bobss396

I get Evergreen products at my LHS, he has a fair stock of almost anything. Check the link below, it has a tab for retailers, but I'm sure you can google it and come up with a place to get it. Bob http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/

Start out easy to see what works for you. I like to use .093 Evergreen tubing. You can add wire of smaller rod to attach it to the interior and to other cage parts, which makes it super strong. Or swipe a cage out of a NA$CAR kit and adapt it. I like to use .080 rod on them. Performance Plastics makes a good plastic roll cage which saves a lot of work and is very adaptable for other projects. Bob

There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. I tend to take all my parts off the trees, clean them up first. I'll drill holes (where it won't show) to give me a place to "spear" the part with a toothpick and paint away. You can also hold the parts on fun-tack (used to hang posters) and a toothpick. Double sided tape works well for painting parts that have one side that won't show. For mold lines on 2 piece assemblies, I'll glue them with Tenax or Proweld brush-on glue and sand the seams. Almost all my pre-paint assembly is done with the aforementioned glues. I save super glue and epoxy for final assembly where more control is needed on painted parts. I really hate painting dashboards and interiors. I usually spray paint the major pieces and do the detailing with a small brush (buy good ones!) and have been using acrylic paint lately. Hope this helps. Bob

I walked in last night and caught the game right in the middle. I really had no favorite in the series as I like both teams. It was a tough one to lose for Pittsburgh. But they'll be back in force in 2009 I'm sure. Bob

The putty is good stuff, very much like the professional 1:1 putty. And if you have to use more than a thin wipe, you're using too much. All of my putty work goes into the dehydrator, so shrinking is not an issue. Bob

Nice build, really captures the look. I always did line 'shine cars and HAVE to see Thunder Road soon. That should be great reference material, not as good as what you have access to. Bob

I know, how inaccurate is that? There's probably the risk of paying royalties to the Joe Catalytic Converter Company, Inc. out there. Bob

I've owned "old fart" cars made by Buick and Mercury, both are very nice cars especially the Buick Regal and Lesabre lines. Mercury had a winner with the short-lived Marauder. Their Milan is an excellent car. I agree with the Lincoln having overshadowed the Mercury line as a big FM marketing blunder. I'm not sure I'd lay the blame on the bean counters, but something is rotten at good old FM and they may never regain a major place in the car market place. Bob

I agree that by and large, American cars are fugly compared to the Jap and European cars. The Cadillacs are growing on me slowly, the Chrysler line is a general abomination with their front heavy 300 and Charger. We looked at Chrysler Pacificas, me and my wife had to duck to get into the driver's seat, and we're not tall by any means. Fords are a confusion of "F" prefixed models, no wonder they're all eFFed up. I looked at '04 and '05 Chevy Malibus, very uncomfortable and have an ill laid out interior. But now the new ones are coming out and they're superior all around. Does it really cost any more to crank out an American car with good looks and a functional interior? I don't think so. I just added two cars to the stable at home, a 2001 Corolla and 2002 Altima. Both were the right cars at the right price. The Altima is mine and I can't find a thing that I don't like about it. I had hesitated so long in buying a foreign car, but with gas prices and what the US cars have to offer, I really had no other choice. Bob

Mercury used to be a "testing ground" for new product features. Something would come out on the Mercury one year, the next year it would be spread down into the Ford line. I always thought of them as a sportier more of a performance car as compared to the Fords, but they have lost some muscle through evolution. My wife drives a Grand Marquis, it goes like a scalded dog for a big car. The Milans are nice cars, I checked them out when I was car shopping earlier recently. It would be a shame to see them go, but that seems to be the way of the automotive world lately. Chrysler did have an over-saturated line with a lot of overlap, I had said that as far back as the 1970s. Mercury is not nearly as bad by far, they're just not able to adapt with what the consumer wants to buy NOW. Their investment into the SUV market was bad timing. If Mercury has to be the sacrificial lamb to keep Lincoln going, I'd have no problem with that. Bob

Mine ($1500) will be a down payment on my converting from oil to gas heat for my house. Fuel oil is about $3.60 a gallon and I blow through 800 gallons per year. The gas should be more stable and I'm reducing my carbon footprint. Whoever coined that phrase must be smokin' some fine stuff. Bob

Some stores have those little compressors that are steep at the normal price, but with the coupon they're just right. I once bought a few Badger air brush kits for something like $27 out the door and sold them on evilBay for an easy $45 each. Not a bad return on my investment. Bob

I'm all for a revolution, as long as I don't have to drive too far and maybe combine it with a hobby crawl. Bob

I don't know what you're going for, it sounds like too much work to me. I simply paint everything then attach the parts. I never ever worry about getting paint on to-be-glued surfaces. CA glue and epoxy stick to everything, paint, chrome. I never use styrene tube glue or any of the brush type glues for final assembly. I will scrape chrome and glue if it makes the parts fit better. Bob

I pin all my exhaust headers and manifolds in place. It gives me something to hang onto when I paint them and they STAY put when I glue them on. I add "handles" to other parts as well. Or will make up locating tabs for bumpers that won't be seen once they're glued on. Almost all of my final assembly is done with CA or epoxy. I don't do too much gluing in the mockup state. I'll hold things with strips of masking tape, fun-tack or white glue. Bob

Yeah, something deffo is rotten in downtown Washington DC. You'd think that they WANT us in a recession by the amount of non-action that is going on in the behalf of the VOTING motorists. Bob

The going rate in Long Island NY is between $3.89 and $4.05 for 87 octane regular. Good thing I picked up a 2002 Altima last week. The onboard fuel mileage calculator runs between 23.8 and 24.6 so far on local driving. It should be better on the road. I even got a cool $450 for junking my '84 Chevy wagon. I have at least cut my gas usage in half. Bob

We're having some screwball weather here on Long Island. Last week we got past 70 for a couple of days, overall April was a lot warmer than May has been to date. The weekend was a little cool and blustery, but I managed to get 2 veggie garden plots planted as well as flowers planted for Mother's Day. Of course I really jinxed things by opening my pool on Saturday. Chemically it is ready to go, but the water is about 58 and total is around 50 outside with high winds and scattered showers. Hopefully my garden didn't blow away and there's not too much spanish moss in the pool from the oak trees. Bob

Why not go to automotive touch up sprays and take the step up to a lacquer based paint? They are easier to use than most hobby paints, just use a good primer under them. Bob

I have a full size Bridgeport mill at home, so I'm covered for drilling. You might score a decent one at Lowes or Home Depot, who used to have a nice Delta for a good price. Also check Sears. There's always your local Craigs List where you might find a nice used one for a good price. The table top ones should work out unless you're also planning on doing bigger work with it. For what you want, make sure the table will has slots in it so you can dog down a small vise to it. Bob

Simply outstanding, jaw dropping and all that. Excuse me while I line all of MY builts on the driveway and back over them. Bob

Well, taking night classes for ten years (spread over a span of 16 years) I got to see technology change quite a bit. I actually became a technology junkie for a while there and can see why a 4 year bachelor's degree "wears out" in 10 years. Bob

Night school is no picnic if you're taking tough courses. It was 30 years between me taking calculus and advanced calculus. I hardly knew how to turn on my TI-86 calculator for the first class! Talk about a reality check. I'm not sure if I'll go for the masters degree yet, I need a break. Bob

Basically, it goes like this. If the pedal hangs from under the dash, the master mounts on the firewall. If the pedal goes through the floor, the master is located under the floorboards and is mounted to the frame rail on a bracket. Bob

I graduated with my BS in Manufacturing Engineering in '06 at age 51, so go for it man. It only took me 10 years of night classes to do it, gaining an AAS in Mechanical Engineering on the way. I could have spent the time in front of the tube watching those hideous "sh%$ coms" that are so popular to many. I got back into modeling in 1994 or so, figured I'd be a GREAT builder right away. Guess what? I SUCKED at it big time and was so frustrated. I had great enthusiasm but mediocre skills. Since then I manage to get one together with few visible glue spots and haven't been to Lake Castrol in a while. Bob