Ace-Garageguy

Not much new other than a fresh coat of Duplicolor sandable red oxide primer for continued blocking. Getting close to paint. I still maintain that poseable steering is one of the most impactful upgrades you can make to any model car. Seen here with her build-sister Gunze Ferrari 250GTO with Pontiac GTO power. Geez. Lookit all that trash I didn't dust off.

Oh yes, most definitely yes.

I'm intending to start building the HO-scale model RR layout I've been putting off for 6 decades, in the attached 2-car garage at the new place out west. I don't need the garage for cars, as there's a sizable real-car shop on the property. The period is to be late 1950s, early '60s, during the end of the steam-to-diesel transition, but an alternative-history interpretation focusing on America's vanishing heavy industry as much as railroading. John Allen's masterpiece, the Gorre and Daphetid RR layout, has been an inspiration to me since I was a kid. I've acquired a few pieces of commercially-produced commemorative rolling stock over the years when they came up cheap. This is the latest, a drover's caboose in G&D livery. With appropriate trucks and brakes, a car like this could still have been in interchange service in the target period. I've also been buying cheap, distressed rolling stock in interesting road names, mostly "fallen-flags" from the period. As they are usually in need of repair / overhaul to bring them up to current performance expectations, I also have been buying multiples of the industry-standard Kadee couplers when they come up for well under retail. Latest batch, below. Anyone who has an interest in model railroading, dioramas, or modeling in general owes it to himself to look at some of John Allen's spectacular work. https://greatdivideline.com/the-original-masterpiece How's this for inspiration?

I'm almost certain that, on the real cars, there are at least two different windshield heights depending on body style. Somewhere along the line, I might check those part numbers...

So...does this stuff work like the "buffing" metalizer, or is it like the "non buffing" stuff? A while back I bought every bottle and can of the "buffing" colors I could get just before the prices went crazy, but it would be nice to know there's an equivalent replacement.

That's pretty much what most people with no hobbies or intense interests say about people who have same.

Great to see this one built up, with the cutaway parts open. I bought one for my hangar office out west, to go with the old Revell Wright Cyclone radial and a couple of largish scale Williams aircraft engines. Looks like it's a great model.

Just when I'd thought...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, some crazy aviation friends of mine put a turbine APU on a golf cart. NOT this one, but same basic idea.

Yeah, I'm really tempted to drag one out and dig into it. Just what I need...another squirrel.

Yup. And you'll find that the vast majority of lines on cars aren't straight anyway. Some design wizard pointed out to me, many moons ago, that dead-straight lines on complex 3D objects like cars often tend to look like they sag in the middle. His illustrations gave me one of those "AHA!!!" moments that you can't ever unlearn. EDIT: It's the same reason the columns on the Parthenon are very slightly "bulged" in the middle...not straight. Bottom line: the subtleties and nuance of real-car design that kit designers often miss, misinterpret, or get entirely wonky, are things that some folks just can't live with, and there's plenty needing to be corrected to get these AMT Chebby kits to look right to anyone blessed (or cursed) with "an eye".

Lotsa good stuff here...

Here's another thought that Can Con's post triggered. The real car's window trim doesn't stand as proud of the body as the kit's rendition, so scribing around it, to save its location, then filing most of it off...as well as thinning the depth of the opening from the backside, as well as correcting the too-small corner radii...all that would be required to get it really really right. I also think, after looking at your photos again, that the windshield opening just might be a tick too tall, and thinning it from the backside may exaggerate the problem. At that point, you'd need to add styrene strip to the top of the opening to bring it down a bit, and then re-scribe the trim. I had a somewhat similar mess crop up on my bullet-nose diecast Studebaker conversion for the Paris to Peking community build. I snuk up on the fix for the driver's side, but never finished the passenger side. I have to say it did make a big difference in the look of the model (if you compared the two sides) but it turned out to be much more of a PITA than I'd initially thought. EDIT: If I were going to do the Fleetline windshield today, first thing I'd find is a scalable clear profile shot of one, and very carefully analyze the relative heights of the windshield and side glass.

Yup...the way-too-deep "inset" of the glass is the primary problem. I corrected it when I built my fastback '50 Olds using the Chevy Fleetline roof, but my photos of that aren't currently available. It's not that hard to shave the openings from the inside using a Dremel and hand files, sanding, etc., and leave the right amount of depth. Get the "glass" opening to the right depth, then make new clear parts to fit the revised openings, and arrange something they can 'snap" into on the pillars. It's kinda brain surgery, but not. Correcting the front will be similar, but will require removal and replacement of the wipers, and also will require substitution of "glass" cut from clear styrene or PET. And as Steve notes, the corner radius of the kit windshield is indeed too small, and should be corrected for best appearance, but just getting the glass out of the kit "hole" will make a vast visual improvement.

Holy Lincoln showcar, Batman. Can't be the real one, cuz Barris hacked it into the TV Batmobile. I know there are molds of the BM floating around, as well as unauthorized full replicas. Possibly somebody took a BM repop and turned it back into a Futura look-alike. Pretty cool if they did.

Looks like the result of a DeLorean's night of wild passion with a set of Legos.

Looking good. Always enjoyed building RR stuff from Plastruct bits.

Man, that's a whole lotta potential. Love the "racing" Continental convertible too.

Great build. Really like it. And...ummm...I didn't even know NASCAR truck kits existed until just now. Guess I'm going to have to have one, as the stock version is my primary daily driver.

Good deal. That's a pretty nice kit, actually...with the exception being the horrible job ALL the gen-one Corvette kit designers did on the up-tops. Yech.

Prollollobly ran the numbers, decided it's cheaper to replace warped parts under "warranty" than to redesign the boxes and eliminate the problem. Of course, that would also require re-doing the box printing, and even replacing the boxes that case-quantities are shipped in. Could run into some money...and the after-sale free replacement for warped parts is kinda in line with TinyLimp's constant "fixes" of stuff they didn't catch prior to product introduction. Seems there's lotsa that kinda thinking around today. Still...ya gotta wonder how many potential repeat customers they're losing every time a noob gets an unbuildably-warped kit, doesn't know about the free replacement program, tosses it, and gives up the hobby.

Looks great so far. I have a few of these...one to do stock, one to do a Ford 289-powered version like a guy I went to school with had, and one to do a crazy blown Chevy V8 powered drag car.

One would think some would be full grown dogs by now. Must be expensive to feed.

Ya know...there's a very simple solution to understanding what a particular product is made from. READ THE TDS (technical data sheet) for any refinish product you use. They're all available online. ...and if you don't comprehend the terminology... TEST your materials for performance and compatibility, which is always preferable anyway. EDIT: The actual chemistry of coatings, synthetic or naturally-derived, is WAY beyond the pay grade of most modelers, so I'm missing the point of even bringing up that an ancient form of "lacquer" was/is made from bug secretions. EDIT 2: Here's a pretty good overview of "lacquer", certain to either muddy the waters hopelessly, or make an instant expert of anyone who reads the first 3 words. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacquer

Have you seen this thread? If not, it may be somewhat helpful. https://mb2501.proboards.com/thread/5622/historic-racing-miniatures-miller-fwd Here's a little more, also not impressed by the instructions... http://24th-scale.blogspot.com/2018/10/miller-91-by-hrm-outline.html EDIT: I've seen ONE built, displayed by a vendor at a show years ago, and have been kicking myself for not buying one ever since. Whoever built it was a master, and it was beautiful.