Monty

I recently made a trade with a member from Canada who had parts from a JoHan kit that I needed. Having never shipped anything to Canada before I didn't know what to expect, so I told the Post Office clerk I wanted to ship the kit the cheapest way possible with trackability. In an effort to keep costs reasonable, I even listed the value @ $0.00. Long story short, It cost me just under $19.00 to ship one plastic kit up there. In addition, I've been following the package's progress and was surprised to see that the USPS had routed it from Dallas to NY - about 3,000 miles East of its intended destination in British Columbia. Seriously?

Always makes my day to see someone post Can-Am pics and information. Looks like a sharp build! Would you mind telling us what you used to attain that incredible shade of green?

I think The Other Leading Model Magazine did a comparison years ago, but I never saw it. Having never built either one, I'd like to see an objective comparison, shortcomings and all.

Actually, Donn uses MM enamels reduced with lacquer thinner. If you're interested in the results, Cranky has hosted pics of his work at least twice in the last couple months.

I must've missed a build-up segment. How'd you get it to sit so low? Turned out nice, BTW!

Too bad the kit's design deficiencies ultimately led to it being built as a curbside. I followed the build-up and saw some neat touches that future viewers may never even know were there. Most people won't even know there's an issue with the rear tires; they'll be looking at the paint and decal work and wishing they could do half as well. Looking at your effort, I know Oscar would be proud.

George/Arnold, go ahead and put the names out there. I can't guarantee it'll resolve your issue, but it may prevent someone else from getting taken by these people.

Please, please, please do the '72 front bumper as well. I've been wanting to replicate my first car forever.

Frank, ever consider doing the MRC Muscle Car tires? Ya can't buy the things anywhere anymore, so the market's wide open. I'd love to have a couple more sets of Firestone Wide Ovals for my pre-radial cars. Admittedly, they could use a little reshaping etc, but nothing you couldn't handle. I bet we'd all like to have the Mickey Thompsons too, but the way MRC did the sidewall lettering is so bad it detracts from the model. I have no idea what it would take to fix that, but if you did, you'd have buyers. Just a thought...

What an adorable pup! Glad to hear you were able to help him make it through the tough times. Now that he's safe and secure in a good home, he'll pay you back double with loyalty and affection. That said, you should still keep your modeling room locked when you're not around.

Yes.

Some of the subject matter seems intriguing, but I'm totally unfamiliar with the brand. Should I expect the design and execution to be closer to Tamiya in quality, or something closer to, say, mid-1970s AMT? All comments are welcome, but I'd really like to see some pics of builds as well.

Krishna, as a certified C3 ('68-'82) fanatic, it always makes my day to see one built and painted as nicely as that one. The paint you used is very close to Chevy's Bright Blue for 1975. Like Tommy, I'm kinda picky about aftermarket wheels, but the ones you used look great. I'll be interested to see how the other 'Vettes in that set turn out. Tommy, if you didn't already know, MPC offered models of all the C3s. They feature nicely detailed chassis, poseable front wheels and an IRS with separate half-shafts. A few (early '70s) even included real metal coil springs for the front suspension. I'm hoping someday I'll find the time to replicate my 1:1

Now that is how black paint is done! I'm guessing you either sprayed this with Tamiya black or you carved it out of obsidian. That engine looks wicked too. You can almost hear a big ol' Isky mechanical cam in there. Set the valve lash & let's roll! Can you explain why you changed the grille, and what you replaced it with? I hope this one inspires you to keep on building. Can't wait to see it finished!

Dear Mod-Squad, thanks for yanking my inquiry out of the General section, which people actually read, and dumping it off in the North Korea of forum sections where posts apparently go to die prematurely. I can only surmise that this section is labeled "Where's Waldo" because "Obscurity's Anus" was already taken. Having never been in this section before, I'd like to know if there are any special duties I must fulfill. For example, am I required to stop in once a day and dust off my post till somebody reads it? Please give some consideration to adding a psychic-contact section to the forum. It'd be just as effective while using far less bandwidth. All the best! MW

I'm interested in doing a trade with him, and sent a PM saying so, but he hasn't been on here in almost a month.

When you build in this scale, do you ever find yourself using a magnifier of some kind? My eye doctor told me people's eyes often change drastically in their 40s, which is one of the reasons I bought a magnifying lamp.

If you want to make it easy on yourself, buy the pre-wired distributor from M.A.D. http://www.madmodeli...w/8cyldist.html. I've seen some aftermarket distributors that were little more than metal tubes with wiring coming out the top, while Kris's units are nicely cast resin items with multiple options for cap and wire colors, and they are very affordable. He also includes a slightly larger piece of vinyl tubing to make the plug and distributor boots. You can also use the kit distributor by filing down the contact points and drilling your own holes using a #72 bit and a pin vice. You'll want to have the distributor housing in some kind of small vice to keep it from moving, and you may want to see what the other members recommend to keep the bit from "skating". You can use #30 wrapping wire from Radio Shack, although it's limited to red, white and blue, if memory serves. There are several other aftermarket businesses that offer various colors of correctly-gauged plug wires as well. Raid an old landline phone for the right gauge wire to use for plug and distributor boots or use Detail Master P/N DM1420. A quick Google search will give you the layout for Olds cylinder numbering and firing order. The kit you're working on has the spark plugs molded to the cylinder heads, so you won't need to drill any holes in the heads to attach the plug wires. On other kits where that's not the case, use Google images of the heads to see where the plug holes should be drilled.

Got one back in '82 and was surprised how well it compared to its counterpart in the Testors Those Famous Fords kits. IIRC, the decals were the only letdown. Also, even though it was released in 1/20 scale, the McLaren Mk 8d was a nicely done Can-Am car for the time.

Never hurts to learn something new. I'll take you up on your offer. Thanks!

I couldn't help but notice that you removed the plating from the valve covers, air cleaner and wheels. Are you going to send them out to be replated or are you going to Allclad them?

I'm pretty sure that was never an MPC kit. The only Datsuns they ever did were the mini-pickups from the mid-70s.

Bill, if you look at the picture of the H.E.I. distributor I posted, you'll notice the relatively small size of the distributor boots. In the interests of maintaining scale fidelity, I'll be using the R.B. Motion parts and trimming them accordingly. Paul's idea could work well if you're capable of making all your cuts and splices consistent in size. Even with my new Harry P - recommended magnifying lamp, I'm not sure I could.

I've got some kits with fairly decent renditons of factory brake & fuel lines molded to the chassis. I'm not talented enough to replace them with actual metal lines, so I'd like to enhance them as much as possible with model paints. Any special techniques (masking etc) you guys use to paint a brake or fuel line completely without getting any on the chassis? Any particular paint(s) you like best for this kind of detailing? I've done them for years with silver enamel and a 10/0 brush and toothpicks, but results varied with the crispness of the mold. Bonus question: Has anyone tried using aluminum BMF (less shiny) on molded-in 1/25 scale fuel or brake lines? Results?

That's what I was looking for! I saw these on here several years ago, but failed to bookmark the site. Thanks Tommy!