Ace-Garageguy

I could suffer through having to drive that every day...but as with most things, I'd have to change a few bits here and there. ...The stuck-on rear bumper, for one thing...and I'd put the "Equus" over the little horse and ditch the "Bass". Makes me think of a fish. And not a baddass fish like a Barracuda, either. Probably get rid of the upchuck on the lower grille surround in front too. Very often, less is more. Hmmmm...probably a lot cheaper to just build a slightly customized old Mustang...

I've amassed several over the years. Started building a Z-car powered track-nose version back in 2012...

Dude, you're talking about at least half of humanity's collected wisdom, knowledge and truth there...

What's this "leaf blower" thingy you all speak of?? I still use a rake.

Poulan used to be a decent chainsaw. Of course, who knows where the bits and chains are made now, and whether the steel in the chain is actually made to design spec. You'll find that a LOT of products coming from the 'east' don't actually meet design spec in one way or another, but nobody seems to care much. Profit profit profit...fcrew the consumer. The Husqvarna 50cc costs twice as much. Who knows why.

Ummm...probably not if it's made with that ol' crapp and vastly more profitable Chinese steel American sales companies are so enamored of these days. A car I did substantial work on this time last year just shatt the seal in the Chinese-made water pump I installed at the time. Yes, the water pump is covered by a store warranty, but the LABOR to put another one in isn't. And it's a PT cruiser...a nightmare to work on...and the water pump is driven by the backside of the timing belt, which will also have to be replaced now..again. I'm so dammm sick of all this offshore inferior junk that we're being peddled by US companies that are nothing more than front men for Chinese rip-off garbage. There was a time you could put a cheap, American-rebuilt water pump in your car and forget about it for at least 5 years.

A 10-second Google search turned up the Tatsuhobby.com website description of Gaia paints as being "lacquer based". http://tatsuhobby.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=67_68 Here's a thread about the stuff. http://www.automotiveforums.com/t1062010-gaia_paints.html These are only 2 of the approximately 700,000 hits for "gaia paint" on Google.

Hmmm...I thought my comment was about economics, energy, greed and sociology. My bad.

A few years back I was collecting original Ala Kart models, both gluebombs and virgins. I started a re-style update of the car (from bits of bodged built-ups) using Dodge Viper power (in honor of the original's Dodge Red Ram engine) and undercarriage.

Later that same day... ...and on towards evening...

It is very obviously a government project. There is one upper-level manager, a mid-level manager, a foreman, and three workers. No one is doing anything (but drawing salaries while waiting for the environmental-impact study results) except the worker who's IN the car, obviously holding it down in case gravity weakens momentarily.

DaVinci.

How about this one... "The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite."

Nice work on everything. The bare-plastic and primer shots of the body show what a good-looking basic shape this car is in 1:1. I'm just not wild about some of the design details...which I think really detract from the car's overall beauty.

Looks really good. Very clean, nice foil work, great color for the shape.

If you were working on a real car and you had some room to do blending of the metallic in, then you could make it work and be entirely invisible. This is essentially how we do spot repairs on metallic or pearls...but it takes a sufficiently large amount of panel to pull it off. What I would respectfully suggest is that you try to just "knock the top off" your orange-peeled clear, level it as much as possible WITHOUT breaking through the clear into the metallic base, and shoot additional coats of clear over everything...followed by another sanding / polish job.

I'm sure you're right. While I wouldn't call myself a "Barris enthusiast" by any stretch of the imagination (although I am definitely an admirer of some of the cars he's legitimately credited with) I'm fairly well aware of who actually built and/or designed what, and the correct information is easily available anyway. The ease with which one can check the truth of some of the claims made really makes me wonder why he found it necessary to put himself in the picture for cars he had essentially nothing to do with. People who have genuine self-respect, earned self-respect (and Barris certainly accomplished enough on his own to merit feeling he was a 'somebody') don't have the need to steal credit from others. Self-promotion is an entirely different concept from outright pretending to have done someone else's work. Perhaps he WAS aware that he wasn't the craftsman / designer / fabricator the legend portrayed him to be, and the fantasy-world was a pathological coping mechanism for feelings of inadequacy. Whatever the problem was, the guy had a huge impact on the custom car world, and I think we should be glad of his real accomplishments and let the rest of the silly BS just drop. Kicking a dead man rarely accomplishes much of anything.

While this is true in general overall principle, I'm sure by now that you and your father have discovered how incredibly difficult it is to get talented, skilled, hard-working and reliable employees...especially ones who have design ability. A shop that is lucky enough to find such individuals to work there will find they don't stay too long if they're denied credit for their contributions and accomplishments.

Beautiful model. One of my all-time favorite automobile designs. I need that kit.

...and the AM McLaren M8 tooling. People whine about it being "too hard" but I think it's one of the most spectacular race-car models ever produced.

Those old "mailbox" scoops were common in the early-to-mid '60s dragsters... Your valve covers are OK for an early Hemi as well... Trying to use Google image-search and learning how to phrase your query terms will give you access to millions of images like this, and all the technical information you'll ever need...with some effort on your part.

There are also multiple other sites having specific info, easily available by searching Google. Here's one... http://www.protechmodelparts.com/hardlines.ht

Love it. I want a real one.

If by "mechanics of wiring and plumbing an engine" the implied meaning is "the general similarities based on shared functions and operating principles of all gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines" (one possible interpretation), I'd respectfully suggest the OP become somewhat familiar with how IC engines operate, to gain some understanding of the functions of the specific detail parts in question. Otherwise, topics regarding model-car-specific wiring and plumbing abound. Seek and you shall find, grasshopper. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/31937-making-125-scale-spark-plug-wires/