Brian Austin

That Gremlin reminds me of a short track racer. It's also not far in spirit from the wild show rods of decades past.

How much is a builder's time worth?

I tried for a few years to get my club to try gravity racing at our show, to no avail. It would be similar to Pinewood Derby, only with plastic models.

There have been a number of operable half-scale tractor-trailers built. I have seen the work of Fred Heim. He's built a Peterbilt tractor. a dump trailer and a low-bed trailer on which he carries his half scale CAT end-loader or excavator. Busy guy!

You guys could look at it this way... There was a lot of "Get a horse!" grumbling during the development of the horseless carriage, and the automobile turned out OK, didn't it?

Mark Gustavson has a bunch of detail pictures of the car in unrestored condition. https://public.fotki.com/Mark-Gustavson/thunderbird-italien/

Well you could always draw it in on the boxtop with a Molitow marker if it bothers you enough. :-P

What happened to that poor Dodge? Rusted frame?

Kenworth experimented with turbines: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2011/05/09/turbine-powered-oddities-no-466-the-see-through-kenworth-boeing/

As I posted in an earlier thread regarding grass, faux fur can be used (with a little work): http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/fur_grass/article/index.html http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/mink_grass/

The funny thing is, car writers have been saying this exact thing for decades. I have come across writings in the '50s stating the "all cars today look alike" sentiment. The other thing about the "all cars look alike today" line is that it forgets those that have dared to stand out and then get slammed for being "ugly", such as the much-maligned Cybertruck. Also, note that trucks can look similar since they often shared components such as cabs across divisions or even among competitors. There's even badge-engineering with trucks as with automobiles. A given truck can be offered under a number of different nameplates (such as the Sprinter vans and those cute little Japanese-sourced COEs marketed as Chevys, etc.), and this has been going on for decades. And then truck manufacturers themselves have been bought and sold over the years, and merged in with others around the globe.

There was a tin toy version... https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1964-big-red-ford-turbine-semi-truck-1904919802

These lovely 1:24 or 1:25 scale fire trucks are part of the collection of a small fire-fighting museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. My notes credit Dave Frazer as their builder. There are also a few examples of horse-drawn apparatus among the collection that I believe were built or modified from a particular range of mixed-media "craftsman kits" produced here in Mass. in the late '40s / early '50s era. Two pages worth of pictures of the models in my album: I wish their website was more informative: https://www.brocktonhistoricalsociety.org/bhs/firemus.html

I'm sure Boomers might take autonomous vehicles (or rideshares) more seriously once they themselves become too old to drive safely. :-D Also, I don't get why some folk have to put others down for not wanting to drive a manual transmission. That's kind of like an old-timer dismissing someone for not knowing how to use steering wheel levers to manually advance spark plugs/set the choke...or how to start an engine with a hand crank. :-P Also, keep in mind that Millennials (I have an older family friend who insists on calling them "Millenniums") are already at, or heading into, middle age. So there's an entirely different generation following them that are entering car-shopping age. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/young-car-buyers-dealerships/

I don't buy it. To me this article reads like a click-bait news story that turns out to be based on an urban legend. I'm not sure what to make of the story or the car's owner (Wendy Allen, aka Eelkat). The story as told in the article posted above suggests she herself claims the car as haunted. Her website (not a fun read IMHO) however seems to paint the locals as the crazy ones, superstitious folk spreading rumors regarding her car being possessed. It is my impression the web articles that have been passing the story around for several years are all hype with little substance. FWIW, I liked Jalopnik's skeptical take on the purported story: https://jalopnik.com/meet-the-golden-eagle-the-car-claimed-to-have-killed-a-1830037928

Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo! http://theoldmotor.com/?p=118599 More info: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2010/01/24/sia-flashback-its-a-car-its-a-motorcycle-its-bi-autogo/ Photographs from the era: https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/search/catch_all_fields_mt%3A(bi-autogo) OR catch_all_fields_et%3A(bi-autogo)

That's just plain counterfeiting.

I think that for many, a pickup is about being macho, and the Cybertruck doesn't fit that image. It kind of reminds me of another unconventional pickup, the Honda Ridgeline. The Cybertruck is not intended to be a contractor's or farmer's work truck. It's a lifestyle vehicle for young people who are not typical truck shoppers. People are also missing the fact that we are no longer the 20th century. It's about time vehicles start looking futuristic. In time some elements of the Cybertruck may trickle down to the other manufacturers. I think it's amusing that people are criticizing a product that isn't even available for purchase yet, judging by only by a few small images on a computer (or, worse, on a phone). I'd like to walk around one up close.

Yes, that smoke stack is for screening out embers. I'd been looking for this reference link for a while, just found it finally. It profiles General, and explains changes made to the loco throughout its career after the Civil War raid escapade. For those wondering of General's significance, here you are: https://web.archive.org/web/20080821102950fw_/http://www.andrewsraid.com/general.html Here's how she looked at the end of her service. She would be rebuilt in 1882 for the 1883 World's Columbian Exhibition. Compare this photo with the large black and white photo in my initial post depicting General as she looked in Atlanta in 1864. She had been heavily damaged in the fire that leveled that city when Confederate forces evacuated. You can see how the frame was changed, along with the strapiron cowcatcher. She was built to run on 5-foot gauge track, but in the 1880's the track was converted to 4'-9". Another reference link... General was rebuilt in the 1960s to celebrate the centennial of her role in Civil War history. https://web.archive.org/web/20120304025645/http://www.locomotivegeneral.com/generalrefittour/FrameSet.htm General as she looks today (note green cab interior despite red exterior). https://web.archive.org/web/20111229075855/http://www.locomotivegeneral.com/generalparts/FrameSet.htm And for fun, for reference regarding American locomotives of General's type, go to the following page: http://www.ottgalleries.com/rivarossi.html Then scroll down to find "DOWNLOADABLE STUFF FOR FELLOW MODELERS" for two PDF files of illustrations, scaled for 1:87 if you print them out. In "Part 1" you can even find a modern color rendering of how General might have appeared as built. I provide this info for those who wish to build their kit other than box stock. ?

Whatever you do, don't call this combination a "semi". :-P With that converter dolly it's being towed with, that would be termed a full trailer, would it not?

Oldmopars, they appear to be honest working trucks. For historical and cultural context regarding Pakistani trucks: https://www.dawn.com/news/1278386 "...In the early 1970s a most interesting phenomenon galvanised the genre of truck art. Till the late 1960s, trucks were mostly being painted with spiritual and exotic images on the rear of the vehicles. From the early 1970s, images and calligraphy began to completely engulf the whole body of the vehicle. This was prompted by the manner in which billboards and hoardings of Pakistani films became louder and more kaleidoscopic in appearance. In turn, those painting such billboards were inspired by the ‘psychedelic art’ and Pop Art which had begun to mushroom in the west from the late 1960s onward. So the painters of truck art, mostly stationed in workshops and cheap roadside eateries along Pakistan’s highways, began to incorporate the complex and loud wall-to-wall style adopted by the billboard painters and fused it with the already established flair of the truck art genre." One truck painter profiled in the story cheerfully did his truck artwork solely for the cost of his paints and a meal or two. So these trucks, along with the Japanese ones are fascinating to me as mirrors to their respective cultures.

Ironically, on some other forums people have complained about new posts being made, when one should reply to one of the long-running threads already open.

For those building the MPC/AMT kit of the "General" locomotive, it will take a bit of research and work to build it as it looked at the time of its service during the American Civil War. Built by the Rogers Locomotive Works in 1855, the "General" , (not "The General") was rebuilt numerous times after the war. The MPC kit depicts the locomotive after restoration. A long-out-of-print book, Civil War Railroads And Models by Edwin P. Alexander has some nice 1:48 scale line drawings showing "General" as it looked as built (as well as a wealth of info regarding other locomotives used during the war on both sides, and other items such as lineside buildings and period track). The link below has some info regarding the probable paint colors of the General, using what is known regarding other Rogers locomotives of the era: http://loggingmallets.railfan.net/trainsim/rogers/general.htm (click on image on page for a larger one) Several years a manufacturer offered historically-accurate 1:48 scale locomotives and some rolling stock relating to the Civil War era. Here is their interpretation of the General. (Note the company is out of business, their webpage inactive. I had to go back to an archived page to find their pictures of the General. https://web.archive.org/web/20060209190215/http://www.smrtrains.com/general3.htm More here: http://www.modelcrafters.com/wordpress/?product=w-i-p-_american-civil-war-general-locomotive-tender-freight-car-set-with-plexiglas-display-case-track-section_operates-on-3-rail-ogauge-track-custom-finished-by-modelcrafters The MPC kit can be kitbashed into representations of other locomotives of similar design: https://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plasitc-model-kits-how-tos/construction-of-the-jupiter-no-119-locomotives-from-mpcs-the-general/ And, for fun here's a scratchbuilt interpretation of the General, in a 1:6 scale diorama at an action figure convention: https://patchesofpride.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/the-general-dominates-joelanta-2012/ Or you could just go with a custom paint job: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/4-general-mantua-real-brass-all-die-1809306136

That switcher is neat! I wonder if it started out as an All-Nation EMD NW2, and was cut down by the builder. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/all-nation-scale-nw2-diesel-switcher-127936342 I happen to have a smattering of 0 gauge: some Lionel 3-rail, and some Atlas, Weaver, etc. 2-rail. FWIW: The precise scale of "O" can vary. 1:48 has generally been favored in the US, while the UK favors 1:43 (7mm to the foot), and continental Europe often goes with 1:45 (all retaining the ancient tinplate track gauge of 1-1/4"). In the mid-20th century there were a small number of manufacturers offering products in the US in the wacky scale of 17/64" to the foot (just a hair short of 7mm). This scale is closer to correct in relation to the track gauge compared to 1:48. Note that the "0" should actually be a number: "Zero". The early tinplate gauges (from over a century ago) were catalogued with numbers, ranging from #0 at the smallest, to Gauge #4 or #5 or so at the largest (very rare collector's items). #1 was later chosen for the LGB range of large-scale trains, launching the garden-railroad industry. Other sizes came later, at random. "HO" is literally half of 0. I happen to have a wind-up Marklin O gauge train set I inherited dating to circa 1903, and it even came with a period catalog! The artwork is wonderful, but the paper is somewhat fragile.