Ace-Garageguy

Id really prefer to have access to an old-time hobby shop like existed when I was a kid, but they don't much exist these days, at least not around here. The closest thing to one in any reasonable distance from me is a Hobby Town, and I frankly wonder how they even survive, looking at the number of customers they seem to have. They stock NEW kits, and I'll buy some there occasionally, but most of what I get from them is supplies...paint, styrene, glues, tools, etc., and they're usually very well stocked in that department...but not as well stocked as they used to be. If they had more stock in HO scale kits, I'd buy those as well, but most of their train stuff is RTR or shake-the-box kits. Ho hum. Boring. There's a Hobby Lobby a block or so from HT, so if I'm going to be on that side of town, I always take the 40% off coupon with me. There's sure to be something I can use, even art supplies, and the coupon gets me in the door to buy other stuff, just like it's supposed to, but their car model and supply selection is 'limited', at best. Online shopping fills the other side of my modeling needs and wants very well. Vintage kits, gluebombs, detail parts I wouldn't even know existed otherwise, etc., wheel and tire sets, European and Asian kits...all for remarkably good prices considering they come right to my door.

Yeah, I suppose so, if you're willing to work for 5 bucks an hour or less and you get all your parts and materials for free. Highly-skilled pattern work is worth at least $35 per hour to the employee doing it, well over $100 per hour to a company that employs him and pays benefits, works indoors in heat and AC, etc. $25,000 represents 250 man-hours at $100 per, or about 6 and a quarter weeks of work for one person. Not at all out of line for high-quality work...assuming a highly detailed, multi-part kit with a lot of extras, windows, etc., and quoting the OP statement... " these kits will be done with all the professionalism of Dragon or Tamiya. The instructions will be clear along with a instructional DVD for those trickier parts, a full and comprehensive etch set (with spare parts for those tricky and small carpet monster snacks), vacuum formed windshields, pre-cut pieces of Bare Metal foil, stencils for the paint, decals (for those not inclined to paint using stencils), pre-wired distributor (thanks to Dr.Devil72's amazing line of distributors and detail parts), vaccume and radiator hoses and last but not least, bubble free and easy to separate from the casting block, crisp cream colored resin." Best wishes, and I hope you guys can make it work for you.

There are some pretty nice tanker models out there...

X2.

A chopped-top gremlin with an AMX nose? What's not to love? Seriously, I've always loved this thing. Sho' is a lotta work for only 25 kits though. They'll need to sell for about $1000 each if you do decent work and expect to get paid what it's worth.

Two finished, about 60 or 70 in progress, three in daily progress, several hundred kits and gluebombs, several shelves of miscellaneous parts.

The P-38 tank is roughly 36" in diameter by 13 feet long. Honest. I'll post the drawings as soon as I find them on my hard drive. There is already a 1/8 scale tank available too. I'll find that info for you as well. EDIT: Or...if you can wait a couple weeks, I'm in the process of turning 1/8 and 1/25 scale plugs on my lathe, and will be making copies shortly...in scale-thickness fiberglass. The drawings that I've found so far on my drive don't have the flange detail; I replaced the hard drive a while back, and it looks like some data was lost. Here are the section dimensions. Flange details are easy to ascertain from photos like these.

Just about nailed down a new gig here. Solid business, decent pay. Flexible hours too, so I can work on some of my own cars now that the weather is getting warmer. Think I'm gonna love this place.

$10,000 off sale for a desktop printer designed for making jewelry masters... I may have to have one of these. http://www.becoming3d.com/solidscape-sale/?utm_source=solidscape&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10ksale&mc_cid=1acc9dff50&mc_eid=84adca1621

Beautiful work, very nice save and rebuild. Quite inspiring. Just one little point...metal "fatigue" is a specific kind of failure caused by repeated flexing of a part, like bending a piece of aluminum can back and forth until it breaks. The disintegration of the die-cast model cars due to impurities in the base metal isn't at all related to "metal fatigue".

People want to argue that the current Mopar engines labeled as "Hemi" aren't "true hemis" either. The debate rages, but it's largely academic and semantic. This is a classic "hemi" combustion chamber...opposed valves, top of the chamber looks kinda like half of a tennis ball. It uses a piston that looks more or less like this... ...and isn't really very good from an emissions standpoint today for a number of reasons. The Gen III Mopar Hemi chamber looks like this... ...with the edges pinched somewhat and two plugs to help with complete combustion. The "hemi" combustion chamber idea has been around a long time. This is an old Harley. A lot of old aircraft radials used something similar. It's essentially the same basic layout, and you can have a 4-valve "hemi" too (or close)... You can argue 'til you're green about what constitutes a "true" hemi, but for an understanding of what's what and why it makes a difference (and the only differences that matter are numbers on the dyno, or the emissions and fuel economy figures), you need to understand combustion chamber design and its evolution over the years. There are many books and online articles on the subject.

It's really just getting going for me. It's been so cold in my forever-under-renovation house (averaging around 50 degrees F) I haven't felt much like sitting at the bench for more than a few minutes at a time...even though I put a space heater under it to make it one of the warmest places in the house. Since the weather's warming up, I've been able to shoot some primer outside, and it's not too uncomfortable in here any more either.

A few months back, I think, somebody posted a link to a demonstration of the beta version of a smart-phone app similar to Siri, but WAY smarter. I'm seriously needing to contact the company working on the thing. If anyone remembers, please respond. Never mind...I found it. Took all of 30 seconds. Google rules. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/06/05/soundhound-hound/

Silver or red is what I've seen in unrestored cars, apparently depending on year of manufacture. Or try this... All early V8 double-single rocker shaft engines, 1951-1960, silver with black accessories. Except - All early hi-performance engines 1955-1960, silver with black accessories, gold valve covers, gold air cleaners, Plymouth Fury, Chrysler 300, Dsoto Adventurer, Dodge d-500. Except - 1955-1956 Plymouth 241-260-270 cu. in. V8, silver with black accessories, red valve covers, yellow air cleaner (hi-fire engine).

And then there's "baited breath" used incorrectly for "bated breath". To wait with "bated breath" uses a shortened version of "abated" (which simply means "stopped"), so the meaning is to hold one's breath while waiting. "Baited breath", on the other hand, means you've been eating worms to try to attract fish by breathing on the water.

OEM: It's also used to denote who built the whole car sometimes. For example, Ford, Chrysler and GM corporations were routinely known as America's "big three OEMs" for a long time. The term has spread into other industries, and still means, broadly, what any manufactured product came with from the factory, before modifications, upgrades, or repairs. MOPAR: This term refers generally to any car built by Chrysler Corporation over the years...Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, DeSoto, Ram trucks, etc. It's not used to refer to anything in the Fiat group other than brands that originated under the Chrysler Corporate banner. The term derives from a contraction of "motor" and "parts" that Chrysler's parts operation started using in the late 1920s. http://www.stormcomm.net/dodgegirl/moparmeaning.html GASSER: Best definition, click here... http://www.gassermadness.us/ A Brief History of the Gasser Classes

At least 3 or 4 spread out over several benches at one time currently, another 60 or so in progress on the 'working' shelves, probably about 15 or so of those that come out to play fairly regularly. Sometimes I'll only take one out of 'resting' mode to make a notation to do something differently, add a page of research notes, put some newly scrounged part in the box, or to do a major bit of cut-'n-paste so I CAN see what else is going to be needed.

Using the word "conscious" instead of the word "conscience". No, they're not the same.

OMG!!! OMG!!! Seriously, sounds like it's time for a new Terminator movie...Rise of the Planks.

Is truth, comrade. Это правда.

Yup. Takes paint off die-cast FAST. After it's done its job, scrub with hot soapy water and steel wool. Comet works well too. You REALLY want to get ANY residue off of the surface before you re-primer. WEAR GLOVES AND EYE PROTECTION !!!

Nice Y-block Fords in the '57 kits too...

I did, more than one. Funny, I seem to remember seeing an article in some old model car mag that showed somebody actually getting decent results from the thing. I thought I must be an idiot because all I could get was wavy, melted, huge gaps. Yup. WAY before I started chopping tops, etc. I tried it for opening doors and decklids many times before I finally came to the conclusion that it really was a case of using the wrong tool, not a case of operator idiocy.

Maybe it's just my perspective, but I seem to think there are more low-number posters showing their work here in the past few months, like maybe the forum is growing a little quicker. I could be wrong. It's good to remember that it's not unusual for ANY group to take a while before new members are fully assimilated and accepted, and it's seemed to me, again, that the work that gets the fewest responses is the work that's just the least interesting, or not very well done. New members who show really pretty work get a lot of attention immediately. A lot of the older members here do try to be encouraging and helpful towards less-skilled folks, and to praise at least the parts of a model that ARE well done, even if the whole thing isn't show-quality. The occasional arguments and ruffled feathers are mild compared to what you see on some sites, too, and everyone seems to at least try to act like adults, for the most part. The BEST way to get accepted is to post your work, show an interest in growing in the hobby, and an interest in other peoples work.