Ace-Garageguy

X2. Looks to be well thought-out and measured. I'm a critical SOB when it comes to models looking like they could actually work in reality, and what you've got here looks great. I like your line of '32s too.

Remember just a little while back when you got a discount on some stuff for doing it online, in theory apparently lessening the need for "people" to process a transaction? I'm seeing more and more "convenience" fees cropping up now. Anything to screw you out of a nickel here, a dollar there.

Thanks for the interest. I need to get the steering cross-shaft in, cut a hole in the body for it, and make up steering arms, a tie-rod and drag link. That should get me about ready for paint, and let me concentrate on the engine while paint dries.

I've been fiddling with doing a blower setup for the Gen III Hemi I'll probably use, and looking at doing a distributor conversion for it too. As you all probably know, the OEM setup on the late-model Hemi is coil-packs driven by the ECU. There are two aftermarket distributor conversions in 1:1 that I'm aware of, and I'll be copying one of them. It's all part of getting that kinda '60s beach-drag racing-movie vibe, which I still think needs at least one blower sticking out of the hood. Old vibe, new tech. I've squared up the grille shell, and she's ready to cast the body extension, using the shell as the inner mold. Soon as I have a couple other pieces set up to do glasswork, she'll get her nose done too.

When you operate like that, you ARE doing a service to other modelers. Starting the individual auctions at a realistic price and letting the bidders drive it up is a perfectly fair way to go. If you quadruple your investment, it's because the bidders WANTED to pay that much. No problemo. You list the parts once, probably, get your money, pay your fees, and you don't tie up server space for thousands of listings that never sell but keep getting re-listed and re-listed and re-listed forever. It's not at all the same as starting bidding for one part at almost the same money that you can buy the whole kit for, like Mr. Piggy Jerk Toys.

That's NICE. Using the body for a jig to make the frame additions is the best approach, by far. Saves a ton of measuring and adjusting. Smart guy.

In this case, living in a sometime backwards state apparently has some advantages. The "tag" renewal thing started to be a hassle some years back, and the state came up with a simple solution that works great. Tags must be renewed BY your birthday, so there's no oddball timing to remember and no excuses. You can do it any time in the 90 days preceding the date. Vehicle emission inspection must be done PRIOR to applying for the tag renewal (and within the 90 day window) but when you get the inspection it's automatically entered into the state tag-computer, as is your proof of insurance. The system has taken the loads off of the tag offices, which would sometimes have very long lines in the past. Now if you go in for something that requires a physical appearance, like a transfer or to take a disabled vehicle off the road or register a "kit" car, they usually get to you in 15 minutes or less.

Well, we're seeing the effects of a "culture" where people with a little education are laughed at and called nerds, and a society that runs almost entirely on marketing to the brain-dead masses. I guess America is getting exactly what most Americans really want. The hallowed majority keep on voting for the fools who give it to them. Looking at the fate of Detroit and what may well befall this nation, I can only think of Charlton Heston's last line in Planet of the Apes.

So, ummmm...civics lesson. When uninformed, barely literate morons vote thieves into office for reasons having absolutely NOTHING to do with actual issues or ethics, this is what you get. As of 2013, less than 1/2 of the residents over 16 work, and 60% of children were living at the poverty level. 47% of the residents were functionally illiterate. The system is broken. The idiots and thieves have the majority of the power now. In 1960, the city is said to have had the highest per-capita income in the country. Detroit, the city that was the springboard of America's industrial might, brought to its knees by fools and crooks who probably couldn't make an HONEST living if you put guns to their heads. That goes for the voters as well as the politicos.

The one above is a practically unbuildable POS. I was hired to completely redesign it (several years after I did the original design for the same company...that they didn't bother to follow because they were a pack of idiots) correcting the goofy-looking proportions, and after doing most of the re-work (so that it would actually FIT TOGETHER and so the parts could come out of the molds (their fiberglass "experts" had no clue as to how you do that) I was never paid and the car was stolen out of my shop by one of their employees who went on to claim all over the internet that HE designed and built it. Then they sued ME. Nothing fits on that piece of carp, the fiberglass is 1/2 inch thick in some places and 1/16 in others, one side of the body is almost an inch longer than the other side, nothing is symmetrical, and it would take you a 55 gallon barrel of bondo to make it look like anything presentable. I have the police reports and the court papers to prove everything I say. This is the partially re-worked version shown outside my old basement shop, shortly before it was stolen. As far as I know, my gen-2 design was never completed after it was stolen, but it was at the company I did it for for years afterwards...and the owner of the company offered TO SELL MY OWN WORK BACK TO ME when they finally gave up. Everyone in the Porsche community with any semblance of a brain avoids that company like the plague.

Of course, by the time the fiberglass Mustang body was put on Montgomery's highly-modified Willys frame, that particular frame had about as much in common with a Willys as I do. Kinda lighter than the '57 frame, too. Just sayin'. But sure, somebody could have put a '56 body shell on a '57 frame. Maybe had a clean '56 shell, and thought it would be easier to make up static brackets to swap bodies than to make things that had to actually function to get the new-for-'57 Ford 9" rear end under a '56 chassis. The later gas-class rules simply said the cars had to have an "automotive" frame...but didn't specify it had to be the same as the body.

These are still plentiful and cheap. Makes a really beautiful engine, too.

Different frame under a '56 and a '57. Totally. Not hard to gasserize the original, though this one is on the old AMT frame... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/107369-57-ford-wagon-gasser/

Even this far down in the sunny South, the forecast is for 35 tonight. I do seem to recall it snowing once at the end of April in New Jersey, probably about 55 years back.

Made up some spindles from channel and drilled the axle ends to accept .015 kingpins. Then made a Q&D jig to mount the stub-axles and get the camber equal... Cut down a pair of radius rods from the Revell '29 kit to give me the caster I wanted and fit the pins on the chassis, and modified some parts-box wheels to get 'em narrow, plus some blank backing plates. Steering. I like the look of the old cars with their very noticeable caster, and I think it's important to get the feel of the real ones. Also modified the chosen rear wheels and backs to get them to fit the kinda narrow slicks.

From the shape, I assumed it was a late '60s-early '70s Mazda, but none of the Mazdas that came up on searches were exactly the same (though the body shells of the Familia appeared to be very similar). Thinking "aha!" it might have been the basis for one of the Japanese-derived early Korean cars, searching through '70s Kia images (one year at a time, as in "1974 Kia") brought one up quickly.

If the car you're building is supposed to represent something in 1:1 built now, or recently, ANY blower would be appropriate. Those wheels would indicate you're not going for a "period correct" look, so anything including the suggested Latham or GMC, or the Weiand, or even dual Paxtons from the new Surf Woody kit would be fine. Even if there's no manifold to mate the blower you want to use to a nailhead in 1:1, a competent fabricator can make something that will work and look good. Same goes for plastic. With that long hood, an inline engine might be cool too. Hudson, Jaguar, Chebby...

Nice clean work on one of the more difficult chops.

Looks great so far. I've never seen this car before. Fascinating.

As an experiment, on the front wheel here I taped the rim very carefully with fine-line tape, then scrubbed the center with Comet, hot water and a toothbrush. It scuffed the surface enough to get decent adhesion from the Testors metalizer I shot dry to get an as-cast finish. It's been several years and it hasn't peeled yet. It helps to RE-MASK after you do the scrubbing, and make sure the tape is well-stuck both times.

it sounds like what you're referring to is a "short shot". It can happen for a variety of reasons, and it's just that not quite enough molten plastic got squirted into the mold. It's a well known phenomenon and R2 will surely send you replacement body.

Haven't youse guys ever seen a butt helmet before?

Oil? We don't need no stinkin' oil.

Looking good. Your mods work well, as does the homage to Gulf colors. Thanks for shooting low-angled and focused pix too. I was wondering how well this model captured the proportions of the real one, as some of the shots I've seen of the model look a little off. Yours looks pretty close.

Very clean, love the color.