Monty

I'm trying to make sure I understand what you're saying since I only have a vague idea as to how the whole mock-up / test shot / release thing works. Feel free to correct anything I've misunderstood. About 6 months ago we saw pics of what looked to be a complete kit (parts on sprues) of this 'Cuda. If it made it to that point, it's already been tooled, correct? I assume that once the tooling process has been completed, there won't be any opportunity to fix any problem areas (I've heard the Mopar guys say the Raisin Bran (their term) two-scoop hood is just...off. Second, if the kit is done, why are we having to wait till November/whatever to get it?

What a pile of used food. It looks like Palmer's designers were heavily involved.

Your detailing brushes were made for just that - detailing. While it's possible to paint a model with paintbrushes, the few who can do it well use a much wider brush. (it also helps to have a lot of art-related training in using various brushes etc). If an airbrush setup is too expensive, take the advice offered above and get some hobby spray paint. There's an amazing range of colors, and they're fairly inexpensive.

I don't normally pay much attention to pre-'55 cars, but I kept seeing this one pop up in all the recent NNL coverage and I realized that liked everything about it. From the nicely chopped top to the perfectly paired paint colors, kudos to Paul for such an outstanding build.

Looks like it's going to be a fun project. It's strange how some kits get bought but not built until years later, but we all do it. I'm kind of intrigued by those tires. They look like the old MPC units from the mid-'70s but they have very nicely done white walls. If they're Modelhaus items, can you give me the P/N for them? I've got a few factory stock builds that could benefit from a set of those.

Tyrone, where did you get the wheels for this? They look perfect for this build.

Look at the box on the far right (what you can see of it, that is). Are these the Polyglas GT tires I've been trying to get them to release separately? Anybody know if they're doing both sizes in one pack, or...?

Derick & Kevin, thanks for posting up your links and references. I'm sure they're going to help a lot of beginning airbrushers get off to a better start.

Excellent synopsis, as expected. I may quibble with you on one point: Moebius also brought their Hudson project to the Spotlight Hobbies board and, to the best of my recollection, received more helpful critiques than atta-boys. I'm guessing that's probably because their membership skews slightly older than MCM's. As you noted, Moebius still didn't catch all the errors (seems like the rear axle mounts directly to the frame) but again, imagine how that kit might've turned out if they hadn't asked for input. We'd probably be calling them Trumpeter Jr. I'd love it if everyone took your point regarding comments in the Workbench section. Probably better leave it at that. Wish I could help you on the golf thing but I haven't advanced beyond courses with large-mouthed clowns and tricky windmills.

Does anyone else remember the Hot Rod article from 1976(?) that showed several of his "tricks"? Seems like he had a hydraulic pump that would help the car clear the height blocks, but then drop the front end when out on the track. He also ran an extra long fuel line inside the car to give himself a little more gas. 'Course he justified it by saying everybody else did the same things... Casey's comment may refer to one of the occasions where his car didn't fit the offical NASCAR templates. The Hot Rod article implied that he may have made enough changes to the body to shrink it down to 7/8 of its regular size.

Do you ever wish that Revell would follow Moebius' lead and ask for input from model boards like ours? Moebius paid attention to the ones who knew their stuff and the Hudson became a better kit because of it. I think you could make a pretty good argument that if Revell had done something like this before the AAR 'Cuda was tooled, the word "fiasco" wouldn't be used nearly as often in conjunction with it.

Interesting thread! I didn't pay much attention to announcements about new releases way back when, so most of this will be new to me. Fortunately we've got a number of people on this board who really know their moldeling lore, so I'll finally be able to catch up.

So...it's been a week. How's the investigation going?

I can't speak for Michaels, but Hobby Lobby's coupons generally take 40% off one item, and most stores only allow you to use one coupon a day. Don't go in expecting to buy a boatload of paint @ 40% off the total.

IIRC, a couple of you have used the Revell '72 442 kit to upgrade your '70 Johan 442s, so I wanted to find out a couple things. 1) Did you cut the JoHan interior tub apart and use the pieces on the Revell floor? 2) Is the Revell air cleaner correct for the '70 W-30 hood or do I need the Modelhaus kit? 3) Any pitfalls in this swap that I should be aware of?

Where have you been buying your Gunze paints?

Just you and me

If you can find the thread, our own Drew Hierwarter did a similar project for his Model Master 1/2 oz bottles a short time ago. IIRC he routered holes part way through the bottom slats to keep the bottles from tipping over. Just a thought...

José, if you get a chance, post some pictures of your work once you've painted something. IIRC, I just used 70% isopropyl alcohol as a reducer.

I've used them in the past and found them to be as good as Tamiya acrylics while also offering some colors that no one else had. Most of the paints I bought were gloss colors, and they had a fairly good shine once they were dry. I didn't feel the need to clearcoat or polish my paint, but it can be done with excellent results. Unfortunately, Gunze Sangyo pulled all of their aqueous-based acrylics out of the US years ago, so I've had to buy mine from all over the world. I've never heard of other acrylics reacting badly with these paints, but you can always test them on old model bodies or cheap plastic spoons. What may help the most is using a food dehydrator to make the first coat of paint dry completely before applying a second coat. If you plan on color sanding, you'll probably want to have two or three coats because it sprays fairly thin. About 15 years ago, there was a great article in Scale Auto Enthusiast that compared 4 or 5 acrylic paints from different manufacturers and showed how to get the best results with each one. If someone can get you the Month/Year of that issue, it'd be worth your time to track it down. HTH

I'm enjoying watching this come together. Great updates, Art!

A friend of mine (member purepmd on this board) built a model of this funny car using Tamiya acrylics. He says Tamiya X1 acrylic black is the deepest black he's used. I laughed when I saw where you wanted to get away from black paint with a tinge of brown. That had to be a Testors reference.

Well poop! Turns out I'm not as brilliant as I thought. Now I have to call the Nobel Prize people and tell them to hold off on sending my "Genius" medal. Thanks for all the input!

Allow me to wander a little further out into this swamp. The consensus so far seems to be that I can't use the yellow plastic body by itself to create the "richer" maroon I want to recreate. If I were to use Cato's idea (Future as a barrier) would its self-levelling properties fill in any low spots on the body?

Let's assume I'm going to be stubborn and plow ahead on this without primer, primarily because my prior experience doing this resulted in a better looking maroon. (Donn Yost has made a career out of painting models without primer, and it's kinda hard to argue with his results.) The main question I was trying to ask was whether Monogram's yellow plastic will bleed through the lacquer paint. I've heard stories about red and orange plastic bleeding through, but I don't think I've seen anything about yellow.