Harry P.

I have never tried Culver's. Any good? Worth a try? I used to love BK Whoppers, but today's Whoppers just don't taste the same. None of that great "flame broiled" taste, the tomato slices may just as well be cardboard, etc. The price has gone through the roof, but the taste has disappeared. I'm not a big fan of McD (except their breakfast items and their coffee, which is pretty good). So I'm looking to find a new "go to" fast food joint. Would Culver's be it?

Initially they figured sciatica, based on the symptoms and location of the pain. I did get my hip X-rayed, and all looked perfectly normal. They didn't see anything that would be the cause of the pain. But of course an X-ray only shows bone detail, not soft tissue. But at least they did rule out hip joint degeneration. But since the typical meds to relieve sciatic pain aren't working, doc wants an MRI to see what's going on in there. He did mention disk degeneration, herniated disk, compressed disk, etc. I guess the MRI will tell all. But in the meantime, man, it hurts.

It's actually very simple. Not necessarily layers of detail. Just two basic "tricks" to fool the mind's eye into thinking there's more there than there really is. 1. Paint detailing. Even if a kit part is molded as one piece, if the real thing is made up of several pieces, like the carb linkage in this case, painting the individual "pieces" in slightly different shades give the illusion of far more parts than are actually there. 2. Black wash. IMO, the single most effective detailing trick there is. Nothing takes away the "model" or toylike look better than a black wash. If you take a close look at my engine shots, you will see that everything has been black washed. Everything. The more details molded in, the more "nooks and crannies," the more effective a black wash is in presenting a realistic look. The effect is amazing. It might not be an actual "apples to apples" approximation of reality, but the look it gives a model is just amazing.

Thanks for asking, Ray... but the truth us, I feel like crap. In fact I was in so much pain all through last night I couldn't sleep at all. Not even five minutes. And you can imagine how "wonderful" one feels the next day after having not slept the entire night before. In the morning I feel like a zombie. A zombie in pain. The prescription painkillers, muscle relaxants, etc. just don't seem to be working. And twice a week physical therapy sessions have had zero effect. Now my orthopedist wants me to have two MRIs taken, in the hopes that they can figure out what the heck is wrong with me. I was in so much pain today, all day, that sitting was excruciatingly painful. All I could do was build for maybe 5-10 minutes, then I had to get up and walk around. Just couldn't stand to sit in a chair longer than that. So the "progress" I've made on this model has been at the expense of really severe pain... enough to make me just want to give up at times. But I've decided that to give up isn't the way to go.

Now on that I will agree!

I'm not nearly as die-hard into detail as you are. I'll settle for Copper paint!

It's all kit supplied, didn't scratchbuild a thing. This engine is better detailed than a Pocher engine! All I did was substitute brass rod for the coil of copper wire they supply for the hard lines.

Got the right side of the engine finished...all levers, lines, and linkages in place...

When I was a kid I lived half a block from Kosciusko Park! No mustard there, though. Just softball fields, tennis courts, playground... you know, typical city park. No condiments. And I lived just 2-3 blocks west of Pulaski Road! Small world...

I was thinking the same thing... pre-built scale chain. The way the kit chain goes together is you lay one layer of links over another layer and "join" them by melting the protruding pins down. Can you imagine how long it would take to melt all those pins down, front side and back? And not melt the chain links themselves? And then you "release" the chain from the tree by cutting each individual segment free. Is this model building or advanced brain surgery? There has to be an easier way, and pre-built chain might be the way to go.

Those all look good to me, and way more visually interesting than what's on the road these days.

Try one and you'll love it. Guaranteed.

I think the wood is a touch too dark, but I like the wood/yellow color combo! Reminds me of one that I did...

It is! It's a WWI Fiat airplane engine. They had to extend the chassis to get it to fit! Remember... this car was built for only one specific purpose... to break the land speed record (which it did).

Umm... I'm kinda holding off until last. I'm still not sure exactly how it's supposed to go together. I looked at the instructions several times, but still don't have it straight in my mind. I'll get it, though.

Boy, lemme tell ya... this kit is a real challenge. First of all, it's very complex with a ton of very small detail parts. On the usual "difficulty scale" that typical 1/25 scale models are rated (1-3), this one would be a 10. It's very challenging. It's much the same as building a Pocher with two important differences: It's "only" 1/12 scale, so the small detail parts are tiny and fragile... and Pocher used a very tough, stiff, strong styrene. Their parts, even the small detail parts, are pretty bulletproof. But Italeri molded this kit using a very soft and flexible styrene, making the whole model kind of spindly and fragile, and making the small detail parts very easy to break. I installed the engine... it installs exactly like a Pocher engine does... four screws through the frame rails into the engine's four mounts. Installing the engine takes away a lot of the "floppiness" of the chassis, as the engine block itself adds a great deal of stiffness to the whole chassis. Now I have to deal with a very detailed, very multi-piece set of linkages for the carbs. Wish me luck!

So what's the actual color of the model? Like the first two photos, or like the last one?

Very unusual and very cool. Nicely done!

Of course, but those were military combat vehicles, not meant for sale to civilians or driven on public roads.

This car was built in 1923, so the paint was brushed on. Spraying cars didn't start until 1924. The paint surface is rough, with various dings, scratches, and imperfections showing. The finish on this car was never intended to be showcar smooth and shiny. I tried to duplicate this "less than perfect" finish by leaving in small scratches and other imperfections in the paint, and did not polish it at all. Here's a shot of the real car... you can see just how imperfect the finish is...

Once the body was installed on the frame, I inserted the steering column to make sure it would mate up to the steering box. Well, it didn't. The holes in the dash and firewall for the column are too far to the left, so the tip of the steering column missed the attachment point on the steering box. I know the hole for the column is in the right place on my scratchbuilt firewall because I used the kit firewall as the template. So the kit parts are engineered incorrectly. The fix was to remove the steering box (it was attached with screws, not glue, so removing it was no problem). Then I glued a small shim of thin sheet styrene to the rear of the steering box on the side of the box that contacts the frame rail. When I reinstalled the box, the shim caused the box to be tilted slightly, and not parallel to the frame rail. Now the steering column meets the steering box perfectly.

The dash had to be installed before the body is installed on the chassis.

Well, I finally got the body installed, which was pretty tricky. The body has to be squeezed to fit between the rear shock assemblies. so I couldn't install the floor until after I had installed the body. That means I had to glue the body at the shock assemblies, but not along the front frame rails... because I had to be able to pull the front sides of the body apart enough so I could slide the floor in front to back. Once I had the floor in place, I ran liquid cement along the joint between the bottom edges of the body and the top of the frame rails. Finally I finagled the firewall in place and glued it in place with super glue.

I liked it better when colorful cars were the rule, not the exception. How cool is this?

I like it! Not a huge fan of those wheels... Mopar Rallys would have been my choice, but overall, a nice looking model.