Fat Brian

Use a brand new blade to trim the foil and very light pressure. Look at reference pics to make sure which areas of the car are chrome.

What I got is dry enough to touch in 15-20 minutes but it dries with the whole surface about the texture of a fingerprint.

As a younger modeler (31) I think there will still be modelers but that the hobby is moving more online. The days of the LHS are most likely numbered in all but the most densely populated areas. The ever increasing cost of models has driven a lot of people to look online for affordable kits. Also, as Jonathan mentioned, it would be nice to see some kits from the late seventies and early eighties done right, I would love a 73 Chevelle, a 77 Cutlass, a 78 Monte Carlo, a 76 Corvette, and tons more. I hope that in twenty or thirty years the US manufacturers aren't still issuing kits that are considered ancient by todays standards. It's fine for nostalgia, but that doesn't need to be the whole lineup.

There are a few sets of decals on there for this kit I want. I'm going to do this kit again as a dressed up custom and will use some of his decals for sure. I got some Krylon chrome and aluminium paint but both wrinkle so bad I'm not sure I want to use them on anything until I can stop the wrinkles.

I like the wheels on the Fairlane. What are they from?

I'm about half done with this kit, so far no real adventures. The most difficult things have been related to vague instructions, especially the stabilizer bars for the rear axle. I switched to the square tanks from the Titan 90 and painted the black along with the frame to give it a more work truck look along with going with a single stack. I'm also going to strip and paint the wheels to get rid of the chrome, I'm not sure what to do with the bumper. Even lower end trucks could have a chrome bumper and I really don't want it to be black, the blue is much darker than the pics show so something to lighten the look would be nice. I want to do some silver striping on the cab but I'm not sure what I want to do yet, since I paint with cans I want to keep it kind of simple so I don't have a lot of paint ridges.

I was going to explain a little more but was in a hurry this morning. The radiator core support comes in two peices, the lower peice that is the front wall of the engine bay that the radiator mounts to and the upper brace that has the coolant tank and upper hose molded to it. Your best bet is probably to sand down the top of the lower peice and the top of the radiator and shorted the battery. What happens is that when the chassis is pushed all the way into the body the upper peice hits the hood and raises it up. The coolant tank also interferes with the distributor.

The distance between the crank centerline and the top of the block is lower in the B series engines and in the later RB or raised block engines. Raising the top of the engine also extends the bores, allowing for a longer stroke and more cubic inches while maintaining common bottom end geometry and cylinder head fitment. Ford did the same with the 302, raising its deck by half and inch to make the 351 Windsor. It's basically a cheap way to get a bigger engine, you get more cubes but without all of the R&D on a totally new engine family. On a side note, does anyone make a set of stock decals for this car?

The color is Testors purple metal flake shot from a can with two coats of Testors clear. It's one of my high percentage paints, I always get a good paint job out of that color and a few others. I will say to anyone wanting to build this kit that overall the fit is great but there is an issue with the upper radiator support.

This has been sitting in the box about 90% done for atleast five years. It was some low hanging fruit that made it easy to get something finished. The wheels are XS tuning but the rear tires are from the AMT Supra kits. You can't see it in the crappy pics but I did a carb linkage on the dual four barrels, I hate my camera.

As long as you work from hotter to milder you should be fine regardless of brand. The only exception is if you are working with something hot enough to damage the plastic, then you need to find a primer mild enough for the plastic that won't react to a hotter paint above it.

I've got a heat gun that will see extensive use in the near future. I think it will give me more control than boiling the whole part.

If its a very irregular surface like across the window trim or a very curved area I use silly putty. I picked it up from armour modelers. Once its down you can stick tin foil or plastic wrap to it to mask the rest of the area, securing with tape where neccesary.

I got a General I got off ebay in the mail this morning from the last reissue, the silver truck with orange frame. What did they do to this poor kit? I bet there isn't a straight part in the whole box, I heard that these kits were warped but good lord.

Right, I will use the Canepa for an L but I think a passable B could be made with a Revell hood.

I got a still wrapped GMC General from the last very warpy reissue and a set of resin fenders copied from the Miester Brau tractor.

I figured out what I needed to know. The P&P hood is a W900L, I have a Canepa T600 on the way that has the correct cab and sleeper. The B could be made from either of the Revell kits without too much trouble, the lights need to be moved up a quarter of an inch or so and a small piece would get added under the lights to replace the leading edge of the fender.

I want to build a Kenworth with square headlights and the Aerodyne sleeper. Are there any differences between the hood in the round lights Revell kits and the square light hoods ? Could I just putty up a square corner to the flat area where the lights sit and throw on some square lights with out making any more changes? Also, does anyone make a resin version of the Alaska hauler hood?

Thanks everyone. I do agree with Chris, the tires are the only real failing of these kits. Some of mine are kind of off, I'm thinking about taking the heat gun to them to straighten them out.

With candy paint it's very important to keep your coats light. It can be very tempting to try to lay it all down in one paint session but you will always end up with runs and drips and thin spots around edges and panel lines. Since the paint comes out of a can in a manner akin to a fire hose you really have to go light in the early stages to build the proper depth, your first coats should barely cover the whole panel. I paint a thin coat on and let it sit a few minutes before applying another thin coat and just keep building the depth until the color is even.

The tires are kind of an odd size with an odd hole size, I can't think of any kit that would make a good tire donor. Maybe someone will find a good kit tire and resin cast it.

I'm leaning without.

I built most of that kit as a teen, I got most of it a bunch of junk I bought from a friend. It fits pretty good, they are actually awesome kits, even by todays standards. Mine had a meeting with some fire crackers when I didn't have enough parts to finish it.

First Ferrari builds cars that spontaneously catch fire, now Lambourghini is building cars that spontaneously catch fire, maybe soon all of our cars will be able to spontaneously catch fire, we can only dream.

The engine choice really depends on if you are going for period custom or modern repop. If it's period a Buick nailhead, Olds, or Cadillac motor would all be appropriate. The Firedome hemi from the 53 Ford 3 in 1 truck or Lil Coffin or the 390 out of the newer 66 Thunderbird with the three dueces would be nice too. If you are going modern with retro style a 302 out of one of Revells 32 kits would do. The 93 Ford step side truck has a nice 351 Windsor with either the stock efi or a dual carb setup with two Predator carbs and a slick custom aircleaner. You could also do a 4.6 from a modern Mustang or the Lightning truck. It depends on if the engine is geared for performance or is just to get from here to there.