Ace-Garageguy

"Valuable" is something most models built from kits will never be.

I agree. But the little fella they started off quoting really put me off. And the tendency for most people to live a TLDR existence should always be considered by any journalist. Get to the point early. EDIT: Far as the model train thing goes, there's been a lot of hand-wringing about the hobby being "doomed" for a while, and though it's changed considerably (the shrinking availability of kits, and an emphasis on pretty spendy RTR stuff, for one thing), with high cost and an ageing-out group of enthusiasts often cited as reasons, there seems to be a growing interest in buying cheap old broken RR models and repairing/upgrading them...something I started doing long before it was "a thing". I'm also kinda glad for the wide decline in interest in RR kit building, as it's allowed me to stock up on a lot of really cool (to me) vintage kits that had been getting into the stupid-money territory there for a while.

Lotsa things aren't understood by "outsiders". I used to entertain a lot, cook dinner for groups of people when I lived in a nice big house, and one lovely woman I was really interested in (I got over it) asked me "why do you have so many cars?". She'd never heard of people who had multiple vintage vehicles they loved to work on, restored, drove on different days, etc. She thought it was "weird". Cars to her were simply appliances, and nobody would be crazy enough to have 10 different kinds of refrigerators, would they? Another one saw bookcases all over the house and asked "what do you do with so many books?" Ummmm...read them? Refer to them for reference? Enjoy looking at the photographs and art? But of course having 50 pairs of shoes and a closet full of unwearable "designer" clothes or thousands of dollars worth of Beanie Babies or Hummel figurines, nobody bats an eyelash. I pretty much don't give a rat's backside what anyone thinks of anything I do, but it chaps my backside when some condescending little ignorant dwerble refers to someone's hobby as "rather sweet now that he is in his 70s". And nobody but my absolute closest longtime friends EVER saw the model shop in those days. I'm sure the average walking talking mediocrity would have thought I was certifiable if they had...or did today. Must be like everyone else, must be like everyone else, must be like everyone else, must be...

Beautiful beautiful beautiful. Just the job on the carbon alone is exceptional, but the whole thing taken together, with working features that actually work...and fit...is pretty d------ impressive.

I wonder how he's able to eat with that. Pretty good exercise in "adapt, improvise, and overcome" 'I'd say.

Humidity in the upper range encourages mold and mildew.

I have absolutely no idea.

Ummmmm...the immersed-in-hot-oil toothed timing and oil-pump drive belts have been a disaster waiting to happen from the git-go. Sure, they've been used for a while, but more and more problems are coming up, with belt replacement intervals needing to be more frequent. EDIT: And because these belts are INTERNAL, the cost to disassemble and reassemble enough of the engine to perform the required replacement is MUCH HIGHER than the cost to replace dry toothed belts...which still ain't cheap, and ignoring recommended replacement puts a LOT of otherwise nice vehicles in the junkyards. Polymers tend to absorb hot oil, swell, and ultimately soften/dissolve and fail. But it's not just crazy-old-Mr. Negative know-it-all-me who kinda notices the truth. EDIT: A wet timing CHAIN is usually good for 200-300,000 miles with zero maintenance other than normal oil changes. And it's not just Ford experiencing wet-belt issues:

Does it need to be sandable? If not, then possibly this: https://www.amazon.com/SEM-Vinyl-Paint-Primer-Aerosol/dp/B003HF0Q68 (note that it's often recommended to pre-clean with this: https://www.amazon.com/SEM-38353-Plastic-Prep-oz/dp/B00B3HXWFO ) There are various automotive-grade primers for flexible parts, some sandable, but it's really kinda necessary to know exactly what kind of plastic you're dealing with. In this case, it might be wise to research other people who have built the thing, if you haven't already. EDIT: SEM also makes a line of interior dye/refinish products that often work very well shot directly on soft vinyl parts. For example, I've used their off-white to make white model-T tires from black ones, and it doesn't flake off when you bend them.

Days of stumbling and bumbling and incoherence and word-salad served up regularly make for great entertainment, and that's only when I'm doing well.

I feed the strays/ferals here, and occasionally take one in if it's tame. My white cat Spooky lived with me for 14 years after somebody abandoned her in my old neighborhood. One can of tuna, she figured out she'd found a home. My current indoor cat was abandoned as a kitten 5 years ago. Another wild kitten whose mother was run over just as it was being weaned lives outside in a big cage so the raccoons won't get it, and I'll turn it in to the Humane Society for sterilization/adoption shortly. Another feral kitten whose mother was also run over has adopted me (his sister WAS eaten by raccoons), and is full grown now. He lives "wild", and is as tame as any housecat but avoids other humans. I'm on the fence about letting him inside, as I don't know how two adult unfixed males will get along. Only one way to find out, I guess... In general, our local outdoor cats have a hard life, and usually only live 2 or 3 years before getting squashed in the street, shot, poisoned, or eaten by coyotes. I had one of the sweetest ones...but not quite tame enough to bring inside yet...drag itself back here to die after some nice neighbor shot an arrow through its neck. So anybody who doesn't "approve" can go to h...armonica. EDIT: The ferals here have done an A1UltraPlus job of controlling the destructive rodents (I live on a large wooded lot in a semi-rural area) that used to get in the house, so we have a mutually beneficial relationship. There is also a genuinely concerned woman who live-traps ferals around town, has them neutered and rabies-vaxxed at her own expense, and releases them back into the social groups where she caught them.

...and rabbit stew.

It's a safety issue too, so the affected vehicles should be parked. In the meantime, you still have to make your payments, keep insurance, and arrange alternative transportation. This is idiocracy in action, pure and simple.

Corny jokes about the word "corny" aren't popping into my mind.

And I bet beautiful women line up for rides in it, too.

Not today, but yesterday I stopped by the local HobbyTown to see how the styrene and basswood stocks were, pick up a few things, and snag a few old free railroad (model and real) magazines. One of the fellas who's worked there for as long as I can remember, and is an avid modeler himself, took me aside to show me some new stock, some new product lines, and we discussed some crossover uses of a few things. Than we started talking about bare-metal finishes, and he showed me a few more things, shared some knowledge only accomplished aircraft modelers are likely to be aware of, and was generally one of the most helpful and knowledgeable people I've come across anywhere in a very long time. Just like the old days of real hobby shops, and I don't care who says techieworld is better...there's absolutely no substitute for personal interaction with somebody who cares about the job he's doing and enjoys sharing his knowledge and expertise...even if he is trying to sell you something. I walked out of the store with WAY more than I went in for.

Sure looks like it. Knew I'd seen one, but couldn't place it. Thanks Steve. Apparently Bowser either did or is producing an HO scale "Hammerhead" RS3 model (though last I heard Bowser was out of business). EDIT: But they appear to be back...YIPPEE!!! Aha. It's in the Walthers catalog. But the one I bought came from a collection I understand is too old for it to be a factory job (though I may misunderstand, or may have been misinformed). It was listed simply as a "complete non-running AHM road diesel", and I haven't yet found a reference to AHM having made one. I need to see if I can find some history, as rather a lot of current production rolling stock is based on very old tooling. Curiouser and curiouser... Thanks again. EDIT 2: I took the body shell off the frame, and it's definitely a scratchbash on an AHM drive, but one of the nicest pieces of this kind of work I've ever seen. Separate wire grabs on the high-hood end, see-through fan grating with a free-spinning fan, invisible seams on the body shell, and a practically perfect, texture-free paint job...plus excellent light weathering. Whoever built it was GOOD. EDIT 3: Looks like the builder never finished what he'd started. The low hood end still has the molded-on grabs like a stock AHM RS, the end railings are still the thickly-molded stock AHM parts, and it's missing the side railings entirely...but flat wire stanchions are available and the handrails can be formed from round wire. All of those things are well within my ability to complete, but now I have to decide if I want to leave it where the builder stopped, or finish it to the level he'd partially already attained. EDIT 4: Turns out my locomotive is a replica of Lehigh Valley #211 posted above by Steve. She was originally delivered to the Pennsy in 1953 as #8445, was renumbered 5569 (which my model carries), was transferred to Penn Central in the '68 merger, then traded to Lehigh Valley and repainted/renumbered as 211 in 1970. She was saved several times from the scrapper, and still exists. Here's her story: https://www.rgvrrm.org/about/railroad/lv211/ EDIT 5: Here's a similar conversion, but the guy who did mine thought it out a little better. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/69887-western-maryland-hammerhead-alco-rs3s/ EDIT 6: Interestingly, Pennsy 5569 is one of the factory versions from Bowser. Thanks again to Steve for pointing me in the right direction.

"Still waters run deep" means that the quiet guy in the corner who never laughs or talks may be plotting to...something not nice...or might actually be thinking instead of running his yap constantly.

I've got a whole 12-pack full of empties across the street, and somebody hit the box overnight, so now the "spill" is spreading. And the habit here now is whenever the drive-byers see trash on the road, they throw out MORE to keep it company, so there's a trash-bag full of trash now. I'm deciding whether or not to clean it up, but one thing I'm 100% sure of: NOBODY ELSE WILL. Funny thing is that this county was CLEAN when I moved here, and lots of the inhabitants were "rednecks". Now, with our rapidly evolving demographics, it's becoming a pigsty.

Stool with 3 legs don't rock on uneven floor, but stool with 4 legs do, an I don't unnerstan why?

For those of you bemoaning the passing of printed car enthusiast mags, I have good news (though it's not new). I picked up my first copy of Modern Rodding yesterday at Barnes and Noble because somebody gave me a gift card. First impression: I like it, and after a quick shuffle-through, it seems to be more to my taste than some of the titles we've lost, with some focus on hands-on car building. If the next couple of issues don't disappoint, I'll be subscribing. https://nitroactive.net/collections/modern-rodding-magazine I also brought home the current copy of Classic Motorsports (which I used to read fairly regularly), primarily because it has an article about repairing stripped head-stud holes in old 911 engine cases, a piece of work my own car needs. It's just as good as it ever was, with lotsa stuff on what I'm interested in at that end of the car spectrum. I'll most likely subscribe to this one too. https://classicmotorsports.com/ Just thought some of you might like to know.

Sad to say, but if you believe everything you read, apparently almost everything "tastes like chicken", including rattlesnake and alligator.

Rude people make me glad I'm not them.

Clean indeed.

Sat. 8-11-24, 9:46 AM EDT Hanging when changing topics, looking at notifications, etc. EDIT: And now at 9:53 it seems to have pretty much cleared up.