Ace-Garageguy

Which proves nothing so much as that the "experts" defining "education" policy today are idiots themselves...if these are the results of their "better ideas". Kids can't spell, can't write, can't make change, know little about science and history, have poor reading comprehension and short attention spans. Music and art are ignored, many kids are in poor physical condition and overweight, and have no manual skills. Wow. Sure is better now, huh? But this sorry state of affairs is INTENTIONAL. Wake up, people. Is this REALLY the world you WANT?

Virtually anything that's ever been made of another material can be redesigned to be made of carbon-fiber. i even did a violin bow. This is a Mustang...and these aren't overlays.

That may not be the issue. Cycle fenders are typically really too heavy for the one-sided mounts used when they get put on cars. The result is that the metal struts or tubes fatigue and break with some regularity. Carbon fiber struts or brackets can be fabricated to be stronger and stiffer than steel or aluminum, while being the same size or even smaller. Properly designed composite parts also have an infinite fatigue life. The fenders themselves, if fabbed from carbon, wouldn't weigh much at all...just a small fraction of the weight of the same part made of steel. Problem solved.

Just make 'em out of carbon fiber...

Same group...

Understanding today's world and recent events requires a certain amount of historical perspective to really make any sense of it. WW II was the biggest "deal" humanity has lived through to date, and the lessons that can be learned about an entire country's population following a mustachioed power-mad idiot into national destruction (in the quest for world-domination), political and religious intolerance, and the REASONS the conflict didn't end in a global conflagration and totalitarian rule need to be grasped...by everyone. Without that context, the cold war, Reagan and Gorbachev are just boring. useless footnotes. You're absolutely correct, Matt..."But most of all, I'd like them to know that the answer to any question about "why does .... happen in the world today?" is always " well, it's a bit more complicated than that..." It's rather a shame, in my humble opinion, that FACTS are stressed so much in education, rather than using facts to teach and illustrate IDEAS and the power to use them to actually THINK.

I didn't post these disturbing articles and observations to bash any particular group or generation. To blame the kids for not being able to understand fractions would be only slightly more off-point than making a blanket statement that the "baby boomers" are responsible. The "new math" was already making its appearance in schools when I was a kid...and I'm a baby boomer..so it wasn't MY generation that started this idiocy. All it did was to take kids that were already pretty confused by math in general and make them hopelessly lost. I personally know "professionals" in a multitude of age brackets and occupations who are all but functionally illiterate and think that 1/8 is smaller than 1/25. These WIDESPREAD learning and comprehension problems should be of concern to kids, parents, and anyone who gives a rat's rear about humanity...and anyone who might like to have a decent-paying job now or in the future. And speaking of reading comprehension and literacy... "Schools and teachers may indeed be making a Herculean effort to raise reading scores, but these efforts do little to improve reading achievement and to prepare children for college, a career, and a lifetime of productive, engaged citizenship. This wasted effort is not because our teachers are lazy or of low quality. Rather, too many of our schools labor under fundamental misconceptions about reading comprehension -- how it works, how to improve it, and how to test it." Article here... http://prospect.org/article/theres-no-such-thing-reading-test

Looks like a fun one. I like your clean-up mods too.

A quick search of youtube turned up a lot of not-really-useful stuff, but anything by Donn Yost is definitely worth watching. As far as sanding goes, I prep my bare plastic bodies by scrubbing in hot water and a mildly abrasive cleanser like Comet, with a toothbrush. Using sandpaper, especially if you don't understand all the various grits ("fine" really means nothing) can lead to grief. It simply will not get in small folds and crevices, and you run the risk of rounding off details if you're not extremely careful. Comet scuffs ALL these areas with no damage, and removes the mold-release lubricants as well. I also got in the habit of final-cleaning my models (either bare plastic, or after they'd sat around for a while, drying) with 70% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). It's good insurance against fish-eyes, as it removes just about all contaminants. I'd also suggest you practice painting, all the various steps, on plastic soda bottles BEFORE you try to paint a model. Find bottles with molded surface details, so you get a feel of how paint and primer behave on them. When you can lay down a paint-job you're proud of on a Coke bottle, you're ready to paint a model. Learn to shoot all your primers and paints WITH AS LITTLE ORANGE PEEL as you can. This saves a ton of wetsanding that you'll have to do to correct it later, which can also obliterate fine details. This paint is just-as-shot. Obviously, it won't take a huge amount of work to get it really right. This is what we mean by "orange peel". The texture of the paint surface looks like the skin of an orange. Learn how to avoid it. (It comes from shooting your paint too dry, or from too far away).

Do the Math: Difficulty understanding fractions can add up to a whole lot of trouble "The implications are serious. According to last year's report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel appointed by the president, difficulty with fractions is impeding America's overall progress in math, which, in turn, raises national security concerns and questions about the country's economic vitality. There are personal repercussions, too. Knowledge of fractions is needed to cook, measure for home-improvement projects, calculate sales prices, understand taxes and earn a living in an increasingly technical work world. Ever looming, too, is the possibility of having to apportion six cookies among four friends. (Each gets 1 1/2 cookies.) Eric Rogalsky, a math coach who taught summer school with Mr. Warden at Pittsburgh Sunnyside K-8 in Stanton Heights, said he tells students about fractions: "You're going to use this stuff for the rest of your life." " http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2009/08/31/Back-to-School-Do-the-Math-Difficulty-understanding-fractions-can-add-up-to-a-whole-lot-of-trouble/stories/200908310173

And they're pretty bad at math, too. Why Do Americans Stink at Math?http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html?_r=0 "As a nation, we suffer from an ailment that John Allen Paulos, a Temple University math professor and an author, calls innumeracy — the mathematical equivalent of not being able to read. On national tests, nearly two-thirds of fourth graders and eighth graders are not proficient in math. More than half of fourth graders taking the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress could not accurately read the temperature on a neatly drawn thermometer. (They did not understand that each hash mark represented two degrees rather than one, leading many students to mistake 46 degrees for 43 degrees.) " My big question...JUST EXACTLY WHAT ARE SCHOOLS DOING?? Are they nothing now but free daycare?

Yes, the recent Revell '29 is done in that period "look", but it's a contemporary interpretation of the look, with a Ford nine-inch and later-model automatic gearbox. Cycle fenders were required by law in California on cars over 1500 pounds for a while, and though you saw a lot of them during that window, they weren't so much a "wanted" accessory as a mandatory nuisance for car builders. Today, they're pretty rare on anything unless it's built as absolutely period-correct.

A Quarter of Americans Think the Sun Orbits the Earth ... Sighhttp://www.livescience.com/43593-americans-ignorant-about-science.html

Wow. Lotsa good looking mods, lotsa good looking work. I've always really liked the subject matter here (this kit) but it's so wonky and not-symmetrical that every time I start one, I get put off by how much extra it takes to make it nice.

Bock, pan, heads and intake manifold are a silver-gray that probably looks gray in many photos. You're right about the gold air filter housing and rocket covers. The plug-wire covers on the rocker covers are also black. The '54 Chrysler brochure shows the trans painted the same color as the engine. '56...

Thanks. I'll be having to get a copy of that.

Yup. Both the AMT 3-window and this 5-window have separate roof sections...from the belt-line up. (The Monogram 1/24 '36 is the same way.) It makes these kits particularly challenging to build well, as the roof sections don't fit perfectly and always take a good bit of finessing.

Former lawyer, actually. And she's an artist and tattoo parlor owner, besides being an activist for abused women's rights in Mexico. Consideralbly more socially-redeeming value than the car in the OP. http://aplus.com/a/Maria-Jose-Cristerna-most-tattooed-woman

MPC did a 1/20 kit of Dick Dean's Shalako, which was designed to go on a Bug pan. Hot Rod (I believe) did a full story on the development of the prototype, built for off-road racing (if I recall correctly). Some of the interior panels and bulkheads were made of alclad (corrosion-resistant aluminum sheet...not the paint product we know and love).

My guess would be lotsa drywall screws and JB Weld, covered over nicely with Bondo.

Yes...and though the Concorde and the SR-71 pictured above most probably benefited from house-sized mainframe computers for serious number-crunching, neither sailing ships nor steam locomotives did, obviously. Your observation that "You should never underestimate the value of smart people with lots of experience. They might not be able to explain WHY it works, but they could surely build one that did..." rings a somewhat-related bell. There is an old story that the 1921-built Canadian racing and fishing schooner Bluenose, one of the fastest of her type, actually had a mistake in the shape of the hull. Introduced by the workers when she was on the building ways, it didn't follow the design exactly, and some claim that was the real reason for her exceptional speed. There is some reason to think this just may be true, because the full-scale replica Bluenose II (the original struck a reef and was abandoned in 1946), built to the same plans and design, was never as fast.

An excellent source for the first generation OHV Cadillac (essentially the same engine as in the Revell '49 Merc, but entirely different tooling...from over 50 years ago!) is this vintage Revell parts-pack kit, usually available on Ebay for $5-$10. It includes a multi-carb induction setup, and a period-correct Hydramatic trans. I was able to get a pair of those headlights in trade here on the site. Somebody can probably help you out. MGC makes the grille... Looks like it's available at Model Roundup. http://www.modelroundup.com/product-p/mcg-2207.htm

Man...clean, good-looking model.

Me too.