Ace-Garageguy

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I try not to whine about important things most of the time (they're private and there's nothing anyone can do or say anyway...it's just life), and a vehicle not running is small potatoes in the overall scheme of things...but sometimes when I get hit with different stuff back to back to back to back, over and over and over...things that wouldn't even come up if I'd been a greedy self-serving SOB instead of trusting people's honorable intentions, and trying to help some of them achieve their own dreams...so I blow off a little steam whining about the little things. I'll shut up now, and focus on what's good instead. Time to try to make some changes.

Think I broke a valve spring in the '92 Chevy truck. Normally not a really big deal, especially with 275,000 miles on the clock. She's entitled to have something break. Only problem is that I've been so tied up taking care of other people's problems for months on end that I haven't had time to do anything for myself, I've let the maintenance and repairs on my own vehicles slide, and the second-oldest truck is the only thing running at the moment. I really wonder what gods I've offended to have had such an incredibly awful 2 years (you have no clue, believe me).

Yup.

Mom's '85 Dodge Caravan.

This is the model that's going to force me to learn BMF, because I want one of these with chrome on it so badly (I'm already doing a couple de-chromed).

Glad to see you understand that, Greg.

Absolutely positively 100% "smallblock" Chevy. Could be a 283, 302, 327, 350, or 400, some other oddball displacements that aren't as well loved, or even an early 265 updated to look newer. All the "smallblock" Chevrolet engines look much alike overall, and with detail and parts changes, can be somewhat difficult to identify in a model. Here's an overview of this engine, one of the most famous and enduring in automotive history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_small-block_engine

I can't get it over 45 deg in the house. I'm cold.

And for saving money...the majority of wires you'll encounter on street-driven cars in reality are 7, 8, or 9mm diameter (approximately) . Let's say you're doing a '70s muscle car with 8mm wires. 8mm is .315". For 1:25 scale, divide that number by 25. That gives you .0126". Call it .013", and go to the craft store and get .013" beading wire (comes in colors and will hold shapes you put into it). Enough to do MANY car models for a few bucks.

Paint looks great. i can see why you were inspired to build an LSR car from it. Certainly looks the part. I especially like the rear 3/4 and top shots.

I'm just glad the Fleetline body's back in production. I'll take it however I can get it.

Man, what a beautiful car...and model.

Looks like another home-run.

Looks like even the Italianos got into the act on that one...('34 Fiat 508B)

The primary place where JB or any adhesive, no matter how "strong" it's supposed to be, really lets people down is when it's used for small-surface-area butt joints. If you glue two pieces of 1/16" stock together end to end and expect it to hold...you're dreaming. Even my insanely strong and expensive aircraft stuff wouldn't last long in that application. The smaller the surface area of your joint, the more likely it will fail, period. It's just common sense. Yes, you can probably glue tiny little nuts to a model with JB and screw something into them, but as mentioned by someone above, if the screw bottoms in the hole, it will simply jack the nut right off the part it's glued to. And if the threads of the nut aren't perfectly clear, it will probably twist off as you try to screw a screw into it. One other thing to remember when using JB or similar "hardware store grade" epoxy products: although they're made to be somewhat tolerant of mixing proportion errors, take the time to try to get EXACTLY a 1:1 ratio (if that's what is called for). Epoxies really like to be mixed in the correct proportions to get maximum strength. It's important to give all the little molecules the right number of hands to hold on other molecules...really. TRY to get it as close as you possibly can to the recommended mix-ratio to avoid disappointment. The stuff we use on aircraft HAS to be mixed on a gram scale, and it HAS to be dead-nuts on to within 1/2 of 1 %.

We used a lot of Devcon F back in the boon duggy and formula V days. Rod through the case? No problemo.

Here's a new one on me. I didn't go through all 46 pages of this thread, so please forgive me if somebody already put this one up.

Whatever you do, forget the Palmer. I didn't even know they made a Torino, but in general, Palmer made some of the absolute worst kits ever on this (or probably any other) planet. Everything they made looked like you were looking at the car it was supposed to be...through the bottom of an old Coke bottle. Here's a Palmer Corvette...

Gots me a brandy-new battery for the old gray truck. Old one finally bit the dust and wouldn't even hold a charge over night any more. Nice to turn the key and have a pretty fair expectation something will happen.

I gotta get me a woody...

Something I'll never have to worry about on my old Silverado. The engine and diff leaked for so long before I got her, the entire chassis is coated with a nice thick film of gritty oil. Kinda like my own little tar-sands.

Saw an old VW "Common Gear" on the way home. Lowered too much, with way too much forward rake. Had the jitters in front, like it was running on the bump-stops. Too bad. a well-done Ghia is a pretty cool little car.

I like it. Done there, been that.

Yes, and I'd rather see some of those beautiful old profiles still running down the road, even with late-model guts, than see them melted down to make Chinese steel.

It does look good (would probably look a little better if the pictures weren't sideways). vamach1 is correct too, in that real Cobras had aluminum bodies (aluminum doesn't rust) and most of the reproductions were fiberglass (which also doesn't rust). So if that brown stuff on your model is supposed to be rust, you might want to rethink it. If it's accumulated dirt and debris, it looks very realistic. Overall it does look convincing, and those blue tarps are a nice touch. Please don't be offended by my remarks. I'm REALLY trying to be helpful.