ScaleDale

I think auto manufacturing is as much a zero inventory business as possible. They make enough fenders to build the cars they sell with a percent figured in for defects and production line damage. Stocking fenders for the repair market would be costly. Those aftermarket fenders made in Taiwan are produced and sold under license. Dale

I airbrush decanted lacquers and agree with not using craft store glass bottles, as the seals will dissolve from the fumes. I had a batch of paint destroyed by this and remove all seals before using the jar. I store left over paint in empty paint bottles, but the canning jar thing sounds like a better idea. Learn something new every day around here. When I worked with water based paint I used to clean the brush over a mesh strainer to keep from loosing parts. This isn't a problem with solvent paints because you can't clean it over the sink. Don't just blow it clean, either. Remove the needle and wipe it down with thinner and a clean cloth or rubber gloves. Airbrush cleaner with a drop or two of an ammonia cleaner like Windex is a good final clean. Dale

Some of the plastic I've seen in kits looks just horrible but works fine with a good soak to get the mold goo off and a coat of primer. The colors they pick for these things can be appalling. I did a Camaro that was an awful orange but had great details in the chassis and engine. The Hot Wheels Camaro. Dale

Go through Craigslist to see what's on the general market world wide and check prices and vehicle condition. I was looking for a Fairlane or Cougar for drag racing and wound up with a 68 Mustang based on availability and price. $12,000 USD will get a nice 66-68 Mustang. The forum member W-409 is in Finland and races in the Finnish Hot Rod Association with a Chevelle. Maybe he could help. Dale

W-409 is building that kit and the body is kinda cream color, but the undercarriage looks stain yellow. Here's the build link. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83254&hl= Dale

If it isn't CynoAcrylate it isn't CA. Dale

If I remember from that book, the photos you are talking about are the ones used for the original scale conversion of the car into a kit. The tape divided it into equal sections that could be measured and scaled down easily from photo prints. The original was done way before all this computer stuff. The car was an active racer and they probably only had time to do half in a session. Dale

This is from the Material Safety Data Sheet for the product. It is CA. That said, all CA isn't equal, and most of the over the counter stuff isn't as good for modeling as the generic CA from hobby shops or on-line. Product name: Gorilla Super Glue Product description: Ethyl Cyanoacrylate adhesive Distributor: The Gorilla Glue Company 4550 Red Bank Expressway Cincinnati, OH 45227 Tel: (513) 271-3300 Fax: (513) 527-3742

A daughter who understands her parents. That's down right scary. Good luck with the business. Dale

Hi, Ira. I've been following your builds and I'm quite interested in your creative process. How do you go about coming up with these builds? Do you have a general concept before you go looking for a kit to fit it or do you look at a kit, like this Corvette, and just let the creative ideas go to work? What makes the creative mind of Ira tick? It runs like a fine Swiss watch. Inquiring minds want to know... Dale

There was a guy who rode a Triumph motorcycle the length of the track on the back wheel at Milan drag way in the '60s when the strip first opened. I remember seeing him before the Little RW. If trikes count, then motorcycles must, too. dale

You're going to Retro both cars. Hit the 2010 with a BOSS feel and GT the '70 Dale

I shop local out of principal, having grown up in the hobby with a local shop. I buy on-line for stuff I can't find around here. In the Tacoma area, there are three local shops and they survive by having a different focus and referring customers to each other. Hobby Town, which was in existence before the big chain, does RC aircraft and models. Fantasy World has a good model car section but does a strong RC car business. Tacoma Train, well...guess... Between the three, and Discount Models, a small shop that buys kits from private individuals, I'm OK. Dale

This is an actual real estate ad running in the back of National Dragster, the NHRA magazine: "4,500 sq ft shop on 1 acre. 300 sq ft of living area. 14x24 doors. 220 electric, 8k lift. " It's in Arizona near a new drag strip. $299,000 and it's your's. Dale

I'm retired. My wife has the day off. Yawn... Dale

Mostly autos, but I started in the hobby with jet aircraft. I built the Shuttle recently and had fun with that. It sits next to my computer work station. There is a train engine called Big Boy that I want to build some day. I live in a military area and get buzzed by big transports all the time. Want to build one of those just for the heck of it. Dale

Try riding a motorcycle on a Massachusetts highway with a semi pulling up next to you. All of a sudden I look to my left and here she comes!!! The berm was clear enough that I was able to slide over off the road without crashing and lived to tell about it. He never saw me. Could have been very bad. My dad used to think that his only responsibility was to follow the posted laws and it was other folks responsibility to deal with that. He led parades in the fast lane going 55 and ran merging semi trucks into safety barriers because he was following the rules and didn't have to get out of the way. I learned "evasive manuvers" in High School driver's ed and advanced to "surviving aggressive drivers" while living in Boston. And so I'm still here... Operating any vehicle in a safe manner requires thinking beyond the rule book as well as Paying Attention. I say all this while waiting for my truck to get out of the body shop. I ran into a small dark car stopped in an intersection while making a left turn. I wasn't paying attention. Dale

This makes sense for usual circumstances, but it seems to me that the event staff should have thought something like this out and provided wing walkers or some sort of order to taxiing to seperate the big and little planes. More examples of not Paying Attention? Not trying to pass blame around, just trying to expand the idea of Paying Attention and how failure to do so can have nasty consequences. Dale

NTSB Identification: CHI06FA206A Accident occurred Sunday, July 30, 2006 in Oshkosh, WI Probable Cause Approval Date: 07/25/2007 Aircraft: Grumman TBM-3, registration: N420GP Injuries: 1 Fatal,3 Uninjured. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report. A Grumman TBM-3, Avenger, sustained minor damage when it taxied into the empennage and fuselage of an amateur-built RV-6. Both aircraft were taxiing for takeoff on Papa taxiway (35 feet wide, ashphalt), which paralleled runway 18 at the Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The accident occurred during the EAA AirVenture 2006 air show. The RV-6 pilot reported that he taxied forward on the P-1 taxiway and was directed by the volunteer flag person to taxi south on Papa taxiway. He reported that he was taxiing behind a green and white, high wing airplane that had TUNDRA painted on the top of the wing. The Avenger pilot reported he taxied the Avenger south from the warbird parking area toward the P-1 taxiway. He observed the flag person clear him to begin taxiing on Papa taxiway. The Avenger pilot reported that the airplane in front of him was a green and white, high wing airplane with TUNDRA written on top of the wing. He reported that he taxied at a very slow speed with the propeller speed set about 800 RPM. He reported that the Avenger had no mechanical defects and that the brakes were good. The Avenger pilot reported that he observed the Tundra pilot taxi off the right side of the taxiway for some unknown reason. The Avenger pilot reported that he spotted the airplane that was in front of the Tundra airplane, and he stated that he had "100 yards of free pavement" in front of the Avenger. The Avenger pilot reported that when he heard the impact and saw debris flying, he shut down the engine. He reported that he never saw the airplane that he hit while he was taxiing. Witnesses reported that the Avenger pilot did not make any "S-turns" while taxiing. The distance traveled by the Avenger from the intersection of the P1 taxiway and Papa taxiway to the impact point was about 1,180 feet. The relative speed between the Avenger and RV-6 at impact was calculated to be approximately 6.9 knots. A visibility study of the Avenger and RV-6 was conducted. The visibility study indicated that an "Area of No Visibility" extended from the Avenger's pilot position out to approximately 170 feet. No part of the RV-6 was visible to the Avenger pilot until it was positioned approximately 170 feet from the pilot in the Avenger. CAD drawings used in the visibility study demonstrated the following results if an "S-Turn" of 10 degrees was performed on the taxiway: With a turn of 10 degrees, the wing of the RV-6 was visible all the way to the area of impact, and the airplane was never wholly within the Area of No Visibility. A second visibility study was conducted and it confirmed that portions of the RV-6 could be seen from the cockpit of the Avenger all the way to the area of impact when the Avenger was angled 10-degrees from the taxiway centerline. The Airplane Flying Handbook states the following about taxiing a tailwheel-equipped airplane: "Since a tailwheel-type airplane rests on the tailwheel as well as the main landing wheels, it assumes a nose-high attitude when on the ground. In most cases this places the engine cowling high enough to restrict the pilot's vision of the area directly ahead of the airplane. Consequently, objects directly ahead of the airplane are difficult, if not impossible, to see. To observe and avoid colliding with any objects or hazardous surface conditions, the pilot should alternately turn the nose from one side to the other-that is zigzag, or make a series of short S-turns while taxiing forward. This should be done slowly, smoothly, positively, and cautiously." The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The Avenger pilot's visual lookout was indequate and he failed to maintain clearance from the RV-6. Contributing factors were the Avenger's restricted visibility and the RV-6. Full narrative available Index for Jul2006 | Index of months Link: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20060804X01093 Emphasis added by me. From the NTSB final report, Please pay attention. Dale EDIT: That 170 foot No See distance converts to around a four "car length" following distance. The Avenger is 40 feet long. Not a bit deal. If you, um, Pay Attention...

If anyone really has to know, here's the preliminary report: http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=6fbfb718-62f9-4057-9a00-a77fea44dafe The width of the Avenger gave it 11 1/2 feet of pavement on each side of the main landing gear, so shallow S turns were possible but they probably wouldn't have prevented this accident. A second RV6 backed off from entering the taxiway to let the Avenger pass to avoid being in front of it. Add the people in this plane to the victims list. There's no escaping the fact that the pilot of the Avenger should not have proceeded onto the taxiway without an escort on foot to guide him down. The event was dominated by this big plane/little plane thing and I'm sure this wasn't the only time a homebuilt was close to a big war bird. Dale

Are these guys currently in charge of Internet Software Programs for Microsoft? ^^^^ Dale

Stuff for my current distraction. A 10 point cage from S&W Race Cars and a wiring kit with a switch panel from "Painless" (time will tell) Wiring. "68 Mustang coupe with 302 for Super Stock. Probably L/Automatic. Doesn't need the cage by the book but I want to build for the future. Dale

I noticed th U hook on top. It was loaded with a crane. It has an exhaust, so it's engine powered, which only makes sense. Great attention to detail in both the design and execution here. Dale

Co-lum-bus? I'm from To-le-do. Went to school in Ath-ens. Now in Worsh-ing-ton. Seriously, be patient with the PE. Soak it in a jar of paint thinner to dissolve the rubber backing but don't lose those little parts when they come free. This is probably the 4 link Scott used as an example when he put his together. The small bars are very hard to use at scale, but this link shows where they go 1:1. http://www.cachassisworks.com/p-1525-drag-race-eliminator-ii-4-link-rear-suspension-for-rear-chassis-coil-over.aspx Assemble those parts over some sort of container with raised sides so you don't lose stuff when you drop them (you will). I used a cheap paint palette. The round kind with little bowls around the center. I put individual parts in the cups and did the assembly in the center. A magnetic screw driver helps too. After you build one of these, you will never do a plastic suspension again. Dale

I taught elementary school and believe me when I tell you never sell an 11 year old short. They have the dexterity to assemble anything provided that they have the interest in doing so, which seems to be the case. Why not let him help finish the current kit and then pick the next. Buy two and build them in parallel. Might learn a thing or two from the little whipper snapper! Any Two in One. Toss a coin to see who gets which version. Dale