bobss396

That came out great. I have a love-hate relationship with these kits and cannot let well-enough alone. Worst aspects of the kit are the roll cage, the headers and their relation to the side cars. The coilovers are rudimentary as well. I made up a roll cage plate, so I can scratch build one without much pain. On the Vega and Pinto, I add a little to the header tubes so they clear the body better. I make my own coilover shocks. The latest Pinto I have going I added disc brakes to it.

I have a book somewhere about him. Quite a influential icon.

A buddy of mine owns a large machine shop, he started using circuit board drills on very small holes in aluminum. He was able to hold a +/- .001" location tolerance easily. We used to make our own PC boards at work, that was outsourced, that is where my drills came from.

There was always something going onto the trash at work. I have more drills and end mills than I can use in a lifetime. We did retrofits and got permission to take the old hardware home. Real high end exotic stuff. Expired shelf life items too. All good to use on the cars.

There was nothing in the kit to locate the cab to the chassis, I can imagine some little kid building this. Now I can mount the cab and bed where they need to be. The push bumper was modified after I shot some primer on it.

Liking the black wheels...

This makes me want to dig my '66 out again. I switched from the SBC to a VCG resins BBC Pro Charger engine along with a NASCAR front chassis stub. Headers were the next stumbling block. I have some 3D printed ones I have to try on it next.

I have 2 pin vises with drill sizes I use all the time, one is .029" and the other is .037". The smaller I use for spark plug holes, the bigger I use to install 1/32" pins in things. I have another set up to handle anything from .040" to .068" and .070" to .110" on the other end. The little 3-jaw chucks are handy, I could use another one. I picked up a slew of small carbide circuit-board drills when we were closing out a machine shop at work, they were heading to the dumpster. I have anything between .025" to .070", they are either new or re-sharps. They last a long time, but are fragile and can break easily. They have a 1/8" shank so I best use them with just that. They work great under power in the Bridgeport. I never have to spot a hole before I drill it.

"Root Cause Analysis". There... I said it. This should be performed after an event like this and should be quite revealing if implemented by the book. Yeah, it can be the long way home and a good QC manager can pull it off.

This is called an "inspection escape". Some repair activities have a checklist that go with them. Most of the time checklists happen after someone gets caught with their pants down. All of these repair shops fall under FAA scrutiny. So by now they know exactly who worked on the door, unless the shop is that far out of control, they dummy up everything and this time the results were tragic.

I just did this one on a tow truck project. The leftovers are pretty stout, not fragile at all.

Got more done on it today. Made the front bumper and grille. Opened up the kit grille. Have not squirted much primer except for the chassis. Which will be box stock. Everything has locating tabs, have to do some for the front bumper next. I have wheels and tires on order.

I picked up the snow plow kit at my model meeting and jumped into it. I had gotten some Revell tow truck parts on eBay. So far the wrecker back is close to being complete. I need to do a major bench clean up and will post more later. Everything is pinned with .047" brass rod or 0-80 socket head screws.

$19.99 is pretty steep still. I got a bunch before Xmas at $12 per, and then a 10% off on top of that. I have a good supply of AWB Chevy II kits, I should go back to see what else they have. It is a 25 mile journey each way.

I had a '66 Riviera promo as a kid. No idea where it came from, this was close to the OG annual kit issue. I have kit bashed the new '66 kit, used almost everything from it on other projects. The interior went in an (unfinished) '49 resin Mercury, the engine into a '40 Ford. I'll call it probably the best-detailed nail head available.

The batteries are dead. I used to dispose of them at work easily. I have to find another place to drop them off. Sambuca is good stuff especially in coffee in the evenings. I have a pretty well stocked bar at all times. Mainly gin, vodka, Jim Beam, tequila, no wine.

I use the 3/32" tubing too. I did use floral wire inside it for a long time. I'll have to try it with 3/64" brass rod or aluminum if I can find it, possibly welding wire?

I have been using the venerable Revell Midnite Cowboy kit for the wrecker backs. IMO quite accurate and good detail. It would be nice to have a complete tow truck kit. I'm not too crazy about the resin/3D printed ones that are available.

It takes a real man to cut up a 60+ year old kit, well done.

I have to get one of these bad boys. I used to have a 1:1 1965 C30 panel truck, my dad had a 1969 C10 panel truck he used for his furniture business.

An iconic kit to say the least. I built my 1st one when I was 8. Brush painted Testors yellow... I thought it came out great. I have a couple in the queue, a '49 chop-top resin body (lots of work) and a Revell one. In total, I have around 10 '49 Merc kits, maybe more and couple of resin bodies.

Look at the AMT '61 and '63 Ford kits for lights. I see bumpers on eBay now and then. I'm sort of a '62 Ford junkie myself. I just picked up the elusive convertible top that one of my kits was missing.

I believe luck comes in a series of 3. Over one weekend I won a boxing pool at a pay-per-view prize fight at a friend's house, like around $50. I get to work Monday and I had won the football pool, that was around $80. So I take off on the morning break and go to 7-11 and pick up any lottery ticket and start filling them out, Win 4, Win 3, daily numbers, Lotto, etc. I was going over on lunch break to play them. THEN I get a call from HR... I had won a prize at the company health fair raffle... a lousy t-shirt. I wore it a couple of times when I was painting and threw it out. Literally riches to rags.

That is not terrible and looks like a lot of good stuff. I will probably hold out for just a Sherline lathe, although something shorter (more compact) is all I need. I believe I'll rarely do anything past 4" long and I would be happy using mainly collets. I have a bunch of smaller tool blanks I have made up over the years, along with some boring bars in custom holders. Those I used on the bigger Hardinge lathes.

I have made a couple of orders from Ron. Everything is really nice. I use a lot of his wheels, tires and hubs. I have to order up a cage next time.