Ace-Garageguy

Seasons me burgers with garlic, onions, and cracked pepper does I.

Musta been long ago. Nobody's 400 pounds.

I'm quitting the "just in time" parts ordering, and getting everything coming a couple weeks before I can possibly need it. I'm down to small stuff on both projects, so having funds tied up isn't the annoyance it was earlier. It was never a big deal anyway, but it's as nerve-grating to me as fingernails on a chalkboard to have stuff twisting in the wind, with me being helpless to do anything about it.

That's the wiper sticking up, and it comes from the correct place on the cowl for a '57 Bird... ...and looking at your green reference shot, I'm 100% convinced it's a retouched '57 T-Bird, no doubt about it.

Young crabs are smaller than old crabs...and I've known my share of old crabs.

Already bed time, Mom???

Mostly gaskets, carb adaptors and internal parts, engine parts like valve stem retainers, SBC rocker arm balls, lotsa stuff like that.

I'm thinking retouched '57 T-Bird too. The baby Birds were so iconic, so easily recognized, a GM ad agency art director wouldn't want one to be visible. The area around the headlight is muddy, and could have been reworked into a squared-off shape instead of the Bird's round headlight surround / fender extension. Likewise the area on the bumper under the headlight is muddy, as if the parking light was retouched out. The general proportions and detail proportions are right for a baby Bird, as you can see by comparing with the photo below...things like overall height, height of the fender over the wheel arch, height of the headlight above the bumper, etc. The windshield looks exactly like baby Bird, and it looks to me like you can just make out the chrome gills that live behind the wheel opening on the fender too, and the beginning of the tailfin on the door, with the chrome handle in it. The wiper arm is sticking up from the right place for a baby Bird too. The process would involve airbrushing a sharp positive print, then photographing that to produce an internegative that the color separation / printing plates would be made from. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking with it...fer now.

Song and dance routines can be maddening when one is just trying to get a straight answer.

2:30 PM I slipped the leash, went for a 3.5 mile hike at my favorite close-ish spot. Got far enough from civilization to not hear any evidence of it except the occasional jet flying over, which I kinda like. Weather had been overcast all day, but after about 15 minutes the sun came out and brought a nice breeze with it. I felt like the sky just grinned and said "glad you're here, and thanks for coming". Not very fast, but not too bad, and not much pain...and I feel great now. THEN...after slow-charging her battery and letting it sit for a few days to see if it would hold, my little PT fired up on the first twist of the key after sitting almost 6 months. Air even still blows cold. So I washed it. Altogether a pretty good day, even though I have a slow-pay client who's never been late before. Oh well. "The check is in the mail".

"Check's in the mail" repeated endlessly for decades is the reason I finally started billing monthly, and at 60 days, I file a lien.

I don't either. Old neighborhood, some semi-slum houses that have really gone downhill due to a change in "demographics" in the last ten years, some getting bought cheap, resto'd and yuppified, sold on by Sotheby's and other hotsy-totsy realtors. Clown just bought the ex-rental house next to me, came by with a master plan to get streetlights put on all the slightly dark spots, and trying to get a new HOA up and running. I wouldn't sign his streetlight petition, telling him one reason I don't live IN THE CITY anymore is that I like it DARK at night. Then he starts whining on about how I'll feel safer. Listen mister...even though I look like an old fossil to you, the only person not safe on my property is someone I didn't invite. And...I've lived here 10 years without having anyone telling me what color I can paint my own dammmmmed mailbox, and he can take his HOA and stick that with the streetlight proposal. I don't think he likes me anymore.

Paint it pretty much like you paint a real one. If it's a solid color, no worries. Just shoot everything separate, making dead sure you get full coverage on every panel, and that you shoot the same number of coats on every panel. If it's a metallic or a pearl... Shoot the jambs and edges. Let that dry. Scuff any overspray on the main body...and be sure to sand out any orange peel. Then tape your opening panels in place and shoot the whole thing. Then shoot a coat of clear over everything. Then take it apart and shoot the rest of your clear. You MIGHT find it works better to very carefully mask the jambs to keep dry overspray from building up inside them...just like we do on the real ones.

Yucky paint jobs with bug tracks, pine cone bits, and dirt all over them seem to be pretty much the norm on a lotta "pro built" models up for auction.

Thanks. Most helpful. Do you have a photo of the results? Thank you too. Good to know from somebody's personal experience. That grill shell looks good. I'd be happy with it.