Ace-Garageguy

I'm curious. What's your hiring screening like, and/or does your employer train employees to work on RC models? I've found that new-hires can rarely actually DO what they claim to be able to do, and it really doesn't matter what field we're talking, either. But it usually takes them screwing a few things royally before anyone catches on. Delegating responsibility to someone before he's proven capable isn't really good management.

I'm just curious...have you ever worked on any of the more complex late-model cars, with multiple processors that all have to communicate with each other? I have, and without long-term factory support, or a much more sophisticated electronic-component aftermarket than exists at the moment, there are going to be a lot of vehicles only suited to sit up on blocks in the yard. It already takes a fair bit of out-of-the-box thinking and resourcefulness to maintain full function on some vehicles as new as 2001. The mere ability to correctly diagnose onboard-computer issues is beyond the capabilities of a large percentage of 'professional' mechanics already (...like when the onboard-diagnostics functions are down ) and "make their own"...really? Maybe where YOU live, the mechanics and rodders are more highly-evolved than they are around here. Chrome and plastic parts don't have to actually DO anything, and the aftermarket is already flooded with kinda poor quality on simple appearance items, and mechanical bits that don't come close to meeting OEM specs. Aging vehicles with multiple onboard computers may prove to be a real nightmare.

Paint looks great from here. Whole thing coming together very nicely.

Like, maybe, this??

Holy cow. Not only is that a spectacular demonstration of speech-recognition, but the machine-understanding of contextual meaning is almost beyond belief. I think it may have surpassed IBM's Watson. Annoying voice, but that should be easy to modify...and worth the effort, considering the capability this thing has. I've been running and tinkering with Robert Medeksa's "Ultra Hal" chatbot / AI for rather a long time, and it's developed into more than simply a chatbot, I think a little smarter than some of the Siri incarnations I've tried...but nowhere near as capable as this. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be following this farther.

Very attractive model, colors work well. Nice.

I agree entirely, and one of the reasons some days I'd just as soon swap all my funky old iron for one clean, nicely prepped and setup C-5 Corvette. But not ALL computer-controlled engines are so spectacular. The entire EEC (electronic engine control) system in my poor old '89 GMC 1500 failed progressively over a period of several months. GM, of course, no longer supports the electronics, and in my experience so far, all of the offshore replacements are quick-fail garbage. Aftermarket electronic engine management systems are cost-prohibitive for a vehicle I bought for $100. So, to keep her on the road, I pirated the 50+ year-old Rochester 2GC from my '63 Olds, rebuilt it with a $25 kit, machined a Q&D adapter to mount it to the EFI manifold, installed a junkyard vacuum-centrifugal advance HEI distributor, and she starts on the first twist of the key with fuel-consumption numbers easily as good as with the early EFI setup. But the point I'm trying to make is just this: when all of these computer-dependent wonder-machines age, fail and are no longer supported (you know, like Windows XP?), I'm going to be very interested in what happens to the majority of "old car" enthusiasts who will be left twisting in the wind. The best thing about the LS series of engines, from a performance, emissions AND economy standpoint, is the exceptionally good chamber and port design, and the fact that ALL the chambers and ports are pretty much identical. Not so with the older generation of American OHV V8 engines. And there are enough of them (LS-based engines) around now that there's good aftermarket (electronics and mechanical) support too. I'm honestly not too keen on the LS bottom end, and the fairly recent availability of a "traditional" SBC block casting that accepts the LS heads, but also utilizes all the bulletproof old-school SBC bottom-end parts, seems to me to be the best of all possible worlds. Just making conversation, too.

Shocking! Ancient Ford Engine Just Smashed Chevy LS3 Torque Numbers And it's a Y-block. "Shocking"? Well, not really. That's just the headline in the article at the link below. All it means is that in the hands of competent tuners and engine builders, the "old" and "ancient" non-computer-dependent engines can still make very respectable dyno numbers. http://www.hotrod.com/news/1506-2015-amsoil-engine-masters-competition-lineup-is-hot-this-summer/

Yup...love seeing an old mess made into the proverbial silk purse.

Many things that seem impossible turn out to be possible if you have enough time, talent, patience and skill. However...I don't think this is one of them.

I'll have to disagree vehemently. The real race-car has no "black rubber seal", and the light covers are mounted with quarter-turn fasteners for quick lamp replacement during a race.

Yes, it's the old oddly proportioned mashup of many elements, not one of which is really '34 Ford. It IS, however, a good place to start to build something cool. Bring saws.

No. As far as I know, your only choices for this subject are promos, usually warped celulose-based acetate plastic, or diecast.

Great project, just my kind of build. I'll be following your progress with much interest. If I were you, I wouldn't agonize too much over getting the rear tire diameter just exactly as it appears in the photos, as rear tire diameter could easily vary from meet to meet, being used as a means of fine-tuning the effective rear gearing.

Yeah, but I really enjoy turning somebody's thrown-out, bodged or given-up-on disaster into a nice model. So far I haven't had to strip one of my own...but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Tried to watch the film "Deuce Coupe" from 1992 on yootoob. S'posed to be a 1957 or '58 period piece, but all the cars are late '70s style. Other anachronisms like an electronic siren on the police car, street rides running low 12-second quarter-mile times, etc. almost as annoying. Too bad. I could have overlooked a completely dorky plot and insipid music.

Lotta foke mus assume I'm got da same name den...

Yes, it's a Pontiac. Actually, the valve covers, headers and air filters are pretty nice. The headers are also appropriate for other older V8 engines with siamesed or very-close-together exhaust ports, like the early Rocket Olds. The carbs will clean up and look good, but it takes some effort. Looks like an alternator and bracket have been added since the early issues of this kit I'm familiar with. If you want a good Pontiac, get the Revell parts-pack version.

This one definitely has the Winfield head... ...and because this one is a repop of the tooling above, it should have the Winfield head as well (though I'm not positive)...

Two wheels in front, one in back can be made to handle very well (Morgan, my own Solo design, etc.). A very narrow front track, or a single front wheel and two in back...well, the Reliant is a pretty good illustration.

Sprayed a heavy coat of this, put it in a Ziploc storage bag, and two days later washed most of the old goop off with hot water, toothbrush and Comet. Be SURE to wear rubber gloves when using the oven cleaner, and safety glasses too. NOTE: The Easy Off works very well on enamels, not so good on lacquers, and won't touch many real automotive 2-part urethane clears.

Got some work done over the past couple days. Some steps forward, some back, cumulatively a little progress. Cleaned up the old AMT body shell, sanded out a lot of the glooey spots, began priming in SEM self-etching green. Took the details off of an AMT firewall, split a gluebomb Revell '32 hood at the rear, narrowed it to fit the '29 cowl, and extended the sides downward a tick. Also reinforced the center where I'd cut and spliced it. The middle of the rear was filled with styrene to give me a straight line across the cowl joint, and the front edge was dressed straight too. I liberated the rear inner fenders from the Revell '29 side panels to use on the AMT shell here, and began scribing the joint on the cowl sides between the fuel tank and the body panels. I decided I didn't really like how the Revell chassis fitted the AMT body (it's a little to wide to look right-on with the AMT '29 body) so I narrowed the rear a tick, and pinched the front frame rails rather a lot, by removing the crossmembers and bringing the rails in until they just graze the sides of a '32 radiator shell. The narrower front frame rails give the car a lighter, more graceful look. Then I chopped an AMT rad shell a couple of scale inches, and cut down the insert to fit it. The crossmember that carries the front suspension will be narrowed to fit back in, and raised between the rails to lower the nose more too. I did some more shaping and fitting of the new hood, and I'm beginning to see the proportions I was after from the start.

This one has a slightly larger engine...

All my Revell '31 sedan and woody kits have the same assembly drawing (with slightly different shading) and they both show the intake manifold attached to the head, which is correct...like your photo. There is also a Riley 4-port head conversion for the model A engine that was never kitted. Two-port in the foreground, Riley 4-port in background. As you see, the 4-port moves the intake ports to the other side of the head.

Yes, the concept may have merit, but the styling is just awful. Looks like a cheap 3-wheeler kit-kar body from the late '70s.