BDSchindler

Looking for either a commercial product or fabrication to replicate/simulate rubber boots used on suspension and drive trains (such as on a rack and pinion or cv boots) in 1/24th scale. Anybody have any thoughts?

I forgot about a book written by Trevor Legate on the Ford GT-40 (publisher www.velocebooks.com). It has the Production and Racing history with an individual chassis record. The appendix has exploded drawings like the 5 below

I just got a set in 1/24th from TDR Innovations (via Shapeways) and it looks good so far but judging by the size of the manifold, I think it's setup for a smallblock. comes with the stacks and the rest...here's just the manifold

Very nice work, indeed! Holman/Moody now owns the rights to the GT-40 program. Ford Racing sold the whole kaboodle to Holman/Moody. I met Lee Holman, who inherited the company from his father, John Holman. When Lee walked into the facility in NC, he found several shipping containers that contained engines, body parts, body bucks and 50 frames complete with VIN #'s for 1968. Lee has been building continuation GT-40's for some time now. Since they all have VIN numbers assigned in 1968, he is required to build them to "at least" 1968 specs. You too can own one for a mere $1 million to start. While Lee chases after every company that is selling a a GT-40 for a profit, as a hobbyist...you may do well to contact him and he just might help you with anything you need. Lee in the vest on left, me on the right and Lee's gt-40 in the foreground that he currently runs in Historic races. Behind Lee under cover is a GT-40 being built for Tim...ah, well...it was code named "Toolman". Here's some more pictures of the car above and another in for maintenance

A couple of products, yes but most will be via Acme. Acme also bought out many of the Lanes Automotive tooling.

confirmed...any small block would work.

I know the person that actually designed that kit for Franklin Mint yers ago and I have an email out to him. As soon as I find out, I will post it. I would imagine that just about any engine will work with a bit of modification. Just a note...nearly every diecast car made has its origins from a kit...many of them from several kits. Danbury went the extra mile where the designer (a very good friend) also made corrections as needed to produce the final results. So chances are an engine from a known kit may suffice.

GMP went under during the great diecast depression of 2012-13 when the Chinese Government took control of many of the factories. If the contracting companies owed money to those factories, the Chinese Government essentially held all of the tooling hostage until the bills were paid. As to how GMP fit into this, I'm not exactly sure but I do know the company was a financial mess when it came to paying for tooling. You are correct, however...Tom's son, Mat Long opened ACME and rebranded many of GMP's products as ACME Diecast. Recently, GMP announced they were coming back and it may be that Mat is planning on running it as well as Acme. either way, give Mat a call. They may not be able to help, however as I think they abandoned the whole engine tooling. http://www.acmediecast.com/

Thanks guys...at least I know it's not just my opinion then. I picked up all three kits for less than $20 a pop and originally thought I got a deal. After looking at the parts, I realized maybe not. I used to write for Toy Cars and Models Magazine as well as the highly mis-managed The Car Room Magazine. In my columns, I reviewed primarily 1/24th scale diecast vehicles that ranged in price from $50 to $3,000+ retail. I never pulled any punches in a review of a diecast and always balanced the level of detail with the retail price when reviewing. Regardless of price, however, If it was BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, I called it BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and noted why it was BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. While I developed some great friendships with the designers of the cars I reviewed, they knew that if I called their products BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, there was a reason. I have ruffled more than my fair share of feathers but that ruffling managed to get better products brought out either in future builds or, in several cases, managed to have the companies do a mid run production fix. This is why I was concerned that someone may thing I was trying to start trouble...I wasn't, but to that point...BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH is BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. Does anyone have a contact for Ross Gibson? I contacted the retailer I got them from to get their info but they buy from a distributor so it dead-ended there.

I picked a couple of Ross Gibson Engines from a trusted online hobby retailer for some projects I have in the works. This is my first time with Ross Gibson engines and I made the purchase based off of reputation and the few finished products that I have seen. I've come to the conclusion that the finished products I saw pictures of must have had a lot of patience and expertise involved in the build. I am not trying to start trouble here...please don't take my comments that way. I just truely want to know... What is all of the hype in these engine kits? In all three kits, the same issues are consistent...sloppy uneven castings, TONS of pin holes, some pieces I didn't even recognize and the lack of understandable instructions to try to decipher what the part is is pretty laughable. And what is up with the tiny photo-etched pieces? It's the same set for all 3 engines. Now on the flip side, I recently found out that Harold Bradford from Historic Racing Miniatures lives less than 10 minutes from me...after a quick call, I found myself face-to-face with Harold. His castings are beautiful...clean and crisp with no air bubbles thanks to the way he does it under pressure. So please enlighten me, what makes these kits so desireable for the money?

Thought I'd take a moment to stop and introduce myself. My name is Brian Schindler and after a very long hiatus, I have (finally!) returned to the Modeling Hobby. I had been absent since my early 20's with a hit here and there when career, marraige and eventually kids took prescidence. To fill the void, I became a diecast collector and have dabbled in nearly every aspect of it. I have worked with many of the diecast manufactures in both 1/18th and 1/24th scale and wrote the 1/24th scale diecast columns in both Toy Cars and Models Magazine and the reknownly mis-managed The Car Room Magazine. One of the few things I've built in recent years was what I titled "Broken Dreams" ...a scratch built diorama that tells the final story of a select few manufactures from the diecast hobby as well as a final depiction of the aforementioned "The Car Room Magazine" aka..."TCRM" discarded into a 1/12th scale Trash Dumpster: More Pictures are found here Along the way, I was privledge to meet and become friends with many of the modeling greats like Roger Harney. A remarkable man in many respects as well as a great friend. I just recently learned of Roger's passing earlier this year. I still have the Big T that Roger designed in the 60's. Roger told me that it was the first time he had reverse-engineered a model kit. He had designed the engine as a standalone kit in 1/8th scale and came up with the idea to build a car around the engine. The Big T was born a few weeks later. The powers that be at Revell loved the prototype so much they immediately set forth in bringing the Big T to production. Bob Johnson was another...formerly one of the Vice Presidents of Revell-Monogram and co-ower of Accurate Minatures. Bob is a true character in many respects. The other night, I met Harold Bradford of Historic Racing Minatures. I was attempting to see if HRM had a website when I found out that he lives not 15 minutes from me. A quick phone call and a short drive later put me in his basement workshop gazing with amazement over the intricate bits that he casts. His Cheetah kit is gorgeous as are the rest of his products.

I contacted Tim this morning via EBay and he responded rather quickly. Try him there (EBay ID: "tdr_innovations") or go to their google Site https://sites.google.com/site/tdrhtmllearn/