J3 Models Fixed Open Hood Hinges |
Reviewed By Joseph Staudt, #39453 |
Those of us that like to display our automotive models with the hood open generally face two problems. The first is, of course, having an accurate-looking hinge mechanism, and the second is keeping the hood open. It’s just about impossible to build accurate-looking hood hinges that are also strong enough to do the job they are supposed to do: they’re fairly complicated mechanisms with springs and multiple pivot points that just can’t be accurately reproduced in plastic. Well, J3 Models has a solution to this problem in their fixed open hood hinges. Each hinge consists of a piece of photo-etched (I assume) metal representing the hinge itself, and a spring which attaches to the hinge to produce a fairly good replica of a hood hinge in the open position. There is a large horizontal surface available to attach the hood to, and another large surface that can be glued into the engine compartment to hold the hood in the open position. |
Each pack of hood hinges comes with four
hinges and two springs: enough for two models. Each spring must be cut in
half and trimmed to fit the hinge. I found the assembly concept to be
fairly straightforward, but the tools I had available weren’t very well
suited for cutting and bending the small springs. Once I got things
figured out, though, it all went together quite nicely. The pictorial
instructions that come with the hinges are a little tough to decipher;
fortunately, their web site has a much more detailed text description of
the assembly process.
All in all, this is a pretty nice product that can add that extra touch of realism to any well-detailed 1/24 or 1/25 scale kit. For more information, check out their web site: http://hometown.aol.com/j3models. |
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