Ace-Garageguy

Yes sir !!

But now they're idiots with a voice. It is one of the damning facts that describe humans in general...for the most part, people would rather follow someone than lead, or even follow their own path, or even think about what a good thing to do might be. A lot of people hate their jobs because it's easier to just get work doing SOMETHING rather than finding something to do that they actually LIKE. And there's that little German who was able to inspire an entire nation to follow him into destruction, or the Jonestown mass suicide. Most people WANT to follow, to be told what to do, and even if it's a really really stupid idea, if they hear it enough times, it gets traction in their brains and influences behavior. That reality is the only reason marketing works at all. And when millions of morons are all jabbering away incoherently, stupidly, about mostly nothing of any importance whatsoever, the incessant stupidity HAS to have an effect on the perceptions and behaviors of the majority that prefer to NOT think for themselves. I believe there's a very real potential for a looming critical-mass of dumbing-down. and once we hit it, we may not be able to easily recover as a "civilized" society.

Told by who? Marketing constantly screaming hysterically that you NEED this or that new-improved-same-old-same-old, the mainstream and off-center media, politicians, Limbaugh and his ilk (on either side of the fence), you-tube conspiracy idiots, flat-Earthers, masses of uninformed morons blithely content to mindlessly repeat wrong information over and over and over again on the web, ad nauseum. I agree with the rest of your statement, and I don't blame the internet for anything. I think it's a wonderful tool for communication, research, information-sharing...and I've wholly embraced it in my own life as just that...an additional tool in my box, not a replacement for everything that came before. But to go a bit farther with your thought, the net has given voice to millions upon millions of "lemmings" who otherwise wouldn't have much impact, but because of the widespread lack of critical-thinking skills and ignorance of science, math, history, politics, economics, day-to-day physics, ad infinitum, they're in a position to exert some influence, simply by the strength of their numbers.

One option is always to declare your intentions, with a logical supporting position, and then stand by them. You can always say "I know a removable-or-flip-up-body isn't technically correct for the racing-class this model represents, but I like having the ability to show off the internal parts, so I made it to hinge to do so." Problem solved.

Which must have something to do with why 25% of Americans think the sun revolves around the Earth. The truth IS out there, but why bother to look for it for oneself when you're told, cradle-to-grave, what to buy, what to think, and what to believe.

I do try to be balanced in my view of things, and in defense of "technology", I have to say that devices like the Kindle and other e-book readers have made available content that was otherwise simply not accessible (because of prohibitive publishing costs for a very limited market). The problem is what it's always been though...having a huge library down the street, or access to billions of terabytes of written material on the net isn't the same as actually reading, thinking and understanding. There will always probably be some "quaint" printed periodicals aimed at the weird folks who still enjoy the sensual pleasure of turning a page...just as vinyl as a music-storage medium still has some adherents, and new content is regularly available.

When literacy and intellectual curiosity die, bookstores, libraries and even online content longer that a soundbite aren't far behind.

Right on, brother. The world is in a mess, and "they" aren't going to fix it. It's every individual's responsibility to try to do SOMETHING to make things a little better.

Good looking mods, Bill. Your assembled wheels are a significant improvement over what I've seen elsewhere. The tooling still looks a tad heavy-handed to me, fins perhaps too thick and lugnuts too large, but your work makes them more appealing, by far. The "glass" fitment technique you show is a fine reminder to everyone building models that care and patience, trial-fitting, and developing the skills necessary to remediate the kit-makers' shortcomings will always produce a much better model (Interesting side-note: spell-check doesn't recognize "remediate" as a valid word.) It's easy to give Moebius a pass on the slightly less-than-perfect windshield fit, as it IS extremely difficult and time consuming to produce tooling for injection-molded parts that fit as closely as these need to. At least there's enough extra material to make the corrections you demonstrate.

And with any luck at all, we'll shortly see all the e-mag articles written in txt-spk, to save on bandwidth and the huge rental fees on the electrons needed to sustain the whole e-culture. In another generation, nobody is going to know how to read anyway. Already, most people don't seem to be able to write coherently...including many "professional" writers with degrees in communication. And, as cursive writing is now obsolete technology, it's only natural to think that communicating via hard-to-understand combinations of symbols called "letters" (with all their stupid, arbitrary and hard-to-remember rules and conventions) will fall into disrepute in the foreseeable future.

Would that be Generation Jones? Essay question: Let's hear your reasoning on this. And while you're at it, lets have some referenced examples as to what the following generations are doing so brilliantly to reverse the trend towards mass ignorance. A somewhat related article: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/10/who-destroyed-the-economy-the-case-against-the-baby-boomers/263291/

Same kind of logic that dumped Pontiac and kept Buick. Whatever mediocre pablum sells best gets saved, the slightly offbeat and interesting stuff goes away. Business now is mostly all about numbers, devoid of passion. Beige is the new candy-apple-red.

70% isopropyl alcohol (not 91% or 99%!). It's a great universal solvent that should remove all contaminants without damaging the paint itself.

But of course (for anyone who may not be familiar with the FX cars built on this platform) the '62 "factory experimental" versions were fitted with big Poncho live rear axles and conventional driveshafts...and considerable structural surgery was required to make it all happen. Some '63 FX cars were built with a highly modified IRS trasnsaxle, turned into a 4-speed auto box by Pontiac engineers, but ultimately, reliability problems (short ring and pinion life) nixed the idea and most of the '63 SD cars were subsequently modified to use the big solid axle too.

The question: The apparent answer: and: Oh yeah...I forgot one:

It's a good thing if people who are doing modifications have a little talent.

Funny how lotsa things that come up on this forum will pique my interest and send me off down another internet rabbit hole. I've always liked the looks of those old "needlenose" Petes, even bought a kit to base one on someday...just found these nice little videos about building a 1/25 model of the Duel truck. Some good weathering tips in here, too. Speaking of glaring errors...the guy who does the video uses "grinded" for the past-tense of "grind" (it's "ground", by the way...I ground things off...) and it really grinds on my nerves to hear it...

Similar, but but very obviously different tooling, parts-count, and colors they're molded in. TAMIYA: FUJIMI:

Good point.

You wouldn't think there would be a whole lotta those around...

Most excellent projects. I'll be tuned-in for this one, all the way. I've been collecting bits to do the M/T car, based on an AMT '63 tempest gluebomb, and a what-if Olds FX car based on the Johan '62 F-85.

I always thought watching paint dry was a very pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon.

The tasty frozen treat that makes you feel like a jumped-up little moron bent on world-domination. But wait...there's more...Hitler coffee creamer...in Switzerland !!