Fat Brian

I would love a 76 Formula or SD Firebird with the two scoop hood.

So far I like the work vehicles, factory phantoms, and Radwood themes.

As I have come to learn recently, figure painting is an entirely different skill-set than model cars. I'm struggling mightily to retrain myself to a new way of thinking about color and painting techniques. Fortunately, there are tons of videos on YouTube that explain how to do it, you just have to translate that into the correct motions to reproduce it. If I were tackling that build I would try to get my basic colors done in Tamiya lacquers and seal it with a good clear. Then you can use Vallejo acrylics for the pattern and shading and things but can remove them easily and get back to your base coat if you don't like how it's turning out.

I paint the inside of the glass, otherwise you can see the mask lines on the outside and it looks odd.

I made this tee in a fuel line out of hexagonal plastic stock. The straight thru part is just drilled completely through and slid over a solid piece of wire. The side connection is glued on and drilled just deep enough to hold the wire.

I heard this as background music in a compilation of old drag racing pictures a while back and it still hits me in the feels every time. https://youtu.be/M0AI2ogNwhA?si=BRos-2_TJKMVAX1c

I agree, this deserves its own build. Make a post and we can hammer out some rules and a time period to shoot for.

I remember when I worked at Kmart as a teenager the hotwheels guys would come clean us out, buying cases at a time.

I saw that in the Ollie's thread. There are two close by but now that I work from home mostly I don't get to stop by as much as I did. I was thinking about getting one to build a 2+2 fastback. I still have the fastback parts from the kit I used to build this year's car with so I wouldn't need anything else. I don't know what the manager's deal was. Maybe someone mentioned to they or they noticed how the get cleaned out by resellers and they're trying to do something about it.

I've had more success using regular square stock over half round. The bottom of half round isn't flat so it doesn't stick all that well and it can be difficult to get it to take tight curves and stay flat. The square stuff is easier to work with and you just sand the top a little round once the glue is dry.

I remember those, I had a few top fuel dragster and stock cars. I think I also had a 34 Ford three window.

The pressure needed to cut the foil is very small. Here is a pic of the sheet I was cutting from the other day. You can see that you can cut the foil while barely marking the wax paper beneath. Some of my cuts aren't even visible.

What I've done is find tape the width of the amount I want to chop and wrap each pillar with tape to mark where and how much to cut. That looks like it will be a difficult job without stretching the roof a bit.

I'm certainly not better at it but this is the second time I've built that particular kit so I knew where the problem areas where and had had some time to think of solutions. I'd day four hours is a bit more realistic of how long it took but still less time than I expected.

Glad you guys are safe. As a gas company employee I implore everyone with any gas appliances or heating units to have carbon monoxide detectors. Some fire houses will even give you one for free.

Put me in the "love to foil" camp. After so many years of paint problems foiling a kit feels like a victory lap. I just did a 60 Starliner last night, it only took a few hours and looks amazing.

I've got another one, The Swingin' 70's! Build anything you want but do it in 70s style. For the ideas that have been posted I can make the utility vehicles theme work and can probably do a couple more.

Beater-ball, like Lemons, cars are limited to $500, maybe $1000 in today's prices. Wasteland Weekend, basically Mad Max style builds.

The Revell 70 Torino kits have the power steering pump I believe you're looking for. I do agree that there is an opportunity for someone to make better accessories than are available now.

There's another kit with a much better set of those in it, I believe it's the AMT 66 Mustang coupe kit but I can't swear to it.

This year I submit my 66 Shelby GT350. This is one of the stockest things I've ever built but it took a decent amount of kitbashing. I started out with the Monogram GT350H fastback kit and tossed in a body, interior tub, and top from their 65 Convertible version from ebay to make a version never offered in a kit before. The engine is stock but I added a T5 5 speed from a later model kit to lower the rpms for high speed driving. I also added subframe connectors to lend some rigidity to the convertible body. The wheels are from the Monogram 69 Talladega and I widened the rears a bit to fit the AMT tires. I added a roll bar and the center console from the Revell 70 Torino also. Finally, I wanted the optional exhaust that exits through the rear valance so I made it happen with a few sizes of tubing. For paint I went with Ford Highland Green, not quite correct for this year but I wanted to test the paint for an upcoming build. The gold stripes were a factory option with Ivy Green but those cars had nearly white canvas colored convertible tops that a bit too bright in my opinion. I found pics of an Ivy Green car with this more tan interior and it was perfect. This is favorite color combo of anything I've built, definitely a sophisticated man's cruiser. This is for the doctor or lawyer who needs to blow off steam on the weekends by tearing through the backroads. On a side note, this color is nearly impossible to photograph and these pictures don't do it any kind of justice. The gold flake in the paint just turns to blurr for some reason, I guess I need a real camera.

So, either the tractor will have a hydraulic pump and tank which you will have to plumb to the trailer, or, the trailer will have its own tank and a small motor to drive a hydraulic pump. The second system is independent of the tractor and doesn't need any extra lines to the trailer. If you're doing a truck mounted system you'll need to add a tank to the truck somewhere and either a PTO driven pump or one as an engine accessory.

That's a cool variation on the 71 Charger kit, I need a couple more for chassis donors and having different parts will be nice.

Your builds are always so tidy, I wish I could build half as cleanly.

If I'm able to get a printer here soon I will certainly take you up on that.