Fat Brian

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.

That green Cobra kit looks like the artist had never seen one before and was just having someone describe it to him over the phone.

Somebody at Round2 loves cabovers, lets hope the IH is next.

Looks great, it makes me want to finish mine. I cut the back open but I'm stuck trying to make the headers, maybe one day.

My International 4300 arrived today, it looks like a great kit and has moved into the next build slot when I finish my Freightliner COE.

Your best bet is to strip all of the chrome except for maybe the wheels and valve covers and repaint it once most of the larger assemblies are together. Since all of the structural components of the chassis are plated with tiny attachment points removing the chrome is about the only way to get a strong enough bond to hold it all together. If I ever try to build this kit again that is what I will do.

It's one of those kits that you can build straight out of the box for nostalgia but if you start adding extra detail to it it can get out of hand quickly. Once you upgrade one part of it the other issues stick out even worse.

I open them up and give them a once over even if it's going on the pile. I take all of the bare parts out of their bags and if the chrome or clear isn't in a bag I put them in one. It makes it easier to sneak them in the house when they are already open and debagged, "No honey I took this one to work with me/already had it in the car/make up lie here, I didn't go to the hobby store!". I only have one car still in the cellophane out of a couple hundred and it was bought specifically to resell because I got it for a steal.

My wife is building a small ball joint doll and her torso is made of soft vinyl. In order to color her body appropriately you have to seal the vinyl and the best thing going is this stuff from Japan called Mr. Super Clear. It acts like a spray acrylic, the vinyl isn't sticky afterwards like if painting with a laquer or enamel. The stuff is awesome and I use it on armor models for coating rubber tracks before weathering and as a barrier coat for thinner-based washes. Anyway, she needs to strip this stuff off of the vinyl torso but what would break this down without eating or otherwise disfiguring the vinyl?

I hate to say it, but for new releases it's hard to beat Amazon. Some things even qualify for free shipping if they are over $25. I've boungt a lot of stuff from model roundup but if you're really looking for bottom dollar it's worth it to check Amazon too.