bobss396

I was at a friend's repair shop yesterday. I should have taken a picture of the car I saw, a '69 Chevelle, looked like a base model painted a rich maroon. It had a mild 350 in it, column shift but clean. I asked my friend to ask the owner if he would take $15k for it.

That is it, I will post something when I get a chance. It looks pretty decent, IMO. I'd like to try the new Revell one.

Shocks are a nice way to add realism to a project. I'd like to see how to make them from aluminum. I have been making them from styrene tubing, usually 3/32" with a piece of 3/64" brass rod.

My girlfriends's daughter went over that bridge about 7PM that Sunday night, she was visiting friends in Baltimore. She was shaken up a bit.

I also save nice flat cardboard from the back of paper pads and one handy size from cat food packages. I tape it down and can cut on it, make cave sketches, etc. I had cut up some pieces of .062" fiberglass I got at work, this is great to cut on. When it gets too marked up, I just sand it flat again.

Iceman and other vendors carry these Pro Tech hood pin plates, I am sold on them. No more sewing needles... I will use some .020" brass pins into the body and put the plates on the hood. They look nice compared to anything else I have seen so far. https://www.ebay.com/itm/395156103788?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=395156103788&targetid=1529493971262&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9004549&poi=&campaignid=19851828444&mkgroupid=145880009014&rlsatarget=pla-1529493971262&abcId=9307249&merchantid=114607696&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzZmwBhD8ARIsAH4v1gUUszWVuA4lxv1H_VKGHeVqGwRo2MPeFcr6VQxHu3YK6R83MDXv_WsaAqbOEALw_wcB

I was on the deck painting one of the upper a-arms on mine, it fell off the toothpick I had it impaled on... right between the boards, gone. I made up a set out of styrene, much better than the kit items. THEN... I found that the header fit to the heads has to be right on. Or else there is no room to install the engine. For the rear and front bumpers, I made up mounting tabs for them, secured to the body. I had to open the front fender openings quite a bit and trim some material behind the headlights. I managed not to bork it up. I opened up the trunk too and hinged it, I should do a build post on the car. I had an epiphany, hacked off the kit front suspension and grafted on an AMT NASCAR front stub. I'm using a VCG Resins BBC with a pro-charger on it. Now I have fit issues with the headers. I have a couple of 3D printed ones to try next.

I gave Spaz Stix a go some years back, it would have to be covered with a clear or else it will not withstand any handling. I think it is made to be used on the inside of RC car bodies that are clear. Al Clad too, I tried it a few times but don't drag out the airbrush too often. I have been using Duplicolor Chrome spray cans and I'm happy-ish with it. I have used it on gasser grilles and bumpers mostly and on '62 Ford bumpers.

When I got into the club around 1998, the old guys talked about using red toothbrush handles. I have looked for them now and then with no luck. The search goes on.

I have those green self-healing mats and I use scrap paper from the printer to work on. I tape it down and toss it when it gets dirty. I use graph paper and lined post-it paper too. The lines are handy when laying some pieces out that I'm making up.

We had a make-and-take event at our shows for the little kids. That one year it was snap-kit Monte Carlos. I gathered up the leftover red sprue material and still have a bunch of it. I hold it by hand mostly, leave the piece long and shape the tail light using sanding sticks. I go as far as to polish the pieces 100%. Then I razor saw off the finished lens. Hint: If you need 2, make up 3 or 4... on a '49 Ford they are quite small. The old '37 Chevy kits came with a red grille section that was curved. I fashioned one of these into '49 Mercury lenses.

The stroker we built was a kit from the old mail-order PAW that is no longer around. Everything was almost a 1-off in the kit. We had our engine shop go over it all and check things out before we started the assembly. The garage was set up like an operating tent and it went together smoothly. IIRC the compression ration was over 11:1, we ran it on AV gas. Well, the thing was a beast until it blew in a race in 1983. My brother was running behind it in a big block Nova and drove right out of the cloud of smoke it gave off. The fans loved it, he finished like 2nd or 3rd.

I had a 2-tone paint phobia for a long time. I got bleed-thru on almost everything. FINALLY I splurged on a 6MM roll of Tamiya masking tape that comes in a dispenser. Which keeps it clean and the edge sharp. I need to go for a roll of the wider one next. I did an under-hood mask on my GMC tow truck recently. It was 30 minutes to mask and 2 minutes to paint, but worth it. I had to do the black under the hood. I used Tamiya TS-63.

I haven't sold on eBay in a while. I used to do almost all postal money orders or cash deals. People sent me a check now and then, lol. I would have to ask my son about the new ground rules, he sells a lot on eBay. I get about 95% of my model stuff on eBay. I have saved sellers that offer free shipping, something to look for. Combining shipping is great, if I need 1 of something, I will buy 2 or more to spread it out.

I have some I use for sanding wheel wells. Wrap sand paper around them and go to town. Some are tapered.

Scale Motorsports has or had something called Grabit Stix that worked well. I have to see if I have any left. https://scalemotorsport.com/products/grabitstix™ There ya go... these work quite well and I see Mega Hobby carries them. I have used small balls of Fun Tac (the blue wall poster stuff) on a toothpick. If it won't be visible after, I'll impale a part on an xacto blade. I have used white glue as well, it peels off after it dries.

I use this quite a bit, it has a nice effect over solid colors.

I'm well versed on the difference. I used to have a big FE stash before my 1978 divorce and car accident. I had 332, 352, 390 and 406 goodies galore. The best I was able to sell to a guy I knew that restored high-end Ford muscle cars. Then I took the dive into the 385 family around 1982 with the stock cars. This was a pre-1971 429 we got in a junk car. Taking the heads off was an epiphany of sorts. Canted valves, ports as big as goose eggs. That was a gateway drug, onto the 460 Fords and then into 496 cubic inch strokers.

Someone on Etsy has a '68 Impala Custom Coupe that looks quite nice. Someone in the Ukraine makes ones similar to that.

Brie and Bleu are 6 months old. A real cute pair for sure. Edit: Brie in the big picture had a left eye with a droop that was evident when we picked them up. It is getting better and the vet was not concerned about it.

My problem with ribbon that comes with belt kits is, most is hard to glue to itself and is too thick to pass thru the buckles. I use scavenged flat gift ? ribbons and color them with markers. Curling ribbon is not too bad to use. It can be flattened out a little.

A little more done, battling lower back pain ... no fun. Some of the bed is done, have line on the winch and the boom attached. Interior is complete, lights are going into the tow plate next.

Belt hardware, I have been using Scale Motorsports 1/20 stuff. The size still looks good in smaller cars and is easier to see and work with. Decent seat belt hardware is a void in the hobby at least for me.

Look at what Iceman has, I believe he has the 429 BOSS engine. I would be interested in the stock 429/460 myself. The closest thing I can find are the 390/427 ones. VCG resins makes a very nice stock 352.

I have an LED desk type lamp that is very bright. Anything I scrape the mold lines off I look at closely. Funny thing on round-ish parts like roll cages and axle tubes, from one direction it looks 110% smooth, look at it from 180 degrees and I see a ridge that will catch a fingernail.