Pete J.

The Enzo is a whole different kettle of fish from you average V8 American iron. Go to Google and type in Enzo engine. O-man is correct, the ignition wires run quite a bit differently. There is a block at the rear of the engine and they run down the center and go in next to the intake runner. Rule of modeling #1 - Do your homework! The internet is a great source of information. You have to see what you are building to make it look right. Rule # 2- Have fun. That's what this is all about.

I especially like the "wide whites" on this one.

Oh I know this one. One of my favorite weird cars!

I punch holes in rattle cans all the time. In fact I do it so often I built a tool for it. Definitely safer and much more controlled. No, I won't build one for anyone else. Not willing to assume the liability for someone doing something stupid, like trying it on a can of bug spray.

I've got to agree! You are making this way to complicated. I've had a basic Ronco for close to 20 years now. I cut up and glued the trays to suit me over the years and it works great. No thermostats, on/off switches, blowers, just a basic, basic machine. I have never melted anything in it or ever had any issues. I have a couple of plugs for the top vents to increase the temperature if it is especially cold in the garage. Other than that, it sits on my bench all the time, plugged in and running. I use it to heat my rattle can paint also. Don't get wrapped around the axle with this. Keep it simple and you will be fine. It is model building, not gourmet cooking.

Great story. I love the way is just seemed to call out to you when you went to replace it. Some where in this stupid house is a very nice titanium Seiko watch I am hoping will call out to me. I distinctly remember stuffing into some little space when I was working on something to protect it from damage and have never been able to remember where it is. I suppose I will find it when we move and take everything out, but until then it will remain the phantom watch.

From a guy who has at least 5 grand in modeling tools this is going to sound a little weird, but all you need is some glue, paint with a way to apply them. Some sprue cutters and multi-grit sanding sticks, tooth picks(round) and Q-tips and an Xacto knife. Everything else is specialist tools. Now I have drawers full of tools that I use all the time but I didn't buy them all at once. My tool chest is an accumulation of 30 years of building. Over time I encountered things beyond the basics that I wanted to do and that is where to tool collection came in. If you want to do something special with a model, I can guarantee that someone make a tool just to do that, but you don't need that to get started. No knock on hobbys shops, but almost any hobby tool or supply that is available is sourced from a different application. What that means is that if you are willing to do a little research, you can find just about everything you need direct from the manufacture for much less. Example, K&S brass sheets. They do a nice job of cutting and packaging their product in 6"X3" pieces all wrapped in a nice package, but I can go to an industrial metal supply house and get the same material in 3'x3' sheets for just a little more. Sanding sticks that you get at you local hobby shop for $3 each can be bought from Micro Surface starting at $1.05. For the frugal modeler, it just takes a little time and effort and you can get everything you need. Check out the hobby sources to get ideas and then shop around by looking at places that my be the source. It can be very rewarding and save a few bucks.

The Asian cars were an offshoot of the kei cars of Japan and were well developed long before they ever hit our shores. I think they are a hit over here because of a "back to basics" or eco group. Space and fuel efficient, low cost and kind of cartoon futuristic looks. In other words a box with wheels to get from point A to point A+ and they stand out. Kind of geekie in a way that the Aztec never achieved. In other words kind of a next gen VW Bug or Microbus. Shouts I care about the planet but I still have important places to get to. Oh and while you are mentioning these, don't forget the big hit with gamers, the Scion Xb aka Xbox.

Perhaps a nominal fee I would not mind, but the forum is the only part that I use. I suspect(I have no real idea) that a lot of forums find enough revenue in advertising to make ends meet but like most businesses, it takes some hustle to get the advertisers on board. Often sales is not really the most pleasant part of running a web site, but then that is what it takes to do business on the internet. I imagine that if the advertising became too much to bare, I might pay something, but frankly, I wouldn't pay the cost of a subscription.

I remember when they first came out, the local dealer had one outside on a turntable. I was across the street at the Acura dealer waiting for my car and I stood there dumbfounded. I kind of wanted it to look good, but as it turned I couldn't find a single angle that looked good. The two tone paint job made it look like a hatchback had landed on top of a van. The front looked like a poor attempt at the Batmobile. It looked to short for the height and too tall for the length. The typical of the time, plastic stuff added to the bottom looked like a poorly designed aero kit. Other than that it looked fine, NOT!

If I ever, ever decide that I need one of these, I hope someone very near me has the good sense to get a stick and whack me behind the head and yell "NO". Yes I suppose being the first of a legend of ugly it would have some collectability but I would not want anything to do with this "thing". I still have a real problem with a bunch of highly trained designers gathered about this thing at the GM design studios, while it was still in clay and saying, "Yea, that really looks good!"

It is kind of a priority build thing. In file boxes or up high, not so much a priority, lower and more to the middle, get done sooner. Well, that is the theory.

This is cool! I was over on the IPMS site and saw this stuff announced. http://www.tshobbies.com/Laser-Wood-parts_c279.htm I know that aircraft and ship builders have had laser cut wood for years for ship decks and WWI aircraft parts. Now we have them for pickup beds and woodys. I hope they start doing dash panels and other parts.

Been playing with my camera and Photoshop to see what I could do with my model area. Here is a panorama shot of one end of my garage. The other end is dedicated to all my other ######! Last inventory which was over 8 years ago, the could stood at 500+. Yes, the file boxes are full and some are stacked two deep, or should that be too deep. Probably time to thin the herd a bit. The wall next to the door is my box art gallery. A few years ago, as I finished a model, I started cutting the box top off the kit writing the date on it and stapling it to the was as a gallery of the finished models. At this rate the box tops will never equal the boxes.

I learned a lesson the hard way. Years ago(probably 20 or so) not long after I returned to the hobby after a bit of a hiatus, I really wanted to build a Tamiya six wheel F1 car in 1/12. Well, Tamiya has a cycle that they go through and I was at a point where it just wasn't available from a dealer. Frankly, we had not yet developed the internet network of dealers and small shops so I wound up on a new fangled thing called eBay. I found one and paid $120 for it. A couple of years later they reissued it for $60. Lesson learned. If it is available and I am interested, I buy it. I never know when the urge to build a specific model will hit me and I don't want to pay eBay or collector prices. So, the stash grows. I am at the age where I am going to become a seller on eBay as frankly, I have some subjects that I am just not interested in anymore. So perhaps it is time to let someone else enjoy them. Not going to put them up to make money but if the market makes it valuable to someone then so be it. Oh, just fyi, I am in that 700 to 1000 kit group. That is a lot of plastic.

I was in my teens during the Winged foot express, Green Monster, Spirit of America, battles for the LSR and remember it well. It was a very exciting time for the sport. Both brothers figured prominently in that piece of history. What is truly amazing to me is that both Art and Walt lived into their 90's after living on such a thin edge for so long in their 30's. RIP

Perfect? You should see the trash bin with all the mistakes. Seems like I am making 1 1/2 models with all the stuff that gets tossed because I either didn't measure it right or my setup was wrong or I pushed the machine too hard or.........etc., etc,. It's a good thing that bulk metals are fairly cheap. Thanks any way. It always feels good when someone else appreciates the effort.

Thanks Randy. I appreciate the comments. I am looking forward to the next installment on the rat rod wrecker! Pete

Added a couple of more pieces to this puzzle. I turned and fit the axle housings and the driveshaft input bearing. I have not drilled the holes for the bolts for the axle housings yet. It just got too late tonight and I have to change my work space from the lathe to the mill to do that. I am going to make the axles before I change over. It just makes sense time wise. This is a tool I am not sure most builders are aware of. It is one of four different gravers that I use. A graver is a small metal turning tool used much like wood turning chisels and skews. They are most commonly used by horologists and are great for making very small and intricate parts. Here I am turning the inside curve of the axle housing. It is easier for me to do it this way than to try to synchronize the lead screws to swing a standard tool through an arc.

Quick change rear differential housing is done except for adding the nut and bolt heads. It is machined from three parts and soldered together. Now on to the axles. Two of the three parts. Shot for perspective. Glamor shot

Been busy the last couple of days working on the front suspension. I decided on a twin front leaf spring setup so I could avoid the front drag links. Just kind of a cleaner front end to my eye. I started by cutting .1" wide strips of .015" brass to make the springs, and filing them down to get them flat. I then cut them into two sets of three leafs. I soldered them together to get the front leafs. I then turned some stands .2" by .6" to give me a base line for mounting the axle. I thought I could get things square with that. Well, not really. I wound up taking the tooling plate off my mill and gluing the axle stands too it that then with a series of parallels and angles, came up this this gig to get everything square. The frame is glued to the square in the back and the parallels in the front are squared off of the axle stands. Then everything was centered and the axle was soldered to the springs. I have not made nor attached the shackles for the rear because their size will be determined by the ride height and I need to do the rear suspension to set that. I then made the mounting plates and U-bolts for the axle/spring mounts. Well, that is enough for tonight.

Definitely don't sand blast it! Art is right. I suppose you could use walnut shells or baking soda, but anything more abrasive and you will have to do a lot more than repaint. I have done one of these and the paint was really thick, but the purple pond(Castrol Superclean) did just fine at striping it. The main problem I ran into was the paint was thick for a reason. I spent a lot of time with files and sanding sticks to take all the file marks out of the metal and there were a lot of them. They really filled them with a lot of paint and once cleaned up and repainted it looked great. I used DuPont Velvaseal as a primer and that worked just fine for everything. Good luck.

If you have a non-digital zoom(actual lens not computer cropping) I prefer be back and zoom in. It reduces distortion and gives you a better depth of field. More light with a smaller lens opening and slower shutter speed also improves focus an depth of field.

Without being facetious, cameras don't take crappy photos, photographers do. You can get a decent photo with the most basic of cameras if you take the time to understand the limits of it's focus and how it handles different light. With those two thoughts you need a camera that has a good macro(close up) focus function and it capable of taking a photo in ambient light. Macro focus and internal flashes tend to wash out the subject so if possible, you need to go to the store and test the cameras with the flash off. The best thing to test them on in a store in another camera. Get as close as you can and see how close it will focus. If you can get a decent photo in the store, it should work ok on the workbench. Good luck.

Hmmm, good thought. Where were you before all the trial and error stuff? Seriously, I tried a lot of abrasives from baking soda to toothpaste to Softscrub. They really made a mess and I am very cautions about using abrasives around the mill. They can get in places that they can do a lot of damage, so I am very careful. The ash just seemed to do the job with the lease mess and best finish. I will store that one for later. This will not be the last time I do this.