Bainford

Writing for an audience should also include at least an attempt at proper grammar. And, whom exactly do you believe to have been the intended audience? My comment was directed at a specific audience, and a general audience. The specific audience both quoted and addressed my comments, so I guess I hit that mark. The more general audience is the forum at large, on whose behalf you are not required to comment, further adding to the asininity of you remark. Furthermore, it is not your remit to steer the direction of the discussion on behalf of the OP. He's an old hat at this stuff. He doesn't need you to hold his hand.

I think much of the reason for Japanese kits frequently not having engines, and American kits almost always having engines, comes down to the differences in motoring cultures of the two regions. In the US, where Hot Rodding and Drag Racing are ever-present, and the big V-8 is king, the engines in 1:1 cars are on full display. As such, they are made to be show pieces, with big, fancy intake systems, lots of chrome & polished aluminum. The engine itself was/is often the centre of attraction, and this is instilled in the psyche of the young model builder. In period, I believe this was less so in other cultures. Modern Japanese 1:1 car builders build wild looking engines suitable for spectacular display, with huge turbos, massive intercoolers, and lots of shiny pipes to connect it all together, but at the time when model car building was developing as a hobby, this was not the case in Japan, and I think that is reflected in model kit design. Additionally, as Brian mentioned above, and for some unfathomable reason, battery powered kits were the norm, which would have negatively effected the inclusion of an engine in many kits.

Those Tamiya kits are mind-blowing. I had no idea Tamiya ever offered kits of such cars, and in 1/25 scale no less. Thanks for posting.

Very cool GTO, Bruce. The whole thing has an overall wicked look. An awesome street prowler.

Cool stuff, Adam. Model building archeology, to be sure. I, too, have been developing an increased interest in brass era stuff lately.

Like most aspects of the hobby, there is no one-and-done solution. A hand vise is simply one of the numerous tools available for working on small parts and sub-assemblies. Many of the tools will be application specific. My hand vise is one of my most valuable tools, used constantly when scratch building small parts. I couldn't build without it. Some work may require an assembly or figure to be held stationary while fine details are performed with both hands, other times a small parts needs to be held securely by hand (in a hand vise) while you file and carve away at it. As for setting it down, I simply... set it down.

When I scratch build a floor shifter, I always position them in 1st gear. However, due to a brief bout of builder's dyslexia, my '70 Boss 302 is forever parked up in 3rd gear. So far, no one has yet noticed my most embarrassing faux pas.

My heart goes out to countries that only have one 4:20 per year.

Welcome to the forum Bryan.

I remember reading an article on Zeeker Chassis Pads back in my early teens. At an early age it instilled the importance of building things square & true. Not that I would have doubted it, but the technical discussion was very enlightening. During moments of whimsy, to this day I refer to my granite surface plate as the little Zeeker

When I was a car crazy teen, the widely reconised 'fastest car around' was a Corvair with a hot LT-1 where the back seat used to be. A clean, well built car, and generally untouchable. At the time I actually preferred his brother's car, another late Corvair, but lowered on wide steelies all around, stripped interior, and the hot rodded air-cooled six. It looked like a well prepared SCCA club racer on the street.

I have one as well. Over kill, but very handy. I walked into a discount tool shop and there was a pallet of them for $30 each, so I walked out with two. (Well, it took two trips 😉) I gave one to a buddy, the other is next to my model bench.

There are a number of vises available that are great for holding awkward shaped items. These Dspaie vices are nice, but there are cheaper ones around

It's coming along nicely, Mark. I am impressed with your decal method. Sure is a lot of work, but you have done an amazing job of it.

Cool project.

Lovely work. Nice a clean, and a supper cool funny. I love it!

Thanks for that explanation, Charles. What does your heat sink look like? Sort of an aluminum clamp to draw the heat?

Yup, that's one sweet looking Deuce.

Excellent work. It's great how looking at the photos evokes images of the real thing. A simply stunning replica of, as you mentioned, one of the coolest and most iconic rods ever built.

Oh man, you nailed it!! Just wicked!

Yes!! A preview option, or even a testing forum, would be very useful.

Fantastic stuff, Greg. Love the style of this build. I realise you have your engine to ground clearance sorted out, but just a thought here; you could add a dry-sump system with its attendant low profile oil pan, which would give you 3-4 inches of extra clearance.

Lovely build of a great car. Every time I see SR30, I can't help but visualise the incredible flip & pirouette at the '86 Summernats.

Francois, this is an absolutely stunning model. Certainly one of the most impressive builds I have ever seen. It must be quite the sight to behold in person. The comparison photo with your other 1/12 scale builds really puts this model's size in perspective. Sorry to hear about the broken crank. That must have been a little soul-destroying, but don't let that diminish what you have created here. Thank you very much for posting your entire process. It has been one of the most interesting WIPs I have seen. The engineering and the creativity are inspiring, and the overall presentation with the booklets is icing on the cake. Very impressive, very enjoyable. Good luck at the show. I have a refrigerator box I could have let you use, though you may have had to cut the end out to get the car to fit.😉

Nice work, Daniel. The front suspension work is very cool. Worth all the effort with the recalcitrant strut.