Ace-Garageguy

I would have to think it's a real blast to drive, and probably VERY hard to beat on any kind of twisty bits.

I'm so glad I'll be gone before that pretend reality becomes reality.

The past may be gone, but just because something is hip-happening-invented-yesterday doesn't necessarily make it BETTER. There's room for old stuff AND new stuff. Fella I work with, for whom I have a lot of respect, is 40 and has 3 young sons. He's a car builder by trade, completely connected to the modern world as well, and is also a very involved, engaged parent. He builds models...and other stuff...occasionally with his kids, and one of them is developing a real interest in the car thing. Maybe he'll turn out to be a mechanic or an engineer as a result, or maybe his understanding of how things WORK IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD will take him into a career in science where he just might make a planet-saving difference. How many video-game and facebook e-device addicted kids will get options like the model-building sons will have as a result of spending time with an old-school dad, MAKING THINGS?

Man, I sure didn't expect that. Really imaginative, beautiful paint, quality craftsmanship.

Man, I just HATE it when that happens...

Seriously, are the Trumpeter Falcons really that bad? This Ranchero underbody doesn't look as bad as I woulda thought from some of the comments...

We have a winner. Man, I 'bout jumped out of my chair when I saw that black and green thing looking at me.

Had a look and it wasn't as bad as I expected, but like most of farcebook, I just don't get the point. Half-azzed, no depth, why bother? Coupla nice models there though, actually.

I watched that silly episode of RoadKill with the multiple leaf-blower "supercharged" thing. Made a little more power on the chassis dyno, but no faster trap speed. Hmmm...probably woulda done better just using one of the leaf-blower impeller housings bolted to the engine, and a v-belt / pulley to spin the fan. Oh well...still not my dog. The Jag V12 lump seems to be a popular power unit these days... Even one stuffed into a poor little Miata... And here's a rod with a Maserati Quattroporte V8 DOHC unit...me like. A lot.

In my own experience, It's always been easier to remove the entire section of floor that includes the molded-on pipe with a Dremel, then file nice clean edges on the remaining frame rails, and fab a new floor section out of sheet styrene. Yes, you DO lose some details you might want to keep...like ridges that represent stamped-in stiffeners, but they can re re-replicated with small styrene shapes if you want. These two may seem a little extreme, but replacing the floors with clean styrene really isn't so bad once you bite the bullet and just start cutting. This is an AMT '32 Ford chassis that I ended up making new floors for, for a variety of reasons. It's really not too hard once you just decide to go for it. If you really DO want to remove the molded-in pipes, etc, and leave the floors intact, a Dremel makes quick work of the job, but it's easy to go too deep pretty quickly, and really make a mess. If you take off most of the offending molded-in detail with a Dremel (milling tips, barrel-sander tips, and shaped grinding attachments are all good), you can then use a chisel-tip X-acto to get the rest. There are several chisel tips that work well...#17 is a narrow tip for the small handle. #18 is a 1/2" wide blade for the larger handle... and #19 has an angled tip...

So, that's the problem...one of perception, valid or not. Does being a "good" builder automatically make one an "elite, stuck-up jerk" ? Well, in some peoples' minds, being good at something IS a reason to "hate on them" (not a phrase I'd normally use, but appropriate I think). And don't forget, unfortunately, people often parrot the opinions of others without any actual experience or interaction to back it up. There are also two entirely different ways to look at a model. One is the objective technical skill of the modeler...paint gloss, realistic appearance achieved by weathering, part fit, nice clean foil work, scale-correct details, etc. These things are valid targets for "constructive criticism" if they're poorly done. The other is more subjective...design and proportion, color choice, overall understanding of the particular genre a model might represent, etc. These are the things we either "like" or not. Criticism becomes more a matter of taste with these items. Now, what's the solution?

I would hazard to guess that in part, an opinion among some builders that there's "expert work expected" here has something to do with the currently fashionable idea in schools and child rearing that every effort, no matter how poorly executed, is worth the same grade or number of attaboys as even the best of the best of the best. This attitude fosters mediocrity in everything, and denigrates the inherent goodness of striving for excellence. All efforts ARE NOT equal, but every human is entitled to an equal measure of respect when being addressed. Criticisms of a builder's WORK should be focused on constructive suggestions as to what the builder can do to improve his skills, and I believe that most of the comments made here are either positively-reinforcing attaboys or are made in the spirit of helping the builder to recognize how he can become a better modeler...if he wants to. A builder who shows half-assed work and expects to have heaps of praise poured on grainy paint and poor fit...well, he's not motivated by doing what he does WELL, and simply wants something unearned, something for nothing, that something being unconditional praise. We're not 2 or 5 or 7 year olds here, and no one should come here expecting to be treated as such.

Man oh man! Spectacular transformation. And inspirational.

Kind of a shame if it was a good steel A Tudor sedan though. A little respect for the rarity of original bodies is kinda nice, sometimes. I wouldn't mind even a radical chop and a clean traditional build, but to just destroy the thing... Oh well. Not my dog. 'Course, it might have been a bunch of rusty junk that was too far gone to do anything nice with. In that case, I like it.

I see a land-speed-record Krispy-Kreme donut truck.

I'll be there. I'm a member of ACME, the hosting club. I should be working the front door from 10 AM til 11 or so.

Yeah, I just looked under the hood of a 200 today and saw the engine that comes apart relatively logically, and that has room around it to access bits for service. And a decent chain oughta be good for 250,000 miles. Definite improvement. I hope they shot the designers of the PT engine and engine-bay packaging. But the stepper-motors that drive the headlights shifting to hi /low beam?? Please, spare me any more unnecessary complication. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far as the Pentastar logo goes, I'm curious as to how many Americans really identify that with the Chrysler product line anyway. Car guys call them all Mopars, and normal people see the Chrysler wings, or the Dodge ram logo. I know for a fact that most non-car-nuts don't even know that Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep are part of the same company family. Dumping the Chrysler or Dodge or Jeep names might alienate US buyers. Ditching the Pentastar logo? I doubt many folks will notice unless it's brought to their attention. It just seems like money spent to simplify things a little. I mean, why mess with a brand logo if it has widespread recognition?

Is having it packed / shipped by someplace like PakMail an option? I would pay, of course.

Oh boy, are there poor ones. Some that only slightly resemble the subject matter, some that are 1/4 inch thick, some that are badly non-symmetrical, some that have really poorly modeled surface details...yup...ask here first before you buy a real pig. I've bought several nasty ones, assuming that anybody who would go to the trouble of making a master and then making molds then making copies would do a nice job. Wrong.

77 is too young. Those guys were very entertaining in a slightly annoying kind of way. Always good for a laugh. Sorry to hear it.

Yup...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GGNreBzPkY

It was a Barris job, called AMX 400, before they put those horrible bumper and periscope things on it for the TV episode. Top chopped, longer nose and tail...not too bad looking really...well, for later Barris cars anyway. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/tag/banacek-amx/

Now THAT's funny.

I think the made-for-TV-movies "prototypes" were pretty universally bad...witness the "Phoenix" from the second episode of Banacek...