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Uncle Mike

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About Uncle Mike

  • Birthday 10/19/1942

Previous Fields

  • Scale I Build
    1/32, 1/25, 1/8

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  1. Guys: Exciting thread here, much info! Love this split, superb scaling. And there IS a Kubel! Awhile back, someone did a Hebmuller, bashed from a couple of 113 sedans...anyone recall that project? (maybe from an old copy of SAE?)
  2. Yes, it IS weird. My daughter and I were in "Big Lots", a clearance store in nearby Merced. (CA.) There was a gondola display of model car kits, prices slashed to $4.00 each. She asked me if I was interested in this great sale. I told her, "No," as I wasn't planning any dioramas where I could use a model of my '55 F100 running over these Oriental front-wheel-drive jellybeans as I fantacise doing every time I fire it up... The hatred I have for unibodied, front wheel drive, 4 & V6 tin cans is monumental. Imagine, if you will: a world full of this type stuff, all the real cars gone...AaaGHH! It's happening!!!
  3. I went into D's Music and Hobbies yesterday, (NOT a discount house!) and picked up a new sealed '51 Chevy convertible kit for $14.99. All AMT kits were $14.99- $16.99. This is Merced, CA. (right across the lot from Mervyn's Dep't store, who just went out of business.)
  4. 'German junk'? Biggs, I am apalled. On the other hand, the '34 Coupe idea is splendid! There is a lot of similarity here, and the chopped '34 would 'class-up' real nice. But my direction would be to start with the frame, clean off all the bracketry, fenders, etc., and dechrome the wire wheels. Paint everything nicely, then add the sparton body without windshield, in the prep of a mid-1930s Indy car...
  5. 'German junk'? Biggs, I am apalled. On the other hand, the '34 Coupe idea is splendid! There is a lot of similarity here, and the chopped '34 would 'class-up' real nice. But my direction would be to start with the frame, clean off all the bracketry, fenders, etc., and dechrome the wire wheels. Paint everything nicely, then add the sparton body without windshield, in the prep of a mid-1930s Indy car...
  6. As to "plumnuts" comment, a bondo type polyester filler works really well on metals. That's sorta what they were made for . Not a criticism of you plumnuts. It's actually nicer on metals than plastic, because it adher's really well when prepped properly and the metal has more resistance to being sanded away. Plastic you have to be very careful with, that's why I use quite a bit of the "Red" "GLAZING AND SPOT PUTTY" by Bondo. It's a lacquer based filler and attacks the plastic for adhesion really well, sand's and finishes easily, and takes primers nicely. ******************************************************************************** ************** I don't step on toes, so in advance, 'Treehugger' and 'plum': I hate bondo. I was a lead ("led") user since body solder in a can was available. I have forced myself to glaze stuff with 'bondo', and have kept an open mind all the way through to 'tiger hair'...The red glaze I have found to shrink, (much like the nitrocellulose properties it contains) so much I wondered why I ever squeezed that plastic sh!t in the first place! Bondo doesn't stick to primer. Glazing does. Fiberglass doesn't stick to metal. Bondo does! Bondo the metal, then apply the fiberglass resin. I use a pick-hammer and file (1:1) in the trade. But as for the matter at hand: The "magic stuff" comes in a tube, much like the 'bondo' stuff...BUT! It's acrylic. Can only be had through Automotive Paint stores, it is a large tube, (20+ ounce) Acryl or Acrylic is the name, and it is Shrink-Proof. Sands nice, finishes beautifully. This is the good stuff for 'white metal'. Try it!
  7. There have been 'issues' with the fitting of that body with the Revell frame, all right. Just like the 1:1 scale! (I'm talking about real steel bodies on Gennie '32 rails, or 'Just-A-Hobby' rails or the nice examples from American Stamping. There are different issues with fiberglass bodies, some simple and some in the "Why-did-I-spend-money-on-this-$@#! fiberglass body???" department. The frame can be flattened on top, (tedius, even with my frame jig) or a pair of wood slats can be fashioned to fit the curve of the frame, and the flat subframe of the body. Then, the frame gets 'pinched' at the firewall, to fit the cowl's narrowness. The rear 'kick' of the frame is next, with a slight curve-in to clear part of the subframe, and get inside the wheel wells. On the model, the same things are apparent. But the fit is critical, if you want a highboy that looks like it was planned that way...otherwise, you will have to live with a bad fit between body & frame, usually compromised by poor engine fit, wheelbase too long, (or too short, if using the AMT Vicky frame) and a hood that looks too long. Trial fitting is paramount, as you will see when setting everything up. The thing I liked most was the fidelity to scale. Revell '32 frame is close, AMT '29 Roadster body is also right in there. Windshield has to be worked, but is close enough to be leaned back and 'adjusted'. The Ala Kart interior is O.K. if you like that 'moderne' look, but the Monogram '32 Roadster seat with headrest was so authentic I had to go that way. (a lot of cutting and gluing, but worth the effort) A flathead car, it had to have the rightstuff. Now back to our program...
  8. Strange encounter (for me, anyway) occurred when the 'gang' was invited to bring their 'first build', if they still had it. The group was diverse, but the most verbal guy said he'd started many years before, so I felt comfortable in taking my first build, which was a 1/32 scale Revell 'Highway Pioneers' Center Door Model T sedan. That's where it started... Inspired by a Hot Rod Magazine article that featured Jack Chrisman's Model A Sedan (the 1954 article was entitled "Torrid '29 Tudor") I began by chopping the top, rounding the flat edges with a fingernail file, cutting 'B' & 'C' pillars, and converting it into a 2-door sedan, using the cowling from the 69 cent Revell 'hot rod', also a 'Highway Pioneer'. The hood, radiator shell, and cowl were removed, and the '32 shell substituted, after grinding it flat and converting it to a '29 A. Flathead V8 was fitted, with the tranny and rear end, shortened driveshaft... Front suspension also went under, with some cutting of the front spring. Fenders got sanded and reshaped, and the car painted black, with the top patch made from a playing card, painted white. All the cutting was done with a Vise-gripped hot needle, warmed on Mom's gas stove burner. The car looked terriffic on the shelf, where it sat for many years...I found it in '96, when unloading Control Line airplane parts stored eons ago... Took it to show the guys...The verbal guy came out with his '59 Impala, unpainted glue bomb, with every decal, glued-on louvers, lakes pipes, spotlights, and all...He took immediate discourse with my sedan, as it was "1/32, that doesn't count...yatta, yatta, yatta..." Guess I started too soon! I recalled that 6 years after this build, AMT came out with some really BIG 1/25 models! When I started, 1/32 was what we had. One of the guys said, "Hey, that's Chrisman's car. Saw it at Bakersfield Smokers last year. Looks just like it." (at least someone noticed) My earlier ones were balsa. (1951?) Ace, Hudson Miniatures...Ace had some hot rods that were 'cute'.
  9. Sully: Great job on making the Dart look like it really did. I think (know!) the performance figures are off, however. In 1962, friend Al Driscoll bought a black 413, dual long-rams w/Torquflite trans. This was a mid- 12-second car, speed was 102-106. I bought a '63 Dodge 330 sedan (426 Short Ram Max Wedge) w/ Torquflite trans that I got into mid-11s that year. Acceleration was staggering... I ran a '56 Ford 292 (convertible!) that turned mid-14s, 92 mph. My present '55 Ford F100 w/smallblock Chev turns mid-13s, will do 0-60 in 4.3 seconds. (not a 'Bomb') I think a 413 that would take 5.8 seconds to go 60 mph would be in serious need of a tuneup: If I raced Driscoll's 413 with my F100, he'd pass me like a freight train passing a tramp!
  10. O.K., Steve...Guru's name is Bruce Fulmer, Rock-n-Roll Engineering. www.pontiacengines.com Phone# is 909-370-0389 Bruce was very helpful with parts sources, blueprint values, and is a Drag Race Veteran. Tell him 'Uncle Mike' said hi, and Nephew's 421 came out perfect.
  11. Steve, hi. Being in California, we were Drag Racers first and foremost, from '56 on. Our big strip (NHRA) was Fremont, later renamed 'Baylands'. Hayden Profitt campaigned a 421 Pontiac there, (actually 3 cars, '62s, tudor sedans with the 8-lug aluminum wheels, M-22 Muncie 4-speeds, and his was only 1 of a stable of Pontiacs then! They all carried front wheels in 2nd gear, low 12-second machines! In San Jose/Santa Clara, (15 miles away) there were Pontiacs running around the streets with the name "TIN INDIAN" from "TIN INDIAN #1" all the way thru "TIN INDIAN #26"! Pontiacs ruled in those days, and they were in big numbers on the street! I have a guy in Southern Calif. that is a serious Pontiac Performance Purveyor, I got parts from him when I rebuilt my nephew's 421 Bonneville last year. I will post his name and info on this thread in the morning. He is friendly and on the leading edge of Pontiac history and technology.
  12. I had built model cars for years, when young...all the way 'til '62, when we started drag racing actively. In 1976, I opened a Hot Rod Shop, in Campbell, California. Frame jig was tied up one-after-another, and old hot rods were being totally revamped as well as fresh ones being built. A 40-year old guy came in one day, all eyes, "Wow, you do it all here?" I assured him that 'we' did, and he stated that his company had recently incorporated Profit-Sharing, and he just got a '32 Roadster from his uncle. It was an old hot rod, and he wanted it to look like "one he had seen in a movie..." I did a quick sideview sketch on the blackboard in the office, he looked, but said he 'couldn't see it'. I erased the sideview, and did a quick 1/4 frontal isometric, which he said he couldn't see either. I said I'd bring in a customer's Highboy for him to look at, and he could drop by the next week. That evening, I dropped into D&J Hobbies, 1/2 mile from the shop. I bought a Monogram '32 Roadster, an AMT '53 Ford F100, and a Monogram '40 Ford pickup, for parts. Upstairs at the shop, I had my Control Line Model Airplane hobby room...well equipped. I cut the fenders off the cast-in frame of the '32, and added some Bristol Board for the front framerails...Mixed & matched 'steel' wheels from the '53 pickup, and the flathead from the '40. Red engine block, same for the tranny and wheels, '53 center hubcaps. Hairpin wishbones from piano wire, ('lead-out' wire from Airplane stock) Black Pactra 'Namel, and a nice Quick Change rear from some stuff "Howard the Duck" (the upholstery guy) gave me. (Howie laid a whole 2 big cardboard boxes full of old Model Car stuff on me) When the guy with the Deuce came in, I showed him the model of the Highboy. He shrieked, "YES! This is IT!" A $20 bill plus some glue, putty, and Pactra 'Namel not only sold a $3K job, but also got me back into building models of the hot rods and pickups and Customs, and...well, you know.
  13. I'm 66 this month, been building since Revell was 1/32 scale, started modelling cars in 1952, at 10 yrs of age. Built many of the Revell "69-cent hot rod", first serious kitbash was the Revell 1921 Center Door Model T Sedan, chopped top with hot needle (over gas stove) and used running gear, big & little tire sets, and Flathead V8 from one of those 69-cent hot rod kits! Laid off in 1962, last kit was the "Big Deuce", poured in red. (did it as a Highboy) Regained interest in '78, a strange story. I'll tell it in a different post. My wife builds, too. She's 53, looks and acts way younger. She likes MoPars, but digs it all. I am blessed.
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