Ace-Garageguy

Money isn't something spiders have much use for, usually.

Everywhere I look it's either mo-skeeters or cockroaches or ants, which is why I've come to think of spiders as my friends.

Again, "hand rubbing" paint on a real car is just WAY too much work in this day of modren labour saving devices.

Cool car. Looks lots better. I might try that on something... I remember when those were pretty hot tuna trawlers.

Yes, no, maybe. It partially depends on how much surface detail there is, like wipers and emblems and handles, etc. Sanding to remove crazing will pretty much obliterate them. On the other hand, if the body doesn't have much molded-on detail, sanding and re-primering can indeed save even a bad one. This Gunze Ferrari 250 GTO hood crazed badly, as did the rest of the car...because I didn't TEST FIRST. You can't really see it on the full body shot, but it's just as bad. It was a fairly expensive kit and I really didn't want to throw it out or buy another one. I saved the hood and the rest of the body by lightly sanding it with 400 wet, then spraying a few coats of made-for-models high build primer, and sanding some more. HOWEVER...most of the panel lines had to be re-scribed because they got so shallow during sanding. Still, in the end, I was able to save it 100%, and she's almost ready for paint...which will be Tamiya lacquer this time, made for models.

If there's a particular post with really valuable information I don't want to lose or have to hunt for, I'll copy it and save to a notebook somewhere on my own drive, labeled as to what it's about.

And another thing: lacquer made for cars, whether it's primer or colored paint, has hot solvents in it that are capable of pretty much ruining some plastic model car bodies. It's never happened to some people, so they insist it's not a thing. Yeah, well, it just hasn't happened to you YET. Plastic car models, though they're all made of stuff in the polystyrene family, have exact chemical compositions that are all over the board. Some are extremely solvent resistant (like some old Johan plastics that even liquid cement will barely touch). Some are soft and will craze badly under the mildest of lacquers. So do your research, and TEST before you commit to painting a model body with anything. Here's a place to start:

You know, this is why I hate the internet so much. Every ignorant clown and his equally ignorant dog just HAS to spout off about stuff he knows nothing of. Among other things, I've been painting real cars and aircraft off and on for over 5 decades. Lacquer requires no hardener. Synthetic and alkyd enamels require no hardener. Acrylic enamel for cars doesn't require a hardener, but it can be added to improve chip resistance, chemical resistance, and gloss retention over time. BUT...there's a range of "two component" refinish materials that absolutely positively DO REQUIRE a hardener, or they never "dry". These include urethanes, acrylic urethanes, and epoxies. IF YOU'RE USING ANY OF THOSE LAST THREE AUTOMOTIVE PAINTS, IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE TO USE COMPATIBLE MATERIALS WITHIN THE SAME SYSTEM THAT ARE ENGINEERED TO WORK TOGETHER, AND TO READ, UNDERSTAND AND FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURERS' TDS (TECHNICAL DATA SHEETS) WHEN WORKING WITH THEM. MATERIALS WITH HARDENERS CAN BE EXTREMELY TOXIC AS WELL, SO UNDERSTAND THE NECESSARY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS FULLY...AND FOLLOW THEM EVERY TIME. YOU MIGHT GET AWAY WITH USING SOME 2-COMPONENT CLEARS OVER SUBSTRATES THEY'RE NOT INTENDED TO BE USED OVER, BUT IT'S ALWAYS A ROLL OF THE DICE. SO IF YOU JUST HAVE TO USE SOME 2-COMPONENT CLEAR FOR SOME REASON, ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SPECIFIC MATERIALS YOU WANT TO USE TOGETHER, AND NEVER ACCEPT THE FIRST ANSWER AS GOSPEL.

I really used to like Starburst and pretty much anything chocolate...Tootsie Rolls, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, Mounds, M&Ms, yeah baby...but I rarely eat much sugar these days other than the occasional entire cherry or key lime pie...

"Teenager" is something that would be cool to be today...but knowing what I know now about human nature and how the world actually works.

1960's were a great time to be alive, in the opinion of this past-it old fossil.

You could say I have a little experience with the 1:1s. I've never been a fan of the stance out of the box of the Revell '32 Fords, and they didn't change it on this one apparently. Bottom line is that the suspension needs to be lowered to get those rear tires higher in the wheel wells...like the SoCal car, and the front looks like it could use work too. I just got a couple of these but haven't cracked the box yet...BUT...if the rear end setup is like their earlier '32s, it's no big deal to cut the tops off of the rear springs or bags or whatever they are, to get that tail down. Pay particular attention to centering the rear wheels in the wells fore-and-aft too, if you want it to look right. That may also take a little bit of modificating. You can usually get the nose down on a Revell '32 by shaving the top of the front transverse spring. Whether there's enough meat there to get it down as low as the SoCal car is anybody's guess, and the SoCal car just might have a front axle with more drop than what comes in the Revell kit. If so, you'll need to get more creatively radical...

That does indeed look like a very nice rig. And I like that the mill column looks like it has its own motor, so you don't have to swap stuff around like on the Unimat and some Sherlines. Today's typical Japanese quality is very good, but though I'd love to have it, my little Unimat and Sherline will have to suffice.

1) I'd suggest reading all the info available on this site about correct stripping techniques. 2) I'd also suggest reading up on correct prep for paint, including removing mold seams, scuffing, primering, etc. 3) Yes, Tamiya colors will cover primer. That's what they're designed to do. Their primers and paints are a system that work together....but it will take multiple coats of paint, applied correctly, to get a consistent finish. 4) Strip that thing right and then prep it right...you should have no need to buy another kit to get a body. 5)

Country road trips used to be one of my favorite ways to unwind, but now I have to drive 50 miles in traffic just to get out of it.

Mediocre seems to be the new awesome, so don't worry about it.

Looking good, worthwhile improvements on the engine. Just looking at that orange 1:1 engine bay reminds me vividly how sweet these cars are to drive. Everything good about the 914, light, nimble, responsive, perfect brakes, but with a little more power...and it sounds like a 911.

Model Railroader, Popular Science, Hot Rod and Rod & Custom magazines, model and electronics stuff...mostly...not that there was all that much to spend, but I did make money washing cars and mowing lawns.

Very short fuzz, used to be pretty much impossible to restore, but I imagine that's been addressed by now.

Yup, that's similar and I acquired the kit a while back. I believe there were two built like that, but I may be mistaken. But the subject of this post has a differently shaped Targa bar, and a 2-part removable roof section...and I think it has a hard rear window. The film car is on the same 5-spoke alloys as the model illustration shows, but is on wires now.

"Made in Japan" was synonymous with cheap junk decades ago, but pretty much denotes very good quality today.

This one-of-one Ferrari 365 GTS4 Daytona with a "Targa" roof is apparently the car David Janssen drives in The Swiss Conspiracy, free on YT now. EDIT: I saw the car in the film and researched it, having never seen one like it, and sure enough, this is THE car. https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/ferrari/365/1971/959798 I didn't know of it until this evening...

Side-sway from too-long shackles used to lower a car with a transverse rear spring is where we got the term "swaybar", which mitigated sway but was actually a Panhard bar, and the commonly used term "swaybar" today actually means "anti-roll bar", an entirely different concept.

You beat me to it.