Monty

Virgil, what does yours use for a light source? After buying a lamp that promised the brightness of natural sunlight without the heat and having it put out the equivalent of moonlight on a foggy night, I can't afford to buy anything that doesn't measure up, hence the request for LED lighting.

My hobby table is in the dimmest part of my apartment and the overhead lighting fixture seems to be more for decoration than illumination. I've been trying to augment this light with a regular 60 watt desk lamp, but I'm not happy with the results. The research I've done so far suggests that these LED lamps can produce brighter light than halogen lamps without the excessive heat, which sounds ideal. If you have an LED lamp that you use for modeling and you're very happy with it, I'd appreciate it if you'd reply with a mfr part number or some other way to identify it.

Mark's building Oscar Koveleski's car! Woo-hoo!

Leasing from whom? Okey? (Not questioning what you've said - just curious)

That probably had more to do with the oil crisis going on at the time than anything else. With gas mileage becoming more of a priority than all-out performance, the Glorified Pinto Mustang II was made much smaller and lighter than the previous version, which weighed in at 3800 lbs. Engine choices exemplified Ford's priorities as well, as the mighty '74 Mach 1 could offer nothing better than a 105-hp 2.8 liter V6. In addition, the Deuce also was the first Mustang to have those ungainly, federally-mandated railroad tie bumpers. Those two issues alone engendered a lack of respect among "real" Mustang owners for years. When I had my '73 fastback, I attended some shows where the promoters segregated the II's to a separate section. That said, I've seen some styling exercises where modelers used the Mustang II body, reduced the front and rear bumper overhang, and ended up with a very sharp looking car.

Eventually we're going to run out of superlatives if you keep posting up stuff like this. As you said, it's too bad so much of the detail is covered by the panels on the chassis, but at least we got to see it. I can certainly see why you enjoyed building this kit. I noticed the model is RHD. Do you happen to know if the initial 1:1 version will only be made for sale in Japan?

Thanks, Rob. I was already aware of much of what transpired through 2010 or so. The IMC thing is a fairly recent issue.

From what I have been told on other forums, a person named Okey Spaulding supposedly bought out the remains of what was left of JoHan. There are numerous stories about missing/destroyed tooling, which may explain why Okey never seemed to have much in the way of product to release. Now I see that a new company (IMC - no relation to the original Industro-Motive Corp) is planning to relase a JoHan snap Chrysler Turbine car, a snap '74-ish Cutlass, and another item that escapes me at the moment. As the alleged owner of all remaining JoHan product, how did Okey not have access to these? How did these guys happen to gain access to them? (I don't know Okey or anyone involved with the new IMC venture - I'm just curious what's really going on).

Andy, I love what you've done with this! The paint (Flame Red?) is a great choice for this car, your seatbelts complement an already nicely detailed interior and the engine bay is accurately done as well. It looks like you're using the MRC wheel/tire set, which, IMHO, offers the best Keystone Klassic wheels ever made in styrene. One suggestion, if you don't mind - paint the recessed areas of the wheel like this: http://t2.gstatic.co...T6DqzKIWGtSeYKD This can be easily done with a 10/0 detail brush and some slightly reduced semi-gloss black enamel. (Humbrol #85 is about perfect) What all did you use to achieve that patina on the chassis? That's one area where I'd really like to improve my abilities.

I know you're searching for a better answer than you've received so far, but Mike's reply isn't as trite as it might appear. Unless someone here has done this exact mix, it would probably be impossible to give you an accurate description of what might result. You seem to have picked the colors you want to work with. Now, go spend $2.00 for a bag of white plastic spoons & see what you come up with. If you've read the spoon tests that George and others have done on here, you'll also notice the amount of variation you can get by varying the primer (grey vs white). Post up your results!

What did you use to paint the interior?

It seems like part of the "what constitutes a muscle car" equation is the power-to-weight ratio, which eliminates most if not all of the bigger cars of the 50's and 60's that had higher performance engines. The '64 GTO usually sets the standard for the beginning of the muscle car era by virtue of having an engine previously reserved for bigger cars installed in a midsized car. That said, I've never understood how some cars "can't" be muscle cars just because someone arbitrarily labeled them "pony cars". The Mustangs from '67-71 were available with the same type of equipment found on a GTO, and yet...

Back in November, sal and JTracing were both building the Fairlane. They showed that, with some work, this can be a very good kit, but IIRC, JTracing tried to make his engine bay more authentic by taking the shock mounts off of a stock car and making them slightly shorter so the hood would sit level. Glaring oversight on AMT's part. Dave, would you agree that, among the major model companies, AMT seems to have the biggest issue with creating models whose front track is too wide?

Are you saying it separated out like the old Testors enamels in the glass bottles? I've used one of these to stir mine and haven't had any trouble, http://t2.gstatic.co...hC9dWWZydLULe-g but your Dremel should be more than adequate for the task. Does it have a slow enough speed to stir paint without flinging it around the room? Sorry to hear you're having such bad luck with this sample, but I got the impression it wasn't the color you wanted anyway. Did you ever settle on a dark red for that Mopar you were working on?

I'm a huge Chaparral fan too, so it's nice to see this one available. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a site for L&S. There is a Lance Sellers resin site, but it seems to be mostly F1/Indy cars. Would you mind spotting us a link to where you bought this?

Nice color choice, clean build, great detailing and sharp photography - well done, Mike!

Mike (among others) has shown that nail polish finishes can look authentic and spectacular, while costing a fraction of what we're paying for hobby paints. I've got the Lindberg '67 442 on my to-do shelf, and I'm waiting to see how his vinyl top turns out.

Mike, that Impala is very impressive too. As you said earlier, some colors can make these cars look toyish. Fortunately, you've got a good eye for hues that resemble authentic GM colors. Thanks for listing the names of the nail polishes you used.

It's excellent paint, but like most enamels it requires a longer drying time. To achieve best results with them, stir the paint vigorously. I think Frank is disappointed that the paint is the color of the lid & not something else.

I see a lot of dust & wear on that lid. Have you had that tin for a while? Humbrol lids pretty much tell you what color to expect inside. Some of the Japanese acrylic "purples" I've bought online have been roughly that shade as well. Testors Model Master and Testors Boyds line have some better purples, although they might all be metallics if that matters. I'm curious how long it'll take for your dehydrator to cure the Humbrol paint.

Spend some time searching through the builds he has done over the years. There's some amazing stuff out there. He builds in several scales too.

First, my compliments on that color! Reminds me of the GM Firemist colors that were in use at the time. What did you use for primer under the nail polish? As for wheels and tires, how 'bout the textured 5-spokes from Revell's '32 Ford and some white letter tires. Use Tamiya XF-66 acrylic on the spokes etc as seen below. Boardmember Felix Plaza "The Cat" built this Camaro & used a similar, although peakier, version of the wheel I recommended. Ignore all other wheel advice you'll receive on this. Cragars and steelies with dog dishes are waaayyyyy overdone. I'm going to follow your build to see how you get the vinyl top material to wrap around the tunnelback portion of the roof.

What are you going to use for tires?

Dear Chevy, the next time you want to run a TV ad that's meant to show how tough your trucks are, skip the Barry Manilow soundtrack. Sincerely, Real men

I'm not sure why it changed since I've never played with the font size. According to the option list, this is size 12. Any better?