Ace-Garageguy

OK, maybe that one could use an altimeter.

I don't think that's at all fair to Art. He has a wealth of knowledge, both about the history of the hobby AND automotive history in general, and he's willing to take the time to share it. Some people like to have more detail available, and Art often fills in the blanks and explains things in more depth. It doesn't have anything to do with "proving how much you know". He's just generously trying to help foster understanding of the whys and hows, for modelers interested in going a little beyond the simple what. I would think an educator would grasp this.

I realize you're probably looking for an engine with stock components primarily, but just for your future reference, both of the engine-only kits below have very nice performance-oriented smallblock Chevy engines. As Force has already noted, all the smallblock Chebbys look much the same externally, and as also noted...EXCEPT for the '55, which lacks the oil filter boss and engine mounts of later engines. That means you can build an engine to represent a 265-283-302-305-327-350-400 from the same basic parts...block, heads, front cover / water pump, oil pan. This vintage Revell engine kit is labeled as a 283, but makes a fine base for any of them. It has a Potvin-style front-driven blower and a 2-4bb carb option too. No stock induction or exhaust, but it does have a decent front cover / water pump. pulleys, an excellent 4-bladed fan, and a bellhousing. Generally available for about $4 if you shop around on Ebay. This current-production AMT-labeled kit is a re-release of a '60s kit, also has a nice performance oriented smallblock. Again with a front-blown Potvin style setup, and an optional single 4-bbl.

Put me down as having a hankering for '50s BOP cars as well. I've bought several promos and very simple Johan Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs to use as bash fodder, but I'd love to see new-tool complete kits. Just tell me where to send my money.

Cool. Tens of millions of dollars worth of warplanes turned into thousands of dollars of aluminum scrap. Swords into plowshares, fighters into beer cans.

PS. Here's a search tip that may help you get more relevant results, too. There's a LOT of rats and patina on the forum.

You're in the right place...and welcome to the forum. We're ALL still learning, so everything you go through will be of benefit to many people here.

If you want to do rust, google "Dr. Cranky rust video". Here's one on the "salt" method a lot of guys use.

Glad to help. I didn't mean to glom all over your build thread. I'll be happy to pull those photos down if you want.

Surprising they piled 'em up to scrap like that. A lot of F100s and F4 Phantoms ended their careers as target drones. Weren't those 84s J-65 powered? Maybe the engines were pulled for A4 spares.

Here's a tutorial I did eons ago on zeeing that Revell frame. A zeed frame is absolutely necessary in the rear to get a car that low. Another way to get those Revell frames low is to build custom up-and-over rails in the rear, and to modify the front for a "suicide" spring perch. The stock Revell frame is in the foreground, the modified and much lower one in the background. This lets you get the car very low. I've left this one with sufficient ground clearance to be street-drivable, but that same frame will go lower, as low as your reference photo.

Yeah..."and like a good neighther, State Farm is there"...

I think it it weren't for Adblock, I would have shot my computer by now.

And Adblock Plus stops 'em all. https://adblockplus.org/ uBlock does it too. https://www.ublock.org/

Probably a hard one. If I hadn't recognized it, I would have thought it was Russian, maybe Chinese, last choice German. The wrap-around windshield, quad lights and other American styling influences were showing up on a lot of cars those days, but I never would have thought Nissan / Datsun, or even really Japanese. The one immediate tell that it probably IS Japanese would be the front wing-mirrors, but I don't know how many people would catch that hint right off.

Very nice photos, lots of ideas. Danke.

Cool. Another one of theirs I love is Crystal Blue Persuasion. 1969.

Wire "gauge" terminology is used for electrical-engineering reasons, so you know how much current the conductor INSIDE the insulation will carry, so you'll specify the correct "gauge" wire for the design load. It usually doesn't make any difference to an engineer how thick the insulation is, or what the OD is, as circuits aren't designed according to how "big" the wire is outside. If you use a "wire gauge" (the tool) correctly, you use it to measure the wire inside the insulation, NOT THE OD. ANY electrical wire that's correctly labeled is labeled according to the diameter of the wire INSIDE the insulation. SOME wire will specify an OD for the insulation too, but not that frequently. It's more likely to list the insulating capability of the insulation, and again, that can be all over the board depending on the material the insulation is made of, and its thickness. Wire for other purposes, non-current-carrying purposes, like jewelry beading wire, is described by both gauge AND outside diameter. Sometimes confusing, at best. Of course, our Chinese friends and ebay resellers sometimes don't know or care what wire "gauge" actually MEANS, so you roll the dice when you buy this stuff.

Definitive answer...as definitive as possible with the info we have. Heater hose on real cars is usually either 5/8" or 3/4" ID, so call the 3/4" ID stuff about 1" OD on average. Divide 1 inch by 25 for 1/25 scale. That's .040", or forty thousandths. You need wire that's around .040" outside diameter, or OD to be scale-correct. "Wire gauge" should technically refer to the diameter of the CONDUCTOR INSIDE THE INSULATION, not the outside diameter of the insulation. "18 gauge" is listed as .040". "16 gauge" is .051". multiply that by 25 to see that it would be 1.275" in reality, or about 1 and a quarter inch OD hose...kinda fat. All of which is meaningless if we don't know if the "gauge" wire you have is being called by its conductor or by its OD. This is why a cheap digital caliper is a really nice tool to have on your bench. Saves a lot of guessing and second-guessing. For example, "16 gauge" wire, with a correctly-labeled 16 gauge CONDUCTOR, can have differing thicknesses of insulation...which will give different ODs. That's a problem because you need to know the OD to know what to use to look right on a model.

The one I'm MOST sick of hearing is "I CAN'T" when it means "I'm too damm lazy to try hard enough".

Easy-Off makes an Easy-Off branded product that's low-odor and won't do much of anything, but I'm sure you know that. Drain cleaner contains one or the other, but it's really hard on the aluminum too. Do you know what your "blue coating" is specifically? Is this "photoplate" made specifically for an acid-resist photo-etch process? Have you tried any other solvents? If it's a lacquer coating, even the harshest oven cleaner won't have much effect either.

Well you sure as hell can't do it if you think it's impossible, that's for damm sure. And I know people with multiple skills who have had no problem finding work...people who used to be engineers who aren't too proud to work as mechanics or carpenters. I've done the shoestring thing by the way. Don't say it's impossible 'til you've tried. It's still entirely possible IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH TO WORK FOR IT, SACRIFICE FOR IT, MAKE IT HAPPEN. Oh, I'm sorry. It's NOT EASY.

The most realistic looking way to do it will be to form a hook on each end of each spring and put it through a drilled hole in each collector-support flange...kinda like this...

Of course not...not overnight. But education is the single most important qualifier one needs to get a GOOD job, and to maintain a country with an economy that DOES provide jobs. Education is freedom. Freedom to rise out of an "economically-disadvantaged" life in a crime-ridden ghetto. Freedom to USE the opportunities available to Americans to become entrepreneurs. Freedom to start a small business on a shoestring and grow it into a success that DOES provide jobs. Because education allows people to UNDERSTAND how things work. And when you understand how the system works, not just the part of the system that hands out foodstamps, you CAN make a decent life. If you can't make change, or read instructions, or write an e-mail that someone else can understand, how do you think you're going to get ANY kind of job that pays a living wage? The pie-in-the-sky preoccupation with creating "jobs" for people who have no marketable skills is idiocy. Short-sighted, un-thinking, knee-jerk idiocy.

Ok, I'll stipulate property owners are getting somewhat screwed. So, since it's an issue of national importance, as important as maintaining the military, every CITIZEN should have to shoulder a fairly apportioned part of the cost of basic education.