Force

Many racers use a belt driven vacuum pump on race engines today and that's what's shown here, the "crankcase evac pump" is infact this vacuum pump wich draws the crankcase gases out through the valve covers and creates a vacuum in the crankcase, the gases are released into the breather tank and vented out. There are many advantages with this system, the engine runs easier with vacuum in the crankcase, the piston rings seals better so it'll get you more horsepower, some racers even have two vacuum pumps where one pump is used just under the race and are battery powered, the other is belt driven, an engine with crankcase vacuum also seals better and woun't leak.

Very nice model. This is one of my absolute favourite kits and I have several of them...but just one built so far http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93339&hl= I found out as you did that you have to modify the roll bar to get the side windows to fit...I found out this too late as I had allready put in the photo etched belts and didn't want to do it all over again...so I left the side windows off.

It looks like it belongs there.

I agree on the motivation bit. But work...well I was unimployed for a couple of months each year from 1990 until 2009 but I didn't get more done then than when I work full time, so if you don't have the motivation it doesn't matter how much time you have.

Looks great Chris...a jem by itself.

There are not many pictures of this pulling tractor or related rigs, as I have found out it was owned by Bud Jaske from New Berlin Wisconsin and was driven by Bud and son Steve and had 3-5 Arias engines, they also campained a couple of 4WD and 2WD pullers called Blue Ox/Golden Ox and The Miller Express. The Blazing Bison changed colors in the 90's from the Meister Bräu colors to Miller High Life gold, white and red livery and seems to have disappeared after 1995. I haven't found much else and as I said, pictures are almost as scarse as hen's teeth.

Yes Competition Resins has casted the Firestone Drag 500 / Good Year front tires from the Jo-Han Sox & Martin 71 Barracuda, they look a lot better and more period correct than the Revell tire.

It was as I suspected then...my guess wasn't that bad.

No hurry Chris, your own build comes first,

That blower looks great Chris, I can't barely wait until I see the printed version.

I've got a set of Competition Resins CRT-501 Current FC or TF Drag Slicks and they look good...they have a slightly smaller outer diameter than the So-Real/Pegasus tires but not much. The inside is tapered and the hole is slightly different on each side so most kit rims will probably fit...the ones I have tried does, some triming inside the tire might be necessary for larger diameter rims.

The frame itself can sometimes be fidly and takes time and patience to get straight and squared, at least old AMT and some Italeri kits where you have to sand the ends of the cross members to get them to fit right. As everything else such as the suspension, cab, hood and other things are mounted on the frame it's important to get it right and the chance to get the truck model to sit level on all wheels and get the cab to hood fitting good is a lot better than if the frame is croked and out of line.

Cool!

Looks nice Chris.

As far as I know the 4-speed Thunderbolts had either Borg-Warner T-10 Aluminum Case or Top Loader for the later cars, and the T-10 will work for a 62 Galaxie but the Top Loader woun't as it came too late (1964). The Top Loader is easy to recognize as it has the access panel for the inner hardware on top of the case and most others had it on the side. I just looked in one of my Thunderbolt kits and it looks to be a Top Loader, but you can use the transmission from the AMT 60 Starliner kit as it should be correct...while you're at it, why not use the complete engine as it's in my opinion is the best model FE engine out there and the Custom or 2 'n 1 kits has many FE hop up options such as 3X2 bbl and 2X4 bbl intake manifolds with oval air cleaner, cast iron headers both long and short, a couple of different valve covers and some other useful things.

I never judge the proportions of a car or model from a photograph as pictures more often than not lie abouth these things due to the reasons already given earlier in this thread...I can't give an opinion about this body until I have the thing in my hand see it with my own eyes. So if Dave Metzner says it has close to correct proportions I take his word for it, after all, he has the kit to measure and compare to others. But obvious things like the missing Pontiac Motor Division script on the hub caps and the missing kick up for the rear post I can see, and hopefully they can do something about it before it goes to production, otherwise I'm excited to see this model kit on the hobby shop shelfs and I will for sure get one...or two...or three...

Very nice.

Yes it's the seller who gets the discount as he buys this service from lets say USPS, but he buys it for me as a buyer as I pay for everything including shipping, so I think in all fairness the buyer is kind of intitled to that discount, and it is possible for the seller to give a refund for the difference through Paypal after the item is shipped...so I can understand if some buyers feels they got ripped off if they don't get a refund. I have got refunds several times when the shipping was cheaper than stated when I paid for the things, but not allways. Another problem is when something is gone missing, it's the seller/sender who has to file the claim against the shipping company if a parcel is lost as he has bought the service, not the buyer/reciever...why would the seller care, he has got paid and done his part of the deal when he has shipped the item, but I as a buyer has paid the seller for the item including shipping and has not recieved my item...so why couldn't I as a buyer file the claim...it's not the sellers stuff that's missing, it's mine as I have paid for it...weird.

The drag Pirana was out last less than 10 years ago.

I bought a set of the 1969 Mk I BRM wheels and a set of the Mk IV wheels from LeMans Miniatures a while ago and they look great. But I don't know the difference between the 124002 and 124005 sets...maybe the width and the tires are different...otherwise I don't have a clue as they used BRM wheels both years. But you can shoot them an email and ask.

I just sent a message to you.

I don't know what this bus is but the grille looks to be a 42-47 Ford COE truck grille turned upside down.

I wish I could do that as I have couple of things I would have liked to have done...but I don't know how to use a CAD program. It looks nice and I hope the end product comes out nice.

Well Chris stated in this thread that he was replicating the restored car and not the actual car from the time it was run.

Good to know Jim. I know the Revell teardrop scoop is wrong and I've bought some resin hoods to replace them. The door panel stripes can be done with paint as it's one color but the pattern for the rear seat fabric part is a lot more difficult so a decal would help a lot. Gary: I own a 64 Fairlane Sports Coupe and there are some things that differs between the Sports Coupe and the regular 500 Hard Top, not just the center console, the Sports Coupe is top of the line and has more chrome trim than the others that you have to take off to do a regular 500. The hood scoop trim, the grille behind the quarter panel side scoops, the trim piece at the base of the roof b-pillar is slightly different as the 500 has a crest emblem on it and the Sports Coupe has the "Sports Coupe" script and a tri-color stripe emblem above the trim piece, the rear panel has a different black "Fairlane 500" emblem instead of the gold "Fairlane Sports Coupe" and a couple of more things.