Harry P.

Keep posting, Len, and find out!!!

Once you post a certain number of times you automatically become an "ohana" (means "family" in Hawaiian). I'm not sure exactly what the number of posts is to become "ohana," but I think it's 500. So it's all good...

As already posted above, the easiest, quickest way to "chrome" the lock is to touch the tip of a silver marker to it. Takes literally a second or two. No muss, no fuss, bam, you're done. No reason to overcomplicate such a quick, easy and simple operation.

Yeah, baby... nice work in every way! And great photos too!

Interesting you should mention that. Powell's factory was in California, and most of their sales were in California and the west coast. Not that many Powells ever made it east of the Rockies.

The only comment I'll make is that I do NOT show favoritism to any particular members. I'll lock a thread if I think it needs to be locked, regardless of who posted in it. I really don't understand your continued insistence that we show "favoritism" to certain members. If certain members that you don't like are posting comments that you don't like, that's not "favoritism" on my part. I don't control who gets to post here, all I control is editing/deleting/locking posts that I think need to be edited, deleted or locked.

Aw, come on Johnny... we all know that horses never lie!

Actually you can't slander a person on the internet. Slander is spoken words or gestures. In printed or published words, it's libel. And the legal question of whether a website or online chat room or forum can be considered a "publisher" hasn't been determined, so being an instigator or button pusher here isn't so much a legal matter as it is a matter of common sense and common courtesy.

Government rollover crash standards?

This is a 1956 Powell Sport Wagon, one of the first "SUVs"... and built from old Plymouths found in junkyards! Really! Hayden and Channing Powell, whose pre-War main business was making motor scooters, were faced with serious competition from Cushman and imports such as Vespa in the late 1940s, as well as material shortages. They decided to move to light pickups, and started with several clear guidelines: Their vehicle must be cheap to buy, ride like a car, drive like a car, and work like a truck, serving as a second car or as a sportsman's hunting and fishing rig. The Powells' first prototype, made in 1952, used a Chevy chassis and six cylinder engine to keep costs down. While they reportedly thought about using a Ford chassis, when they had to make final decisions for production, they chose to use Plymouth chassis and six-cylinder flat head engines. The chassis had an open driveshaft, better braking system, and more conomical engine; the Plymouth was easy to obtain, cheap, and had a parts interchangeability across all Chrysler lines. They chose the 117 inch wheelbase chassis and engines from 1941 Q series Plymouths. Their first Powell Sports Wagon was completed in 1954, weighing around 2700 pounds with a steel body (except the fiberglass front grille, varnished oak bumpers, and oak tailgate). The Powell stood 68" high with an overall length of 168". The Powells bought Plymouth chassis, without the bodies, from local wrecking yards for $45 and up, shipped them to their California factory, stripped down and reconditioned the chassis, and sent the engines to a Los Angeles firm for an exacting rebuild. The steel body was made in special jigs, with few complex curves that would have added expense. The fiberglass front end was molded by a boat shop; the chrome came from Fords in wrecking yards. A unique feature of the Sport Wagon was a concealed tube built into the right rear fender, running lengthwise along the bed. This was designed for carrying long objects or fishing poles. Factory photos of a prototype station wagon show it equipped with a tube compartment on both sides. The all-steel body was built in the Powell factory directly on the '41 Plymouth chassis, which was stripped all unuseable parts and pieces to mount the new Sportman body. Upholstery was of heavy duty vinyl stretched over new foam (with no springs). The stock Plymouth instrument panel received a full compliment of gauges and two speed windshield wipers were standard. However, there was no provision for a window defroster. Side windows were of the sliding type and did not roll down. Options were few but included turn signals, two tone paint, and chrome wheel discs. The completed car was rated as a 1/4 ton pickup, and initially sold for $999. By late 1956 the Powell had ceased production. Not because of financial troubles, or stock embezzlement problems such as those that had killed so many of the post WWII car ventures. The company had simply run out of raw material from which to build their product ... the local supply of 1941 Plymouth chassis in anywhere near rebuildable condition was rapidly depleting. The company closed its doors with many hundreds of orders still on hand. Who got it right: Mark Taylor Mr. moto chillyB1 Mike Mc Jon Cole modelmartin trogdor thom badluck13

Right here.

The thing that's keeping that system from being widely used by model builders is the cost. It's easy to do, as we can see in that Jay Leno's Garage video, but pretty expensive to buy. And for the occasional small parts a model builder might need plated every now and then, it makes more sense economically to just send the parts to Chrome-Tech... unless they come out with some $49.95 "home" version of that water-based system.

Good point. Every new member should make sure that they understand and follow the rules themselves before they start telling others what to do.

Their first album is awesome... "But seriously, folks".... that is one beeyootiful model! First rate in all respects, just about perfect as far as I can see!

On the SA thread, at least, he never claimed that he invented the system, only that he bought it. Can't say whether or not he ever claimed to have invented the system on this forum, I really don't remember one way or the other. But I figured that I'd do some simple research to try to get to the bottom of this. Apparently this water-based chrome system is pretty well-known and available from a lot of places.

ok, I did a quick google search, and found an old thread on the SA forum by Dave, where he says that he bought his water-based chrome system from these guys: http://www.thechromesolutions.com/ And here is the link to that SA thread: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/p/62718/681252.aspx Mystery solved, I guess...

Cool. Nice style, great execution, an extremely well-done model in every way. But... There's one thing that immediately jumped out at me: the curve of the windshield and the roof is not one smooth continuous curve, there's a valley in the curve where the windshield and roof meet. I know, you all are thinking, "man, what a nitpicker"... but I can't help but notice that. IMO the curve from the base of the windshield and back across the roof needed to be one continuous radius. Just my opinion, of course, nothing more. Like I said, well done in all respects, great craftsmanship and all, but that one thing really bugs me. Sorry...

George, if he's showed the system to you and told you how he does it... why can't he show and tell the rest of us? Wouldn't that seem like the most logical way to deal with this? What am I missing here?

Here's their home page: http://chromesolutions.de/ The site is still under construction. Looks an awful lot like the system Dave talks about all the time...

David, from your photos I can see that you obviously have a high level of skill. Foiling should be no problem for you. Try it... you'll like it. I have no doubt that you will be able to do a great job with it.

Aren't Taylor and Jones the same guy???

You're right on the money... yeah, I did know what kind of answers I'd get. But a lot of the time I'll do that... post something just to get you guys talking and keep things interesting. (insert devious laugh here)... Why a Mustang? Honestly, I just thought the new "old" Mustang was so cool that I had to have one. I love the styling of it. I actually was going to get a Challenger, but when I priced the Challenger vs. the Mustang my decision was pretty easy... Also, the fact that Ford did NOT accept bailout money scored big points with me. (I know, no politics on the forum)...

Now that Jeff has finally chimed in, this thread has officially come to a close. And I agree... it's useless threads like these that for some reason get the most traffic from you guys. Strange but true.

All you need to cut brass rod is a plain old wirecutter pliers. Most people have one in their toolbox already. Hobby Lobby sells packages of K&S brass rod, 5 pieces per pack, each piece is about a foot long, for less than 3 bucks a pack.

K&S brass rod from any hobby shop, or available from dozens of online sources, comes in various diameters.