Art Anderson

What's going on anyway?

OK, some conversions: 25.4mm equals one inch. Drop the .4mm, as 1/25 of 4mm is beyond the possibilities of most all of us, unless we are attempting a micro-precision machined part for say, an operating scale model engine. So, 1mm can be said to equal on inch in 1/25 scale. The same is even more true in English measurements (which is what we traditionally use in the USA: 1" in 1/25 scale equals EXACTLY .040" (40 thousandths of an inch!--Evergreen Scale Models has all manner of strip styrene at .040"). So check your measurements more carefully--this is HS Math 101, frankly! Art

Just got some test shots from Moebius on this one! Already looking at diving stuff for it, along with motorizing and RC--yikes it looks like about $700, but I think worth every penny! Art

Harry, From the annual notice I get from the University, that is what is called "fair use", as I read it, making a "copy" if you will, for your own use, but not for sale to others. Art

This is an issue that touches on just about every aspect of our lives frankly. It runs a very huge gamut: Music, literature, art, film/TV, all of it. Automobiles of course, fall into the category of "art" in the sense that a stylist (arguably artists in their own right) has been paid to come up with an eyecatching design for his/her employer which will catch the eye (yes, even the hearts) of potential car buyers. Now, absent any sort of legal protection for such design work--why would anyone bother to come up with any new design for a car (or any other product)? That's a very serious question frankly. Some examples: In 1914, William Crapo Durant (then the president of Chevrolet--BEFORE Chevrolet bought up a struggling General Motors) was visiting France, and in a hotel room, was taken by a printed pattern in the wallpaper--that is where the legendary Chevrolet "Bowtie" emblem came from. Now, in 1914, there was no such thing as an international copyright convention (a broad treaty between a large group of countries in which the various nations agree to honor the copyright laws of one another); so Durant had pretty much free reign to take that bit of inspiration back to Flint Michigan, and use that "Bowtie" shape with the word "Chevrolet" printed on it. Even the name "Chrevrolet" is something Durant's upstart car manufacturing company had ownership of: The first Chevrolet was designed for Durant and his partners for the then-new Little Motor Company (Little being the name of the original founder, who partnered up with Durant in 1912) by the then very famous race car designer and driver, Louis Chevrolet. By being employed by Durant and Little, Louis Chevrolet allowed Little Motors to use his name on the new car, in return for a very nice salary and having his famous name appear in dealerships all over the US (Never mind that Louis Chevrolet, in a fit of pique, threw his Chevrolet stock certificates in Durant's face, resigned and stormed out of the place a couple of years later--that's historical fact). Of course, "Chevrolet", "Chevy" and the various popular slang names for the Chevrolet automobile have been trademarked over the years as well. But the bottom line today is: Under copyright laws and international treaties, W. C. Durant would not have been nearly so able to have lifted a certain "bowtie" shape from the decor in that hotel room and adopt it as the shape of the badge for his company's car without a fight from somebody. Sometimes, it's the shape of some design characteristic of a car that becomes meaningful. Packard, very early on in their history, adopted a radiator shell shape looking much like a stylized "ox yoke". Buick, in the late-'teens/early 20's adopted the very same shape, only to run into legal opposition from Packard--and a short court case evolved. The bottom line was, Buick was allowed to modify their radiator shape so that while it may have had some resemblance, no longer was a direct copy of Packard's most readily visible identifier. Studebaker, in the middle 1950's, entered into an agreement with Daimler-Benz to be the US importer of Mercedes Benz cars. Soon, Studebaker adopted a grille design for their new 1956 Hawk that closely looked just like the Mercedes grille design, complete with a badge that looked very similar to the Mercedes 3-pointed star. Daimler Benz objected, and Studebaker was forced to change that badge very quickly, and did so. Other examples of this include the 7-slot grille that so identifies Jeep vehicles--AMT General had to come to an agreement with Chrysler Jeep when they brought out the H1 & H2 Hummers. Trademarked names are also very important, and can be vulnerable: In the 1930's, General Motors created a consumer appliance division around their own brand of refrigerators, Frigidaire. Now, how many of us to this day refer to that icebox in the kitchen as the "Fridge"? Our parents and grandparents sure did in their day. While companies such as Hotpoint, Coldspot, Servel, Whirlpool, Crosley, General Electric, and Westinghouse all made refrigerators, it became very common for people to refer to their's as the frigidaire or "The Fridge", regardless of brand. In Southern California, an enterprising appliance dealer began advertising "Frigid Air" as a cover name for the lines of refrigerators he was selling. GM of course, sued to protect their rights to the trademarked, copyrighted name "Frigidaire", and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, where in a split decision, the Justices ruled that Frigidaire was indeed the property of GM. However, the court also ruled that in order for GM (or any other trademark or copyright holder) had a duty to protect their rights, their ownership against all unauthorized users, or face losing all rights period to that trademark or copyright. This principle was reinforced in the 1980's in the case of counterfeit auto parts (notably replacement sheet metal then being made overseas and insisted on by auto insurance companies seeking to lower the cost of crash repairs). Again, SCOTUS ruled in favor of the owners of the original designs, and reaffirmed that those companies had a responsibility to protect those copyrights. Even the masthead of the model magazine which owns this website is copyrighted, and I am sure that Gregg, and Golden Bell Press would take issue with anyone who was to copy either the trade name or the style of the logo without prior authorization. "Protect it or lose it" is the operative term here. And that means protecting such intellectual property against all unauthorized users, period. Art

Gowland & Gowland were a pair of English brothers who created the tooling for these, IIRC. They first had them produced by a company called "Globe" in Southern California which was owned by Irvin Athearn (who later renamed that company Athearn Trains--becoming the principal maker of HO Scale model railrroading kits and locomotives). Gowland & Gowland tooled a number of horse-drawn vehicle kits as well, such subjects as fire apparatus, a stagecoach, Roman chariot and the British Royal Coronation Coach, in addition to a large line of 1/32 scale, very simple model kits of antique cars primarily from the pre-World War One era. These were first molded by Revell, Inc., then a pioneering maker of plastic toys. Revell was founded by Lew Glaser and his wife Royle in the late 1940's. Revell marketed these car kits as "Highway Pioneers", first in acetate plastic (which warped terribly over time but was considered shatterprooff, later in styrene well into the early 1960's. Later on, Airfix, the English plastic model kit company, produced several similar 1/32 scale kits which may have been tooled up by the Gowlands. At any rate, the Gowland tooling eventually went back overseas, and a number of those kits resurfaced, made in the Czech Republic. Art

OK, air pressure is fine! You might experiment with using some real lacquer thinner, thin the paint to the consistency of 2% milk, by observation! That is where I have always started! Art

Only one comment: Bear in mind that the front wheels of almost every car ever made have a bit of positive camber to them (tops of the wheels are farther out than the bottom (the part that touches the road). This is very noticeable if you look at pics of say, any Bugatti, or certainly any solid front axle Ford, but trust me, positive camber is a feature of virtually every independent front suspension as well! Art

Another technique I have seen used, is to strap the paint bottles onto the foot of an orbital sander! Use a few loops of say, a bicycle innertube, of very heavy, large rubber bands--the trick here is to secure the bottle of paint soundly! Turn on the sander, hold it upside down for a few minutes--paint mixed, end of problem! Art

A model building buddy of mine uses an old hot dog cooker, the kind which "rolls" the hot dogs. He simply puts the bottle of paint in a piece of PVC pipe, puts that on the roller, and turns the machine on, goes away and lets it do its thing. Bill says it works perfectly every time it's tried. Art

All the BB shot I ever had was copper, not steel or iron. However, copper does corrode, turquoise staining is possible) Art

Actually, Lewis Red Devil Lye is the cheapest, and when mixed up sufficiently strong, it strips the plating AND the underlying lacquer gloss coat in mere minutes! Lye is "Sodium Hydroxide" which is caustic, the same stuff as Drano (Once a week, Drano in every drain!), and as such, it destroys aluminum in a heartbeat, which is what vacuum plating is, aluminum. It also softens lacquers and varnishes (the two principal gloss coatings used in vacuum metalizing. Yes, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is HIGHLY advised, as lye in strong concentrations can burn your skin (it dissolves human tissure--but Nitrile gloves prevent that, and with proper eye protection, your eyesight is safe as well. Best of all though is that Lye is biodegradable, so pouring it down your sink drain works quite well. A can of Lewis Lye crystals is still only about $2 at your favorite supermarket--look in the cleaning supplies section! Art

Having a part like that custom-cast will be a bit expensive, frankly! For two reasons: Costly materials, and the time involved! You might take a look at the series of articles that Gregg has done in the magazine, that at least should help you with the labor/time involved. However, there's no getting around the material expense--that's just the deal with RTV rubber and polyurethane resin. Art

1933 Pierce Silver Arrow, by Danbury

Every year, being an employee of Purdue University, I get a statement of copyright "rules". I'm not a lawyer, but if you publish pics of model cars you've built yourself, the only copyright issues you will have are those in relation to YOUR photographs, nothing more. The model cars themselves are covered under copyright law, as are nearly all automobile designs. Logo's and :"model names" are covered under trademark and "trade dress" statutes, but as long as you do not duplicate any of those directly (A Chevy"bowtie" is a Chevy "bowtie"), but simply refer to them in captions in your writings, you should not be in any trouble at all. You might consider adding the statement at the end of the book (or in the foreleaf) to the effect saying "XXXXXXXX" is a registered trademark of ":XXXXXXXX" Corporation. Again in this, any publisher should be able to guide you. If you look at any printed publication, real car or model car, you'll likely not find any reference to the above. Art

OK Kevin, gonna throw down the gauntlet! Just when WILL you cast the sucker? Hmmmmmmm???? Art

I do as well, when on my Iron Horse Maverick 4.2 24-spd offroader, but only when I am in the street. Art

Well, is that any worse than someone flicking on say, right turnsignals, then turning left right in front of you? Happened to me this morning, as I was out biking--SCARY moment! Art

Rob and Jon, Absolutely! I can think of two venues: Model railroading, and flying model airplanes. While model railroading had a very large adult component early on, kids, from Jr High through High School were doing this one back in the 50's and 60's. Model railroading has seen several generations of modelers pass through, die off of old age, but as a hobby, it's still going on, and quite stable, thank-you-very-much. What has changed, however, is the "entry level age". Where once kids got into the serious side of the hobby at around say, 12-13, the entry age is now in the 20's. Flying models have changed dramatically though! 60 years ago, it was not uncommon for 10-11 year olds to start attempting to build balsa "stick & tissue" rubber band powered aircraft, and if successful they stuck with it (I suspect the percentage of kids who figured out how to make a plane thus was probably rather small however). By the late 1950's, U-Control (or control line flying models) became very popular: One could buy a Cox .049 (that's .049cid!) for about $3.00, or a McCoy .29 or .35 gas engine for $5 or $6, add to that a kit for the plane itself another $4 or so, add in a couple of $$ for glue and Aero Gloss Dope, and you were off. (Control line planes are those flown in a circle, the "pilot" using a 2-cable system, which handle when tilted up or down, actuated the elevator). Of course, with those planes, in a crash (which happened regularly) the only thing lost as a general rule was the plane itself, engines tended to survive, perhaps needing a new needle valve and of course, a new propeller!). Other areas of flying models back there were gas-powered "free flight", gliders, and the very early RC setups. Today, RC planes DOMINATE that hobby, and the entry level tends to be also in the 20's age range, but it's a hobby/sport that is pretty large (Tower Hobbies got their start in mail order radio control systems and engines, about 1970 or so). My comment earlier about "which generation" are we talking about has some truth to it. Go to many model car contests, and you see teenagers (at least a few), 20-somethings, then guys in their 30's, 40's, 50's and then us seasoned citizens. Right there are at least three generations, possibly four. So my question still remains: What generation are we talking about here? Art

Saw a news clip a couple of years back--of Al Gore giving a speech somewhere. The news camera's zero'd in on former Mr. Vice President's motorcade waiting for him to come out of the hall where he was speaking........a lineup of Chevy Suburbans, all of them happily idling, awaiting Gore's coming out of the building. So much for GREEN, Mr Gore! Art

Electric cars, from the very beginning back around 1900, have almost always been far more expensive than either steam or gasoline internal combustion. That said, early on, it was all about being easy to drive (those rolling "china cabinet" electrics of a century ago appealed to females lacking the upper body strength to hand crank a gasoline engine--bear in mind, it was just about this time of year in 1912 that Cadillac introduced the first practical electric starter for automobiles!), in addition to being virtually silent and of course, completely free of smelly exhaust and the inevitable odor of motor oil. Of course, the proponents of electric cars today tend to see them as the commuter car alternative to gasoline power--fine if you are affluent enough to not only own one, but are a two (or more) car family. On paper, an electric does fit the role of a commuting car for most small and medium-sized cities--probably not so practical if you live in SOCAL, where commutes in and out of say, LA, entail a drive of perhaps 50 miles one-way. That just does not work with the available electric car technology--stretching the known range of a pure electric to the max, and with the relative scarcity of charging stations no matter where one looks! It's a little-noticed fact that even in really good times over recent years, US gasoline consumption is actually down from say, the middle 1990's, due to the much greater fuel efficiency of modern cars (which is precisely why the federal gasoline tax as constituted no longer can begin to cover the maintenance of our highway system, and the same is also true for most states (This has been well documented in the press over the past 4-5 years, but since it's not sensational news, most people never read about it!). Still, it would be fun to have the bucks to afford a Tesla--I've seen a couple of those on the street here--and to hear one screech the tires in otherwise total silence is almost deafening! Art

Which generation???? I see in this hobby at least three generations: 20-somethings (and some teens thrown in for good measure), the 40's crowd, and guys in their 60's and early 70's. That's clearly three generations, all within this hobby. We've pretty much seen a fourth generation fade away--those who would today be in their mid-late 80's and older. Art

Essentially, the 7X IS the Nascar engine, Chuck. With the exception of the aluminum high-compression cylinder head, all other 7X components were internal--and NASCAR was pretty stringent about enforcing their rules regarding the use of only factory-available parts (and those parts had to be available both over-the-counter, and in production engines as well. Hudson had a reputation for fairly high-performance cars since the 1920's, and certainly in the 30's behind the Terraplane. That continued after WW-II as well. Art

The two-tone grey (medium-dark grey for seatbacks and bolsters, light grey for the rolled and pleated inserts) would be perfect! Paint the dash Southern Blue just like the lower body color. Interior side panels have the same color combo as the seats. Art

That shade of blue does not show up on any 1951-53 Hudson color chip chart I have seen. Of course, there were a few colors carried over from 1951-52 into 1953, but not this color. Also, the interior colors are not stock. The "restoration" appears to have had a naugahyde (vinyl) interior installed, which was incorrect for any Hudson in 1953. For 1953, the interior of the Club Coupe, the Brougham (long roofed 2dr sedan) and the 4dr sedan were wool flannel--2 color combo's, just as Dave Metzner lists on the instruction sheet. I believe the Hollywood hardtop also used the same interior options as the sedans and coupe. The convertible (coming to the US in kit form VERY soon!) used red leather interiors for all color combinations. Art