Ace-Garageguy

I'd wager it's a plastic block with Briggs (or similar) guts...and where's the gearbox/final drive/cooling if it's real? Full-scale mockup blocks and heads are available.

1982 Monogram 1/24 Ford Motorsport Mustang IMSA race car, the companion piece to the 1985 Ford GTP car I got last week. Again a ratty box, perfect inside. This is a kit I didn't even know existed until I saw it mentioned in a thread on this board. The GTP and this kit share absolutely nothing, and after looking them both over carefully, I'm very impressed with the complexity and quality of the tooling on both. Considering they're old dinosaurs, measured and designed in the days before scanners and CAD made everything oh-so-much-better (), they give every indication that they'll build up to spectacular models.

Avenger. I had real one (rough but running) back in the '70s, have the kit you show above, and would really like to see how it looks done by a competent builder.

It's rare-ish, typically bringing anywhere from $60-$120 or so on eBay, depending on who's bidding and what day and time the auction ends. I researched these a few months back when I was working a trade, and there are indeed some discrepancies between the kit and the real production car. But it's not that rare, and if I were you, I'd build it into something cool.

Very nice. Big smile-maker. As Dennis said, first thing any knowledgeable rodder would think of seeing this would be the McMullen car, so I believe you accomplished what you set out to do.

Fine looking model, great color choice. Though the styling on these was almost over-the-top flamboyant, they were so well integrated and proportioned that they could pull off wearing colors like this without looking garish...kinda like how a beautiful woman makes a potato sack look good. ------------------------------------------------------------------ There was a recent thread about R2 (I think) scanning and reverse-engineering an ancient kit for which the original tooling is lost or unusable. Sure would be cool if somebody could put together a similar deal to repop these beautiful old Johan kits. And no need to enhance the details or upgrade the blobular chassis. There are plenty of donors around should anyone really want to get the undersides more "modern". Save that development money. And of course, going from accurate scans of existing kits would save a ton of $$ as opposed to having to measure, divide, and "creatively interpret and adjust" the actual numbers taken from a real vehicle. Johan kits were known for really looking like their full-scale cousins...unlike some recent offerings from other manufacturers. Control costs well enough and I'd think there'd be a ready market for them as long as we have a bunch of graybeards who pine for the originals still building and collecting...but the target demographic shrinks every day.

Trial and error, and keep notes as to what works for you. Optimum pressure will vary with things like type of paint and viscosity, airbrush type and design, tip/nozzle size, humidity, and temperature...and where your pressure gauge is relative to your airbrush. When I dial in a particular setup I'm happy with, my notes will include all the above (viscosity can be recorded as a drops-of-thinner-to-paint ratio). I can't possibly remember all that stuff because I don't do it often enough, but if you airbrush frequently it will all become second nature.

Brilliant !!

The "yellowish clear fluid" is the "binder" that holds the pigments, and makes the film that "dries" on the surface. PAINT BINDERS: https://findanyanswer.com/what-is-a-paint-binder I suspect you could add clear lacquer or enamel to your decanted material to restore its properties, but this would necessitate careful testing and measuring. The Testors materials I've decanted so far haven't lost very much binder prior to decanting, and Q&D testing shows them to work OK with appropriate thinning only.

Yes, he said that. And he's right. Buy the competition, charge whatever the market will bear. If it happened to be something more important than paint, somebody would be ranting about monopolies, and maybe the fed would look into it. But he didn't say when Rusto bought out their competition. Yes, he mentioned the period involving the Covid idiocy, though I still disagree that there's any "implication" that Covid and the purchase(s) by Rusto happened within the same time frame...but the comment isn't carefully structured and an "implication" could be read into it. Still, mentioning two disparate events in the same paragraph doesn't necessarily make them temporally related. That assumption is made by the reader. But thanks for the condescending English lesson, in any case.

Looks good. If one of my fun cars was running, that'd be a good enough reason to head up to your part of the country...that and maybe some lobster.

I didn't read it that way.

No real "reason" to eat it at all if you can cook, but to tell the truth, sometimes I just get a powerful hankerin' for dumbed-down Pepsi-Mex.

Yup. In my experience, any glossy black base works fine (I prefer a 2K urethane for overall durability and solvent resistance in real-car interior "chrome"), and any 2K urethane clear will "seal" the stuff without causing a muddy silver effect. I'm doing custom switch bezels and interior panel accents and surrounds in a high-end '66 Chevelle, and so far, the effect is almost identical to the factory applied "chrome" on the OEM parts.

Just a thought...an old-school soldering iron made for lead-based solders runs at around 370 degrees F; it's very easy to convert the tip, or make a dedicated one, to function as shown. And you can learn to or practice fabricating things from brass with the same basic tool. Note that wood-burning tools can supposedly run as hot as 800 deg. F, so some careful research is necessary in selecting and setting up tools like this. EDIT: This one has a number of shaped tips, and a temperature controller that should make it useful for a variety of precision soldering jobs as well as the plastic fusing technique in the video. https://www.mmnewman.com/blog/wood-burning-tool-tips/

That's getting to be the "standard of service" more and more. Same level as both my internet and cell providers. But there are those who unfailingly brand anyone who pines for the days when people did their jobs as...

You're both right, as far as we're allowed to go on this forum. But "supply chain disruptions due to (insert blame here)" has become the universal global equivalent of "the dog ate my homework". As an independent business owner who depends on many outside suppliers to continue making my own livelihood, I'm tired of seeing supposedly competent adults constantly pointing fingers, passing the buck, and making excuses, while many companies post record earnings.

I thought chicken nuggets WERE cardboard.

A worthwhile technique to add to the bag of tricks, but a little common sense needs to be employed. The 97-degree reference is idiocy. Think about it. Pete's right. (Post immediately above ^^^) If plastic melted enough to fuse at 97 degrees F, all your models would turn to puddles on a hot day. The actual melting point of polystyrene, where it will flow or fuse, is 170-280 C, about 340-540 F (depending on the specific makeup of the plastic). But don't take my word for it. https://www.rydtooling.com/plastic-melting-temperature-chart/ This is hot enough to cause bad burns instantly and/or painful blistering if you're not very careful. It is definitely a skill worth developing, and something very similar is used in the real-car body-biz for repairing plastic components. But just as with any technique, it will take some effort and practice to master, and it's not a magic replacement for other proven methods.

It's about not understanding what the subject of the thread actually is.

I like those '40 pickups.

Great looking...thing. Looks like something the Russians would actually build.

Thanks for the heads-up. As I'm cursed with too many projects of my own, I won't be able to resist seeing what else he has on offer. Proportions look great, parts look crisp and clean. Pretty cool.