Ace-Garageguy

Greta Garbo.

469 posts about just this particular topic, only a click away... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/83153-paint-strippers-what-to-use/

Here's a little history lesson on the midgets and what a huge part of American culture they were for decades. Maybe some understanding of how cool these little cars were will help to bring about another run. http://alblixtracinghistory.typepad.com/al_blixt_auto_racing_hist/2010/03/v860-the-little-engine-that-could.html

Though to some of us old farts the little midgets are important parts of racing history and very desirable models, I fear that for the majority, they're unknown and unwanted because they don't look like anything diddy or momma or brudda ever drove. I'm pretty sure the recent reissue of Thompson's Challenger One was kindof a flop too, for much the same reason...which strikes me as sadly odd in light of the fact that that single car probably marks the absolute high-point of real hot-rodding in America. It was built by one of the all-time great hot-rodders, a gifted practical engineer, and it was built largely from junk. But for all the "nostalgia" running rampant these days, nobody really seems to give a rat's backside, at least in numbers sufficient to sell lotsa kits, what kinds of racing cars are really historically significant. The Offy and V8-60 powered midgets were vastly popular both before and after WW II, but the guys who actually remember seeing them as real race cars and not museum pieces are mostly pushing up daisies now. Not a lot of people even know a V8-60 ever existed, what it is, why it was built, what it came in, and how it proved to be stiff competition for the more expensive little Offenhauser racing engine. The fact that the Offy was originally designed by Harry Miller (and that that fact...and the Offenhauser name being associated with high-performance in the US up through this very minute... gives the little 4-banger a pretty impressive pedigree far as US racing goes) seems to be overlooked by most modelers too. It always strikes me as interesting that there's rather a lot of historical awareness in other fields of plastic modeling, like aircraft, ships and armor, but model cars don't seem to attract the history-cognizant.

Ummmm...3-dimensional mirror-image parts RARELY swap side for side. Turning this thing around would possibly put the attachment tabs in the wrong places, even if the exterior shape did work. Of course, if the shape did work and correctness isn't an issue, the tabs can always be bent or cut off, and the whole thing glued on with RTV. Not the right way to do anything, but if it was done neatly... BUT...the legs of the part in the photo do not appear to be the same length to me. Could be camera angle though.

Here's one some of you might recognize. She had some truly remarkable assets.

Looks like good rat-rod material to me.

Yeah, you can still get them for around $25. Plus shipping of course, if you're shopping online.

There's a lot of that on Ebay. I collect a few things, like old music, and I'll often see an over $100 or more BIN price on the same thing I can get for under $20 with a little comparative shopping. Getting caught up in the "OMG it's the last one in the universe and I have to have it today" hysterical mindset can be very expensive.

Nice work, Joe. Now all you gotta do is enhance the face on the tennis-outfit girl, find photos of the three possibles taken from about the same angle, and run it all through one of the online facial recognition programs. That should kill at least another 6 hours, easy.

I don't think any single small-scale plastic model kit is worth what you can buy a decent (if ratty) running 1:1 pickup for.

V8-60 available in this kit...

And Corvettes and Cadillacs. Mason drove a Caddy in the early season one shows, and Drake had a Corvette in some episodes too. (I have all the seasons...one of my favorite shows ever...especially the delectable Della)

Nice photos. Much nice.

And then there's the cow-induction hood.

I always thought this woman was most beautiful at this point in her career.

Pretty much where mine is too, Miles.

I use PVA white glue. It dries totally clear, it's entirely strong enough to hold wires in drilled holes, and it's about the easiest to use with zero fear of buggering paint or getting a CA haze. Honestly, if you drill your plug holes pretty deep, you don't need any glue at all...especially if you drill the holes to be only a couple thou larger than your wires.

The clown in the video refers to the 1:1 stupid sky-high-nose "gasser" built on one of these as "Art Deco". It ain't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco I wonder what killed the model deal. I was kinda looking forward to getting a couple for meselves.