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Thanks, Bil. The Grape ape...hmmm....

Thank you , David. I came uncomfortably close to painting it light blue but my good sense returned just in time. This decision, however, may have been influenced by the voices and may prove to be the wrong one after all. We shall see. ?

Oh, I'm not. What ever gave you that idea?

Oh...wait....here's an update on the El Nomado....

OK, where was I ? The weather is getting better for paint now so the Starliner got painted. I think I have enough paint on it for a simple micro-polish job. The paint is Testor's Grape Metallic enamel thinned with Mr Color 400 and a bit of Mr. Color leveling thinner shot through my antique Binks Wren that probably needs a re-build. Just a quick mock-up with chrome on each end for contrast. Thanks for not giving up on this one ? I really like the Testor's enamels for airbrush jobs. Ain't that a gorgeous shade of purple? It spent several hours in the dehydrator but I'm gonna give it a few days to harden up.

Oh.....I dunno ?...hey - look who's talking( l mean laughing, Greg. When are you getting back on your Nomad? ) I get distracted quite easily these days ?.....I know! I'll post some pix of the Starliner in fresh, orange peel, dust included paint! There! Bugger off! (Ooo, did I say that aloud?) ?

You could keep it "in era" with a 409 ☺️ . I think the 327 with Rochester injection would do nicely. What sort of wheels are you planning to roll with? If you go contemporary then a late engine.... but personally, I don't like to open a hood and see the engine hidden under big plastic covers with all those pulleys and serpentine belts. I like old stuff. My $00.02.

OK, thanks Bil.

Yessiree! ?

Know what? Just glue the hood on and forget it. I don't know why I sweat this stuff. ?

OK, the fiberglass smoothie has flanges that could, with some reinforcement, support angle brackets. The OEM hood could possibly have enough hinge "meat" to weld something to. I'm going with angle brackets or just tabs that a bolt can go through. Yeah.

But only if it bothers you that there is no visable means of securing it. I think in the old- the really old days they used leather straps. Our high-schooler has access to the MIG machine in shop class so he has the teacher weld some light angle brackets on the bottom of the hood flanges and tack nuts on the inside to catch hex head bolts... make 'em stainless for looks. That oughtta hold it. I think that's how I will do it. I have very small evergreen angle. I'm going to get back on that roadster to try and finish it up tomorrow. I need to see a 1:1 hood. There may not be anything to weld a bracket to. I dunno ?

Ya see Bil? This is the sort of ? that totally bogs me down on my builds. I will sit there and wonder "what would Steven do?" And then just do nothing until I give up and then go watch television. I have got to have a visable solution as if it was a real 1:1. Is that nutty? ?

Yeah, uh.....nah....it looks like it's wearing suspenders. I'll take wing nuts before I go that route. "Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life on this planet"

It killed a guy here a couple weeks ago. The irony is the guy was a Holocaust survivor and it was the liverwurst that finally killed him. Why did I go there? I've been eating that stuff (not liverwurst ?) when Wifey shops at Kroger. No more for me, thank you. I'm good. ?

OK, then. Good point about fumes. What about brand?

Yeah, mine's going out in the garage with all the pre-war fenders from AMT kits.

My experience with it hasn't been very good, Bil. I've had to leave a body in full strength "Purple Power" for weeks before it did anything significant. Is there a particular brand that is preferable? The fastest chrome stripper I have found is a commercial grade grill and oven cleaner. That stuff did the job in a minute or less but original "Easy-Off" in the yellow can does a fairly good job but takes several minutes. I wear "Viper" gloves with all that stuff ?...and a mask.

Rich's idea sounds good, Len, or you could just use the seat out of one of your '41 Plymouth kits. ?

Don't hold your breath, Len. BTW, do you think those four chex are imbeded in silicone bathtub caulk to pose for that photo?(the chex that I know don't behave that well ?) And incidently, I don't find any of the Chex cereals to be of the same quality since being sold off by that dog food outfit. Oh...and stay away from Boar's Head products for a while. ?

How do you plan to hold down the hood? I need to address this issue myself and m thinking of adding some angle brackets...very tiny ones. ?

Oh yes. The worst thing you can do is try to stop it from hitting the floor. Just get out of the way and let it happen. You have got to fight the impulse. I'm always barefoot and a #11 surgical blade heading toward Earth @32'/sec/sec with only my foot to slow it down...not a happy ending ? BTW, those pretty clamps are quite useful for keeping our pretzels and rice chex fresh ?

Well....let's see...OK, my personal transportation includes an old Ranger and I can vouch for its tenacity and endurance and although it's clear coat is deteriorating, sadly, the old Ranger is still like a twenty-mule-team. As far as new wife/ old wife....the jury is still out. ? "Crazy" manifests in different ways. Agreed. David seems to be on the cutting edge here. ? Uh oh, we're doing it again ?

That looks like some of the cars I used to drive on the roads in Cranston back in the '80s

Thanks, Lenny, good save ☺️