bobss396

I had seen an R code '64 for sale om eBay... it was the most clapped our rusted hulk you could imagine. But... it went for crazy money, like around $7000. I guess it was good for the vin number and a few other things. There wasn't much R left in it.

I have one of those kits I picked up last year. I did build the annual one as a kid. You did a lot of great work, wow. This is one kit that deserves 100% new tooling, like the AMT '66 Riviera. I would imagine that a lot of those parts would work on this kit.

I have my drills sorted close o what you are doing. I have one big number drill index, rarely use it. I use mainly old end mill tubes and have them sorted like .025 to .060. .060 to .120 and so on. I rarely use anything over .120 unless I'm outside on the mill. I bought one chinese made index set, real small drills, but it is very hard to open without spilling the contents.

I can live with a little less detail if the parts are ultra crisp and clean. Sometimes there is TOO much detail and the parts are quite fragile. I will definitely check out your SM420. It should be interesting like everything else you make. The tandem 305 V6 is next level for sure.

I'm liking it, I never pass up a cheap NASCAR kit, they have so many good things in them that are useful.

I have a lot of those carbide drills too. We were moving the shop at work and I picked the drills out of the dumpster. They are really made to be used in machines, by hand they break too easily. Not an issue when I have a box of 50. I will start holes in plastic with the carbide since it takes a good initial bite, then go with HSS drills. I have a lot of those too. I use the HSS drills with thin aluminum and brass, carbide wants to grab when it breaks through. I buy packs of step-flashing that is .010" thick. I have some .005" but like the thicker stock.

I'm in and out of a pro street binge myself as of late. I have the AMT Nova and Chevelle kits going now. I have some work into the Revell '66 Chevelle flip nose one too.

I worked in an R&D machine shop for almost 5 years. You could eat off the floors, the place was cleaned by a crew after we left. Come in the next day, the floors were cleaned and polished. The machines cleaned and oiled. We worked on a lot of absurdly small parts in any material. Most of the time we carried extra parts into the final operations. Once in a while, one of us dropped a part and would spend too much time looking for it, although there was enough for the order. More than once, I would come in the next morning... and the lost part was right on the floor, in spite of the shop undergoing a good cleaning the previous evening. I'm talking parts smaller than an 0-80 hex nut.

Please. Hijack away, always good to see people thinking and talking about taking it to another level. The Galaxie is out on the bench, been doing pool stuff this week...

My boss I towed for always maintained that they HAD to be an odd number like 3, 5 or 7. I used to look at other tow trucks, all were odd numbers.

I have one started in my stalled projects hall of shame...

Looks good. The AMT 1965 Ford kit has a great dual quad 427 and likely the induction you need. Did you use the 1960 Starliner chassis?

I like to set it and forget it. You can't do that with a hair dryer. I use mine to dry glue, bondo, primer and of course paint.

The ATC woes is a sister act to the ongoing Boeing saga. I know a couple of guys who were fired back in 1981 (?) and they always had a harrowing tale to relate with near misses. I worked on an ATC project back around 1982, that division got sold off by 1985.

NIce... when in doubt, crack open a 40....

I use a lot of PPP cages from eBay... free shipping from one seller. They are made nicer now, they used to have lines in them that were tough to sand out. My only gripe is that the front legs are closer together than the back legs. I prefer a square cage, it gives more room for the seat. The last ones I have done, I offsetted the cages to the left a little. I have seen this often enough on 1:1 stock cars.

Welcome to my world. I just crawl around with a flashlight... the cat thinks I am playing.... or I give up and make another piece. Some parts are real small, like picking fly turds out of black pepper while wearing boxing gloves. In my old age I am getting smarter... if I need 8 of something, I make up 10-12 of them. If I need only 2, I make 3 or 4...

No matter, VCG Resins makes a great SM420. It would be hard to top that one. Josh would probably make you a decent deal on a bunch of them...

The kicker also got on a chassis I had completed... so that had to come apart. The paint was badly etched... good times.

I am up to re-making the front bars and getting the radiator mounted up. The engine will sit higher to get the headers to clear the control arms. I wish I could find true fenderwell headers. I almost made some from solder... except I can't find my spool of solder...

I just used dabs of 5-minute epoxy on mine. I waited for the 4-minute mark so it wasn't runny.

No SM420 gear box? Every GMC tow truck I drove had one in it. I don't know if they came from the factory with a Saginaw/Muncie transmission.

I usually glue a base of scrap plastic to the bottom of anything spillable. It works pretty well. Once just after Xmas, I spilled a bottle of zip-kicker onto the dining room table cloth... it was plastic and the kicker ate a big hole in it. Good thing the wife was not home...

I have drilled spark plug wire holes extra big, so the boot material slides right into the hole. This depends on how much material you have to work with. I'd be hesitant to try it on 3D parts since they are brittle compared to kit plastics. I have a bunch of wire that measures around .037", I use that for boot material. I slice through the jacket, leave the core wires un-cut and slide the "boots" off the wire. I leave the boots long, most of the time they compress enough and don't need glue. The height can be set very uniform, the wire-wrap wires that go into the boots you can get away with not gluing.

All of the modified stocker kits had them. You could also just cut out the kit tubs are use plastic stock. I have done this before. I have also sanded the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH out of kit interiors to make them flat. One I added some aluminum panels that looked good.