64Comet404

I thought about it, Steve, but it's so much nicer working inside the (climate controlled) house than in a trailer. Once I clean the garage, I can move some more stuff out of the house and set up a permanent work bench once again. As it is, I have managed to get rid of all those boxes that were sitting in front of the storage racks when you were here.

Getting the debris off the Comet is one of the goals of this clean-up, though I can't do much about insulation or heating in this garage without framing in a work area. The garage is a 40'x60' steel structure, so it will stay as strictly storage. I have several plastic storage tubs, and they have worked very well.

One of my goals for the summer months is to go through my storage area in the garage and organize/cull my ‘archives’. There were a number of boxes I had not inspected since before I went to grad school over a decade ago, so I didn’t know what I would find. After opening up the boxes, this is the stack of books and magazines (minus several shopping bags full of paperbacks) which are going to be sorted and articles removed. I didn’t find any models I didn’t know about, but I did find a lava lamp that had survived over 10 years of extreme temperature shifts, but still worked! Now to finish repacking and get on with checking out the models.

I picked up this group of kits at last night’s club meeting. The Broncos were missing parts (tires in the blue kit, and the wrong body in the Baja kit), and the BRAT had a smushed box, but no internal damage. The Revell turbo 2.3 is started, but it will be nice to be able to finish this one (the one I tried to build when I was a kid was never completed; losing a rod and piston assembly at school put an end to the build...)

It was a worthwhile attempt to get some more sales from some existing moulds, but they never looked right when you painted the inside of the body as stated in the instructions. I tried it with the Imperial, and it didn’t work.

I hope that driver topped off his electric reservoir with the genuine Lucas smoke; won't run unless the smoke is still in the wires.

I would choose a DH Comet over the Connie for my airliner pick, but I can't argue with most of your choices. Until I looked at your top pic, I never considered a Bugsmasher as being beautiful...

There is a resin Fuego available in 1/24 by AirTrax. My sister had a Fuego Turbo, and the best feature of the car was the front seats! Comfortable, and plenty of adjustability. A friend and I found a Fuego in a wrecking yard, and scavenged the seats from it. My friend turned his into an office chair, while I installed mine into my work vehicle (a Chevy cube van) for a much cushier driving position. There is also a Tercel kit available in 1/24 from Imai. It's the original SR5 hatchback, but with big IMSA-style flares.

There used to be a Tamiya spray which was very close to that shade (Metallic Olive Green), but it was a limited edition colour and hasn't been available in years. There is a chance that one of the other posters may have a spare can, so you may want to try the Wanted section.

The colour was also available in an aerosol can, but I don't know the number for it.

If you can find the old Pactra R/C paints at your local shop, there was a colour (RC60 Pearl Copper) which was a reasonable match for Sierra Gold. The Pactra shade is slightly lighter, so you may want to add a drop or two of black or brown to tone it down.

I'm beginning to wonder if the bottles of Chevrolet Engine Red I have in my stash are mislabeled. I checked the online photos of a number of different engines, and I am not seeing the shade which I airbrushed. It is a very intense, almost blood red shade. I would post pictures, but I have already re-sprayed the engine with Chevrolet Red from a local auto parts store.

I realize this is a question which may not have an answer, but why did Testor's choose the colour palette they did for their engine paints? I can understand the variety of medium/dark blues in the line, but what is with all the reds? Apart from 1 year of Chevrolet V8s and a pile of Chrysler slant sixes, there is little call for factory red engine paint. Where's all the orange and light blue/green shades that factory stock builders could use? Any thoughts?

I bought a '65 Barracuda at the pre-Toledo parking lot sale one year. Complete glue bomb with box and parts, but I knew I could get glass out of the Hemi Under Glass. It was dirty, so I threw it in the sink, and all the glue on the kit dissolved!

I have heated tires by placing them in a cup of water, and then microwaving them.

Interesting idea, can't wait to see where you will go with it.

This is the latest model off the bench. One of the clubs I belong to has a kit build challenge, where members bring in a gift-wrapped model, and you have to build the model you choose from the pile. I had a GSX on the build pile, but the kit I won came moulded in white; I didn’t want to build another yellow one. It’s pretty much OOB, but I used Shabo transfers for the tires, some wire valve stems, and a set of 1970 Ontario plates from the decal bin. It was a challenge to paint a white car with black trim, and not have it look too stark, so I used nearly every dark grey hue in my paint rack to provide some contrasts. It did put up a fight, but I’m pleased with the results.

I would definitely buy some Javelins and AMX's if they were available. I've always liked the design (especially the 68-69 cars), even though I don't remember many of them on the roads when I was younger; probably all victims of the road salt that used to be endemic to Ontario.

I use a slightly cheaper version of the electric toothbrush idea. I use a hole punch to make a pile of sandpaper circles. I then use Gorilla Glue to attach the circles to the eraser end of some cheap, unused HB pencils. They work well for sanding down any raised pin marks; for recessed pin marks, I use CA glue and accelerator to fill them, and putty to finish.

Remember to only get your red plastic from the Beelzebub, and not from some other garden-variety demon! Accept no substitutes, and get your almost-impossible-to-cover red styrene from the Lord of the Flies himself... I'm currently working on a kit I believe is 'jinxed', the Revell/Monogram '70 Buick GSX. I manage to assemble the chassis and engine cleanly, and test-fit the body, interior, and running gear together. Upon disassembly, the engine breaks free from the mounts. All the small parts are painted, and ready for assembly, so several of them disappear! (I don't have a cat, so I can't blame it) I find a parts kit at the NNL, rob it for the needed parts, and sell it at the next week's contest. Since I have sold the parts kit, I can no longer find the rear bumper! Considering how nice the overall kit is, I wish it would stop fighting and submit to assembly.

There was also a 1/16 scale Cortina Mk.I 4 door sedan, first produced by FROG in the early 60's. All the FROG car kits are hard to come by, but you never know.

Just a reminder that the Kingston contest will be taking place on May 5th, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone who attends!