Ace-Garageguy

Both Revell and Aurora issued upholstery packs with soft materials like colored vinyl for seats and door panels, and felt for carpet. I can't put my hands on mine at the moment, and I haven't found any photos online, but I have a feeling they were the worst sellers in the entire parts-pack genre. Without heat-molding capability (to vacuum-mold the stuff over a custom or existing seat or panel) or the skill to micro-sew, they were just about useless.

Stance and proportions don't get any better than this. Very nice work modifying the wheels to make it all look righteous.

But not words, apparently. You also learn to pay attention to and learn from people who actually know what they're doing. I learn new things every day from people who know more than I do...and there are a lot of them. But arguing from ignorance doesn't usually move anyone forward in life.

MY MISTAKE, and good to know. I never actually LOOKED at the engraving on the heads...just ASSUMED they were oldies. A lesson in why assuming and posting WRONG info isn't the wise move. I should know better.

Exactly. And the Phantom Vickie has a nice IFS on a separate subframe that adapts easily to older chassis designs too. There are already a lot of slow sellers, usually available cheap if you know what you're doing, that make new-tooling really unnecessary.

Not sure of your meaning there, Bob ol' buddy. I'm an engineer / real car builder, and I can design / fabricate REAL frames. I kinda know what I'm looking at, and when I say a frame is stupidly designed, like the one in the 1/12 Lindberg Fiat, it IS stupidly designed. By somebody with no clue. But never let a lack of knowledge get in the way of having an expert opinion.

I have the 1/12 Fiat too, and personally think the frame is a joke designed by somebody else who had no clue. I guess it all depends on your frame of reference.

And this right here is why I go to so much trouble correcting rampant misinformation posted by people who have no clue as to what they're talking about.

Just so you know, I have every parts-pack ever made, multiples of many.

So then...how DO you keep your door lines nice and crisp with as much material as you apply? In the photos of your finished work, your shut lines look much like those of Mr. Cruz. I've been assuming everyone who got such fine results was using similar techniques.

Already made that mistake, but the solvents in the primer made the black color bleed IMMEDIATELY into the surrounding area.

I saw your Cobra-in-a-crate, and if you can build that good looking a crate, just shooting from the hip with no instructions, you should have NO problem with a wooden ship model. There are two main levels of complexity with wooden ships. The easiest have pre-carved one-piece hulls that you may have to plank or cover with something else, or just primer, sand, and paint. The more challenging ones require you to lay a keel, then build up the hull with bulkheads or ribs like a real one, and plank that. Some kits have everything laser-cut, as Dave says, and with some, you have to cut every piece to size. Some are a little of each. Some kits require you to build up the keel and bulkheads / ribs with the parts pinned to waxed paper, over full-size drawings that are included. The only real trick is to go slow, take your time, make sure you understand the process before each step, and enjoy it. It's a different experience from plastic modeling, and it can be very relaxing.The wood usually smells good, too. Wood glue dries slow, so you'll want to jig parts and give them plenty of time to dry. It's a lot like building wood scale train cars and buildings, or the old Guillow's flying model planes. I did a lot of that in my late tweens-early teens. If you want to build a larger built-up-hull type of model, many experienced ship modelers suggest you start with something like a rowboat or dory, to get familiar with all the operations. I have a 1/32 scale plank-on-frame Skipjack and a pretty large Bluenose to start on after I retire in a few more months, when I can devote a separate area to wooden models. Below is what the Skipjack kit looks like. When THIS particular kit was first issued, you had to cut every part, and some of the keel parts required access to a bandsaw. Since then, some of the parts are now pre-laser-cut, but unfortunately, the laser-cut parts don't exactly match the plans. This has caused some consternation among first-time builders, and it's always a possible problem with just about ANY wood kit you get into. The wooden shipbuilding community is pretty helpful, so research the kit you think you'd most like to start with before buying, if possible.

Yup. Back in the late 1960s, I got a bunch of special tools for flathead engines in with a lot of other stuff. Nobody wanted anything to do with flatheads. They were considered boat anchors, and hundreds of tons of them, quite literally, were sold for scrap. Fast forward to 2011. I went to work with a shop that built "traditional" rods, many of them flathead powered. I still had all the tools (and hadn't lost them the two times my shops were robbed, because they lived in cardboard boxes and not the big shiny red ones).

Mmmmk. What I was wondering, which I should have mentioned, is if there are any known compatibility issues with lacquers. I shoot lacquer exclusively on model cars because I'm entirely familiar with it, and can get exactly the gloss I want every time. I had this horrible vision of micro-lifting in the shut lines if I shot lacquer over acrylic or enamel, or possible adhesion issues leading to grief during wet-sanding and polishing.

Like zo...(model by Cruz):

Wow. All carbon. Lotsa serious skill in those panels. Looks like it means business.

I envy you being in Chicago, even in the cold. Last time I was there for any length of time was back in '68, and I loved it. I can do without $30/dozen donuts though.

Yeah, pretty much.

So much to know, so little time... Just about every time I do an internet search for information (as opposed to parts), I come across all kinds of fascinating things I want to know more about. I have wide-ranging interests, and though I flag a lot of stuff to go back to read, I only ever get to about 10% of it. And even though I'm fairly well-informed and aware, and know a bit about a lot of things, I also find that there is so much in the world that I'm completely ignorant about, and I could spend the entire rest of my life reading and researching, and never scratch the surface in the gaps in my knowledge.

Way I see it, the highest bid prior to closing wins. I don't personally use a sniper program, but hey, eBay allows them, and it's their game, their rules. I don't see how sniping is in any way unethical.

I'm NOT in a hurry, and this whole thread was opened because YOU were looking for an aircraft engine. Lee would have to dig it out anyway, apparently, so why not see if you guys can make a deal first, after you get home? If it doesn't work out between you, I'll pick up the option. Just trying to be fair.

I think Bob just settled on Flintstone because he comes readily to mind as a resin caster, even to people who don't really understand the difference between quality and crapp. It could just as well have been ANY resin caster in Bob's comparison. Apples and bowling balls, either way.

Bob refuses to acknowledge (or possibly even understand...though it's been explained) that Flintstone can make silicone molds for a copy of something for an investment in the HUNDREDS of dollars, but that it takes TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars to make steel tooling for injection molding. Throw in the CAD design cost for something that's never been done before, and you're probably into 100 grand. The simplistic way Bob sees it is "if Flintstone can do it, the real companies can too". Okayyyyyy..... Possibly throw in there a lack of understanding of how business even works, risk, the cost of capital, etc. etc., or that when you're running a company that has slender margins, borrowing heavily for tooling and design can drive you into the toilet if the cost of servicing the debt incurred on a BAD GUESS is too high. Hobbico's top heavy debt on loans just to keep going...not additional heavy tooling expenditures...is apparently what killed them.

I know one thing a lot of us probably WOULD buy: a single sprue of nothing but beautifully engraved clear generic 5" and 7" sealed-beam headlight lenses, plus some flat ones in various diameters appropriate for older vintage cars. Or maybe half a sprue of that, and the other half generic taillights (easily tinted red) appropriate to hot-rods and customs. Flats, several kinds of bullets, etc. I get tired of having to rob kits for this stuff, and then find or make repops if the kit ever comes up to get built. Anybody doing restos or upgrades need these things...judging from the number of threads started about dealing with chrome headlights, or making clear lenses. They also tend to get lost easily, glue spotted, whatever, and none of the kits give you spares.