Mike Williams

Thanks guys for the gracious comments. I don't come around here too often, hence my negligence.

A novelty for sure now, I'll quote myself. On a right handed scissors, the top blade while opened, will flip the cut material off to the right side, this excess will have a curl, the remainder to the left of the scissors will remain flat. So, in other words, the part you want to keep clean should be to the left of the scissors.

Indeed, very sad to hear of his death. OK, on another note, check out echo's photo above. Low and behold….a car with really banged up headers. I'm struggling with headers for "The Old Master", getting them straight and aligned properly is a task….then I see these. I just decided mine are done. Dan....now you know for sure. Any headers will do, no problem. 😁

Thanks John, appreciated. They do look good on those beautiful motors, well done.

Here a few shots of the interior, getting ready for the final buildup. Some tinwork, rear tubs; Trunk; Belly pan; Small windshield; Looking at the rear wheels before mounting, the lug nuts are way too big. I used these for a truck, so these were changed for smaller ones; Getting closer now; Here the finished car…..well, except the paint. It will be painted a simple red, I think the color looks good on these cars. As soon as my paint booth is finished in the basement. ….and finally, this car sits alongside the two other cousins. 3 Altereds, built the same way. This car will be my last altered for a while, time to move on to dragsters. That's it.

John, this is great looking build going on here. Motors look really fine. Question: The carbs look fantastic, where are they from? Mick..

OK, I think I see what you mean now. I think though, the "falloff" would be to the other side of the scissors, away from the cut. I see too about the "flat side". This is interesting, also about the scissors for lefties. As soon as my bench is free of laced wheels and jigs, I'll look into this further. Dan, thanks for posting. Mick..

Hi Dan, thanks for the info. I don't quite understand what you mean about "flat against the cutting surface". Can you post a pic of how you mean to hold the sheet/scissors? Mick..

Thanks Jim. Here the next step with the buildup. The front end mounted and steering unit. My next build is a Top Fuel dragster from around 1967, and I needed practice for lacing the wire wheels. Since I didn't have any 12 spoke wheels at hand, might as well use some wire wheels up front, after lots of internet searching, a few Ford T Altereds were found with wire wheels up front. Good enough for me. Here a few build pics; This time for the radius rods, I found a steel wire that polished up like chrome and the metal can be soldered too; Here the wire wheels, laced with a silver coated copper wire, solders up nicely and looks like polished metal. This wire is in 0.3mm, next time around I'll use 0.25mm for the 32 spokes. The rims are a scale 18", copper rims. Each half has 16 soldered wires. A problem is though the silly dragster tires are really skinny. Here the 1st attempt, meanwhile they look a little different; The paint is just primer. Thanks for looking, Mick..

@Roadracer, Straightliner59 and cobraman, your viewing and commenting is greatly appreciated. A wonderful incentive, many thanks. CabDriver, thanks, and good question. Aluminum and brass sheet that I use is rarely thicker than 0.3mm, a good scissors is a great and easy way to cut away what's needed. The edges and corners will bend up a little, both on the cut piece as well as the bulk sheet that's left. No problem, lay them flat on a hard surface and run a rounded instrument or steel edge along the perimeter and it's all flat again. For rods and tubes, a thin separating disc using a Dremel or similar tool makes for a quick cut. For tubes, you can place a thin, sharp blade on the tube and roll it till it cuts through, just the pieces fly all over the place and I hate looking for things. Discs are efficient. If you don't mind, these burs here are about all that you'll need for shaping up metal. Thin disc for slicing, carbide burs for rough grinding and shaping, diamond points, rubber wheels and points for smoothing up solder joints; Good luck with your brass building, it's addictive though...

Here's a model I finished up just last month. This is the AMT Ford Kit, only body and a few elements are in the box. Very similar to the "Wild Willie Borsch" model, just this AMT kit has a much finer and thinner mold, a nice piece. Included is a dashboard, a Tonneau cover and a grill shell and a view linkage parts. It's called "Ford Model T Roadster Racing Body". Starting with the finished frame, a few pics will be posted showing progress to the final and finished model. Here a look at the bare frame painted Hammerite gold from spray can, with the rear axle and tire support still attached. I'll need this setup till the rear end is mounted; Here with the mounted motor mock up and rear end positioned; A view of the rear end set up and ready to go; The fitment of the kit tonneau cover was miserable. After some researching, some cars had aluminum coverings for the interior so I was glad to find this out; The kit grill shell was way too thick, so I had to make one in brass sheet; Here a fuel tank in brass, all shiny because sometimes I hate to have to paint brass, Here more mockup, with motor and grill shell and tank; Thanks for viewing, critique, comments or questions are welcomed. Mick..

@Mark, thanks for the nice welcome.

Hi Richard. I can't do any modeling to speak of without a well lit magnifying lamp. Finally, I found a nice one on eBay, with a circular neon daylight bulb, and 2.5 magnification...for around $40. Now I can see all I need, and the depth of field is such that I can move around and still remain focused. The objects are viewed with your reading glasses, or bare eyes. Regular eyeglasses won't work. My hands hurt sometimes a lot, some days it works, some it doesn't. I'm in no hurry, so take it how it happens. All in all, this model took about 6 months, on and off. About the metal casting, I have a buddy who does this for me. I prepare the styrene-kit parts then send them over. I receive the parts that were cast, then finish them myself. Wheels and rear ends, anything that's in a styrene model kit can be re-produced in metal. Indeed, it is very interesting, I've watched it being done many times, and the result is just killer. That is, if you want a car in metal, which is not everyone's thing. I love it! Here another view of this car as a WIP; Mick..

Outstanding work, excellent.

Well! I wasn't expecting much attention, but am happy to read of encouragement, which makes me happy. Guys, I'm a wooden ship model builder at heart. Big ones, 3 feet and more. Historical sailing ships, the sails can be raised and lowered, the rigging works….read, Baltimore Clipper!! For me, the quintessence of sailing vessels. But I'm also a metal worker by trade, retired nowadays. I do 1:25 cars, drag racing from the 60's is my theme. All metal, the body in resin. I haven't seen much of this on the internet, hence I'm kind of weary of posting. Here just a view of a motor; This one has 385 single parts. No styrene here, all metal. I appreciate the warm welcome. Mick..