jbwelda

thanks for the tutorial; i already know how to make them but these looked nice out of the bag so to speak so i am tempted to grab some for quick and easy use. i had noticed that ferrell and it does look like those might work, if they supplied them small enough. but the ones in the article were more velocity stack ish. the ferrels look like they would work but they arent whats shown in the photos i am seeing. now my80malibu you might well be on to something there. the article does say they are for "gas". originally i assumed natural gas/propane for the home since it also mentioned "plumbing". then i thought maybe they meant for auto gasoline fuel lines. but now combustable gas like CNG might be exactly what they are talking about. i wish i had a photo because i think many would agree they look darn cool for something you dont have to fool around with. this could sort of turn into a rant really; i love it when article writers refer to some obscure doodad as if its something everyone has innate knowledge of! on the other hand, once i find out what they are for and where to get them, im not likely to forget! many thanks everyone and keep any suggestions, especially links to easy ordering, coming!

>Could you be more specific? Swagelok's site lists 7937 products under "fittings". yes that was my point precisely. thank you.

a recent article in a recent issue of a similar magazine to our hosts featured a car in which the builder said his velocity stacks were Swagelok plumbing 1/16" fasteners. they look really cool so i figured i would find some at home depot or somewhere to use. no such luck there barney. and in fact a search on the net reveals just a bunch of contradictory baloney near as i can tell and circular links. after a frustrating hour of looking around i am no closer to having some than i was before. that includes numerous visits to the swagelok site itself and to the site of their closest authorized supplier, some 70 miles away in oakland california. these were in an article about a pair of cobras by the way in the feb 2010 issue of a publication that used to be enthusiastic. take a look, they really do look convincing. so my question is, anyone know where to get these, in person or over the net, preferably with a minimum of engineering drawings and links that seem to go nowhere? i am resigned to probably having to buy 50 or so which would probably prove to be a lifetime supply. any directions appreciated. ive already gone to a napa auto store (dude looked at me with a blank stare, nice tats though you fool), a plumbing supply house (they had heard of the brand but other than that werent much help), home depot (typically hopeless for anything other than lowest common denominator im afraid)... thanks in advance!

i think to deal with everyones little pecularities a better rule would be: if you allow your car to be handled, it will be judged in all categories and get points in all categories. if you do NOT allow your car to be handled and its not displayed in a way you can see the undercarriage for instance, then you dont get points for the undercarriage portion. most points wins, so of course it behooves the entrant to have his whole car judged. there are problems there too: if you got the hood up to see the motor, how does the judge know it sits level when closed? the secret is to not take it too serious and dont blow a blood vessel, eg: >I was 12 when it happened, the Teacher EVEN KNEW who took it, an DIDN'T do ANYTHING about it! ( other than to say, "Oh, I >thought it was HIS!!!") NEVER entered another contest EVER!!!!! c'mon man, einstein didnt invent evolution for nothing.

post some pics djway...i would like to see some examples.

i love roth stuff too, you really did this one justice. i would like to build a few of his cars; havent attempted to since i was a kid.

like i was saying i am messing around with the ride height. as is so typical i think this model sits too high out of the box so i want to lower it. the smaller wheels/tires will help (they are about 2 scale inches lower in profile than the stock tamiya ones) but on examination it will be very easy to drop the front end (even though not strictly realistic...on my car we took apart the front end and welded in an authentic porsche select a drop (vs the really crummy aftermarket abominations)) simply by raising the front axle on the front of the chassis. i took some photos illustrating before and after...even though the whole thing is just in the mock up stage. when the time comes i am going to snip off the mounting tab on the front end, drill holes in its place and put some rod to register into similar holes higher up on the front chassis plate. this should be good for 3 or 4 more inches of drop and should give the car the nice nose down stance i want. here are some stock height shots: and similar shots with the front end brought down 1/8" - 1/4": and lastly, just because i think they look so great, a close up of a front wheel and tire. these will really come alive with some weathering of the tire and some wash on the chrome! well thats it for tonite! any comments or jeers cheerfully accepted!

well i have taken this lull in painting weather to start up something i have thought about, talked about, suggested to others, pretty much everything except build it myself, for some years now. i am taking the excellent tamiya 66 VW karmann ghia (i owned a 65 for many years so its a subject sort of near and dear to my heart) and making a few modest upgrades. i am transplanting the Porsche Carrera Quad-Cam mill from the fujimi/testors enthusiasts series 356, including the super detailed transaxle assembly that so well compliments the hyper detail (by out of box standards anyway) of the quad cam, dual ignition, dual weber, dry sump oiling system Carrera motor that was included in that kit. in addition i plan on incorporating a lot of other parts from the Carrera to make a fairly realistic VW street sleeper much like the sort i had (uh, no quad cam though...) and many others drove around back in the 70s and 80s. most obviously i will be using the more than excellent porsche chrome wheels, disk brakes in the front and big porsche finned drums in the rear (thats the way we ran em), seats and some interior accourtrements like steering wheel and shift lever from the porsche and i am thinking about transplanting the whole porsche dashboard with its multi instrumentization into it as well. even the already robust transaxle will have porsche upgrades: huge anti-sway bar and solid mounts for the trans from 4 directions assure the rear end stays where its supposed to. i am planning on keeping the paint simple and to the point like mine was: black exterior (in this case, tamiya gloss black followed by a coat or two of black metallic or pearl, followed by clear), tannish interior, maybe a biscuit to simulate leather upgrade, and the stark bare chrome of the porsche wheels, the only real giveaway of what we really got here. so, enough of the jawboning, lets see where this is going...one caution: i move slow sometimes so expect another long drawn out thread with possibly no conclusion! heres the KG box, along with previous build of the quad cam and transaxle that i am using for measurements, reality checks, etc: and the infamous body-crushing testors rebox of the fujimi enthusiasts series Porsche 356, one of the most spectacular kits ever if you ask me: now look at these wheels and tires and tell me if you have ever seen a more beautiful reproduction of a set of wheels in your life! i have not! disk brake (small center) for the front and drum brake wheels for the rear. oh yeah, subdued stockers to the right...no comparison. and here we have the semi finished transaxle nestled into the chassis. fit was remarkably similar to the tamiya motor/transaxle, but a considerable amount of fitting, fabricating and fiddling were required to get to this point...but axle line remains stock position and front and rear mounts line up. another shot of chassis with transaxle in place: semi completed motor block, painted up and ready for detailing and further building: a few of the remaining parts for the motor and there are others not yet picked out and trimmed! ive started to plan the stance, photos to follow next! thanks for looking!

well its not saturday, but theres some action around my bench lately: my main work area, currently under the lights are the porsche 356 quad cam motor i am building to stuff into a tamiya karmann ghia. what you see is the basic block and transaxle, and off to the right some of the parts still in process to finish it up...this is all straight from the box folks: and my first staging area as it were. here are partially completed sub assemblies for jaguar racing sedan, 1/8 scale offenhauser motor, and more stuff for the karmann ghia: then my secondary staging area, wish piles, misc junk etc: nothing too exciting but there you have it.

reps and mins of maryland's finned brake drums are great and come with ford backing plates.

that looks great and it was probably fun to do! its nice that you really dont need to detail or paint it, looks great right out of the box. but you know i have to say, what would have been even cooler is if this was 1/8 scale instead of 1/6. that way it would be an engine swap for the big t etc cars. i guess it would be too small to justify a separate kit then but i always think of the missed opportunities when things are issued in one-off scales.

nice indeed. looks like the gloss black turned out super. ive got a project coming up that i plan on black metallic over black and i hope it comes out half that good. smooth bodywork is essential with black!

i remember when i was a kid a relative of mine gave me a model "kit" that, from my recollection anyway, consisted of a block of balsa wood and a sheet of instrux that basically said "get a knife and good luck". needless to say, that kit got lost in dust somewhere. as i recall though it was multi-media: it also contained a piece of acetate or something for the windows.

everyone dreads it but heres the point: if all the smart people avoid jury duty, then only people too stupid to get out of it will be on juries. that means, judging YOU if and when the time comes. thats not a pretty picture. but a grand jury is a completely different animal. in california you serve for 6 mos or a year or some long term like that. it is something people on their way up do...those who want to enter politics, are movers and shakers in town, have business ambitions. it looks good on a resume. it doesnt decide cases it decides whether action should be taken on something that has been happening and they have been asked to look into. situations could be anything from political corruption, to building trades fraud, to prostitution stings or problems or most other high level situations you could think of. it is considered a political plum to be on a grand jury. hence its very unlikely a normal person would be chosen. in fact i think for a grand jury in california, simply stating you are not interested gets you sprung if you wish. i have been called for consideration on a grand jury twice, once i sat through the process until excused but the second time i just played the not interested card and walked. oh and around here the only payment i think is free parking and there has been talk about nixing that as well...that goes equally for court juries and grand juries. if its not a total hardship (my employer paid my normal salary for my service) i recommend being on a criminal jury at least once. its a real eye opener and in my case i came away with a bit more respect for the criminal justice system because i know we on the jury took the matter seriously. but this is all kinda off topic, now aint it.

yeah thats totally cool and im sure your grandparents will be touched! whats with the big ole caddy on its side in that picture? man there must be a story behind that!

before or after it fogs...put future on it and goodbye fog. i would use superglue.

ah so are you taking over production of satco line of tires? i am glad someone has...i had heard they went out of business and was afraid all their tires would be out of production. great to see you carry it on. is there or will there be a website to order through?

those are four excellent builds, i call that a big year myself. i only got one actually completed this year, the wilhelm wild dream, but got a few ready to finish up this coming year...probably like you, raul! but they no way come up to your quality of bodywork etc, that first truck especially is a real sweetheart!

man, that is UNBELIEVABLE! i never would have imagined from a pyro kit, something like that could emerge. that needs to go to some IPMS shows to show them whats up with car models! seriously, that is sweet.

that tempest is incredible! i wish i could paint like that! congratulations, and keep with it!

i want a Unimog! how many piece body on that Healey? separate sides and top?

sweet!

just got back to this, looks really great. really like the abandoned exhaust junk. looks like its spent its life around the beach too.

thats kind of a neat portable solution, and i agree about the tripod. does it really tilt forward? if so that helps but otherwise it just makes me buy something i dont need (eg: another tripod). what i am seeing doing is putting my camera on (one of) my tripods and keep it on the floor while positioning the box nearer the edge of the table. it looks like your lighting is pretty good as is from the photos but the third light might brighten up top surfaces. i like it and am gonna check micromark. thanks for bringing it up!

thats looks like a great kit of a great GP subject, i remember when honda was campaigning those multi cylinder tiny bikes. classic looking bike too. so you are going to lace wheels from that detail set? ought to be pretty interesting. the photos on hlj site really make it look good and that metal chain detail set is impressive too. looked to me like the kit and the four part sets added up to close to 200$, what was the deal price?