Ace-Garageguy

Good looking jacket. I have a brown one in a similar cut, pretty weathered since I got it at Wilson's in 1995. I need to give it some TLC.

Modeling of any subject presents a tremendous opportunity to learn. As a callow youth, my interest in building models and natural curiosity about the workings of the world around me led to my reading as much about cars and ships and trains and planes as I could find time for. Eventually, my basic understanding of things mechanical led to my being able to work on my own vehicles, an education in mechanical engineering (with a side of electrical), and a multi-faceted career during which I became intimately familiar with everything concerning a car. There are many entry-level publications that look like (though I've never read any of these) they'd go a long way towards explaining vehicle systems, parts, and function...without which you really can't build technically accurate (or even reasonably correct) models. Once you understand the function of all the parts, you'll be more likely to understand and be able to apply what you're seeing in internet images of whatever you want to model.

My vote would be for non-clear-coated lacquer, wet-sanded to remove any orange peel, and polished, but not to a mirror finish. Try to avoid the dipped-in-syrup look that's popular even with 1:1 restorers.

Looks like he was quite the customizer. The fat-fendered one definitely has a lot of Pyro/Lindberg Auburn bits, but I don't know what the rest of it is. Source kit, reissued many times: The little red coupe is definitely absolutely positively based on the ancient multi-piece-body Revell Austin Healey, with an extended Cobra-esque nose. I'm looking at a frame here on my bench right now, and it's identical with your photo. This is the source kit, also reissued several times:

Another Hasegawa Lancia Stratos, the '77 Monte winner, with the big rear flares. Only bummer about these gorgeous kits is they're engine-free curbsides...though it's possible to upgrade them and open up all the panels. Randy at Model Builders Warehouse had a gorgeous Lancia rally car engine for a while, but I don't remember what particular Lancia...

PM'd.

Great looking old Jug. If I had the money to buy a warbird, a P-47 bubbletop would be it...but I could suffer through having a razorback, somehow... Anyway, nice work.

I thought about it, but figured what happened is exactly what you describe above (manifold from a kit with the engine mounted nose-up), and I didn't see any point in bringing it up and detracting from the point you were making...but since you mention it... The ideal solution would be to raise the front of the engine, and probably lower the rear. You may be interested to know that I've seen exactly the same thing in real life. Carbs with floats often don't like to idle unless the bowls are level. A fella I worked for who really should have known better used a 3-pot manifold on a flathead (a manifold meant for installation in a boat, of all things) that ended up with the same nose-down slant once the car was on the ground with its dropped axle and pronounced rubber rake. Though he was an exceptional car builder in many ways, he was a little light on the physics and engineering end of things. Anyway, the car just wouldn't idle no matter how much fiddling he did with the carbs, timing, etc. He chalked the problem up to "too much cam", an opinion not supported by the valve-event timing and lift specs on it. I pointed out the forward slope of the manifold was likely the cause, allowing an intermittently rich mixture (similar effect as having the carb floats adjusted too high), and he poo-pooed my reasoning. After prolonged "discussion", I eventually got permission to remove the manifold and mill it so the carbs were level at rest. Voila. No more idle problem. And it looked right.

The Howard head (built by Howard Johansen) is an improvement on a Horning/Fisher aluminum head, having 45 degree intake ports. The AMT '51 Chevy Bel Air hardtop (31923 is the one I'm looking at) has a decent representation of a Horning/Fisher head, and by adjusting the port angles, you can come up with a reasonable representation of a Howard head (I'd suggest researching the heads and the car you want to model thoroughly first). The 292 Jimmy, though very similar visually, is a little larger than the Chevy stovebolt inline sixes...but nobody but the most pedantic rivet counter will notice the difference in 1/25 scale. HOWARD HEAD REF. PIX: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-can-you-guys-tell-me-about-howard-heads-for-chevy-gmc-straight-six.1082568/ HORNING/FISHER head pix, with some good links:

Really, really nice.

Most excellent. Thanks.

Ferrari 275P, race #23: still ticking Where we started, a sad little gloobomb: And recently: Custom outside laced front wheels, mold parting lines removed and smoothed, panel lines re-scribed, first coat of Duplicolor sandable red primer, non-salvageable windshield is now first mold for a vac-formed part, lots more.

My A-V8 is still on the bench, but I had to borrow the front axle back to try to finish up my wedge-channeled '32 for the show here at month's end.

One of these, thinking the taillight lenses would be correct for my 275P Ferrari. Almost, but not quite, having the later rectangular reflectors. (I have the Revell kit with the flares too, and liked this Hasagawa version so much I just ordered their flared version as well)

Honestly, I've been an admirer of many of Ghia's Chrysler showcars since I was a little kid. One of this series of Ghia designs was featured in a children's book I vividly remember.

"Subtle changes make a noticeable impact" on just about any restyling job or hot-rod build. There aren't many who get it right, and not many who get it, period. Setting the grille rearward as you've done is the single biggest improvement that can be made to this kit.

Thanks for your interest, and for taking the time to comment.

Thanks for your interest and comments, gennelmen.

Looking good, nice work, much patience, impressive progress...but you've uncovered and already mentioned everything I don't really enjoy about the older FPP kits. The subject matter is superb, his proportions, scaling, and lines are usually excellent (his 550 Spyder is the only one out there that's just about spot-on)...but some of the molded-all-together parts and pinholes can be exasperating. Lots to love about this build, and lots to learn from it.

Bodywork's moving along nicely. Holes for the fuel fillers and headlights are getting opened up to allow use of nicer parts than Monogram speced for its slotcar. The sugar-scoops of this body were heavily damaged with excess gloo, so opening the backs of 'em also eases cleanup of the damage with round files. I think it's pretty obvious a different headlight with a dished reflector and a close-to-correct clear Marchal or Cibie lens should be a big improvement. Lotsa work to correct the mold-separation lines in this body, as well as the resultant too-square transition between vertical and horizontal surfaces. And of course, as you hack down the square-shoulders, the panel lines disappear, requiring very careful rescribing. But it's worth whatever effort it takes, in my opinion.

As we get closer, final clearances get tightened up. Floor (and tunnel, of course) had to be reworked a little more than originally planned to clear the shifter linkage. Firewall step needs a little more too, so it's time to look at everything around the engine. I drilled the front of the timing cover and added a rod to the back of the lower pulley so I could mock up where the pulley face would end up relative to the crossmember. Turns out the engine needed a little additional setback too, so the clearance hole at the driver's footbox got hogged out more (it will be closed with plastic sheet stock). The black radiator and its support to its right are from the ancient Monogram 1/25 kit, and might be used. The white rectangular part is the frame front from the Gunze curbside, which won't go back in. There are variations of these cars as-built, and this model represents a car that's been hit hard and repaired, so representing functionality correctly is more important to me than rivet-counting accuracy to any prototype. One thing I noticed about the Gunze kit...and other 250 GTO kits, oddly...is that the floors don't always end up in the right place, spoiling the fit of the body to the frame, and ruining the stance. While I was working on the firewall, I shaved about 3/64" from the bottom of it where it contacts the frame molding. This gets the rockers parallel to the frame all the way along, which they weren't as-molded. There is just no substitute for measuring and test-fitting. Since we're getting rid of the under-car exhausts, we don't need the big ol' klugey rings it mounts to. They're easily shaved...carefully...with an X-Acto chisel-tip blade, and any errant divots get fixed with a couple dabs of Tamiya white putty. The 4.175" note refers to how far it's s'posed to be to the very front of the frame where it used to contact the body shell. Keeping measurements like this handy helps to keep the wheels centered in the wheel-arches. Photo below shows the first side-pipe assembly in place, the start of the modded big-block Cobra headers, and the junkyard Ford 9" diffs I'll be choosing from. Up close and personal on the side-pipe assembly, pinned to the rocker, and feeding through a new hole in the fender. I like it.

Finally moving again... The Pontiac V8 engine has similar exhaust port spacing to several other engines, but the angle the ports exit the heads is very different. Hence no kit headers come close. After a fair bit o' head scratching, I figgered I could rework some 427 Cobra headers to work, though there's a lot of cut and paste involved. Still, it's easier than completely scratching a set. Also, because of the lowered stance I'm going for, the under-car exhausts have to go. Ray Kurn (Cobraman) to the rescue with a set of Cobra side-pipes that otter look pretty good. I have a thing for poseable front wheels, believing they add more realism to a model than most other mods. This kit is essentially a curbside, with a straight plastic rod for a front axle. To get some steering action, it's necessary to make up a set of upper control arms that can support spindles. They need to be square and symmetrical. Measuring the existing lower arms gave me a baseline, but I realized that the new front crossmember I'd made wouldn't let me use arms that long ...without introducing excessive positive camber. The slop on top of the frame tubes is putty to finish up the fill job on the previously somewhat hollow sections. Curbside kit, remember? Setting up a measuring jig let me get an accurate overall dimension for upper arms that would fit the available crossmember mounting location (black dot).

This is my actual 1/8 Pocher '32 Rolls gloobomb in all its grotty glory. I posted having received it earlier, but hadn't done a photo dump to my computer yet. It's about 98% complete, but will need a full rebuild...which is OK, 'cause it's getting a custom body anyway.

The wheel parts need to be square and concentric with the lathe jaws in order to get good fitting roundness. Here I'm making a plastic tubular spindle to turn the rim off of the Monogram kit wheel, using a 1/16 steel axle to center the wheel relative to the chuck. After the tube glue joint was hard, the spindle was chucked up in the lathe, and an X-Acto #11 blade in a standard handle was used as a cutoff tool. 2 parts, ready for assembly. Assembled on the right, what we started with on the left. Wire-cored part above is the new hood surround for a 250 GTO, like's on the real chassis under the body skin. All pretty painted with buffing metalizer, buffed, and blackwashed. Not as nice as PE or hand-laced or printed wires, but definitely gives the correct initial impression of an outside-laced front wheel (on right). And cheap. Compare the front wheel to the rear wheel, on left, done previously. Mocked up on one of the donor gloobombs. I think it's a big improvement far as the initial look of the car goes, and I like it.

Basically the same stuff Dusty uses... I masked the grey center section of the quickchange rear end below. Apply with a fine brush (under magnification if necessary), let it dry, shoot your paint, peel the mask off. I'm pretty sure this stuff is polyvinyl-alcohol based, and it will also wash off with water if you can't get a clean peel.