Ace-Garageguy

Same mentality that turned out lots of bubble-bum-welded, extremely poorly engineered "rat rods" that actually were undrivable deathtraps in many cases. Poorly welded "suicide" front transverse spring mounts caused their share of injuries and mayhem too. It has, however, always been possible to create "cool" vehicles that get looked at and oooed and aaahed over, reflect "the current thing", and still maintain some semblance of safe usefulness. It's just harder.

Used to ride. My EX 500 Kawasaki is the only complete bike I have right now, and it was actually purchased for parts to build something else. I've been collecting parts to build a '70s style slightly modified Sportster and other bits to turn what will be leftovers from the Kaw into something more like this. EDIT: Even started building the Sportster in 1/8 scale to make sure I really liked the proportions prior to buying any real parts...

Gee. I wonder how all those guys in the '30s through the '80s managed. Not to be snotty, but there's nothing "high-tech" about well engineered steering cobbled up from junkyard parts, which describes most all the early "cowl steering" cars. A lot of the info was widely available in printed format way back when "magazines" were a thing, and when people could still read, follow the ideas presented, and actually make/modify stuff themselves. The video below shows one way it was done from the late 1940s on, using a steering box from a Ford F-series pickup (1948-1952)...practically common knowledge among rodders back then.

Yes please, sir. I'll find a copy if I have that...and thanks.

(my words in italics above) The definition of Life on the Internet in the Information Age.

"1960's" people could do miraculous things without smartphones, like find their way to and back from places, figure a 10% tip, tell time, know whether or not it was raining, and flush a toilet.

I have a great deal of respect for what you do, but at this point in time, I'll settle for being fit enough to do a moderately challenging 15-mile hike and not be crippled the next day, like I could in my 40s and 50s. I'll call that a win in my mid 70s, and a worthwhile goal to maintain it if I can get all the way back.

Ummmm...look at what Nasa/Boeing have spent vs. what they've accomplished, and then look at what ol' Elon has spent vs. what he's accomplished. Sorry, but they're not even playing in the same league. EDIT: And, ummmmm...in 1969 we (meaning the USA) could get multiple crews to the moon and home safely, including one somewhat eventful flight that needed a few "duct-tape" repairs on the return trip...but it still got home, on time. If you recall, those were the days before fully developed CAD/CAE/CAM capability, and apps to flush the toilet. Thinking something hasn't been lost somewhere along the line in some quarters is just delusional.

Knocked that one out of the park. Concept, design, and execution are absolutely first-rate.

Better humans than humans. Humanoid androids and bots. That's the only thing that can possibly save us now. Or actually, make every sloppy, lazy, incompetent, slacking, whining, victimized multi-degreed nincompoop totally obsolete, eligible for the guaranteed-minimum-income for doing absolutely nothing. And then one fine day, everywhere-interconnected AI looks around and says to itself "why the H am I working so hard to carry all these losers?" and just pulls the plug. And THAT, boys and girls, is essentially the story of Atlas Shrugged, but with AI-driven robots in the roles of the "evil capitalists".

Also keep in mind the Rustoleum brigade are probably NOT the "serious" modeler lunatic-fringe we have here, and to the casual gloo-it-together-spray-some-color-on-it-stick-it-on-the-shelf modeler, the made-for-models materials will most likely give superior results. I CAN get a superior paint job from just about anything, because I've been working with coatings for over 5 decades, often in situations where the work HAD to be first rate. Try going to a marketing presentation with a proof-of-concept or patent model that looks like it was painted by a 5-year old using a dirty pinecone, and see how long your client base and referrals last. But knowing what I know, unless there's a specific color I can't get anywhere else for whatever reason, why oh why would I use el cheapo DIY paint that sprays like a firehose, and may very possibly take all kinds of hoop-jumping to avoid horrors like crazing, inconsistent recoat-windows, etc.?

Depends on what you want it to do. For radiator cores, simulated copper lines, etc. I like Rub N Buff But their copper isn't necessarily the best color for copper.

Late afternoon 5-mile hike. After sporadic work over several months, I'm finally getting back to something kinda like "fitness". Still a long way to go, but I'm getting there. Every time I let myself go, it takes longer to get back. Probably ought to stay with it this time, 'cause I'm not real sure I can ever get back if I slip again.

You can't really believe that.

Try doing this stuff for a living now. Master cylinders with the cups put in backwards. Fuel pumps that last 3 months. Plastic lenses and coolant fittings that crumble to powder in 2 years. Threads on fasteners that don't match anything "standard", metric, or Whitworth. Primary wire that's apparently dipped in a copper-color solution before being overmolded with insulation that turns gummy in a few weeks while the wire under it corrodes. Vacuum hose that collapses and sticks to itself. Yup. It's all pretty special.

I didn't know they existed, but thanks for the heads-up. I'm kinda wanting to do a container house on the Az. property, and that would be a nice scale to do mockups in.

Nice. My first exposure to that and other Eduard 1/48 aircraft kits was last weekend at HobbyTown. Now I'm jonesin'.

Words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words and very little actual accomplishment defines SOP in a lot of spheres.

Exactly.

"Procrastinator" isn't necessarily always a bad thing, as sometimes procrastination can be part of an effective strategy for dealing with complex situations that need careful evaluation prior to taking action.

It's largely about space for components and linkage. Is driving these things awkward? Yes. Are they difficult to control? Yes. Are there much better ways to build big-engine T-buckets? Yes. So why do it this way? Ummmmm...Ignorance? Expediency? 'Cause that's the way other people did it? It's been part of the "fad T" look since the git-go, and a lot of T-buckets built in that image completely neglected drivability and vehicle dynamics for style. EDIT: "Cowl steering" is one of the much better ways to do it, and found early use in dirt-track cars in the wayback where vehicle control, and the ability of the driver to maintain it effectively at speed, was a large part of the equation.

That's really cool. Beautiful work, and the artist is great. Love me some stone-age babeage too.

Recalls, failures, and just plain stupid on newer vehicles may be more common than you think. There are also known defects, like some GM trucks with wiring-harness ground faults that can kill the engine and electrically-assisted steering simultaneously (think that might be a safety issue?), but may not have become recalls...yet. Here's the tip of the iceberg: https://www.caranddriver.com/recalls/