Ace-Garageguy

Great looking flares! All your mods are a huge improvement over what Revell put out. Fine work.

in my opinion, the Revell Parts Pack engines are some of the best pieces in the universe. A lot of folks say they're "fiddly", but if you take your time and fit everything straight and square, you just can NOT get a better engine. Details are correct and crisp, and most of them have speed-parts for multiple build-options. The chrome comes off easy with Easy-Off oven cleaner. One minor problem...some of the re-issued packs have excessive sink-marks. So far I've been able to correct them with a little putty, but when it happens on a finned valve cover (for instance) you'll have to raid the parts stash for replacements. Once again, these make BEAUTIFUL engines. The AMT engine packs are even better. The Pontiac is basically the same engine that's in the Challenger kit...

Lotsa cars seem to have smiling faces . With this one, there's no doubt. I'm another one who's never seen this before. Nice save.

Works for me too... Real life has deadlines and completion schedules; IMHO, a hobby can do without them.

White glue makes a good looking 'standing liquid'. Dries clear and shiny, and a little food coloring will change its color to look like oil or antifreeze. I used to use it for model RR work in the dim recesses of time...before everything was pre-packaged. The drawback to using it is that it shrinks as it dries and you may have to use several applications to get the depth you want. A catalyzed clear product, like 5-min. epoxy, won't shrink.

Must have been a tricky one. If you mean my statement "The pinned tutorials offered a wealth of information without having to "waste a lot of time looking at a bunch irrelevant mumbo jumbo", which quoted part of your response in post 25: "...so are asking questions BEFORE you waste a lot of time looking at a bunch irrelevant mumbo jumbo", i was assuming by the phrase "looking at a bunch irrelevant mumbo jumbo" you were referring the the results of a site:modelcarsmag.com (subject) search, which admittedly doesn't ALWAYS return 100% useful and relevant results. The "pinned tutorials" on the other hand, usually DID contain relevant and useful information. Subtle difference. Makes perfect sense to me.

You have quite an interesting problem there, as adhesives have a hard time bonding well to both the tire material and the aluminum. To get a clean "blend" you'll need something that adheres to BOTH materials well so you can get a good feather-edge after sanding. Interesting problem. I'll be interested in the responses to this one.

First, I never think of "shelved" builds as "unfinished". Just "in-progress-longer-than-others", or delayed. The reasons: 1) I get in over my head, skill-wise, and have to wait for my ability to catch up to my vision. 2) i take the time to work out an experimental technique before committing to and bodging a nice kit. 3) I decide my original vision was flawed, and I decide to re-think a large part of the project 4) I can't find enough reference material to do a replica of a specific vehicle. 5) I have to source oddball parts. 6) Finishing a model with a LOT of detail CAN become tedious. Sometimes it's more fun to start fresh on something creative. This IS supposed to be fun, right?

It's really fascinating to me to watch something like this go away from the topic, and turn personal. The STUPID, LAZY thing is not ASKING QUESTIONS. The STUPID, LAZY thing is asking questions that have BEEN ANSWERED REPEATEDLY OVER AND OVER AND OVER. The pinned tutorials offered a wealth of information without having to "waste a lot of time looking at a bunch irrelevant mumbo jumbo". I LIKED and USED the pinned tutorials, and would often read through them, a few posts at a time, when I had a spare moment. I learned a lot.

Obviously because I'm a lazy hypocrite, Roger. That's your point, right? I wasn't aware the question had been answered repeatedly and exhaustively on THIS forum, as your question implies. Sooooo sorry. Oh wait...asking a specific question about a specific part inside a specific kit box is a little different, in my tiny little mind anyway, than asking for the 2-thousandth time "how do I strip paint?". See the difference?

Bill, you look great. I imagine your energy level is way up as well. Mine always is when I shed some excess poundage. My own weight tends to creep up if I don't watch it because I just love food, and always tend to eat too much of something if I like it. I've found an amazingly simple and effective weight-control secret. Eat a little less, and get a little more exercise. It works every single time.

That sounds like exactly the thing to do. Sorry to hear about your mishap, but it's happened to all of us...many many times. It's sometimes frustrating, but it also presents some opportunities for problem-solving and skill-building. If you have some good knives, files, and a little sandpaper, it shouldn't be too hard to make an excellent representation of the missing bit from scrap plastic sprue or some unused part. Rising to challenges like this make us better modelers, and you'll have a feeling of happy accomplishment when you look at something and think "I made that little part myself!"

Is independence a good thing? Are self-reliance, critical thinking and problem-solving worthwhile skills to try to foster? Encouraging modelers to do their own research before asking questions that have already been answered here repeatedly and in depth also encourages self-reliance, critical thinking and independent thought. There is. Go to Google in a separate browser window, type in site:modelcarsmag.com, a space, and the the specific subject you're looking for.

I believe it represents a 332 or 352, but if so it's an FE and not a Y-block. The port spacing on the model engine is wrong for a Y IIRC, which has exhaust ports spaced like a smallblock Chevy. FE exhaust ports are evenly spaced. Although the FE-engines have a Y (deep skirt) style block, they are not part of the commonly accepted Y-block family. Another Y-block identifier is a rear-mounted distributor. FE engines have the distributor in the front.

Jeff Bezos thinks he's gonna drop packages at your door with autonomous flying vehicles. No, that's not a miniature spy plane, it's just your neighbor's mail Last month, Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced that the company is exploring-and close to launching-small package delivery via drone technology. Amazon says it will be able to deliver 5-lb packages to your doorstep (or back yard, roof top) within a half-hour, all courtesy of an autonomous flying vehicle, or drone. Bezos says this technology could be available as soon as 2015. In our first edition of Editors on Topic, Design World's editorial staff discusses the viability of this technology. Will this become a new target for high-tech thieves? Will they become targets for sportsmen and children with slingshots? Will the drones have lasers to shoot back at these villains? Find out what the editors think. http://videos.designworldonline.com/video/Editors-On-Topic-Amazon-Prime-A

Ummm Dale...the car manufacturers DO make crash (replacement) parts, but these days they RARELY get used on vehicles over 1 or 2 years old. The aftermarket, usually inferior-fitting parts, are MANDATORY...REQUIRED by MOST insurance companies on repairs to less-than-new vehicles as a cost-saving measure (or junkyard "LKQ" parts on even older vehicles). It's NOT that the car builders don't want to be in the repair parts market, but that the insurance companies have driven them out of it. And ummm... I've been in the 1:1 body-repair business and I'm not just giving an uninformed opinion.

Yup, pretty cool.

Great project you have going there. Maybe something like this for a finish? http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/?showtopic=81398

Much more fun to start a computer company called "Orange". As so much energy is already expended comparing apples and oranges anyway, it seems only natural to try to wring a buck or two out of it.

"This is a must for real cars so when they go over pot holes and such it does not fall off in sheets." :lol: :lol: Man, glad to know that. I've been painting high-end 1:1 cars since the early '70s, and I never heard that before. Dang...who woulda thunk it??

You CAN sand a metallic lacquer to get rid of orange peel and dust / trash, but most times you'll HAVE TO shoot one more coat of color to even out the flake just before you clear.

I think you've about got as close as you're gonna get. That trans looks very Ford-O-Matic too...

Guess I'll be joinin' you fellas workin' out in the cold shortly. Moving from a house with a big 2-car garage and a nice, toasty-warm drive-in basement into a little place with an open carport and a small unheated shop about big enough for a Lotus 7. Soon as I'm settled I've gotta do a head-gasket on a friend's PT Cruiser, pull the engine out of the 911 to fix a pulled head stud, finish the engine rebuild on the Spyder, and do timing-belt, water pump and seals on an old MR-2 (plus troubleshoot the electrics to see why she won't start after sitting for 3 years). Brrrrr. And wet if the recent weather is anything to go by.

Answering questions sometimes seems pretty useless too. Often the asking party doesn't actually bother to read and comprehend the answer, and continually asks questions that have ALREADY been covered fully in the very same thread. Sigh.