what does every one use as reference material

[Blake Rogers]

i like using magazines the net

[beefheart22]

Google's image search.

[Blake Rogers]

right i use that some times to or i do a combo of all them

[CAL]

No I don't want to see what I will have to fix because it always ends up staying on the bench forever.

[Blake Rogers]

  On 3/21/2010 at 12:52 AM, CAL said:

No I don't want to see what I will have to fix because it always ends up staying on the bench forever.

ya i understand what you mean

[DanielG]

If I need photos, anywhere I can get them from.

[Nick Winter]

IMCDB mostly, Hell I'm a member there. Donated bunches of pictures, other than that my old noggen.

[Raul_Perez]

I've found that eBay is a GREAT source for detail photos. You need to look often and save anything you find that you like...

[Blake Rogers]

i haven't tried evil bay i shall seek this info out

  On 3/21/2010 at 1:27 AM, Dukefan69 said:

IMCDB mostly, Hell I'm a member there. Donated bunches of pictures, other than that my old noggen.

IMCDB !!! ya same here nick i like the site so far

[Blake Rogers]

  On 3/21/2010 at 1:07 AM, DanielG said:

If I need photos, anywhere I can get them from.

i was like that to at one point dan until i got into thinking about looking on site and mags

[Harry P.]

Google image search, ebay motors, conceptcarz.com, seriouswheels.com... all sorts of websites. But nothing's faster or easier than a google image search. Type in what you want, hit enter and BAM, there you go. Instantly.

[B_rad88]

well i use car mags, car books, cars/parts catologes(alot of them), art, movies, games, also google, yahoo, bing, etc. and car auctions, car forums, etc.

Edited March 21, 2010 by B_rad88

[B_rad88]

like i just found 2 more concept car web sites: they have a decent selection!

conceptcars.cc

diseno-art/ concept cars

[jeffs396]

Original dealer brochures, too. Some of the old ones can get pricey though...here also...

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html

[B_rad88]

also a really good site for car pics (but you have to search) is:

Car Domain

[LVZ2881]

I have every single one of my muscle car magazines like Hemmings Muscle Machines, MCR, and Musclecar Enthusiast cataloged in an Excel spreadsheet, broken down and organized by year make and model, then page number so i can easily find which magazine the car i need is in. This may sound anal, but when you have several hundred magazines, this is so much easier!!! It took my wife and I a couple hours a night over the course of a week while sitting in front of the tv to organize it, and I simply update it every time a new magazine shows up in the mail. There are over 750 entries in this spreadsheet right now.

when i need something specific that the magazines dont show, i use google image search.

Edited March 21, 2010 by LVZ2881

[Ryan Quantz]

  On 3/21/2010 at 6:13 AM, LVZ2881 said:

I have every single one of my muscle car magazines like Hemmings Muscle Machines, MCR, and Musclecar Enthusiast cataloged in an Excel spreadsheet, broken down and organized by year make and model, then page number so i can easily find which magazine the car i need is in. This may sound anal, but when you have several hundred magazines, this is so much easier!!!

Wow, I need to hire you to do mine. I've tired but my cats are too needy. I'm in Vegas too, seriously, do my magazines!

My reference comes from Google search, my 200+ magazine stash, eBay, my thousands of carshow photos, webistes specializing in "parts cars"... and pretty much everywhere I can find even a halfway decent photo.

[Railfreak78]

Blake I'm the same as most here, Mags, Google, etc. But there are 2 I use that a lot do not. Dupont Registry (its like the rich mans version of the auto trader and there is full color mags and they are online)For a certain car you click on you normally get 4 to 12 pics of all angles for just one car. And another one to let your mind go wild or even look for stock is CarDomain. They are both dot coms and come in VERY handy.

[Blake Rogers]

right on guys...

LVZ2881 that is wicked how do u do it can u explain it???

i like what i am reading here guys thanks for the links some i never though of looking at

[LVZ2881]

  On 3/21/2010 at 6:27 AM, Ryan Quantz said:

Wow, I need to hire you to do mine. I've tired but my cats are too needy. I'm in Vegas too, seriously, do my magazines!

Ryan, you need to hire my wife, not me!! She's the only reason its that organized, cause she's the only who knows how to use Excel. She also did an Excel spreadsheet for my stash, so now I know exactly which kit (out of 600) is in which box(out of 30)

  On 3/21/2010 at 9:54 AM, moparfan426 said:

right on guys...

LVZ2881 that is wicked how do u do it can u explain it???

Blake, I'm going to the Super Chevy Show tomorrow, but when I get home, I'll try and get a screen shot for you, it'll show you what I'm talking about. You also have to have Microsoft Office on your Pc, cause that has Excel program in it, then you have to know how to use Excel( I dont, wife does).

[Blake Rogers]

james ur on to something buddy i been thinking of a way to do something like this myself and i think i have that program if i do i am going to be so happy lol cant wait to see the screen shot!!!!

Edited March 21, 2010 by moparfan426

[MrObsessive]

What the others have mentioned (Google, eBay Motors, etc), but also the original shop manual of the car if the model is to be a superdetailed one. Can't get more reference than that of the underpinnings and whatnot of the actual car!

[David G.]

I use anything and everything I can get my eyes, ears and hands on; I try to be open to everything. You never know where the next good idea will come from.

If that fails, Google it!!!

[Jon Cole]

I have primarily used Google Image, and E-Bay Motors. That in turn leads to my Fotki albums, because photos on the internet may be there today, yet not necessarily tomorrow. I have catagories for almost every brand of vehicle, and most albums have hundreds, if not thousands of pics. Most photos are captioned by make, year, model. Many of the albums are then arranged by title (the default is upload date). This in turn makes finding a photo of a certain year easier. Of course, captioning every photo takes time.

I have also indexed my magazine in Excel, but I let that go years ago. Sadly due to overcrowding in my hobby room, some of those mags may end up at the landfill.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Spyder

[sjordan2]

  On 3/21/2010 at 6:53 PM, Spyder said:

I have primarily used Google Image, and E-Bay Motors. That in turn leads to my Fotki albums, because photos on the internet may be there today, yet not necessarily tomorrow. I have catagories for almost every brand of vehicle, and most albums have hundreds, if not thousands of pics. Most photos are captioned by make, year, model. Many of the albums are then arranged by title (the default is upload date). This in turn makes finding a photo of a certain year easier. Of course, captioning every photo takes time.

I have also indexed my magazine in Excel, but I let that go years ago. Sadly due to overcrowding in my hobby room, some of those mags may end up at the landfill.

This area is by far the most expensive part of my hobby. Fortunately, I concentrate on only a few cars, such as the Mercedes Gullwing. For example, for this particular car, I have continually gathered visual reference from all of the online sources mentioned above (thousands of images), plus purchasing original factory owner's manuals, shop manuals, parts manuals, press releases, original brochures and flyers, 1:1 restoration logs, model builders' journals, buying diecast versions, built-up kits to see how everything fits together, plus occasional 1:1 parts such as a real steering wheel, hub caps, carpet samples, grille star assembly, factory paint, etc. (in this manner, I become one with the car, and it is good), and it gets sicker and sicker.

It would be a lot easier if there were a 1:1 car in my area that I could go look at, take photographs and make notes. This is particularly key to finding out where all those tubes and wires and hoses come from and where they go on rare cars; I would have no hesitation finding an owner, telling him I'm working on a super-detailed build, and asking for a few minutes of his time. You'd be surprised how many people are willing to cooperate – I've gotten excellent response to my inquiries from auto collections and world-class photographers such as the superb Boris Schlegelmich, who posted a dozen new photos on his website to help me with my 1928 Mercedes SS cabriolet. I had no previous communication with any of these people except through e-mails.

Edited March 21, 2010 by sjordan2