Ace-Garageguy

"Check's in the mail" repeated endlessly for decades is the reason I finally started billing monthly, and at 60 days, I file a lien.

I don't either. Old neighborhood, some semi-slum houses that have really gone downhill due to a change in "demographics" in the last ten years, some getting bought cheap, resto'd and yuppified, sold on by Sotheby's and other hotsy-totsy realtors. Clown just bought the ex-rental house next to me, came by with a master plan to get streetlights put on all the slightly dark spots, and trying to get a new HOA up and running. I wouldn't sign his streetlight petition, telling him one reason I don't live IN THE CITY anymore is that I like it DARK at night. Then he starts whining on about how I'll feel safer. Listen mister...even though I look like an old fossil to you, the only person not safe on my property is someone I didn't invite. And...I've lived here 10 years without having anyone telling me what color I can paint my own dammmmmed mailbox, and he can take his HOA and stick that with the streetlight proposal. I don't think he likes me anymore.

Paint it pretty much like you paint a real one. If it's a solid color, no worries. Just shoot everything separate, making dead sure you get full coverage on every panel, and that you shoot the same number of coats on every panel. If it's a metallic or a pearl... Shoot the jambs and edges. Let that dry. Scuff any overspray on the main body...and be sure to sand out any orange peel. Then tape your opening panels in place and shoot the whole thing. Then shoot a coat of clear over everything. Then take it apart and shoot the rest of your clear. You MIGHT find it works better to very carefully mask the jambs to keep dry overspray from building up inside them...just like we do on the real ones.

Yucky paint jobs with bug tracks, pine cone bits, and dirt all over them seem to be pretty much the norm on a lotta "pro built" models up for auction.

Thanks. Most helpful. Do you have a photo of the results? Thank you too. Good to know from somebody's personal experience. That grill shell looks good. I'd be happy with it.

So glad you didn't say "impossible".

Posting is easier on a horse than just sitting there like a sack of potatoes.

Missed this one earlier. Very nice upgrading here, one of the nicest builds of this kit I've seen. Great color too. Much very good.

Engines are among my favorite things on Earth.

Often, wind doesn't blow, and when it stops, wind turbines stop generating.

You can make hinges like this from brass tubing and sheet, but it takes skill in soldering and the ability to handle very small metal parts during fabrication. EDIT: I just looked back at some notes and test parts I'd made a few years back, and it's possible to make up simplified hinges like this, just slightly larger than exact scale (1/24-1/25) using styrene rod and sheet stock, with wire hinge pins. Again, it's an exercise in very fine, precision fabrication, but they would be capable of supporting the doors adequately...if not played with by children...and lasting indefinitely...and again, if operated carefully, assuming the doors fit their openings accurately and no undue force was placed on the hinges.

Salad days are behind a lot of us who post on this board.

Winners and wieners are sometimes the same thing, so be sure to check your mailboxes kids, 'cause you may already be a wiener !!!!

Mr. Snake was given an involuntary time-out, and elected to stay gone after the lockout time expired. He may or may not be back. He has multiple other interests and hobbies.

Yup, noticed that too. Problem is that any fool with enough bucks to buy a car that'll do over 120 might think he's automatically Mario Fangio, and wreaking death and destruction is often the end result. You can't fix stupid. You can just hope it removes itself from the gene pool without taking too many innocent souls with it.

Not to be argumentative, but you're a little off the beam here. This particular video is consistent with my own first-hand experience. Alsa is the ONLY product that modelers usually look at that actually looks like the results in the video...which is very very good, but not quite chrome...as close as you're going to get without vacuum-metalizing. It's also the only product that CAN be clear coated to enhance durability WITHOUT turning to muddy silver. Just sprayed with NO clear, it's already WAY more durable than any of the marker pens or "ink" products. Entry level materials will set you back a couple to 3 or so hundred bucks if you buy the full line...their basecoats and clears as well as their chrome...and that's enough to "chrome" about 30 square feet of surface area. That's a whole lot of model chroming. You can also buy cheaper packaging, like the rattlecan version, and use your own 2K urethane single-stage black base and urethane 2K clear. EDIT: It's CLOSE to idiot-proof, but for those who don't like to read and follow instructions, and then blame the product when it looks like Fido's backside, it's probably best to stay away.

It works great. It's not cheap.

Something else for modelers to consider...true cellulose acetate is biodegradable, and the packaging even says "compostable" sometimes. This means it's not as stable as high-quality petroleum-derived plastics, and as most of us old fossils know from experience, "acetate" plastic promo bodies from the 1950s and early '60s are mostly either turned to dust and chunks by now, or warped beyond recognition. I'd say that this point in time, either PETG or polycarbonate would be the best choices for model windows, as acetate will eventually self-destruct, and styrene sheet tends to be soft and scratches easily during handling. PETG is probably the ultimate, as it can be had for free, it can be heat formed fairly easily, it's reasonably scratch-resistant, and reasonably stiff for flat windows.

Thanks for your background info. Always fascinating to me to know how guys got into doing world-class model building.

I know some of you guys watch Uncle Tony's Garage on YT. Check out his vid from 2 days ago (4-23-24). I'd put up a direct link, but even though it's true history and the simple facts that any of us in today's American independent and aftermarket automotive businesses deal with daily, I'd probably be banned for making a "political" post.

Newborns have a lot more awareness than some people give them credit for, which can lead to unfortunate conclusions.

Undercarriage is where you put the really ugly mutant baby.

Beautiful kits, beautiful work, maybe the coolest side-gig ever (to a model geek, anyway).

"Sense" wasn't required to post IIRC, just a "sentence", which is widely disregarded, so just go with the flow.