Harry P.

They are a pain. And all the extra trouble doesn't get you all that much, especially if you paint them black, like I will. Could have just as well been molded plastic spoked wheels to begin with.

Ok... once you have the center rim "spoked," you have to glue the inner (backside) part of the rim in place... those are the rims with the seven larger tabs: Once the glue is dry, you then wind spokes onto those back side rims. Much easier than the center rim, because A, there are only seven lugs, and B, they are numbered and even have little arrows molded into them... so you can't possibly go wrong!

You're making me nervous, Skip...

I agree that there's nothing like the sound of a good old-fashioned V8. Heck, I have one! My current car is an '07 Mustang GT. Even some of my neighbors have told me how they like the sound the car makes. Seriously! The neighbors have complimented me on the sound my car makes! But there's more to performance that sound. And as much as I like the sound of my GT, there's so much to like about the '15 EcoBoost. It actually has more HP and torque than my '07 V8! It has IRS (something my GT does not have). It has a 6 speed trans (something my GT does not have). And it gets 32 MPG highway (something my GT can not even come close to). Overall big picture... I'll trade away that "sound" for all the rest of the stuff I'll be getting. Maybe if I was 17 I'd still want that "V8 growl"... but I've gotten to the point where I look more to the overall performance a car has, not just how it sounds when you stand on it.

I guess you're right!

Or top. Or windshield. Or power steering. Or power brakes. Or radio. Or GPS. Or power seats. Or cupholders. Or heater. Or AC. Or keyless entry. Or tilt wheel. Or backup camera. And yet somehow people managed.

The thread I used is like a microscopic hair thicker than the kit wire. But I'm going to paint the wheels black, so everything should look perfectly fine. The black spokes will sort of "disappear" into the background. And I know Skip will be watching...

So like I said, you take the center rim and the hub and place them into the jig... Then you wind the wire around the rim in a specific pattern, creating the spokes. But it sounds easier than it is. First of all, the instructions are vague at best, actually pretty useless. One of the items Skip sent me in his reference collection was an illustrated article on how to do the spokes, but even following that, I kept messing up the pattern. I tried many times (using heavy thread as "practice" material... kept screwing up, and not winding up in the correct place at the end, and not getting the correct spoke pattern. So I would wind the wheel, take it out of the jig, and see that the pattern wasn't right... unwind the wheel, put the rim and hub back into the jig and start over. And over. And over. Sheesh... it was getting very frustrating. The problem is that it's so easy to get off the pattern as you go around the rim. If you are off by one lug, the pattern will be off and you won't wind up in the correct spot on the rim at the end. I don't know how many times I wound the wheel incorrectly, but it was many times before I finally got it right. So now that I finally had it figured out, I thought I'd do a "real" one using the wire supplied in the kit. Which quickly brought up problem #2... the wire was impossible to keep taut as I went through the winding sequence. I kept on getting loose and "saggy" spokes; I couldn't keep the wire taut as I went through the process. After several attempts using the wire, I decided it just wasn't going to happen for me, so I wound up using nylon thread instead, which was much easier to handle and keep tight as I wrapped the spokes around the rim. The thread I happened to have on hand is tan, but no matter, as the wheels will be painted anyway when done. Here is what a finished center rim looks like when correctly wrapped:

This kit has a unique way of making the wire wheels. There is a jig, and the rims have little knobs on one side and slots on the other. The idea is that you put a rim and a hub into the jig, then take some thin wire (supplied in the kit) and you wind the wire around the rim in a specific pattern to create the "spokes." Sounds simple enough, right? Uh... no. Let's begin at the beginning... here is the parts tree with all the wheel components (four wheels plus two spares). You can see the center rims with the liittle tabs, the back side rims with the set of seven larger tabs, and the inner and outer "final" rims that you glue to the front and back of each wheel once you have wound the spokes: Not sure yet.

Here we go with another WIP! For me, this is a very "modern" car... it doesn't even have a crank! It's the 1/16 scale 1928 Mercedes SS. As usual for so many kits of brass-era or vintage cars, this kit has been issued under various brand names over the years... Minicraft, Entex, Revell... who knows how many more! As far as I know they are all the same identical kit. The one I have happens to be the Revell version (if that even matters)... My buddy Skip sent me a whole bunch of references on this car, so building an authentic, detailed model should be easy.

"Line O Tape" 1/64" pinstriping tape.

I'll try and take some daylight photos this weekend.

Young punks like them...

I don't know if that's a compliment or a slam... BTW... I've posted tons of models here. Probably 20-30 or more.

They just aren't as popular as they used to be. Seems like the tuner fad has peaked and is now fading.

This is a 1/16 scale 1904 De Dion Bouton, a small French car. I made a ton of changes to this kit, added a bunch of missing details, and added the trunk in the back. One thing I deleted was the kit windshield. These cars often had no windshield at all (I think a windshield was either optional or an aftermarket owner-installed item), and in this case I liked the look of the car without a windshield. WIP here

It took me longer than I thought it would to build the trunk. But it's done, cut down smaller from the kit to fit this model... which is now going "Under Glass."

I've never been a Miata fan, but that new one looks pretty good to me.

This week's car is a 1958 Peerless GT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerless_%28UK_car%29 Who got it right: DonW W-409 mr chips Mike Mc wisdonm GeeBee Tim J Matt Bacon sjordan2 carsntrucks4you customsrus bbsbase jaymcminn otherunicorn

V6: 300HP: 280 ft/lb torque, 17 city, 28 highway (manual). EcoBoost 4 turbo: 310HP, 320 ft/lb torque, 22 city, 31 highway (manual). Seems like a no-brainer to me. Not in my book.

If all goes according to plan, my next car: Thanks to the guy who helped me out on this. You know who you are.

Hilarious. No, I have savings... and a low mile '07 GT trade-in in absolute mint condition...

My "friendly neighborhood Ford dealer" finally got a couple of 2015 Mustangs. I checked them out today... first time I have seen them in real life instead of online. Wow. Beautiful, inside and out. IMO the best looking Mustang ever. I'll be writing a check for mine soon... and selling my 2007 GT...

A beautiful model and a great story. The fact that your dad got to see it finished is priceless. This model must mean a lot to you.