Russell C

There is such a thing as 'a private person doing decal artwork who can do it for a friend,' -- trained graphic artist that I am, I can pop out top quality artwork and did so as a favor to our MCM man here "89AKurt" when he wanted a custom license plate which involved doing real vector line artwork to get the image dead-nuts accurate .... but I did that as a favor free of charge for him because I've known him for a couple of decades and he's done favors for me in return, plus it was a job that was reasonably quick to do. One of these days when I can finally get out from underneath other obligations, I'd like to start a retirement career of doing eclectic graphics jobs, where I'd first show potential clients decals I've uniquely created to assure them of the quality they'd get. But the reality of the situation is that I'd still charge a minimum upfront fee along with requiring an agreement with the client of what additional charges that might come up if major alterations need to be done. Doing a complete job first and then expecting prompt payment at the end can sometimes be like pulling teeth, I have no patience for that kind of thing.

Did not know about that 1:1 custom until tonight! https://fuelcurve.com/1934-ford-pickup-street-rod-of-the-year/

Over in the other thread clarifying how there really will be a switch to the new site, I told how I missed the announcement because I was temporarily using my old computer with its non-functioning AdBlock, and I'd mousewheeled past it. That was near the end of 16 days straight of big and totally irrelevant ads to zip past every time I logged in. With my main computer working again with its AdBlock wiping out every ad there is, the banner announcement is plain to see at the top - - - - which brings me to this point: I'd more than gladly turn off my AdBlock for this and the new model makers site in support of any revenue it brings in to you guys running this. But is there some way, any possible way, to get the kind of focused ads in here that pertain to what we do or minimally to the broader vehicle interests we have? New car ads / 1:1 car parts ads / hobby store ads / hobby tools ads / hobby anything ads, you get the picture by now. What I saw when I was stuck with no AdBlock were ones that zip to do with any of my interests. One time after my usual mousewheel blur down into the posts page, I backtracked up to see if the ad was what I thought it was. No joke, it was an ad that took up the whole page width on how to adopt border collie puppies. Where on earth would that come from?? No way Google with its intrusive personal info gathering could have collected that 'topic surfing' preference from me, I don't own any pet, I don't do searches for dogs, none of my pals I email with own dogs. Maybe I'm wrong, but from some of the other few ads I backed up to see what I'd zipped past, they almost seemed to be nothing more than randomly generated ones coming from a dumber-than-dirt advertisement gatherer.

. . . . Meaning?? Assuming the green bar with the news of the announcement was there near the top of the forum pages, I didn't seen it because I mousewheeled immediately past it for a specific reason: the desktop computer I've long used for looking at this forum (with its killer Ad Block that completely wipes out ads here and at nearly every other website) is out for repair, so in order to see this forum for the last couple of weeks, I've been using my old computer with its minimally 5 year out-of-date web browser that doesn't have a functioning ad blocker. Being that ads are tailored for the latest computers/smartphones, what I'm seeing are many ads being displayed in malfunctioning ways with bizarrely distorted text / images, or I just see big blank areas. The video ads and/or utterly irrelevant photo ads at the top of this forum have been so obnoxious that I've resorted to quick mousewheel flips down in order to immediately get past them and into the main posts content. If other guys have newer computers but don't have ad blockers, they may be skipping down to the main content like I do and thus would also potentially miss the announcement.

The wheels on that orange strangely partly CG'd Mustang in the vision loss medication ads? The wheels themselves might also be computer generated alterations of what's supposed to be a first gen Mustang?

Huh. Somehow last night I mousewheeled too quickly right past that announcement, thanks for drawing attention to it here.

Fake? Scam??

Yep - see my Oct 28 "irk" post about the model years exception, along with busting shifters. The way this county handles emissions testing, it makes me ever more want to get some kind of pre'67 classic just to avoid having that testing done.

Unending rain. Standing joke in this metro area is that this place is a desert, it never rains here. But in the last 3 days, the accumulation has been around an inch and three quarters according to my plastic rain gauge, and then today, add a bit over three quarters of an inch to that pile. More on the way for overnight ...

Saw that turquoise safari Mustang - anybody ambitious enough to replicate it or something basically close, there's 110 photos of it here: "351-Powered, Safari-Style 1973 Ford Mustang SportsRoof" https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-ford-mustang-mach-1-23/

How would you be drawing the artwork for the film you need to put over the photoreactive metal sheets? There's actually quite a bit to just that angle of the process. One of my previous jobs was in the graphics department of a nameplate manufacturer that did photo-etching of brass, stainless steel, magnesium, zinc, and aluminum, and the artwork setup for the films had to take into consideration what type of metal was to be used (each had different reaction times to the acid), what thickness the metal was and how 'aggressive' (or whatever that term was) the acid was. The outside perimeter of whatever shape was being etched had to be oversized by the right amount since the acid not only eats its way downward but also inward more at the top surface level, while any thru-holes in the shapes had to be undersized for the same reason. How many tabs were needed to hold the shape to the framework also needed to be considered so that the parts would not just fall away into the acid mix. Double-eched parts were another layer of complexity, say for example, logo letters at the original metal surface and a lower etched-away background area. Another example of that is panels with lines etched halfway into the metal, to create fold lines so that the panels can be turned into boxes, or folded into more complicated shapes. The photo below are some samples I saved from that job, all of 'em with the exception of the thin brass lizard at the bottom are double-eched. The "key tags" vintage race car sample at the upper right still has bits of the blue photoresist layer stuck to it which protects the metal from the acid, but it must be stripped off or sanded off later. The long thin rectangle is an aerospace-quality filter screen, while the "Karl Baisch" tag under it was an etched aluminum tag a guy wanted for replicas going onto his vintage Mercedes luggage. From that work experience, I've been able to spot the difference between photo-eched parts that were done with quality level artwork and fine control over handling the metal sheets and the acid, compared to parts that were close to being unusable.

Couldn't even begin to guess what they are trying to sell from just your screengrab image. Had to look it up. Unless there are more active duty cops / special ops guys building model cars here, I'd think this is one more instance of supposedly 'smart A.I. ad targeting efforts' that ain't actually smart at all. What I need to see is those Ginsu Hobby Knives ads which could sell me blades that can whack through quarter inch thick tree sprue with surgical precision, and then use the same blades to slice a tomato into hundreds of transparent thin wafers. With the LED light feature in the handles, too, of course. 😂

On 11/12/2025 at 3:21 PM, espo said: ...any thought of buying a new car in the coming years will be replaced with the purchase of an older unaffected vehicle ... 4 hours ago, Dragline said: Cars 20 years or older are what you hang onto... It's why my daily driver VW GTI, which will be 40 years old next year, is a keeper. Bit of an uphill struggle to stay ahead of the curve on locating obsolete parts, but this particular second generation was/is still popular enough that quality aftermarket parts supplies are filling in the need. But the other uphill struggle was finding a mechanic who specializes in these. I know enough to do some of my own work, but not enough on other things.

The indications today so far are that the irrationally-behaving house renter neighbor across the street that I've mentioned once or twice over in our "Irk" section … is moving out!

Ditto, it's what I used back in the late 1990s for the graphics on my top fuel 4x4, but at that time, I only had the resources of white peel & stick injet printer paper. What I should do one of these days is peel those off and get real decals printed for me, I still have the Corel file. But I also cheat here, in a way - back in graphic arts school, it took me months to learn how to draw in Adobe Illustrator, and later at my first graphics job how to switch over to Corel. I keep my hand in it occasionally, so as not let my skills get too rusty. So, while such vector art software is the ultimate for getting exactly what you want, the uphill struggle is learning how to use it. Once you do learn, the sky's the limit on what you can create.

Back in 1988 when I built my Mercedes 500 SEC NASCAR stock car as a lark, part of the assorted jokes in it was an exact replica (almost) of the engine in my 1:1 daily driver at the time, a '73 Chevy LUV. It was made of scrap parts, and if I remember right, what I used as the basis was a 1/35th scale Italieri Opel Blitz 6 cylinder block and transmission, but with quite a bit of extra work to make it resemble the Izuzu 4 cylinder. I had to settle for just decal letters to spell out the name instead of the raised letter on the valve cover.

Good idea. So many potential builds ideas out there, not enough time to get to them all. Gleaned this image from a Youtube link in another MCM thread, a neat potential build. A Ford Model T truck hauling a Fordson tractor:

Smaller variant on the theme happening in my overglorified trailerpark community (yeah, my neighbor's house really is that close to mine). Installation of plastic piping for fiberoptic internet / TV system, drilling through basically clay with little difficulty. Vermeer being the other brand of horizontal drilling machines. Not sure who did it or how, but one of the guys managed to pry up the last little concrete triangle of my driveway and crack it in the middle .... can't hire good help these days.

Might be just me, but I'd prefer if it was sectioned a bit and if the grille was opened up a bit ...

Not everyday a person sees a supercharger connected to an engine via a driveshaft with u-joints .... or a car with its own supersize welding torches .... 🤩

NOT rolling the clocks back…… Got up at my usual time of 7am, according to my cheap AA battery-powered clock, did a whole bunch of assorted pre-breakfast stuff, then flipped on my livingroom TV to see what the weather was going to be like, and noticed my plug-in clock (with its ability to get a signal to always be at the exact right time) said it was only 7:25. For a few moments, I was amazed at how much I accomplished in such a short amount of time. . . . . . until it dawned on me the thing did the "fall back" automatically, which we don't do in this area of Arizona.

Those are great! In my patio where I'd prefer them not to be underfoot or on my outdoors workbench, I coax them to jump onto my hand so I can give 'em a ride to one of the nearby plants or bushes so they can eat whatever vermin insects I'd rather not have in my patio area at all.

Yes, they are! Perhaps one of those giant Detroit luxo-barges from the late 1970s would be a more soft pillow ride for the wide open expanses of travel across the American southwest, but I'm thinking if something like a U-Hauler's stray couch falls off their flatbed trailer suddenly onto the freeway, a sudden steering input in a barge would do little more than cause the barge to lean slightly sideways into the couch as you hit it, as opposed to my stiff suspension / quick ratio dinky car jinking right around it like it was an F1 chicane. If I had more money to afford another set of tires, I'd have way too much fun autocrossing this thing! But the guys in the paddock would be saying, "we really need to get a donation drive going for you, so you can put a new coat of paint on it...." 🤣

A positive development today resulting from my Oct 28th irk where the county emissions tester had (inadvertently) trirf to let my car run away off the dynanometer rollers — I definitely have the attention of the subcontractor administrator running the facility for the county today. I politely worded a letter to the country supervisor a few days ago to only ask if the guy testing my car was qualified to drive a stick shift .... and if the cable restraints were hooked onto the front of my GTI to prevent excessive side-to-side drift on the rollers. The subcontractor administrator replied this morning to say the tester guy was qualified, and that in some cases, cars that don't have front tow hooks or other means of putting on the cable restraints don't get the cable restraints. His mistake was to say if mine only came with one in the spare tire tool kit, a single hook can't be used with one front cable restraint. I replied right away with the photo below to say mine most certainly has two hooks welded to the frame, they are quite obvious to see when anyone bends down to look for them, and that the reason why I really don't remember roller drift happening with my car is that diagonal cable restraints were put on those two hooks in so much of a regular routine way over the last 20 years that I never gave much thought to it. In the subcontractor administrator's reply after lunch, he basically all but admitted outright that the first tester guy never bothered to look for the hooks, and the station manager who had to take over for him didn't either. I gather that the subcontractor administrator reminded the work staff - there's a more obscene way to describe such a scolding - that cable restraints are absolutely to be used on front-wheel drive manual shift cars when there are tow hooks / tow holes available. And if testers don't undertake that safety effort, they're in a wee spot of trouble.

Yep, that Dutch Fotki account is quite a treasure, I've had it bookmarked for a few years as a go-to site for model truck stuff. I missed this 2012 thread when I signed up a decade back, but shared my own long-ago bits of Owner Operator fame in this other thread: