Ace-Garageguy

With all due respect, NOBODY IS ASKING FOR PERFECTION. This always comes up, steering the topic away from what we're entitled to get for our hard-earned...in my case anyway...modeling dollars. It's reasonable to expect ACCURATELY SCALED and CORRECTLY REPRESENTED components included in a box of parts sold as a "SCALE MODEL". Why should much of the model building process be correcting FOR FREE, work SOMEONE ELSE WAS PAID TO DO CORRECTLY, AND DIDN'T DO CORRECTLY ?? I build heavily modified model cars...as if I were starting with a real one and modifying it to reflect MY OWN vision. Why should I have to waste MY OWN TIME making it represent CORRECTLY the subject matter, BEFORE I can begin modifications to reflect MY OWN vision and taste?

Cool little car. I bought one of these little buggers not too long ago, really cheap and in much the same condition, thinking it looked so sad it would likely otherwise end up in the someone's trash. So far I haven't taken the time to do anything with it other than re-attaching the parts that were broken off. Nice to see you putting some real effort into saving one of these. It looks like you'll end up with a very nice model of something not often seen in scale.

Exactly. We are PAYING for SCALE MODELS, that are being marketed as SCALE MODELS. Therefor, they should be SCALE MODELS. TOYS usually have deficiencies in scale and realism that are entirely excusable, as the target market, children, don't know or care (for the most part) if their TOYS are accurate. Adults, who are buying SCALE MODELS have the right to expect to get SCALE MODELS. If YOU choose to identify what YOU do with models as "playing with toys", that's fine. Personally, when I buy a box of stuff labeled "SCALE MODEL", I think it's fair to expect to get a SCALE MODEL. Every company employee in the chain from concept to production is being paid to produce SCALE MODELS. People getting paid should do the job they're getting paid for...making SCALE MODELS. Otherwise, label the damm box "A sorta accurate, more-or-less-kinda-scale rendition of a particular car, with artistic license taken due to some misguided perception of proportions, laziness or incompetence on the part of the people who developed and marketed it". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm always fascinated by how quick so many folks are to excuse half-arsed work. Why is that? Doing the work you're PAID to do, or ANY work for that matter, should be done to the best of your ability. Otherwise, just don't bother. Let someone who actually gives a damm do it.

The ABS commonly used in many 3D printing applications is in the "styrene" family...acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. It's probably just a matter of time until filament printing with the "polystyrene" we're all used to is common as well. The filament is already available. http://www.makergeeks.com/hiimpohfi1.html High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) Filament - 1.75mm Item# HIPSFilament175 Regular Price: $69.95 MakerGeeks Price: $39.95 1x:

Just for clarification, the article I referenced is NOT primarily about flexible materials. It's about printing with MULTIPLE MATERIALS IN A SINGLE PART.

Dave, I'm speechlessly blown away by your work above. I know what it takes to turn out results like this, and you are really at the top of the game. Beautiful, beautiful work, and a real inspiration to tighten up my own stuff.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing, etc.) in more than one material...per part... is a technology that is rapidly coming of age. Think of flexible radiator hoses with hard easily-glued, well-scaled ends, or maybe hard wheels with flexible tires formed in place, or printed-in integral whitewalls. Endless possibilities. Article from Desktop Engineering Mag here...http://www.deskeng.com/articles/aabntb.htm

My AM GS kits are labeled 1/24. Another problem is that the AM kit induction systems run DCO series SIDE-draft carbs, and the Chaparral and Cobras ran IDA series DOWN-draft. You can't just turn any old Weber on its side...the float bowls have to be oriented correctly.

Highs in the 70s here and insanely humid. It seems as though Atlanta only has two seasons now...cold and mold.

Seriously, your best bet here is to do a lot of image research online. Image search "Corvette IRS" for instance, and you'll get lots of shots of various versions of the unit, installed in various vehicles...many of them custom. There's tons of visual information out there, and the topic of swapping rear ends, though relatively simple to accomplish (even swapping to IRS in a solid-axle car), gets too complicated for an in-depth answer here because every swap will be different...just as in building real 1:1 hot rods and customs. A thorough understanding of the functions of the various suspension parts and linkage elements will let you see easily where mountings, brackets, etc. would have to go to make something that would work in the real world. To give general answers to a couple of your questions, any solid-axle and many IRS systems can be set up with coil-overs. On a solid axle, you simply remove the leaf-spring mounts (if so equipped) and replace them with coil-over mounts...just like real. Swaybars are chosen for a particular installation to effect handling in a specific way, by tuning what's known as "roll resistance" and just because you pull a rear end out of a Corvette to put under a pickup, you wouldn't necessarily use the same swaybar. "Halibrand rear" refers to a center section (gear carrier, or "chunk") that was originally developed as a replacement for the Ford Model A and early V8 rear axle centers. Its advantage was an easily-adjustable final drive ratio ("quick-change") obtained by using different "change gears" in the extended rear housing. It originally used the old Ford axle tubes and axles, but improvements have been developed over the years and follow on units like Frankland, Winters, Speedway and others have been developed for a wide variety of racing and street applications. You can put a Halibrand-style quick-change rear anywhere you put a solid axle, and you can use coils or leaf springs. Again, image search "quick change rear" for a starting point. Like I said, it becomes infinitely complicated, but if you understand the basics of function, it becomes entirely logical...as with most things in life.

Definitely a cool idea!! That should make a wicked little rod. Very different. Different is good.

Several carburetor induction systems show up on Chaparrals, so check your references. The cast alloy unit represented in the Corvette kit is probably the least likely to have been run in anger. Even a 6X1 setup early on... Images lifted from open internet sources, under the "fair use" definition in copyright law.

If I felt as old as I look, I'd probably want to pack it in. If I looked as young as I feel, I'd still be able to snag hot babes in bars (sweeping them off their feet with whispered sweet-nothings about manufacturing ). Oh, if I'd only known then what I know now...

Absolutely yes, IMHO.

The upper wheels pictured would be appropriate for a 356C or SC, which had disc brakes and the 911 bolt pattern. The lower wide-5 pattern is appropriate for stock Speedsters, which had the early VW bolt pattern. To further confuse matters, it is / was very common to fit later Porsche running gear to earlier cars, so a 1950s Speedster representing a period post-1964 (when the C was introduced) could very well have the smaller bolt-pattern wheels, or even the 911 Fuchs wheels.

Without doubt, these are two of the best looking traditional-influenced hot rods I've seen in a long time. Gorgeous stuff, and engineering that could work in the real world.

Yup. And not another peep from me on this. Not a peep.

Yup.

Always good for a chuckle when 2 folks get in a bidding war over an item that's perceived as "rare", and drive the price up stupidly...when a little research would have turned up an identical item on a BIN for significantly less coin. I say this now in retrospect, having idiotically overpaid on a couple of things early on myself, before I fully understood the system. Once the "OMG I gotta have this one NOW!!!" emotion kicks in, you're doomed.

I just decide what I'll pay max and put my bid in at the last 7 seconds. That makes it impossible for a live bidder to hit it, and if there's a sniper program bidding on the particular auction, he can have it. My method also avoids running the price up with pointless bidding days or hours before the auction closes. I've had my high bid beaten at the last second by an automated sniper on several occasions, only to see the item re-listed later. Shill sniper? Ya think? Needless to say, I don't bid on those again.

Now that IS an interesting piece if information. Hmmmmm.

For me, the most important influence on the hobby has to be the web. In my distant youth, I had to wait for tech and reference articles to come in the monthly subscriptions, and was limited in kits, parts, paint and material availability by what the LHS had on the shelves. I've only been building again since about 2006 or so, and the instant access to every kit imaginable, plus 1:1 reference material and modeling tech info from this excellent site and others has completely transformed my experience. The ability to interact with other modelers all over the world, also instantly, sharing information, techniques and interests has created much more of a community spirit, in my mind anyway. EDIT: Actually, Dave Ambrose said it all for me in post #73. I shoulda read it.

Very interesting technique, and I'm always interested in re-purposing other usually waste materials for modeling. Thanks for the reminder about the styrene yogurt containers too. I'd forgotten the nice molded curves some of them have. I've been using the polypropylene ones for mixing paints and epoxy for years. Looking forward to seeing some photos of your work here.

Great looking build and fine job going by your excellent reference material. Just an FYI...the Revell Miss Deal Firepower Hemi is very well done and has the right valve covers for your build too. The blower is correct as well I believe, but the fuel injection body and the blower drive are not.

Gonna be 61 here tomorrow, and 70 by Thursday. Of course, we've had snow and ice storms as late as March, so who knows?