Ace-Garageguy

Sure is no other bird that sounds like it, except the Cobras with the same rotor system. I should have said "raises my awareness", not "raises my ...hackles".

Sounds great to me. Tool a '26-'27 body shell, throw in a couple of engines from amortized tooling...genius. More legs for existing tools, minimal development expense.

The first sentence starts "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds that have connected them with another..." The second paragraph starts with the more widely immediately recognized "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." It continues (yes, I had to look it up): "...that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. " Such fine ideals. So very sad the reality hasn't always fully lived up to them.

A "torsion bar" is nothing but a straight metal bar or rod, anchored solidly to the chassis at one end, and free to pivot at the other end connected to the axle by a 'swing-arm'. It 'twists' and untwists as a vehicle negotiates surface irregularities, and can be packaged many ways. This is a simplified tank (a half-track in this case) suspension design. Look at the first and last illustrations. The torsion-bar is the skinny rod in the center. The swing-arms are at the ends. That's it, basically. Simplicity. Chrysler Corp. favored this design for many years. Same idea, but in this case, the swing-arm was the lower control arm, and had a ball-joint at its outer end for a spindle. Torsion bars can be packaged in a variety of ways, allowing in great variety of space-saving layouts. Sometimes the 'bar' runs in a tube, sometimes it doesn't. The 'bar' can be mounted parallel with the main chassis members, or perpendicular to them. Many trailers use a layout like the tank, again for simplicity. Most car torsion-bar setups today use a round-section bar with splined ends... ...while some Chryslers favored this design... The old VW Bug used a square-section front torsion-bar that was made up of flat 'leaves', stacked... These 'bars', made up of leaves, run in the upper and lower tubes shown, clamped rigidly in the center. The outer ends are clamped in the swing-arms which pivot to allow the wheels to 'bump', and have ball-joints to allow steering.

Eshaver is right...1500 grit wet or finer is in my shop notes. My mistake.

The sound that always raises my own hackles is a Huey coming in at treetop level. I live under an approach to a regional airport, and a couple of civilianized Hueys nest there. The sound of fireworks in the neighborhood doesn't bother me, but somebody let off a string of what sounded just like heavy caliber machine gun fire in the distance last night, and that was a little spooky.

I personally prefer a medium gray sandable primer, to minimize show-through of the substrate after buffing. If you're going to shoot it over bare plastic, I've found it helps immensely to scuff the part thoroughly with Comet, hot water, and an old toothbrush. You'll get superior adhesion, better flow without as much tendency to run and puddle, and a safer buffing experience. The stuff is very thin and shows up ANY small imperfection, but 1500 (edit) grit or finer should be OK. If you DO see sanding scratches or graininess after the first or subsequent coats, it can be wet-sanded just like anything else (and you'll have to shoot it again afterwards). Continued effort will yield perfection...as close as you care to get, anyway. The trick to getting it grain-free is to learn to shoot it wet, just on the verge of running but not quite. Dry mist coats will make a grainy surface...which can be helpful if you're going for a rougher as-cast look. I find 3 wet coats (minimum) to be sufficient to deposit enough material on the surface to mostly avoid the problem of rubbing through the stuff on high spots when you buff it. Give it plenty of time 10-20 minutes) to flash between coats, and let it dry at least a couple of hours before buffing.

May as well go big. This car. Not one like it, a clone, or a replica. This actual car.

Damm. Man. Words fail. Damm. Man.

OMG !!! OMG !!! Chicken Little was RIGHT !!! The sky IS falling !!!

Conventional V-8 engines will have to have staggered heads. This is a semi-raw aftermarket 392 Hemi (Chrysler FirePower) block. The cylinder bank offset is clearly visible as the step on the RH side of the casting.

This is the only photo of the bunch that gives an easily-interpreted idea of the front suspension layout. There appears to be a transverse torsion bar, probably anchored in the center of the lower transverse chassis cross-tube, that is connected via heavy-ish forward-facing bellcranks and drop-links welded solidly to the underside of the axle. There could be two parallel transverse torsion bars. This setup was fairly common on a lot of cars, including something quite similar on many Indy roadsters. The torsion bar links function to locate the axle side-to-side fairly well, and there also appears to be a normal hairpin (looks like, in some side shots...though I didn't spend any time carefully analyzing them) that would provide fore-and-aft location of the axle. Rather than having a full hairpin on each side, it's also possible there's only one top longitudinal link per side, as a hairpin would tend to jam the geometry of the torsion-bar linkage motion, whereas a single top link would not. A single top link would allow the torsion bar linkage below the axle to function as part of a parallelogram linkage that would fully control fore-aft motion of the axle. It doesn't take terrifically sophisticated or strong linkage bits, as there are no front brakes with heavy loads that would need to be resolved into the structure. Here's a somewhat similar setup that uses full hairpins on each side. Similar setup, but with only a single longitudinal top link.

As already noted, in many cases the body lines and proportions of old Johan kits are the best in the business...but the engines and chassis work leave something to be desired if you want full-detail. Not to worry. Many GM and Mopar chassis and engines from other kit manufacturers adapt quite easily into Johan bodies.

I own an '86 XJ-6 that I've modded with the John's Cars 700R4 gearbox swap, and I've done two of the same company's smallblock Chebby engine / gearbox swaps. The John's Cars kits are complete, straightforward bolt-ins with good instructions, though some of the engineering of the kits could be a little more 'elegant'. Replacing the aging electronic fuel-injection with a simple carburetted setup cures most of the reliability issues (the HVAC can still be troublesome), and the electrical interface between a carbed engine and the rest of the car is easy. The XJ is a uniboby, so severe floorpan rust (which can start inside the cars from leaky windshield, sunroof, or backlight seals, or stopped drainholes in the door shells, allowing the floors to stay wet underneath the carpets) often migrates into the structural rocker boxes on either side of the car, and into the suspension-attachment points in the rear. It's a big job to repair it correctly either way. I was going to do a 4-cam Ford Modular engine-gearbox swap into mine, but the engine and trans were stolen from a shop I had worked at, before I could pick them up. The smallblock Chebby-powered XJ makes a really nice car. The V8 weighs less than the Jag engine, but will most likely make at least 100HP more (the ol' Jag is only rated at 185). Acceleration is much improved, but the onboard fuel-consumption computer shows the mileage to be about the same. With a 700R4 (4-speed automatic with a lockup torque converter) you should be able to get around 22mpg highway, consistently. In-town fuel-consumption won't be great whatever you do. The car is just heavy.

Vacuum Metallization "Before the process can begin, the plastic component is washed and coated with a base coat, so that the metal layer is smooth and uniform. Next, a metal (typically aluminum) is evaporated in a vacuum chamber. The vapor then condenses onto the surface of the substrate, leaving a thin layer of metal coating. The entire process takes place within a vacuum chamber to prevent oxidation. This deposition process is also commonly called physical vapor deposition. Depending on the component’s application, a top coat may be applied after deposition to increase properties such as abrasion resistance. Metalized plastic components that receive their coats via this process are found in a range of applications, from automotive interior parts to certain types of foils." "Vacuum metalizing" comes under the heading pf "physical vapor deposition". Here's a general wiki article explaining the process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition The tricky bit is producing a metallic vapor, and getting it to go where you want it to go (the inside of the chamber and the fixture holding the part get "plated" too). I would think it's entirely possible to build a home unit with sufficient research, machining and fabrication capabilities and knowledge of electronics and electricity. This google search will give you many links to follow for additional information. https://www.google.com/search?q=physical+vapor+deposition&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=731&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pNiSVfT9PImvggTpxYLQBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&dpr=1

Looking good Ray. That candy-cane driveshaft is pretty snazzy, too.

It was a big ol' horse of an airplane, the largest, heaviest single-engine aircraft of WW II if I remember correctly. And I believe the rated power of the experimental V-16 engine was about 2500, comparable to the last of the Griffon-powered Spitfires.

Gorgeous car. I believe the Revell Tommy Ivo Showboat kit has finned Weiand valve covers for a nailhead Buick. You might be able to modify them to fit a Chebby. Also 90% positive both big-block and smallblock Chebby Weiand valve covers are available in 1/25 resin. google image-search "1/25 scale Weiand valve covers" and follow the links. Good hunting. Here's a pair that got away...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Resin-Weiand-Small-Block-Chevy-Valve-Covers1-25-Scale-/350914940578

Yes sir.

Me too.

A WIP based on the Revell Chevy kit... And one on the AMT Challenger kit...

There's a Mustang Two-ish front end in the AMT Phantom Vickie kit. It's on an easily swapped separate front crossmember. This is it (crossmember is purple) under a '34 Ford.