AHA ! Did that get your attention? Good ! Now what I am going to do is take you on a walk-around of a real car and you see if you can tell what details are always forgotten or just plain omitted ! The first thing is the body . Are there any details here that aren,t on your favorite model .Good that,s why we add them . Now , lets open the door . What do you see ? look good now because this is where one glaring omission is in %98 of model cars built , even the ones that garner a lot of hardware in show after show. Look , carefully now .See the slot in the door and vent window frame for the windows to ride up and down in . Why don,t folks put these obvious things on their cars ? Next how thick is the edge of the door ? Now I know scale thickness is darned near impossible. So fudge a little and put that edge in there . Not as thin as stock , that,s okay at least it,s there. How about those vent windows on the older cars ? Why don,t the builders show them open ? I dunno , I do and folks notice that too .Open the hood and trunk . How many times have our fine friends at the mag recommended the support frames you see under the hood and trunk ? I lost count . This includes little bits representing the stabilizer wedges that keep the hood and trunk lids from closing cockeyed . Now how about the interior of the doors ? You do know that I have seen many models with open doors (late models ) . Okay , where,s the little light that lets folks see an open door at night ? Yes , I am picking nit and for good reason . With all the aftermarket goodies out there ,why omit the obvious . I got picked to judge at a contest last year and boy , did I catch it . Why . because even though they were models, I looked for the OBVIOUS. The things that are THERE and NOTICEABLE ! You might say " ,Well , I weathered my model to look dirty , fine , then put wiper sweeps on the windshield . You see them every day . Now about the underhood area . I know of no one that sells a sheet of decals of underhood markings . There may be . If you can,t find any then use artistic license (the same urge that drove you to do that model) A few squiggly lines on an apparent label aren,t readable, so what ? I don,t know of a judge , including myself , that uses a magnifier to see if that,s a prestone sticker from your local service provider . The point is it,s there . Now about those other little bits of stuff inside the car . How many of you when you put in the rear view mirror have it facing the right way ? I have seen many that were in the position one might see if a young lady in the passenger seat checked her makeup ! Now , YES , that,s picking nit . I very rarely use aftermarket stuff because of cost . I still build them the way I was taught . If it,s there put it in there or at least make folks think that is what is there . Now to the underbody . We all could go nuts down there . Why? It looks cool . Well how about that almost factory stock beauty you put so much effort into ? Did you detail the engine bay , ? Good , now I have to ask where,s the fuel lines ,the A/C hoses ad infinitum. I turned one car over (this club makes it clear your models will be handled unless you say not to ) Guess , what I didn,t find on a kick butt custom with at least 12 to 14 hours spent on the engine and all the surrounding goodies , No fuel lines to the gas tank , no parking brake linkage , and the exhausts were solid as a rock ! Now do you see why I wrote this . I have spent at least seven months on a BUICK that is box stock . Now I am building a full house superdetailed CHRYSLER 300 (that,s 1957 type) and it will have all the stuff I am talking about if the real car had it . WHY ? well I want to enter it in next years show ,without using even ONE aftermarket part and see how it does in "FACTORY STOCK" . No lie ! I am not a perfectionist , but ,I will put in all the obvious things that you would see if it was the real car sitting on display with all the doors , the hood and trunk open to the world . No , I will not forget to put a spare tire under a cover I will make for it , and the jack will be under the spare and held in place by the jack base and the wingnut , But,it will be there ! . That includes , but is not limited to the ignition key in the ignition with an accompanying key ring . Now want to meet me at ALAMO SQUADRON /I P M S show next year ? Look for the deep maroon CHRYSLER 300 . oldcarguy
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