Ace-Garageguy

Please sir, feel free to add as much additional info as you'd like. Every contribution to any how-to thread is valuable. And no, I don't think I ever did any follow ups. I was intending to show a built-up styrene I-beam axle, and a brass "tubular" axle made from rod for ease of bending without kinks, but I never got back to it. Not finishing things is probably my worst character flaw.

Did you do the alternator, distributor, and fan conversions too?

Cue the unruly crowd to queue up if they want their cue balls autographed by Minnesota Fats.

Hope you feel better soon. I had something nasty a few weeks back, and it's no fun.

Mighty tasty...but how do you drill a hole with one??

"Captain" was pronounced more like "kyepton" by Mr. Chekov.

"Ca." with a small "c" means "circa".

Changes are a guaranteed part of life, so it's best to go with the flow as far as the ones you can live with, and just learn to ignore the rest.

Yes, very pretty, and as Gramps 46 said, inspirational. I have this one and a coupla Smer kits in line, and it's great to see how good this kit can look without going crazy.

Major cool score. '36 was the last of the Ford phaetons, and I've never seen a model of one before.

Oh baby...one of the few real bikes I still lust after...but a big-scale model would sure be fine. Nice score.

"Away team to beam up, Mr. Worf; there's still no intelligent life here."

...and probably ruined the deer's day. Always prudent to carry a chainsaw where deer, elk, or beef cows roam, so as to remove the still-edible bits for proper recycling.

Back in 2011, I bought a set of wire-gauge bits in a Huot-labeled index, as below. I do NOT know if the set shown/advertised is the same as what I've got, as offshore manufacturers/importers/resellers are not shy about lying. EDIT: They're apparently USA made. https://www.amazon.com/Viking-Drill-Tool-43460-Bright/dp/B001EHGI1I I only use them for drilling styrene, soft aluminum, and occasionally brass and diecast pot metal. So far I have only broken two. They are hard enough to stay sharp for a reasonable period, and flexible enough to resist breaking if used in a pin-vise. The two I broke were 100% from operator error, and my local HobbyTown usually has "Walthers" branded packs of two bits for replacements, which have been of comparable quality so far. I also have a couple cheaper sets labeled "Forney" that seem to be of perfectly acceptable quality as far as plastic modeling work goes, and come in a nice plastic index. I found them at well-stocked True Value hardware stores. https://www.amazon.com/Forney-60239-Mini-Drill-20-Piece/dp/B000GAV9SG

Just another thought...if I wasn't already conversant with CAD, I'd probably not be so "accepting" of 3D-printing model stuff. I am, after all, an old fossil who's supposed to be set in my ways and totally resistant to any change whatsoever beyond the way things were 50 years ago (which I've heard frequently from "modelers" whose work I've yet to see a single example of). But there are subjects that will in all probability never be kitted or offered in diecast, or for that matter, probably not (yet?) available as printable files. So what do you do if you want to model something way outside the main stream, and aren't likely to live forever while you whittle it? Embrace the new tech. It's not that hard if you have a technically-oriented brain (in physical reality) and aren't afraid of using a computer. I don't have a printer yet, because at this point it'd only be something else to pack and move. You can be sure though, just as soon as I'm out of here and dug-in elsewhere, a printer will be among my first purchases. .

Watch your watch, 'cause even stopped, it's still pretty amazingly right twice every day.

Man...that's the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. I envy you, really. Far as I know, I've never even been in the same state as one of the Chrysler-Ghias, so...wow.

I was around when many of the old-school model railroad craftsmen railed against the introduction of injection-molded plastic kits, and even scratch-building from styrene stock. If your buildings and rolling stock weren't made from wood and cardstock, and your locomotives weren't cast or machined or fabricated from metal, you weren't doing it right. Being a kid at the time, and lacking any kind of scratch-building or "serious" modeling skills, I would have been excluded from scale model railroading had it not been for the availability of injection-molded stuff for reasonable money. HOWEVER...I envied the geezers who could build something from nothing, and began a lifelong quest to develop the requisite skills, collect the tools, etc...but I'm STILL grateful that good quality plastic is available, 'cause I'll never have the time to scratch-build everything I'd like to have, or even to build it all from "craftsman kits". Same kinda goes for 3D printing. One car I really REALLY want in scale is this Chrysler-Ghia showcar. It was on the cover of one of my first little-kid car books, and I've never forgotten it. I'll also never take the time to carve one from a block of wood, but 3D printing makes it relatively easily obtainable.

Yup, that's a problem, especially when even some of the more expensive bits that it would be reasonable to assume were made of decent stuff and had the right tip profiles and flutes turn out to be soft garbage that isn't made to any kind of spec. The manufacturer/importer/reseller will price them the same as the good stuff, and unless you test them immediately on receipt, you won't know until it's too late to send 'em back. I've bought some of the cheaper wire-gauge drills as an experiment on occasion, and some of them won't even start a hole in styrene. Then there are suppliers like Harbor Freight. Guy I work with bought a set of "TiN coated" bits at HF, tried them, and they were great. Cut clean, stayed sharp. I figgered "hokay...I'll save me some money on a set of decent bits, hot dang". Bought the exact same part number, got 'em home, and they might as well have been made of gold-painted lead. Anybody who actually MAKES things in today's world is up against an entirely different set of possible problems than we had just a few decades back.

Season changes make life more interesting, 'cause it would be boring to be warm and dry all the time.

There's no shortage of kit transmissions that bear little or no resemblance to what they ought to be.

Beatles won't eat your begonias.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, come to order please!

Beautiful work, all of 'em.

Very clean craftsmanship, certainly looks the part. Fine work.