jbwelda

wow, someone quoted William Burroughs! and harry I pointed out that BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH with BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH quite some time ago. how can I type wtf and not BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH?

that tracknose sure looks great on there and the paint is nice with good scale metallic particles, from the photos anyway. maybe if you want more zing...a coat of Tamiya clear red over the top? great piece of engineering there!

I have been messaging with the owner of that second auction, and I pointed out that if you count up all the kits in all his photos there are only around 60 or 70, and suggested he take some quick pics of the rest of them. he replied that he couldn't post anymore photos (but he can...up to 12 I think for free) and something about the value is made up from all the parts and tools and paints and stuff. So...huh? I would guess he does not have 160 kits, more like 160 separate items counting paint cans etc as one each.

1. buy more kits 2. read off topic posts until you decide you cannot take it anymore and you might as well build something 3. sit in your hobby room and consume some vegetable matter, then look around and I guarantee it won't be long before you pick up something and start working. totally works for me. one love jb

As I recall it also had gold foil for "that place down there". one love jb

wow thanks for filling me in there Bill. and for pretty much ignoring anything I said except what you thought you could shoot holes in. heres a clue for ya, big guy: truth rarely comes out in court. most everything is nuanced nonsense. alright then. nice pics by the way.

well a slight update along with a major diversion, dragster chassis just needs the airbrush and pretty much everything else is ready to be assembled when that is done, but the major news is the totally irreverent tow car: a Nissan Cube, eventually towing a trailer I will scratchbash from the revell midget trailer. the Nissan has numerous Mooneyes design cues, mostly from the full size moon disk covers on the wheels, decal graphics from the Mooneyes VW van, and a Mooneyes motif interior with classic Moon steering wheel and yellow stripe pattern mimicking the pattern used on the Mooneyes dragster it will be towing. Very nice Nissan kit, well proportioned and engineered, zero problems during assembly, though some things were corrected like the seats had no backs and the headrests were removed, seats drilled, and aluminum rod used headrest posts. curbside model of course, and the chassis itself is quite simple but very detailed...but all I did was paint the base pan flat black, then the 4 or 5 main parts to attach I shot with some metallic black and just a touch of color here and there, quick and easy. I also lowered the front suspension by cutting the shock towers and making my own with the wheel hub at least 4" scale higher on the tube. used the kit wheels for the front with the spun aluminum moon disks, while I found some Cadillac looking big wheels (actually used the smaller front ones) and wider tires and put them in the rear (totally ignoring the fact it is a FWD vehicle)...this gives it a pretty much in the weeds stance in the front but a bit higher in the rear. also built a twin metal tailpipe to stick out from under the chassis but not shown in the pics... still to do: just tonite polished down the orange peel a bit on the Testors Daytona Yellow Lacquer and next I will decal and clear it, then paint the body interior black and call it pretty much done...then on to the trailer and of course finishing up the dragster! hey! too bad I did not notice this before I painted the body! I knew the rear of the Cube reminded me of something but I thought it was a Roth car...turns out the Lil Coffin is much more true to what Nissan came up with. almost exact width too. simple but effective chassis detail: dashboard with vintage Moon steering wheel: designer treatment of the interior, Dean Moon would be proud: Peeking at the dragster frame through unique rear window design of Cube: finally a shot of interior in place inside body...interior of body with be black to match interior tub: sorry for the small and possibly messed up photos, I don't know what imageshack did but I am not happy... one love jb

ok I think we got a new leader with that bath scene!

you brought up mickey Thompson as someone who personified the spirit of hot rodding in that last thread (so safely closed by the safety police amongst us). interesting choice...wasn't he murdered in his driveway purportedly by people unhappy with his performance in a side "business"? Sort of proves my point ultimately, doesn't it. the truth is much more that no one we have ever heard of truly personifies the spirit of hot rodding because originally it was a bunch of anonymous people, mostly fresh out of the war, with nothing to do and some junk around to do it with. and mostly their lives were fueled by testosterone, liquor, bennies, and a bad attitude. some went on to be famous but along with the fame came the responsibility so much of what I consider the true spirit (as revived largely through what are called rat rods) went out of their lives...of course marrying and having kids probably didn't hurt either. but the true spirit of hot rodding I think is almost parallel to the 81 club (if you get the allusion)...hopped up bad boys driving unsafe at any speed cars at high rates of speed nor caring a bit about what society thought. sort of like this Robert Williams painting in other words, hot/rat rods are not the domain of graybeards sitting around commenting on how tasty that billet fillet is...true hot rods are the domain of disenfranchised young men (mostly) who have limited funds and make things work whether they end up pretty or not, and not much respect for the society that contains them and their dreams. most builders of "rat" rods that I have known fit this description pretty much to a tee, and I have known and know a few of them here on the west coast (no you have never heard of them so this is not a name dropping contest...doesn't mean they don't build kool stuff). to me, anyway, there are few who personify the spirit of hot rodding in modern times more than, if not rat rods, then the Asian kid down the block who spends his salary earned as a bagger at the local supermarket on his slammed Honda civic; who has put the poorly fitting body kit on, twin turboed the motor, added a paint can exhaust system with very little noise suppression and drives up and down your street way too fast all the time who you want to pitch a bottle through his windshield every time he comes by but you are just too *civilized* to actually do so, so you yell something like "BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH kids SLOW DOWN!" while they glare back with their eyes bloodshot from too much crank and not enough sleep and give you the salute that implies you are number 1. THAT is the spirit of hot rodding: to upset the status quo and wake the neighbors at ungodly hours with exhaust noise and loud music, screaming and squealing females and screeching tires. And you just hope against hope its not your daughter in the back seat with them.

no bling billet trustafarian baby with money to throw away would ever believe it, no. but the poor boys know better. thanks again

that second one actually doesn't look too bad, if you read the fine print there are 160 models but by my count no more than 60 of them are shown. and the ones shown aren't half bad, some nice VW models and Japanese kits. two large scale cars. plus "custom parts" and tools and compressor, possibly air brush. this is kinda a "storage wars" lot, looks like. it is a little overpriced but I think if you really looked at and added up everything there, you would come out significantly ahead especially if you liked the subject matter of the kits.

I should add that I am currently faced with a long put off BMF session...and dreading it. Unfortunately notwithstanding what I may have said earlier in this thread, it does look better than Testors Chrome Silver!

Now certainly twin (or more) engines LOOK impressive, but did they ever really do very well in a drag race environment? I know on the lake beds where you have miles to build speed the extra HP could be used but somehow I always got the impression that the weight combined with the loss of power in transmission to the wheels, negated any real gain in moveability for lack of a better word...the ability to get off the line and down a quarter mile quickly. Frankly thinking back I remember seeing quite a few multi engine cars but most were either exhibition vehicles or just didn't place very well in the qualifying.

I personally am glad the "concerned mother" brigade is keeping us all "safe". That's what I want out of life: to be "safe". I think next we should ban X Acto blades. One can cut themselves (or others) very badly with one of those. Truly not "safe" and not that far from an assault weapon truth be known. Rat rods are the true spirit of hot rods: fast, dangerous, driven by irresponsible social rejects usually on drugs or worse. Did I mention poorly constructed? You don't like "rat rods", you don't really like hot rods. Now the nowadays rat rod poseurs, they are worthy of ridicule, but not the down and dirty, did it because its what I had laying around, deathtraps. One rare case where $ expended probably is in inverse relation to kool factor. And if it runs into you or yours on the road through driving or mechanical failure...well, you just shoulda steered out of the way faster! like that kid on the insurance ad who came careening through the fence and over the lawn coming to rest next to the spokesman said: Sup. Thank you. one love jb

>Still looks better then Testors chrome silver. not really; imo its highly overrated and a real pain to use and get a decent result. thank goodness for modern cars with color matched trim.

well, uh, thanks, I guess, casey for that link. Maybe I am deluded here but I thought this thread was supposed to be a listing of motors...not a listing of links to other threads about motors. I would appreciate it if someone could summarize sources for the nailhead here along with some chat about whats good and not so good about each (like for instance that darn hole in the block...unacceptable and really too much work to fix if a better is available and I do believe they are... and for this to be any darn good at all it HAS to be sorted by engine, not kit, or it fails as any kind of valid usable reference material. but so goes life on MCM board I guess.

just a suggestion: any list to come out of this ought to be sorted by ENGINE not model kit, so one could look up a particular engine and see all the options right there, and the various kits containing them. would be very handy, and I think this thread is a very interesting and potentially useful one. so just a bit off topic maybe but anyone want to set me straight on what the best (as in closest to actual motor in the details) Buick nailhead mill is? I am assuming probably AMTs 66 Rivera? I see it listed in the original list there with some complementary comments, but wondering if there are better available?

>I think what we're looking at there is a reissue of the original. that's kinda strange; its exactly what I had been thinking since looking at those photos... this is going to get interesting; I, as many others, have hoarded the original kits and so there is definitely a base to compare against. to me this is the most exciting release announced in the past or future year, no matter how it turns out.

those are some way kool cars! love the stude but those chevys are great too!

too KOOL! love what ya did with those mooneyes on the tank too! WOOT! hey but all I can see is the blue fiat...are there more somewhere and I am not seeing the link? jb

Boy that is a neat look you got with the top chop. pure genius, and right up my alley. thanks! jb

thanx for noticing my super high res macro photography; those headers are just white glued on there for display and will probably be replaced (with ones with the seam properly removed) when the motor actually goes into something. funny thing is I probably have about an hour in on removing seams from those headers (tony nancy by the way). none too successfully apparently.

I built up the nailhead motor using replica and miniatures 6-2s log manifold and some other parts, looks pretty good despite its primitive base:

Fantastic what you are doing there! Truly inspiring!

Mica blue is a great shade and like Charlie said do NOT sand on the color itself. in fact with mica blue I suggest an overcoat of Tamiya clear blue, then a coat or two of regular clear. you can carefully sand the clear blue but you do NOT want to cut through to the mica blue. the clear blue over the top gives it a real "kandy" wet look and the metallic particles really look good, very fine grain. be sure to start a thread and keep us posted.