Ace-Garageguy

Supremely clean little '29. Looks like a car that was built to be driven hard and enjoyed...the essence of a real hot-rod.

Display areas? WHAT??? That assumes you have finished models !!! Geez...you're supposed to finish the things ???

I really enjoy rebuilding trash into something nicer...none of these are finished yet, but they're getting there. Even this one was built from something somebody had started trying to chop, and gave up when they found all the pillars would need serious rework.

Petetrucker07 ^^Yes. Finally someone said it. Quad copter are quite different than drones. Quad copter are the problem. Every 5 to 85 year old can go to the corner 7-11 and buy one for 25 bucks. The drones, those are a different story. The Hobby People ad came this week with the Christmas sales. There are a few drones on sale for 800 to 1500 dollars. I'm willin to guess the copters are the problem. I'm pretty sure the 25 dollar copters, way out number the 1000 dollar drone. But then again, what do I know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The FAA rules are calling for registration of remotely-piloted-aircraft weighing between .55 pound (that's about 1/2 of one pound) and 50 pounds. I think you'll find most of the tiny quad-copters weigh less than .55 pound, and really can't possibly cause anyone any problem. But if you hit a 50 pound flying vehicle with an airplane in flight, you're going to know it, and it could down the airplane. These aircraft hit birds. probably in the 10-15 pound range.

I'm assuming these are low altitude sightings...landing and takeoff time...so when the inevitable happens and an airliner sucks one into an engine and crashes because of it, maybe we'll see some smartening-up. The whole postulated post-war scenario of LOTS of people flying private aircraft never came to pass because most people simply can't do it safely, for whatever reasons (granted, it takes money to get a pilot's license, but it also takes training, self-discipline, and a functioning brain)...so now we have legions of clowns flying their little toys in restricted airspace and they have nothing to lose but the cost of the toy. Registration is a good first step, but some mandatory education to go along with it is really necessary, and some teeth in a law that assigns financial responsibility to anyone causing damage, injury or death might be good too. I'm certainly NOT a fan of more laws, but until it's possible to pass and enforce a blanket law that makes stupidity a criminal offense, it's going to be necessary to allow the lowest-common-denominators to force more restrictive rules on those who operate their RPVs with some common sense. As usual, the morons spoil it for the rest.

ANY 1/24 Chaparral 2C kit is worth 30 bucks. You can usually find the old Monogram curbside 2D kits for about that, including shipping, but you rarely see the 2C. There's an Arii /Cox 2C curbside on the 'bay now for about $60, with shipping.

You've built a museum-quality model from a toy-like kit. Beautiful work, sir.

You've really got to be kidding. PLEASE say you're kidding. Another media idiot. The same media idiot who says the term "hard worker" should not be used because it's an insult to the experience of slaves. Yeah, like she'd know "hard work" if it came up and bit her in the butt.

Yeah, but it's not really very hard either.

Agreed 100%.

Beautiful conversions. I'd be very happy to have finished even one build that looks so good.

That's an excellent point that bears reinforcing. I bought one once that looked OK in the fuzzy photos, but in person looked like it had been scraped with 40-grit...useless for anything but a full kustom. A couple others that were "stripped" were poorly done, with details mostly obliterated, and almost worthless as well. I believe most sellers "stripping" old models is just another ham-handed ploy to ask more money, and since they aren't going to have to deal with the bodged mess they often make of the job, they really don't care. It's the same as in the 1:1 world where a rusty pig is loaded with bondo and primered, then offered as "bodywork done, in primer, just needs paint". Yeah, right. Buyer beware...everywhere.

Fine looking work. My favorites are the '55 and the yellow Camaro. Very aggressive, absolutely perfect stance for what they are.

Looks great to me. I missed the build thread somehow. Anyway, love the colors and your clean craftsmanship. The body looks like it's quite well-proportioned.

So, Miles...that looks pretty good for $25. What kind of mechanical condition is it in? What engine and gearbox? Looks like it's already been lifted a little too. Nice score.

Glad you're going with the 2-door conversion on the little Chevy, Niko. A lot of work, but really shouldn't be that difficult if you jig and measure everything carefully. The 2-dr sedan is vastly more appealing to me. The 4-dr, no matter how badass it may be, still looks like grandma's car.

Charlie's right. There's no saving that. Strip it. I would also respectfully suggest, as I often have, that whenever anyone tries new material combinations, new application methods, or anything with which they're not entirely familiar, they practice on a spare junk body, or lacking that, on plastic pop-bottles prepped and primered exactly the same way you intend to prep your model. A plastic spoon may be fine for testing colors, but it just isn't large or complex enough to give you a really good idea of how your material is going to handle on a model-car-sized surface. If you elect to use pop bottles, scrub them with something like Comet and hot water (also a very good idea to do with your model bodies) and a toothbrush. This will scuff the surface so you'll get good primer adhesion, and get into the little nooks and crannies that you really cant reach with sandpaper (and if you try, you'll end up obliterating fine details on your model). Primer your bottle as you would your model. Exactly. Sand or scuff it the same way you would do your model too. THEN, apply your paint. Don't rush it. Once you get your material reduction, air pressure, and application completely figured out (and repeatable), paint your model. This may seem like a lot of unnecessary BS, but so is stripping a model several times while you're learning. If you screw up a bottle, throw it out and try again. Practice makes proficiency.

I simply momentarily confused the compound adjective with the noun. My most sincere and humble apologies. http://waldenwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2009/12/by-jeff-zuckerman-director-of-writing.html

I'm still working on the mystery of why hot-dogs and buns come packaged in different numbers. That, and the meaning of life.

Yup...I'm one of them.

Google is pretty smart, but it can't read your mind (yet) and its understanding of semantics has some way to go. Modifying search terms, sometimes many times, will almost always eventually turn up the results you need.

That's the case with most small startups...a lot of risk for no guaranteed return, long hours and not much income in the beginning. Most wives and girlfriends don't like the deal either (ask me how I know). Perseverance can pay off big, however. One of my clients started a plumbing company under similar circumstances about 30 years ago, ate canned beans and day-old bread while his kids were little; he recently sold his interest in the company for $7 million, which is why he can afford to have a car built exactly the way he wants it.

Apparently there are differences in design from manufacturer to manufacturer, some being airtight-enough to warrant the hole. I've noticed lately that more caps seem to lack the hole, so maybe its real usefulness has been found to be nil.

"Crate motors" are nothing more nor less than engines assembled by some business entity for a particular purpose...not necessarily for racing, but often for installation in as close to "plug-and-play" mode as is possible with a vehicle engine. Some "crate motors" are sold as "shortblocks" (just the block and reciprocating / rotating parts assembled), "long-blocks" (which include the heads and valvetrain), and "complete engines" which include an induction and ignition system (but usually no headers, as they're installation-specific). Components on these are usually factory matched for the specific type of application, vehicle weight and use, auto-or-manual gearbox, etc. As stated above, there are no outward appearance differences between "crate motors" and engines built up from junkyard cores by the local machine shop or a guy in his garage...other than, in SOME cases, valve covers or other specific identifiers for a particular company's particular engine...such as color. Currently GM offers a mass of crate engines based on the venerable old smallblock and big-block Chebbys, many more based on the LS architecture (some complete with stand-alone EFI setups), and several interesting others. Other car manufacturers offer similar engine ranges, as do several aftermarket builders. For a model, particular valve covers and engine color, perhaps, would be the only identifiers that the represented engine was supposed to be a "crate motor".