Ace-Garageguy

Several real-car manufacturers have or recently had colors they called "black pearl". Toyota has or had two, I believe. Duplicolor has at least one Toyo "black pearl" color in rattlecans.

OK. My bad. I stupidly assumed one guy. Two guys cut the man-hour rate for semi-skilled labor in half, obviously. Reasonable cost per man with equipment and overhead.

All well and good. What language was the Declaration of Independence written in? What language was the Constitution of the United States written in? What country was the colonialist power that America broke free from in the American Revolutionary War? What language do the laws of 27 states recognize as "official"?

Don't forget the AMT Allison engine !

As far as modeling is concerned, "styrene" and "polystyrene" are pretty much interchangeable terms. They're not as far as chemistry goes, but "styrene" is usually taken to mean "polystyrene" among model builders. As far as the techniques go for working the stuff, they're varied and range from simple cold-bending to making hard molds and vacuum-forming. Start with simple projects, develop skills, and move to more complex work.

Well Jim, as a military man, you should know better than most that it takes more than wishing.

You know, it's funny how, if you say anything these days about almost anything having to do with Hispanics, you're immediately branded a bigot and folks go running to defend the culture. The last body shop I ran had a recent (legal) Mexican-immigrant bodyman (with a heavy Mexican accent) and a second-generation Hispanic-American bodyman. They were both skilled workers. They both were capable of turning out first class work, but each had his own particular strengths. When I had the opportunity, I'd feed one kind of work to one guy, and another kind of work to the other one. I was scrupulously fair in making sure they each had as close to the same number of billable hours available to them every week as possible. BUT...if there was ANYTHING I did that offended the recent immigrant, it was because, in his mind, I was anti-Hispanic. Never mind that his co-worker was just as Hispanic as he was (and with whom I got along fine), but just had a little bit drier back. Both of these guys made more money than I did too, and I didn't have a problem with that because THEY WERE THE ONES WHO GENERATED THE SHOP'S INCOME. They also paid taxes, had licenses and the Mexican spoke far better English than I did Spanish. For the record, I'm NOT a bigot. I'm NOT anti-Hispanic. One of the physicists I most admire is Hispanic. So is one of the architects. What I DO oppose is the influx of no-skill illegals who have no interest in assimilating and only want to milk the system here. And I'm opposed to American business owners riding on the backs of hard-working illegals, paying them next to nothing, but charging plenty for their services, and getting fat while the workers live in 15-to-an-apartment squalor. Last time I read history, America as we know it started as an ENGLISH colony, and the founders of the nation as we know it were ENGLISH speakers. Kinda makes it an English-speaking nation. And if not, the ones who SHOULD be accommodated are the native-Americans, the indigenous peoples. After all, this is really THEIR land.

911 front would be a good starting point too, smoothed over and shallower, with the relief cut for the grille and the brake ducts (or whatever they are) opened up.

White glue (PVA, or polyvinyl acetate) is NOT a solvent glue and won't melt the plastic. (That's why we use it on clear windows and lights). Use liquid glues.

The filtering media in a car oil-filter will most likely be fine enough to trap the flakes but allow the carrier pigmented-clear to pass through. Not too hard to open up a cheapo oil filter and get the filtering media.

First things first. 3) Start with a drawn-out plan for what you want to accomplish. There's no better way to make an ugly mess that doesn't work design-wise than to just start cutting and gluing with no coherent goal. The real-car custom world is full of the results, and so is the modeling equivalent. If you can't draw yet, get yourself one of the many "how to draw cars" books and practice....that is, if you want to do good looking work. 1) A razor saw with a 32TPI blade, and probably some PE saws as well. Files: small jewlers and rifflers, medium size flat, triangular and round files too. A Dremel is always good to have, with a wide assortment of bits. Several sizes of X-acto handles and blades. Sanding blocks and sticks. Things to roll sandpaper around to make round openings, like wheel-wells. 2) Sheet plastic from suppliers like Evergreen of Plastruct. Shapes and strip-stock too. Epoxy, CA and liquid cement. 2-part polyester glazing putty (for real cars) for heavy fills, something like Squadron Green one-part putty for minor imperfections. High-build primers, and sandable primers. That should get you going.

Wow. So $70 an hour to push a lawnmower. That's what the hot-rod shop gets for designing, engineering, modifying, fabricating, machining, finishing and tuning machines, and wiring and integrating electronics...all highly-skilled tasks, performed by people who've spent a lifetime learning and honing said skills...including me. Why do we even bother. I'm getting me a ridin' mower.

Holy crapp !!! Your yardmen get $45 per hour? I think it's time for me to switch careers. No wonder all the Mexicans want to be over here working on landscaping crews.

Flip phone. Closed when not in conversation. No cheek-access. Ever.

Okay, granted it's not the "official language". But define "English-speaking country" for me. When I was young, you could get in your car and go anywhere in the lower 48 or Alaska and Hawaii and the odds of you being understood if you spoke in English were 99.999999%. That pretty well fits MY definition of "English-speaking country". Two language options isn't "respectful of other cultures". It's divisive and DISRESPECTFUL of THIS country's heritage, and it's disrespectful of all the speakers of languages other than Spanish that aren't accommodated by the multiple-choice menus. People who have come to this country for all of its incredible advantages and opportunities have traditionally learned English as part of the assimilation process. And until very recently, Americans were probably the most one-language culture on Earth. Most educated Europeans, Russians and Asians speak at least some English, and many are fluent. It's long been established as the language of commerce and business, so that only makes sense. But a very small minority of Americans seem to be fluent in another language. Hell, most of them aren't all that fluent in their OWN language. I hope this rant falls on the "civics" side of the no-politics wall.

No. This particular cell phone is an antique flip thing. I only use it for VERY brief communications if I'm going to be detained or in emergencies, or with people I don't want having my other numbers. No possible way it could have happened inadvertently. I mean, I use delicate and dangerous tools every day of my life, and somehow I still have all my appendages, and I don't nick $100,000 carbon-fiber wing spars when I'm grinding 1/16 of an inch away from them. The likelihood of me "oopsing" with a phone I've had for years is astronomically remote at best.

Can't really see how it can be a "practical joke" as that would take access to the phone and that's just not possible.

Hola. I just found that my friggin cell phone outgoing message has been changed to SPANISH, and the menu for retrieving messages and changing settings has also been changed to Spanish. WTF ?? Is this still an English speaking nation ?? Did I miss something?? And why is this even possible ?? It's not like everyone bent over backwards to make things bi-lingual for MY GERMAN ANCESTORS when they came over here. So what's up with making everything happy-happy for immigrants who can't speak THIS COUNTRY'S language now?? I mean, I don't go to other countries and expect everyone there to speak MY language to accommodate me, so what's up with MY country not expecting PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LIVE HERE TO LEARN THE DAMM LANGUAGE ?? And frankly, most of the Kenyans, Russians, Swedes, Chinese, West Africans, Indians, Danes and about any other immigrants I meet speak better English than half of the native-born Americans I know. What's up with the preferential treatment given to the Spanish speakers?? And what the hola is the deal with changing language settings on my phone with zero input from me?? More idiocy.

Something my tiny little mind is incapable of grasping: instead of noisy, fuel-burning, polluting, 2-stroke leaf vacuums and blowers, why not get a little firggin exercise and use a broom and a rake? Works fine for me. Save the environment a little unnecessary stress, keep your body a touch healthier, and avoid paying the LA Fitness bill, fuel for the machines, and repairs when they break.

Well done sir (from someone who's still taking things one day at a time).

Cool tip, and thanks. I have just the place for one... We called 'em "necker" knobs, without the s. It's been a while, but I seem to remember that necking with a pretty girl while driving could be significantly more distracting than texting.

That irks me about myself as well. But what irks me even more is that there's so much about my fellow man that needs to be tolerated.

I've been that guy, and I was lucky enough to be told the day(s) after that I'd been a complete idiot. My behavior changed. Maybe that's one of the reasons I have so little sympathy for the ol' General's problems. EVERYBODY at the party must be too drunk to notice anything going on, and if they DO notice, too chicken to say anything about it.