Art Anderson

I found that it takes a very shiny base color surface to get the shine I got. When the dark grey lacquer was dry (used my food dehydrator to do that) I simply used some Micromesh polishing compound to get a mirror finish, then rubbed in the C1 metalizer. One thing I did learn in that process--rubbing the C1 on in straight "back and forth" movements can allow streaks to show, so I simply went to buffing it in with a circular motion, streaks disappeared!

ALL plastic model kit chrome was, and still is, THIN, by its very nature! In a 3-step process, the "chrome parts trees" are first coated with a high-gloss non-pnetrating lacquer, which provides adhesion, as well as (ideally!) a "wet look" shine to the parts. Next, the parts trees are racked up, and the rack placed in a very large vacuum tank, where the air is drawn out to the maximum mechanically possible vacuum. Now, a jolt of high voltage electricity is literally "shorted" through strips off pure aluminum strategically placed all over the place in the vacuum tank. The electric charge literally vaporizes the aluminum, which very nearly intantly bonds to the surface of those parts trees. Once the vacuum is released, the tank gets opened, and the parts trees are coated with another layer of clear non-penetrating lacquer, which seals the otherwise very vulnerable aluminum plating (which is only a few molecules thick, so that the surround air doesn't just erode it away. The dull finish seen on a lot of model kit chrome in older kits generally happened when the clear lacquer "blushed" in humid weather, something which seldom happens with today's model kit chrome parts. A clear lacquer coating may, or may not clear up that frosty look, but I would polish only at my peril, as the lacquer top coating is micro thin most all the time. Art

Yes, I have handled it a lot. If it wears off, it will take a lot more harsh treatment than I'd give any model car paint job.

I have no idea. C1 Models is from the UK. Art

Well, the reason for the spoon test is so I can figure out the best shade of base paint to use to replicate polished sheet aluminum, as I want to build up my AAM 1930 Duesenberg Murphy Torpedo Disappearing Top Coupe, which real car has its upper body paneling and the top of the hood in polished aluminum, against a dark blue body (the ex-George Whittell car. I believe you have one of those, correct? Art

Ken, it's a metallizing powder from the UK--C1 Models. The powder looks charcoal grey until you rub it onto a painted surface, then it turns as mirror-like as you see it. It's available from Scale Finishes, out in Utah, the factory match paint afternarket company.

Did this over some home-mixed dark grey Tamiya gloss lacquer:

Not gonna comment.

About the only way to get stock Model A Ford wheels would be in one of the available model kits. Wire wheels such as those just do not lend themselves to say, resin-casting, not to mention that the bulk of modelers would rather hotrod a Model A Ford kit. Art

Time was, 40-60 years ago, when this part of the plastic modeling hobby was primarily kids, from about 9 or 10, to at least the time when they got their first driver's license. Now, about 1975-76, model car kit sales began to drop severely, to the point that the once-powerhouse, AMT Corporation barely avoided bankruptcy in early 1979 when Lesney (the Matchbox Toy people) stepped up to the plate, bought AMT--but as it turned out, to no avail, as Lesney AMT went down when the parent company filed for bankruptcy in March 1982, this time to be broken up among other stronger toy companies (Ertl got AMT, Mattell got Matchbox Toys, for example). But something was already in the wings by '82--a great number of those once-kids, you know the "Boomers" began to return to model cars, something which had captured their attention perhaps 20 years earlier. The corrent resurgence likely id due to a lot more new product hitting the stands, certainly US car subjects, in the 8-10 years or so since Walmart dropped model car kits as a chain-wide set of SKU's--model car kits in virtually every Walmart. Why was that a good thing? Walmart was in a position to DICTATE the price point of any model car kit they considered buying--meet that price point regardless, or lose the sales. That's what truly drove model kit tool-making and production to the Far East--it was called "survival". And, that hs lead us to where we modelers sit today, With a seemingly endless string of new, never-before-done subjects, and with much greater emphasis on features and details that would never have seen the light of day in a model kit 10, 20, 30 years ago, not with any of hte Big Box retailers dictating price points. Today's kids building model cars? Yes, they do, just not in huge numbers--but then, back in the late 50's to the early 70's, while perhaps a majority of baby boom kids did at least build one or two or three, those who were dedicated, hooked on this hobby as preteens and teenagers were a much smaller group. Art

General Motors was incorporated in 1908, when William C. (Billy) Durant bought Buick, then went on a buyout spree in the fledgling auto industry. Check Wikipedia. Art

I still rue the day, in early 1974, when I stopped to see a life insurance prospect (a soon-to-graduate University student), who had in his driveway a Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing (this was in early 1974!). It had just a couple of rust holes, but needed an engine rebuild, so I declined the offer to sell it to me for $2,700--knowing at the time (or so I thought!) that getting that engine rebuilt would cost as much as the asking price for the car!). A year later, Mercedes Benz USA put out the word that they would, in honor or Mercedes-Benz' 80th anniversary in the automobile business, would rebuild ANY older M-B engine free of charge--if the owner paid the shipping from their home to New Jersey and back again. Oh well, my "I snoozed, I loozed"! Art

Yeah, but it's a pain in the butt to run over to an internet store for some glue, or a bottle of paint! Art

I'm amazed, what with all the hue and cry about "inaccurate this", "inaccurate that" that nobody has caught the rather crude character of this (and its '23 T roadster predecessor), particularly in the fenders and the wheels. Why AMT chose to do this kit (instead of simply tooling a delivery body for their actually pretty much accurate (certainly for the time it was introduced--1961) '25 T double kit completely escaped me in 1975 when it was first released. In so many ways, it's pretty much Aurora/Lindberg crudely done. I have a couple of these kits, and one of these days the bodies are gonna get mounted up on the far better-done 1925 underpinnings. Art

Mark, according to Charlie Larkin (who reads these forums), tan was an optional color for '54 Hudson interiors, as the fabric portion of the upholstery, both on the seats, and on the doors as well. For the "bolsters" of the seats (that large, flat looking panel at the top of the backs, fronts of the cushions, and wrapping around the fronts of the seats, the tops and sides of the seat backs--that was a darer brown. In the case of this color scheme, the entire dash would have been glossy brown, with of course, chromed accents--and I believe the steering wheel would have been an ivroy-white glossy color. Art

I've been told that the dash color was determined, to sort of coordinate with the upholstery colors, the darker of the two colors used for upholstery. They weren't an exact match, but did fit. On the '54 Hudson Hornet my Dad had (and the car I really learned to drive in, took my driver's license driving exam in it too!), the car was white over dark red, the interior was light and medium grey, with a darker grey dash. The steering wheel was an ivory shade of white molded plastic. Art

Depemding on the particular car, there may well be a convertible top available, either in an existing plastic kit or as a resin casting. Keep in mind that by the end of the 1930's, and continuing on forward into the 70's, the Big Three automakers used "body sharing" between their makes (GM called it the A, B, C body system). So, it could well be possible, and would certainly lessen the work needed. Art

I've ordered BMF directly from them several times in recent years. They always packed my order in a stiff carboard packet, ever sheet arrived in perfect condition! Art

This is where I get out my industrial "toothbrushes", the kind with longer bristles, and either heavy plastic or wooden handles. When I had to strip my pair of '54 Hudson bodies and hoods (not once, but TWICE--but that's a story for another time!), I let the bodies stand in Purple Power for about a week. The Scale Finishes enamels came off almost instantly, but the Tamiya grey primer (first time, NEVER again!) took the full week, and then some scrubbing, as it came off grudgingly. Second time around, again Scale Finishes acrylic enamel, but this time with Duplicolor red oxide primer. Enamels came off instantly, took about 3-4 days for the Duplicolor primer to soften to the point that I could scrub if off. I had absolutely no problems getting any of the primer residues out of the panel lines, my trusty industrial toothbrushes took care of that as well. You can find these brushes at Harbor Freight, as well as some well-stocked hardware stores, and even at flea markets and car show vendor areas (look for those vendors with all manner of cheap tools!) Once stripped, a good wash with warm water and detergent finished the job, except for having to replace such lacquer-based spot & glaze putty as I used. Art

I just bought a fresh sheet of the stuff at my LHS, not more than 3 weeks ago. Art

Bill, even Tamiya themselves, in a video tape offered to hobby shops way back in 1984, freely admitted to "fudging" contours of model car kit body shells (even to the point of showing a designer and one of their then wood-carving pattern-makers discussing this very thing!), with the narration that "...it is possible to make a model kit pattern numerically exact, but it may not look right." ! The video tape was titled "Design and Development Of A Plastic Model Kit". Art

Lafayette IN Fire Station #3, built about 1920. It was replaced by an all new station a block east, large enough to house the latest in fire apparatus, and now serves as a combination firefighting museum and LFD's education center. Currently, Station 3 is home to not one, but two Ahrens-Fox pumpers: The piston pumper on the right is from 1924, runs and pumps water still. The Ahrens-Fox on the left is from 1937, and holds the distinction of being the longest-serving fire apparatus in the history of Lafayette Fire Department--from 1937 to 1980, with an engine transplant in the mid-1970's (Ford V8 truck engine). The '37 also has the distinction of surviving a fatal fire call, when in 1953 it was called out to a fire at the local Wonder Bread warehouse. This truck pulled up to the open garage door, and as the crew deployed to fight the fire inside, the gasoline tank on a bread truck nearest the door exploded, killing two firefighters almost instantly, a third died in hospital several days later. The truck was repaired, and continued on roster at LFD until 1980 (then repowered with a mid-70's Ford truck engine). Now completely restored (and it pumps water still!), this A-F pumper still bears a few scars from that tragic day in 1953, in the form of a warped hood and radiator shell, which my friend determined would remain, so as to inspire questions--so that the story would continue to be told. Without further ado, Lafayette IN Fire Station #3:

Racop, of Logansport IN, is the officially licensed (by DC Comics) to build exact running replica's of the 1966 TV Series Batmobile. I'd met the guy back about 1990, when he came into my then-hobby shop looking for some AMT Avanti kits (at the time, he was buying up used Chevy Monte Carlos, stripping their bodywork, sending the engines to Avanti Corporation, which by then had long since run out of their huge stock of leftover Studebaker Lark convertible chassis and had resorted (by about 1978 or so) to fabricating their own duplicates of the Stude chassis from rectangular section steel tubing. Chances are that the Racop Batmobile (and those are as exacting a replica of the actual TV car as can be) is what Round2 used as a reference, along with, quite possibly, the massive amount of photographs and measurements Racop did of the real car. Racop lists the flocked version of the Batmobile on their website, BTW, and their fiberglass work is beyond reproach, from what I have seen. The actual steel Batmobile was, of course, "customized" at Barris (Collectible Automobile had an inset story of the car, which was designed by Dean Jeffries BTW in their article on the Lincoln Futura). In the course of working up the TV Batmobile, Barris Customs replaced the original chassis, which was a prototype of the forthcoming 1956 Lincoln "Fishbelly" frame, with a modified GM midsized corporate chassis, as used for the Olds Cutlass/Buick Skylark/Chevrolet Monte Carlo for a couple of decades) along with a GM V8. Art

I've found it's easy to judge a kit of any exotic car, which I will never see in person, by photographs and agree to its accuracy based on careful photograph study. However, about 40 years ago, I took an MPC 1914 Stutz Bearcat to a small museum about 20 miles from me, and compared it to the real, restored 1:1 '14 Stutz Bearcat--it was spot-on in every way. Art

The Round2 Batmobile would be easy enough to get reference material on, given that the very accurately done reproduction Batmobile is built in an Indiana city about 70 miles due south of South Bend IN. Art