Russell C

Funny thing is, if I said it belongs in a junkyard, that would be a compliment, too!

That was also my first reaction. But now I'm not so sure. Could be pretty close to correct, but we perhaps have an optical illusion going on from the slammed stance, and maybe because the area behind the rear wheel arch might be too short horizontally.

Complete with the classic Molotov cocktail igniter in the gas filler neck! Good job.

There's the Monogram Miami Vice fake Ferrari Daytona, not that those are of much use. Myself, I cheat by using the online plate creator sites, and then use my Mac's photo manipulation program to correct/sharpen the colors, and my obsolete CorelDRAW program to precisely size the plate image as needed. So far, my Canon inkjet printer and glossy photo paper spits out good enough printouts. Haven't tried yet to emboss the letters out from the backside using a dried up fine point ballpoint pen, though, but it might work to make a visible 3D stamped letter appearance.

Saved this brass parts sheet from two decades back, a double etch one where the first etch was halfway down into the metal on the top sheet surface, then it was flipped over and another pass was done for an etch-through. If I remember right, this sheet was a total reject because the holes were not undersized enough to prevent the acid from ultimately making them too big in diameter. There's an 'art' to the whole process. Run the sheet through the acid too quickly, and you don't get a deep enough etch. Leave the sheet in too long, and too much of the metal disappears.

Having worked several years in the graphics department at PMA Photometals, which did both ferric chloride etching of brass, stainless steel & copper sheet, and nitric acid etching of zinc braille dot signs, I can say firsthand that the nitric acid was a nightmare for the owners to deal with, while the ferric chloride was easier, and could be replenished and used again after straining the waste out of it. But to do top-quality etching, they used professional grade photoresistant film applied to the sheet material via a machine for that task. When the photoresist didn't stick right, that produced lots of parts that went straight into the scrap barrels. Additionally, there was a specific "art" for oversizing the artwork to correspond with the thickness of the metal. Remember, the etching not only goes down through the metal, it goes sideways into it, so the uppermost part of the metal is eaten away more so than the bottom area, and the resulting tapered slope of the metal depends on what strength of acid you're using. On top of all that, this process really doesn't smell very good. One of these days, I'll re-learn how to do the artwork, but when I get around to offering P.E. parts for sale, I'll turn the actual etching over to the pros and let them deal with the hassle of chemicals, metal acquisition, prep & disposal.

I still had my '73 Luv when I was in college at the time I built my "utterly inaccurate technically correct" Rock Island NASCAR Mercedes, and since I lacked any 1:1 reference photos for racing V8s, and since the model was wrong in so many other aspects, I just used my pickup's engine for an accurate reference. The kit that provided the basic block and other bits was the (if I remember right) Tamiya Opel Blitz 1/35th scale cargo truck. My dad machined the air cleaner cover out of aluminum, and the Isuzu letters were individual ones cut from one of the Rock Island decal sheets I had.

You weren't kidding, major boatload of ideas. Stole at minimum one, myself.

Missed this somehow until tonight. Fabulous build! Although also troubling how folks in the future still haven't licked the problem of runaway rust. ?

Ditto, just scrolled through Bill's whole photo pile there and it reminds me I need to be more obsessive on an assortment of detailing.

Ripped apart a dead battery powered carpet sweeper a month or two ago just to see what was inside it. I'd put the scale for the belt in it at maybe 16th or 12th scale, though.

Welcome! I occasionally like to drop these far-away town names in the Google Streetmobile pages to see what they look like. Someone in your town has a classic old Pontiac? https://www.google.com/maps/@67.1383129,20.6663022,3a,75y,48.51h,85.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5d9xhZ7haSY7QrBY7x2xXA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

My one original gripe with the Monogram kits is that I think the headlight diameters are too big, which narrows and heightens the grille. Pic below from my thread on the Revell choptop kits, where a reply mentioned the Monogram ones. That's my old high school era '73 that I'd put a '77 bumper on and a homemade air dam. The Monograms are '73s with the horizontal rectangular taillights, but in this new release, I'm wondering if the well-intentioned decals are too new for the kit. So far, I only find the "Mighty Mike" decals on '77s, but my search results might be letting me down, so someone might correct me on that. "Mike" being short for the Luv's Mikado trim option for the years before '77, I think.

Suffice it to say, I would never want to be hit with the kind of injury he's had to endure, along with all the subsequent surgeries he's had to reduce the discomfort he's had to endure. I count my blessings every day for being in good health with nothing major to slow me down.

A classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUSnEmgNvNM

And all this time, I thought Kurt had some extra tough grinder bits to carve up solidified powder faux rock material.

Problem with getting an old PC and putting the Corel on it is that you'd also have to install the MicroSoft Windows virus on it to use it. Me, I still use my 2007 era iMac that's so obsolete it can't handle the internet any more. But it handles my Corel 11 just fine. I'd rather have my Corel 5 again, but oh well. Just a bit of a tiny chore to save my Corel photo alterations in a thumb drive and plop them down in this computer.

Ditto!

That's ...... interesting. It's like it's there, but not quite there.

Speaking from my own experience, I hate it when my car gets sick.

Have no idea why I never thought of this before, as a means of keeping my fingerprints down to a dull roar on the oil pans and transmissions.

Absolutely indispensable. Been using a JC Penny "Microsworkshop" motor tool for a bit over 30 years, with its rheostat-type variable speed dial. Lowest setting is 5k rpm, which use nearly all the time except for random occasions where I need to drill into tough metal. 5k will melt plastic when you are drilling sometimes, but you have to know not to drill continuously, and/or know when it is melting, to pull out the drill and pull off whatever melted plastic is on it. Melt on purpose, if you need to wack out a large shape in a more or less flat sheet by drilling a series of little holes around the perimeter of the irregular hole you need and then carefully drag the drill from one hole to the next (clean up the really rough edges with grinder or router bits, of course). Plus, I've used it as a sort of hand-held mini-lathe to shape small bits of plastic sprue. Chuck a bit of sprue into the motor took and freehand shape it with a razor blade, X-acto, or small files. (fer gawd's sake, be careful with the blades!)

Yep, math is like second nature to guys like you. Me, I looked at the puzzle like it was a pizza that could be divided up in 4 / 8 / 16 pieces, and then wondered how I could shove the lines over a bit to get rid of one slice. Another example of my style of problem-solving: Is one wire thinner than another? Yep, when I lock my calipers on the thicker one, the thinner one doesn't catch in the jaws. What's the thickness of either? Beats me unless I'm using my digital readout one. The dial one spins around and its needle and its inscribed increments indicates some type of size. My former boss walks along sections of similar metal and says "Well, that one is 7 foot eleven, the other one is 4 foot 4, this one is 18 inches and that one is 36, so what's that total?" and I say, "Oh, 'bout the length of a Cadillac." Worst ever was the time when I needed to add 4 + 4 + 4 + 4, and reckoned the answer was 14 because of the way all the fours lined up. But days later I had to laugh at myself when driving down the street and seeing a 4x4 SUV with just that sticker designation, because right then I remembered what the right answer was.