Ace-Garageguy

I've worked "professionally" on aircraft, racing cars, and a variety of other high performance projects my entire life. "Good enough" isn't, and rushing to deadline has its consequences. I sincerely hope the next guy who works on all of you "good enough" folks' car brakes does a job that in his eyes is just "good enough". See how "good enough" it is as you sail through an intersection and get hammered flat by a semi. Why are so many of you so quick to give people who GET PAID WELL to do a job, even if it's only making toys, a free pass for turning out second-rate work? "Measure twice, cut tools once" should be the operative phrase here. MEASURING ACCURATELY ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE. When your daily job involves creating something tangible with your own mind and hands, and possible loss of human life if you foul up, sometimes on a large and dramatic scale, you get a little different perspective on the meaning of "good enuf". Rushed presentation, 80% concept intact...

We should have a contest. Design "something cool" to make from that. Harry judges. Winner has to go get it and build his design. In 1:1. It has to run. Well.

The custom Ford 9" I ordered for the '47 Caddy came in 3 days instead of 2 weeks, and fit absolutely spot damm on. Spring pads, width, pinion angle and ratio all perfect, and all the correct bits to put it together. And Vintage Air corrected their mistake, sent me the right parts in one day, and a free return authorization for what they had shipped incorrectly. Now I can finish up the AC as well. Measure multiple times, order once.

Sculpturally the bike is... interesting, but I'd be WAY more impressed with the VW if the Hemi was stuffed in the back-seat area, mid-engine.

A very simple method of equalizing the pull on parking brake cables is this system widely used on older sports cars with a parking brake handle as shown. Its function is obvious, so keep it in mind. The cable connecting to the rear wheel brakes should be labeled "secondary cable" Another way to accomplish the same thing, but using an "equalizer lever" instead of the slider is below. The rear (secondary) cables running to the wheels are functionally identical to the diagram above BUT, instead of a "primary cable" there's a short cable connected to the "2690 brake lever". Then, right AT THE ARROW TIP (and going towards the front of the car) there is another cable that connects to the E-brake handle under the dash. At the arrow tip, going towards the rear of the car, there's a return spring. At the end of the equalizer lever AWAY from the arrow tip, there is a pivot. These parts basically mimic the simple layout shown above. Similar system under a car shown below.

Roof looks pretty flat for the north country. I guess the builder never heard of "snow load" . Too bad. I hope there's no significant damage to the other cars, tools and models.

Poor poor poor little car(s). That's one of the worst messes I've ever seen. The big-car equivalent of a 5-year-old's gluebomb. It looks really sad to me. I want to give it a nice dry warm home.

If it really IS your best, that's certainly good enough. Nobody ever really expects perfection. Even in natural mathematics, Pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, is hardly perfect in any conventional sense.

Lots of discussions on the board already. I respectfully suggest you try one of the search functions. All will be revealed...even multiple lists of online free videos explaining in-depth the processes and materials involved. Many of the videos are professionally produced with correct information by the manufacturers of the materials themselves. There is also, I believe, a several-part article in back issues of the magazine.

Two days after I got the P551 code on the PT Cruiser from-hell beaten into submission by correcting rodent-chewed wiring AND replacing the sensor, the little beast decided to put up a P420 code, which is "inefficient catalyst". These two are in no way related, and the 420 is most likely because the cat was damaged by the owner running the thing for a year with an internal coolant leak. I've built the top-end, it runs beautifully now, doesn't overheat or anything else nasty, but it looks as though the cat may have to be replaced to pass this state's idiot OBD-only (no sniffer) emissions test. I've had bad luck with cheap aftermarket cats...some of them so poor they won't keep the 420 code from triggering even when they're brand new. A decent name-brand cat is expensive, and the Mopar part is insane. Vehicle owner is running on empty financially after her place of employment burned down. Bugger. I DO know one last little magic trick for this...we shall see.

The "Fiberglass Trends" logo on the car is the giveaway. If my creaky old memory is correct, FT produced fiberglass lookalike "Cheetah" bodies and steel tube drag-racing-oriented chassis, not actual Cheetahs. FT built one of the prototype glass bodies for Bill Thomas, but when they didn't get the production deal, they went on and built a knockoff drag version. This is one of their catalogs. Most of the drag-racing "Cheetahs" you'll see are actually Fiberglass Trends' clones.

Beautiful model and photography. That first shot looks like it's on a high bank. Had to look twice to make sure it was a model.

1A. AVOID SMASHING YOUR HAND WHILE HAMMERING BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE NAILS.

I had an Avenger with a 140 Corvair engine for a short time. Kinda horrible fiberglass...heavy, 1/2 inch thick in places, cracked everywhere because the whole mess flexed so much, doors and deck chipped paint on the edges constantly (again, from the flexing), leaked in the rain...but it sure was fun. I had absolutely no idea it was ever offered in model form. Gotta gets me one. Had a Lotus 7 and selling it was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. Had an Intermeccanica Speedster on a shortened Bug platform, and it was better than a real one (had late Bug non-swing-axle IRS, front disc brakes, etc). Currently have a Beck 550 Soyder, soon to be back on the road. Two I used to lust after were the Myers Manx SR and the Brubaker Box. There were a surprisingly large number of fiberglass kit-cars available in the 1950s to refit chassis like Austin Healey, MG, etc. One of the better looking ones was the Devin. I'd like to see this offered in scale some day.

Comes with a sack of life-sized plastic nads.

There's a magazine? Like, you have to pay for it??

Interesting that the "How to become a machinist" piece was written when South Bend was an American company actually manufacturing machine tools here, and when competence at one's job was a condition of employment. Also interesting is the reference to taking personal responsibility for poor work...and not one single word about "self esteem". Nothing said, I see, about "you're entitled to make plenty of money and get ahead just because you're special".

X2

First shot here shows the level forward section of the bellypan, and the raked rear portion. Idea is to generate a little downforce on the tail to improve traction at high speeds. To my knowledge, nothing like this was tried back then, but there's absolutely nothing that would have prevented someone thinking of it. Final shapes coming together, and the car closing on its final overall appearance. Stock AMT '29 roadster in the background is the basis. High rear 3/4 view shows helmet fairing and rear of tonneau very close to final shapes. Front 3/4 view also shows slightly reshaped nose for cleaner lines. First snap-in windshield experiment worked as planned, so final tweeking and a re-cut of the clear material will have that dialed in too.

Excellent points Hakan, and thanks for the reminder.

I found it too Skip, but now I'm wondering if the photo isn't really what it says it is...just trying to think of a plausible reason for the delay in closing this one.

Fuel lines on the typical '50s car are very simple. From the tank to the pump (usually engine driven) and on to the carburetor. Usually no return line, as in today's EFI cars. Once again, specific locations and layout will vary by car make and sometimes, model.

This shows the hydraulic brake lines (the "service" or regular foot brake) routed to the front and rear from the master cylinder. It also shows a slightly different E-brake setup, though the function is exactly the same. Everything will be pretty much identical for drum or disc brakes, though the proportioning bypass valve will usually not be used on an all-drum system. In that case, route the front lines neatly and directly to the front brake backing plates, eliminating the detour to the proportioning valve. Actually, function and routing of brake lines hasn't changed very much since the introduction of hydraulic brakes (Ford got with the program in 1939).

'50s cars are all similar in layout and function, but all different in specific detail and routing. By this time, most US cars had E-brake handles under the dash on the LH side. E-brakes are usually cable operated, and a single cable ran from the handle to a splitter / equalizer of some sort, from which two cables continued and entered the rear brake backing plates from the back side. This is typical, but as I noted, there are MANY detail and routing differences on specific vehicles. The cable from the under-dash handle is in white here, not red, and the RH side cable running to the RH wheel is hidden behind the control arm. UNDER A CAR, LOOKING FORWARD:

I'm happy for anyone who makes it to retirement. If you have your own business, it's hard to walk away sometimes...but a feeling of obligation to your customer base shouldn't overshadow your right to enjoy your later life free from business responsibilities...especially when you've been making very high quality stuff and happy customers for a long time. I wish them all the best. I also need to get on the stick and buy their resin kits and parts I've got on the list of "must-haves" while there's still time.