Bernard Kron

The competitive drive can easily cloud the mind... It occurs to me that if the UCI wants to stop the specter of mechanical doping dead in its tracks, at least at the highest levels of the sport, they have simply to eliminate the minimum weight rule and substitute an F1 style equipment certification program. The 1-2 kilogram penalty of the motor and batteries would disqualify them from consideration instantly. The manufacturers have been clamoring for exactly that and the UCI is said to be seriously reviewing the change. With top-of-the-line bikes costing easily $10-12K or more such a program could be readily funded by certification fees. After all, genuine Team Issue bikes are no longer the state-of-art they once were!

Nice analysis Bill. All competitions are won at the margin, so 200 watts for a matter of seconds is huge if you have it and others don't. Recent live tracking of rider output in UCI World Tour competition, the top level, has shown peak outputs for as long as a minute, of as much as a full kilowatt (1,000 watts) when climbing grades of as much as 20% or more. For riders incapable of such peaks that extra 200 watts can be the difference between blowing up and going to the showers or being in on the finish. For those with the 1,000 watts on tap, well..... Most of this hype is being driven currently by an Italian journalist named Claudio Ghisalberti reporting for the Gazzetta dello Sport, the pink colored daily sports newspaper which sponsors the Giro d'Italia (the 3-week Tour of Italy, second only to the Tour de France among major professional bicycle races). and which can benefit from a little controversy. In 2010 Ghisalberti authored a series or articles claiming the dominant time trialist and TT World Champion at the time, the Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, whose "superhuman" performances is the stuff of legend, was in fact using "mechanical doping" in lieu of chemical means. Ghisalberti even had a YouTube video showing "evidence" - a video which was quickly debunked by several sources - and the whole thing caused quite a sensation. Ghisalberti is now back with a series of new articles claiming a thriving underground among amateur cyclists wishing to prevail in various large international semi-competitive events, sometimes marketed as Gran Fondo, where small amounts of money and prizes, and a good deal of notoriety, are to be had. He claims about 1200 high-end bikes per year are being cut open and retrofitted with this technology - obviously a tiny number, but significant enough to trickle into the lower ranks of the pros and to possibly be used for an occasional critical "boost" by switching bikes, etc. In the end most observers say that the complexity and awkwardness at this point, combined with severely limited battery life, argues against it as much of a problem. Ghisalberti has just come out with a new article claiming a new technology, electromagnetic wheels, which offer 60 watts per wheel of boost, and are completely undetectable, all for a mere 200,000 Euros ($210.000) a set! The deal here is that you could arrange to have a "flat", switch wheels, get the tactical boost, "flat" again, and ride away clean! Ghisalberti is serious about his 15 minutes of fame! The young woman who got busted, 19 year old Belgian Femke Van den Driessche, turns out to be an interesting character. She claims the bike that got tested is not hers, but instead belongs to a friend, Nico Van Muylder,,who bought the bike from her last year. Van Muylder has come out to confirm the bike is his. Van den Driessche, in a fairly dubious story, claims the bike is identical in appearance to the bike she was to use in the Under-23 World Cyclo Cross Championships and was mistakenly prepared by her mechanic that morning for her use. Someone must have tipped officials off because they inspected her bikes before the race and she did not use it in the competition. Interestingly, although she was among the favorites, she did not finish. But wait! There's more. It seems the Van den Driessche family are a pretty unsavory bunch. Here brother Niels Van den Driessche, also a competitive cyclist, is currently under suspension for chemical doping. And her father Frank and dear brother Niels are currently under investigation for stealing some exotic and expensive parakeets from a pet shop last February! They were recorded on security cameras and face almost certain conviction, now that the shop owner has seen their mugs in the local papers and has been able to confirm it was them...

Commercially available system similar to what is suspected as being used in mechanical doping: See: http://www.vivax-assist.com/en/produkte/vivax-assist-4-0/vivax-assist_4-0.html From the Vivax Assist website:

For UCI (the world governing body) sanctioned competitive events there is a minimum weight for the bicycles of 6.8 kg (14.99 pounds) which has been in place for many years. It was first establish because bikes were getting too fragile and mechanical failures were a danger to the riders. With modern composites far lighter machines, weighing as little 5 kg can be built with no compromise to safety at all. So it's fairly simply to build an underweight bike and then add the motor and power pack to it. But there's no way to get around the mass and density of all the equipment. That's why, as soon as the rumours about "mechanical doping" began flying now more than 5 years ago the UCI moved quickly to scan bikes at the end of competitions. As I said, it's relatively easy and very quick to check. But again, for a young competitor, as in this example, the temptation can be huge and she may simply have been too naïve to resist. Chemical doping, on the o0ther hand, isn't so simple, and requires the cooperation of the athletes, the organizers and the sponsors to police it. For this reason in professional sports where the sanctioning body has chosen to look the other way chemical doping remains endemic, often to the detriment of the athlete's long-term health (i.e. American football, professional tennis, professional track and field, etc.).

Think of it in terms of supplementary power, rather than as a substitute for the rider's muscles. For the young cyclo-cross competitor riding at the world champiosnips in Belgium referred to in the article it was the difference between dropping out and perhaps finishing. When Armstrong was using EPO it only ever increased his strength and endurance by a factor of perhaps 2%, but at the margin it can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Thank you everyone. You are all very generous... This is a small update. I’m making good progress and close to final assembly. The window glass was weathered and installed. I included door glass since otherwise the car would have been rusted through and through. With full weathered glass the car looks even more far gone! I also installed the grill and headlights. The motor parts are completed. I scratch built a ribbed cast log-style manifold to hold three Stromberg 97’s. The exhaust manifold is adapted from the kit’s wedge-head Plymouth V8. Still to do is installation of the engine accessories and magneto ignition and, of course, the weathering, which has actually been started but does show up in the low-light workbench pictures. I hope to have this completed by the weekend. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Harry, see my comment above. Electric batteries either housed externally if there's nothing to conceal, in which case they can be fairly large, or hidden in the frame tubes. The mass and density of the motor cartridge and the batteries is one reason why detection is quite easy.

The motors are electric, housed in the seat tube of the frame, and connected to the axle shaft of the crankset by small gears. Output is fairly small, a couple of hundred watts at the very most, and often much less. in most cases and available in brief bursts. The point is that it provides a small marginal increase in power output at critical moments. Switches and controls are relatively easy to miniaturize and conceal. The challenge remains both the size/duration of batteries and the size/output/efficiency of the motor. A small company has recently had a breakthrough in these areas and seems to have been promoting the use of their products among athletes, which may prove to be a doubtful call on their part. With top male professionals peaking at close to 1,000 watts during competition most pros are still dubious about the small outputs of these motors relative to the additional weight which can run to a kilogram (2.2 lbs.) or more. But for everyday cyclists this weight is a small price to pay for the difference between a pleasant ride up hitherto difficult hills and an afternoon of suffering. Detecting the motors in the bikes is relatively easy using various scanning techniques. That's why up to now it has seemed to be a mythical beast, at least in the professional ranks. Hardly worth the risk since detection would almost certainly result in a lifetime ban. But, again, for pleasure riders or for bragging rights on a club run the appeal is there...

Thank you everyone! I’ve completed the interior and have the chassis mostly assembled, only missing some steering bits, front shocks and drive shaft, all of which have been painted. Both the chassis and the interior have been weathered as well. I think they’ve benefitted from the initial experience of doing the body. I was able to more accurately place the rust where I wanted it and to moderate the rust effects when I wanted to. The interior is more dirty and stained than rusty, too. The motor is half built and should be done soon. It requires its own approach to weathering since it has some aluminum hop up parts and the Chrysler Corp. engine block paint was an aluminum silver metallic, which would act as a partial barrier to rust. This is all very interesting! Thanx for lookin’, B.

This is new territory for me. I've never done a rusted model before. The upcoming NNL West in early March has Rat Rods as one of their featured categories and I thought I'd build something for that. But this model is not it! I started this AMT '41 Plymouth to gain experience with weathering powders and the table salt corrosion technique. I'm building it as a "barn find" 60's gasser. The motor is the kit inline 6 with a finned aluminum head courtesy of The Parts Box (believe it or not such a part exists...). I'll be building a 3-carb manifold and straight exhausts. The tires are AMT kit tires woith hand painted whitewalls. The front axle is the gasser piece from the AMT '32 Ford Phaeton. Virtually all the other parts come from the kit. The car will have weathered grill, lights and bumpers to gain experience weathering chrome. The full-on Rat Rod I'll be building for the NNL West will use what I've learned from doing this one. It will be a pretty "classic" Rat od, if such a thing exists - Buick Straight 8, '29 Ford RPU bucket, Kelsey Hayes wire wheels, super low z'd frame, etc. I did the rust job after researching weathering techniques on line and on YouTube. In particular I found the military modelers quite helpful, as well as the excellent videos produced by Virgil Suárez (Dr. Cranky). In his videos the good Doctor points out that you will probably put down too much rust in your first attempt but to not let that worry you. It's how you learn the limits and extent of the techniques. I found this very much to be the case. The corrosion of the bodywork was done using a blend of table salt, coarse salt and baking powder applied to the damp body after panting it with Duplicolor red primer. After applying the salt and letting it dry overnight I sprayed the body with Duplicolor Hampsted Green Metallic. This is the basic body color. Once the body color was dry I removed the salt using a stiff tooth brush. Then I applied weathering powders using two shades of rust (light and dark) and a light grey "dirt" as well. The owders were given to me several years ago by a friend so I don’t have the original packaging. However, I believe they are Bragdon Enterprises powders. They are excellent. Once done I sealed everything with Testors DullCote. While I really like the overall effect I hope to be able to do a less rusty car with my next project. Thanx for lookin, B.

Here, here! I'll second that. Especially a 1/25th full detail Lincoln Mark II. How I left that off my list I'll never know! Given what they've been doing, maybe that's one for Moebius. With yet another attempt to salvage the Lincoln brand in progress now Ford could use a miniature halo car...

Thanx Danno. I found them. But... here we go again. Only 7 left! See: http://www.phoenixmodeldevelopments.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ephoenixmodeldevelopments%2ecom%2f&WD=hinges&PN=The_Phoenix_Miniature_Hinge_Range%2ehtml%23aH850#aH850 The good news is they're only around $10.00 a set with the weak poiund and all. I havenm't had the courage to look at shipping on them. Did you have to buy more than 1 set or, as I assume, did you cut one set up?

All of these in styrene with high parts count, of course. Most important, because it would make $$$$$$ and I'd want a cut of it: Full detail Proper '32 Ford 3 in 1 with flattie, SBC, fenders, 50's/60's style suspension etc. - Essentially shrink-ray the Big Deuce kit. Also 3-window, 5-window, phaeton and Tudor variantsThen some 50's postwar road racing dreams: Full detail Devin SS 1/25th scale - factory chassis and tri-power SBCFull detail Scarab Mk. I 1/25th scale, right hand drive versionsFull detail Ferrari TDF 250 GT 1/25th scale, the "production" Pinin Farina body will do.Full detail Lotus XI with Coventry Climax SOHC motor 1/25th scale 3 in 1 (LeMans streamline, Club racer, street)Full Detail Maserati 250F Grand Prix car 1/25th scale - late series "streamline" 1957 version. A finally some Detroit iron from the big fin era: Full detail 1959 Buick Invicta 2-door Hardtop 1/25th scaleFull detail 1959 Cadillac 4-door "panoramic" hardtop 1/25th scaleFull detail 1957 Chrysler New Yorker Hardtop

Nice! Whose hinges did you use? They look like brass.

Thanks! I tend to use Duplicolor paints a lot. I don't think of them in terms of pearls. Since they're generally touch-up paints it must be a relatively contemporary automotive pearl white, like one of the Japanese cars (Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, etc.) ,which tend to offer a earl white in their line. Do you have the name and/or number? I think I'd like to try some, perhaps over silver or gold to enhance the depth - Duplicolor color top coats tend to be somewhat transparent which can be used to tweak them sometimes.

Gorgeously tasteful and yet aggressive - what fine kustomizing is all about. Can't wait for the Under Glas! The pearl reads very well in the photographs. I know it's outdoor sunlight and I wonder how it looks in artificial light. The reason I bring it up is because I have had trouble finding a pearlescent in rattle cans that gives me the result I want. It's usually not iridescent enough and I photograph my finished models indoors. What paint is this?

China. The Buick nameplate is very big in China. They've been making the Buick Regal in China since 1999. The Regal is a prestige mid-market model, like Audi or Volvo, in the Chinese market and a big seller. In fact Buick is leading GM into a shift to Chinese production for models important to their Eastern hemisphere (Asia/Australia) strategy. GM is closing it's last Australian Holden plant next year and shifting Holden production to China. The 2016 Buick Envision Minivan is the first GM product to be exported from China to the North American market. It was designed as much for the Asian market as it was for North America. Expect many key models to be sourced from Chinese plants - assuming the whole thing over there holds together over the next few years, of course. GM had been looking at killing off both brands but China saved the Buick badge. GM will ,be watching the Asian response to the Avista to make a production decision.

Thanks once again for the excellent first view of this re-issue. I think this takes the whole Round2 AMT re-issue phenomenon "up-a-notch" at every level. Not only have they restored long-missing parts that gave the original kit its essential character, but they have extended the "re-issue experience" by augmenting it with support material that provides a sense of context and history for potential buyers who weren't around for the original. The addition of the deleted customizing parts, too, will help take this kit beyond the admittedly stunning, Box Art recreation it could have been. Bravo Round2! If you have yet to give us a true new release, at least you have taken the re-issue genre to an impressive new level. The tires, of course, are exceptional. Hopefully they will find their way to a Parts Pack so I can build some mid-late 60's show rods!

Thanks guys! Of the various models that I finished last year I think I like this one the best. It's got a real aggressive drag strip vibe to it. I guess it's that nasty chopped competition coupe body, LOL...

Another beautifully turned out model in the tastefully conservative style that is so emphatically yours. Especially welcome this time around is the more detailed discussion, not only about how you achieve the results that you do, but the thought process behind why you do it. Crossing with ease between the worlds of plastic and metal greatly expands your pallet and gives you options we styrene and resin purists simply do not have. Food for thought to us... Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Phil!

Thanks Jesse! Thanks Phil! You really need to teach the Revell Deuce who's boss when it comes to stance! There are hardly any Revell hot rod kits where the stance isn't just terrible, usually way too tame and high in the air; the Deuces, the Willys and '40 Ford street rods and even the current '29 Ford Roadster release, all need serious work just to get them in the ball park. The primer paint is a false time saver. It's super fragile and required constant attention. I'm convinced the best matte paint jobs are actually gloss paint finished with DullCote applied at the latest possible stage to minimize handling! The wheels and tires were just blind luck. A deep dive into the Parts Box paid off for once! I used a couple of techniques to make sure squeezing the blown poncho was a straightforward as possible. After all this was supposed to be a quicky! LOL First off I used the Ford transmission in the Revell kit. After measuring the Revell Parts Pak bell housing and determining it was roughly the same length as the Deuce kit's bell housing I cut off the tranny from the small block Ford. This ensured that no surgery would be required on the drive train. Then I had to make sure that the overall length was OK since the blown mill has all that belt drive stuff to deal with. The good news there is that the set-back on these Revell Deuce kits is gigantic and there is tons of room for additional motor length. It just meant that I couldn't use a stock style firewall as I had hoped. Finally, since I was planning a full hood setup, the motor height was critical. There what I did was shave down the stock Deuce motor mounts to eliminated the raised channel edges and make them plain thin tabs. This eliminates about 1/16" of vertical height and allowed for adequate clearance of the carbs and air cleaners. I still landed up having to grind away material from the Pontiac Super Duty headers on the passenger side to allow the motor room to drop down. Looking back now I almost think I just traded off between chopping the top and shoehorning the big blown mill! I almost reached for the Rat Roaster's blown SBC but then that would have meant adapting an Old School Jimmy blower rig. If it ain't one thing... Yes it is. It's the Pontiac cam from the AMT Parts Pak version of that motor. I left the kit chrome on but dulled it with DullCote and highlighted the detail with black wash. The amazing thing is that the width is a perfect fit for the Revell Deuce chassis! An enterprising aftermarket caster should offer a little bag of these things.

Well... not only are they exceptionally well turned out models but they are beautifully styled and refreshingly creative automobiles as well. Top shelf!

Thanks again for all the kind comments from you all. Michael, I'm, especially moved. Just keep up the great work you are doing. Bob, the "cutaways" are done by using a tripod and the timer on my digital camera, along with some basic Photoshop techniques. I'm not using anything fancy in the camera department, it's an old Fuji E900 9 megapixel snapshot camera. But the tripod allows me to takes a sequence of shots without (hopefully) moving either the model or the camera so that everything remains lined up and in register. Here's what I mean. I start by taking a "master shot" with the body panels in place: Then I remove the body panels and take the chassis shot: Then, in Photoshop I "erase" all the chassis stuff and body parts that won't be in the final cutaway and make a body overlay: Then I copy and paste the body overlay in position over the frame shot: Photoshop has a few other tricks like being to make layers "transparent" but this is the basic approach. If you are building a model where the interior stuff will be permanently hidden by body panels and other structure that's glued in place then you have to remember to shoot the underlying image and the mounted-in-place bodywork during an advanced mockup stage if you plan to do a photo-cutaway like this. That's why so far I mainly do them on open-wheeled race cars and hot rods and maybe the occasional under hood engine compartment "ghost" shot.

Now that is a very tasteful and sophisticated redo of this model, I must say! Small but important detail changes abound, all of which add to the impact. Bravo! Show 'n' Go, Chicago 1965 indeed. Best wishes for the coming year and that we are treated to more fine work from your bench.