. Just enough, not too much, and a real eye-catcher. Really makes me wish Atlanta had an ocean nearby.

QUOTING thatz4u: "people say "perfectionist" like it's something to be proud of" I think it's kind of a shame that some of you look down on "perfectionism", and think it's only people who are building to impress others on a "contest table" who take the time to build really accurate, well engineered and flawlessly painted models. Perfection is an unattainable goal, but the PURSUIT of perfection makes your builds better and better. This hobby has room for everyone's level of ability, skill and desired quality. Personally, I'm my own harshest critic and I build for myself, period. If a car does well in a contest (I've only entered 2 in 30 years of building), great. BUT, I ENJOY doing the work, no matter how long it takes or how many times I have to re-do it to get the result I want. That's my thing, and one of my pleasures in life is to look at something I've done...model, 1:1 car, or a completely un-related whatever....and go "Wow. That's pretty nice. Did I actually do that?. Dang." But like I said, that's MY thing. I don't look down on someone who is content to glue kits together with only parts that came in the box, leave the flash and sprue rash on, with paint that's pebbly, orange peeled and poorly masked. I honestly can't understand how anyone over 5 could be happy with that, but hey, it's OK. If that's your thing, enjoy it, or any other level of refinement in between, but PLEASE stop bashing people who want to do a little more.

Yup.

Why not just use paint actually made for model applications? Or at least rattle can something. Looks like it would be less money and less grief in the long run.

Lots of tasty goodness going on here.

Perfect. Reminds me of a sunburned '62 I had eons ago.

Wow. Man. Pretty incredible.

Wicked.

Quoting Joe Handley: "Something tells me he wouldn't have anything to worry about during a Zombie Appacolyps........they'd take one look at that abomination and look elseware for brains to eat................" So far I think that's the best response. This is kinda what happens when someone with no clue as to how things actually work, and no interest in finding out, decides to make something similar to something else he's seen. There's a story about some isolated Pacific Islanders many years ago who made an airplane out of rocks and assorted detritus, more-or-less arranged in the shape of an airplane, then wondered why it wouldn't fly. A little of the same thing going on here, I believe. Or maybe WE'RE all the ignorant ones, and this is really a secret-secret car being readied for the also secret-secret Subterranean and Underwater Daytona to Yokahama Race.

Knockout build. Like the tag too.