Psychographic

And them BAM, it'll looks like 500 hours of work came together. It's coming along nicely Joe. I need to really get off my rump and finish mine.

Happy to help Frank. I almost forgot, MEK is bad for you Blah Blah Blah,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

And everybody thinks being self employed is so great. The thing that annoys me the most is lack of loyalty to someone who has provided you with years of service. This means a lot to me and the few long time customers I do have, had the benefit of me not raising my rates to them in ages. I think this was the "Straw the broke the camel's back". Screw everybody, my rates are going up. In years past, there is a good chance I would have walked out in the middle of the job. Unfortunately work is slow and I can't afford to be the arrogant ass I used to be. Bill, this should sound familiar or similar to what you go through. On the way home, i stopped to follow up on a call from a body shop. It seems they have a customer who wants the word "Believe" on one door about 3/4-1" tall and 4-5" long. They asked for color sketches. i explained to the girl at the shop, that to do sketches would turn a simple $25 job, to $100. I was asked why, to which I replied, "I have to take the time to draw them up, drive over with the sketches and drive home, this with no guarantee that they will even have me do the job." At least it made sense to her.

Paul, what I do is fill a small bottle (I use an old Plastruct Bondene bottle) about 1/2 way with MEK, then fill it with Styrene scraps and old sprue, cap it and let it sit for a day or two. I've found the proper mix is when I put a toothpic in it and pull it out, it will drip off rather quickly. Too thin and most of it will be MEK and evaporate out, not that big of a deal, but it will take many more coats to fill any gaps. Too thick and it takes forever to dry. When mixed properly I've found a thick layer 1/16" will be dry in about 24 hours to sand, if it isn't dry enough you will know right away as the plastic will ball up as you sand. Think of SB like the old Testors Orange tube glue, too much and things will melt and get distorted. I apply it by dipping either a toothpic or if the level in the bottle is low, a skewer into the SB and transfer it to the joint and spread it quickly as it skins over pretty quick.A couple of other things to note, if you use it a lot, you'll have to add some MEK now and then as it will start to thicken as the MEK evaporates when the bottle is open. If you make a real thin mix, look at the bottle before using as it can start to settle and will leave a noticeable color separation, a quick shake and it will mix right back up. The main things I like about SB is it's strong, fills incredibly well, and it seems to be just a tad softer than the kit parts, but much closer than any bondo or finishing putty. The drawback is the wait for it to dry, a 2 part filler will dry in minutes, where I usually have to wait anywhere from and hour for a very thin coat, to a day or two for a heavy coat of SB. I use it on almost all of my joint seams after cementing with MEK just to be sure the gap is 100% filled. I'm at the point now where about 95% of my bodywork is done with SB. If you follow my builds they are very heavily modified and some are very fragile while building. As I progress to using more SB for the heavy mods, I still break stuff, but nowhere near as much as before the use of SB. I'm thinking of one day building a car without paint, just bare plastic. It would be the model equivalent of a 1:! bare metal car. If you have anymore questions, just ask.

The last 3 days of work. I had to strip and reletter two trucks, one I originally lettered and one from someone else. The truck I originally lettered was ruined because no matter how many times you tell them not to pressure wash it, it falls on deaf ears. After getting my "you know what's" busted about doing a poor job that didn't stick, I asked "If I did such a poor job, why did it just take me 5.5 hours to remove it? I then asked why after doing their lettering since the 80's was there two trucks in the yard (one being the one I finished today) lettered by someone else? Amazingly the owner didn't know, his son didn't know, nor did the girl who writes the checks. In the end it winds up someone was trying to save money and it's bit them in the butt as I know they now have no loyalty to my service. The guy who did the lettering that was falling off is now out of business, I wonder why? So back to the job, the shop is heated by a gigantic bullet heater, so I get to breathe diesel fumes all day. On top of that, the thermostat on it is broken, so if I want anything near consistent heat I need to go turn it on and shut it off every 15 -30 minutes. When you shut it off, you get blasted with a huge cloud of unburned fuel. Just what I want, oily diesel fumes aimed at my paint. Oh yeah, it kicks off every now and then, so you have to go hit the reset button too. Did I mention everyone who walks through the man door leaves it open? I had to go to the store to get more oven cleaner to remove the last of the lettering. I was gone less than 12 minutes and come back to the garage door wide open. This was right after I explained that the oven cleaner won't work unless it's warm. On top of all this, there seems to be a power struggle between the owner, and his son and the girl in the office. This comes back to me, as one wants one phone number on the truck and I think you can figure out the rest. A couple of months ago the girl behind the desk told me to put the new number on the truck I was doing at the time, then the owner, who called me to do the job tells me to put the old number on. So I do what he says and the girl in the office starts giving my guff about it. I told her I want no part of the power struggle they've got going on and I'm doing what the person who hired me wants. Well now she gives me the cold shoulder when I go there. I'm about 1/2 way through painting today's truck when the son comes out and asks about the phone number going on the next truck, I told him his dad want's the old number, and seeing as he hired me, I think that's what should go on it. He then tells me he's paying for it and doesn't care what his dad wants. I asked him if we could all get together on this and come to a conclusion. "Just put the new number on it" he says. I told him I don't want to come down to letter a truck and be in the middle of this, please settle it. He told me "so then don't come down". It was everything I had to not throw a punch. I go back to lettering and now the heater dies., the temp drops immediately as it's a drafty garage and wind chills today are around 7 degrees. I finish as fast as I can as paint and cold don't mix. Now the topper to the last couple of days, the girl who writes the check walks out as I'm writing the bill up. I didn't think much of it as the son's wife was there and I figured she would write the check. Nope, she has no authority, but tells me the other girl will be back at 2. I tell her "It's 12:20 and I live an hour away, what am I supposed to do for an hour and a half? No answer. So, how was your day?

"That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info." You did read that sentence , didn't you?

If you look something up on Google, isn't that learning? I really don't understand why the source of information be the internet or a classroom, makes a difference. That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info. I know I've learned a lot of things I would never know without the web.

SB stands for Styrene Bondo, which is a term I made up. It's styrene melted in MEK.

Reshaping the hood (?). The inside rounded line will hopefully be the new body line. I cut along this line, just shy of the top and removed the squared corners. Then I taped the inside and filled with SB. Set in place to see if the curve looks good. I think it's an improvement. I'll let the SB set up to where it's pretty solid but still pliable and make sure it fits the contour of the body, then tape it in place to finish drying. If I don't screw this up, I might try to make a center spike like the older Beetle has, along with lengthening the hood. It doesn't line up to well along the top edge, so if I cement the top to the body and rework the shape before making the new cut, it should line up better and be easier to do. Should, being the keyword here.

I'm curious, how is this cooled? Is it still air-cooled, I see no fan anywhere. If done well and priced reasonably, I'd like to have a couple.

Thanks Bob. I thought it was from the Baron kit but wasn't sure

OK, who's the wiseguy that moved my doorhandles?

Thank you all for the comments and for following along, I'll try not to let you down. I guess it's about time I buttoned up the front extension. Again, some .060 notched to make the bend. Gooped up with some SB and a few shims. Next is the doors. The nice thing here, there's more room for hinges behind the doors than in front, so lets get suicidal. I laid out the cuts to move the door handles. Once cut, the left handle goes on the right door, and obviously the right handle goes on the left door. Now this will show you how stupid I can be. I never checked to see if the kits door handles are even usable as many of the parts are pretty much junk. I've got my fingers crossed.

Nice job on the headlights, they look right at home on the 40. I'm looking forward to what you do next.

Bernt 's bug is crazy. I don't like the nose on it though. A little update. The chassis pan had to be shortened, and the back raised to fit the wheelwells. I also started redoing the rear suspension. The trunk is almost done.

This is why I didn't want the nose piece to cement to the body. The trunk needs to be a bit wider to properly fit the body. I started by cutting down one side and making filler pieces. I also had to add to the sides. Almost there. What gaps you see now will be filled with SB once the underside of the body is cleaned up. It's a lot easier to sand without the trunk in the way. It's at this point I found a direction to take this build. I joined the Lowrider CBP, so a lowrider it is, or will be. I used 1/2" tube and some scrap sheet to make the recess for the gas tank, and cut a notch for the pumps to fit. The circles you see drawn on each side of the notch are where I'm hoping the front cylinders will mount. Pegasus pumps, and a tank I think came from a Red Baron kit.

Mine worked fine this morning.

I thought the front needed to be lowered a bit. I put a bunch of cuts in a piece of .060 x .250 and started wrapping it around the lower edge. Once it sets up, I fill the cuts with SB. After a little sanding it blends right in. If you look carefully, you can see I shrunk the windshield opening by adding some sheet stock to the top edge. I didn't like how the full size opening looked in comparison to the side window openings Next up was to fix the square bottom of the trunk. Two cuts and it's gone. I used tape to keep the piece from gluing itself to the body, I only want it to attach to the hood. It still needs some sanding to get the final shape. It kinda looks like one of those dogs that can't keep it's tongue in it's mouth doesn't it?

I've got the fenders back on, I raised them as much as possible. The back fenders have been widened 1/4" and moved forward about 1/4" ,the front fenders have been widened 1/8". The "B" pillars have been removed and the "C"'s have been reshaped. I had to shorten the chassis pan, then raise the back to fit the raised fenders. The tunnel had to be raised and shortened. I am also redoing the rear suspension. You can also see the spacer I put in to move the transmission forward to match the relocated rear fenders. It's simply a slice of 1/2" tube cemented to the hole in the plate between the engine and tranny. Filling the gaps. The rear window has been filled and will be replaced with a back window from a 40 Willys.

Luke, those pumps are a work of art!

There's one thing you guys might not like. My wheels and tires, they are spokes, but not narrow 13's. If you don't think this will be OK, I'll drop out unless I can find another subject. I'm at a point on this where the little narrow spokes won't work. I'll do periodic updates here and a full WIP in the "On the Workbench" board. I started with the kraptastic RM VW 60's Beetle. I introduce "The Virus".

A 1/2" mile high bank dirt track would be in my back yard ( think Earl Baltes here folks). I would have a stable of wingless sprintcars for me and my friends. Jesse Hocket and Brian Clauson would both still be alive and teaching me how to drive one of those beasts!

Started another one. This victim is a VW 60's Beetle. See this pic below? This is where this kit belongs. If you want to build a Beetle, Don't, I REPEAT, DON"T buy this kit. Maybe on it's first release this was a decent kit, but the one I have is horrible, I don't think there is one part with a clean edge to it. This thing is a blob with some flash thrown in as a bonus. This is what I call a "What if" build. What if is simply cutting stuff up with no direction or plan what the next step is. Hopefully in the end I have something worth looking at. I like Volksrods so let's start by cutting the fenders off. I decide to chop it but not cut the back of the roof off completely, but to lower the whole back of the car with the roof. Why? I don't know. I started by cutting the roof about 3/16" behind the top edge of the windshield, Then I scored the base of the windshield/cowl, and cut 2 notches in the "A" pillars. This will allow me to chop the top and lay the windshield back rather than cut it. It's stronger, and the angled windshield has a more modern look. Then I took out 1/8" from the "B" pillars and half of the "C" pillars. this will drop the roof and the back of the body. And put back together.

The heck with Porsche, I want to know how to pronounce Worcestershire.

Any interest in allowing a VW Beetle to join? 1) must be a lowrider, for obvious reasons. This means, it must have lowrider wheels (spokes). Yup.2) you can build it out of the box or you can go all out custom. Got that covered.3) the build must be a brand new build or barely started, please post pictures. Started last night.4) the build will start on 10/1/16 and last through 10/1/17. I think I can finish by then.5) have fun! I'll try my best.