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lysleder

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Posts posted by lysleder

  1. I do not know much of anything when it comes to drag racing, but I seem to remember from another kit. I believe it was the MPC '53 Ford Flipnose pickup , but it could have been something else. This one also had a standalone radiator with no hoses, and the instruction sheet identified the part as "gas tank". I guess for a car doing part-time duty on the show circuit a radiator (which is designed to hold liquid), cold make a fancy gas tank.. Or maybe not. What do I know?

  2. There was this talented Danish guy - Piet Hein (1905-1996) - who had such clarity of mind and command of the language that he was able to pin down his observations on life in just a few short lines. And in verse form to boot. Look up about his "grooks". I like them.

    LIVING IS...

    Living is
    a thing you do
    now or never --
    which do you?

     


    THOSE WHO KNOW

    Those who always
    know what’s best
    are
    a universal pest.

     

     

    SOCIAL MECHANISM

    When people always
    try to take
    the very smallest
    piece of cake
    how can it also
    always be
    that that's the one
    that's left for me?

     

    A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP

    Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
    and you're hampered by not having any,
    the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
    is simply by spinning a penny.
    No -- not so that chance shall decide the affair
    while you're passively standing there moping;
    but the moment the penny is up in the air,
    you suddenly know what you're hoping.

  3. Once you find yourself in a position where you're facing severe injury or death from a moron with a long criminal history (who you've never seen before), who's kicked your door open in the middle of the night, who's whacked out on drugs and booze, who doesn't give a tinker's damm about anyone but himself, and who ignores the first warning shot from a .357 magnum, I think you'll find that the "fundamental rightness" becomes pretty self-evident.

    Oh, but there is no doubt what the most practical solution to this situation is. Both for you personally, and for society as a whole.

  4. Right and wrong are not absolutes, for instance it's generally accepted that it's wrong to murder someone, but what if that someone is Hitler?

    This reminds of something I read in a book a long time ago.;

    Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends. [The Lord of the Rings. The Two Towers. Book Four. I. The Taming of Sméagol. My emphasis.

     

    I never had Hitler or Saddam or anybody else cause me great personal loss or grief, but I can understand some might feel it necessary to have somebody killed. Philosophically though, it seems to me that neutralizing them should be sufficient. As in confining Napoleon to the island of St. Helena.

  5. It has been a little quiet around here lately. I have been working on my Skyline on and off, now and then and I'm getting concerned about the deadline. The thing is I haven't actually produced much in terms of progress other than, well -  got the interior kind of finished. And I built a huge honking secondary gas tank and stuck it in the rear seat space. My racer will have yet another huge tank in the trunk space, but nobody will ever see that one because the trunk is closed. 

    Now, here is the interior with the tank, carbon racing seat and radio delete right hand dash. I will leave it as is for now. It is good enough to be functional. If time allows before start, I might come back to add a handful of small details, like a donut dispenser or maybe a red bull barrel or other things that might come in handy.

    DSCF1687_zps1qyrurvv.jpg

    DSCF1688_zpsunkoqudf.jpg

  6. What irked me today?

    I went to my LHS to pick up the new Revell '30 ford coupe, only to see the last copy being lifted off the car kit shelf by another customer as I turned into that isle. For a short moment I considered the pros and cons of attempting a hit-and-run, but thought better of it. I'm  still annoyed though.

  7. I saw this one a few days ago. I don't know its name, but I know where it lives. -On the other side of my village.

    DSCF1627_zpsengw7swo.jpg

     

    And then, in the next village over - the Alfa shop had its bay doors open since the weather was warm. No Alfas in there though, go figure.

    DSCF1629_zpsdrdip2mu.jpg

    At least they had some of the real stuff around the back..

    DSCF1632_zpsvzkyf745.jpg

     

    And then, a little bit down the road there was this one; Well, admittedly it is not actually on the road, but fairly close to it anyhow.

    DSCF1628_zps9vf1ebpv.jpg

  8. The more I think of it, that Chevelle wouldn't be as bad if there was a bit less chop, maybe rake the windsheild and back window towards each other with nearly or still full height glass, a '70 front clip with some custom touches, a noticeable loss of altitude in the suspension with maybe slightly shorter and wider tires on the right rims (even if he bumped up to 17" rims), then paint it a considerably less obnoxious color (maybe black, gunmetal, dark blue, dark green, ect.), it would look better!

    I was thinking the same thing. The work done might not be all in vain. A few well-chosen finishing touches could go a long way. Get the thing closer to the ground, select a tasteful low-key (dark) color, and cover the top in padded vinyl (think Carson top here). And of course put wheels that are suitable for a kustom. That is what it wants to be wearing that chop.

  9. I really think "stealth" is the best approach here. Even if your ride is technically mostly within the law's requirement, and YOU know that it is. - Would you want to risk having to wait for the policeman who pulled you over because he was in doubt, to decide that you are actually good to go? I'm trying to build my racer as unassuming as I can, while still being competitive.

  10. Didn't buy one (yet), but I did get to crack one open.  While the body isn't polished to a mirror-shine like some other recent Moebius kits, it's not a sandblasted finish like the first '54 was. Unfortunately the texture is still present on the "wings" of the chromed hood ornament, so that will need to be stripped and smoothed and foiled or re-plated/Alcladed. The stainless rock guards appear to stand more proud of the body than on the '54 coupe but I didn't compare them side-by-side, just going off my memory of how shallow the first kit was.  The only wheel choices are the wheel covers from the '52 and '53 kits and the tires are plain blackwalls.

    You're talking about the green one now, yes? The fastback.

  11. Front wheels leaning over when turning? I guess it could be made to work, but I see more headaches than benefits with such a system. Usually you want the wheels to stay upright to maintain a large contact patch. More rubber on the road means more grip. Grip is a good thing. If you lean a conventional car tire you will ride on one shoulder while lifting the other and that way reduce the area of rubber-to-road contact. You don't want to do that. For this idea to work you will need to use motorcycle style tires, which has a curved profile. This allows for more rubber on the road while leaning over, but it also means that you will never have the full with of the tire onto the road at any given time. I guess the only benefit from using leaning wheels would be less stress on the tire/rim connection. It would be unnecessarily complicated though.  In the instances where the tire might come off the rim due to excessive force, it is common practice to bolt the tire to the rim to keep it in place.

  12. For Crawler Track Shoes you could look at FriulModel http://www.friulmodel.hu/en/metal-tracks-p5/ They make absolutely gorgeous track kits for military applications. These kits consist of individual white-metal links that is assembled with pieces of wire which act as hinge pins. This approach makes it possible to create a realistic articulated track with the right amount of "slack".   You will not find any bulldozer track in their selection, but they might have something that is approximately the size you need. From there on I guess you could modify to fit with your own grousers etc.

  13. Funny thing, Revell releases a stock version and every one's talkin' hot rod. B)

    Well, - that is what you build hot rods from, isn't it? ;)

    I don't really mean to be too abrasive, but I couldn't help myself. I guess in all of this talkin' there is a message for Revell that a hot rod version would be welcome in the marketplace. But until they see fit to release one, I'm quite happy to rod it myself.

  14. From another thread. 2_Side.thumb.jpg.637963697b25cfc78b771bd

    Someone said a '41 was different , body wise. 2669m-1-classic-car-auction-1941-ford-co

    I am not able to see any wrong shapes to the quarter window of the plastic body. The window of the 1:1 car might appear to be somewhat more pinched / tighter radius at the bottom rear, but I believe this to be and optical illusion caused by the brightwork on the windowpane.

    And yes, I would agree the '41 is different to the body. Most notably the door appears to be shorter on the '41. Hey, hang on. That '41 looks like a business coupe. Longer trunk, shorter roof, and different proportions altogether. Let's not let this thread weer off track, but the rear end of the roof does look slightly different on a "regular" '41 coupe.

     

    Sorry Rob. (see below) He beat me to it while I was busy editing my post.

  15. Between single parenting and extended work schedule, the modeling bench hasn't seen much action. It is a good thing the deadline is far in the future. My projects always take a long time anyway. I have started though. I have started roughing out what will become a backseat large-capacity fueltank.

    I have also set the ride height, and dialed in wheel placement up front.

    Here is a better view of the temporary bracing put in to keep the wheel in place while I'm building the suspension.

    Be patient and bear with me. This is going to take time.

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