Fat Brian

I try to mask the straight lines and freehand any curved areas. No matter what it usually ends up looking like hammered dog doo.

Usually shooting Rustolem or Krylon over Testors is a sure way to get wrinkling, especially when you don't want it, but as Bill said it can be unpredictable. You might be able to find a crackle paint kit at a home improvement or craft store or online.

This kit isn't bad to lower but you don't have a ton of room in the rear for wider tires without cutting the rear wheel wells off the chassis plate. To lower the front you can shorten the top of the spindle pieces and add what you removed to the bottom with sprue or styrene rod so it still connects to the lower suspension arm. This will get you an 1/8 inch or so. If you want more you can remake the spindle from a piece of sprue and and get close to a quarter inch drop but the you're getting close to hitting the inner fender depending on how tall and wide the front tires are. For the rear you can drop it by adding spacers between the springs and the axle. Depending on how low you go or the height of the tires you may need to open up the top of the rear wheel wells. To get something decently wide back there you will need to trim the wheel wells back to the frame rails and possibly move the springs inboard a bit. The way the interior builds on the chassis the rear seat bottom may need some tweaks too.

You need to add an inch or just a tad more between the two crossmembers after the floor pan ends and is just the frame rails. Just watch the fuel tank because it runs in the same area. There is a small area between the tank and the front rear spring perch where you can make the cut. You also need to add about a quarter to 3/8 of an inch to the end of the frame with the little step down to mount the bumper.

I've had to do the same thing to modern seats in older kits, the tubs can be a bit narrow.

I think might have posted the kit you're talking about, I didn't know such a thing existed.

I need at least a couple of those winches for something I want to build.

I did a very similar thing to Jim. I glued a plate to the top of each spring mount and attached a tube to the hood and pinned it with a piece of metal rod.

That is actually a great idea, I'll take a look at those calipers.

I'd be in for a couple of these, I want to build a wide body version.

Wow, that is great.

I'm finding myself in need of brake rotors and running out of kits to rob them from. I found a seller on ebay but I think they're recasting Hobby Design parts so I'm hesitant to buy them.

Awesome, that looks great.

The big towing company around here told me if you need a rotator to get you its $500 to start the engine then either hourly or mileage depending on what exactly you need.

It should fit, it's no longer than the straight six Cummins the kit comes with.

I picked up the Long Shot kit after your other thread about Monzas and want the Super Spyder as well. I really like the flares and fins and stuff and like to build the engine and chassis to justify the outlandish bodywork.

True, those usually don't get included because they aren't full detail kits though they are good for what they are.

No, the Revell Harley-Davidson F150 and Lightning are the newest Ford trucks that have been done and both are 99 and 2000 model years. There might be something in diecast but I don't know.

Building and detailing engines is number one, to me the engine is the soul of a car and it tells you so much about what a vehicle is capable of. Least favorite is probably all the little final details to get a build on the shelf, headlight lenses, door handles, mirrors, all the little fiddly bits that can wreck a build.

Black is tough, I wish I had put a second coat on but I didn't want to add another step that could jeopardize it. Thankfully there's no bare metal foil to do so after the decals I won't have to handle it much.

That there is no polishing at all, just Duplicolor primer and Tamiya paint with Mr Super Clear gloss. Hopefully I'll get it decaled and in a final coat of clear by this time next week. I still need to build the light bar and push bar, I'm hoping to find a kit piece for the push bar in particular.

You're welcome.

#16 I think I've finally gotten a paint job I can use. This is the fourth time I've painted this body and if didn't take this time I was probably going to chuck it and buy another kit.

Definitely, probably 10 to 20 percent of the kits I buy are parts donors for others. It's Dr. Frankenstein's lab over here.

Fireball Modelworks does a 4x4 kit that might have some stuff you can use.