Ace-Garageguy

Asking for help occasionally is fine, and shows you're aware of what you don't know, or what you're physically incapable of doing; asking for help constantly probably means you're just lazy.

Purty...

That's the way I look at it. Plenty to do well into the future, no time for this "dying" stuff.

A lot of times I've thought I was done, but then I'll see a build here that triggers an interest in something I hadn't really wanted previously. Off down the internet rabbit hole, I find something else really really cool, then come across a real car build (or something historic) that triggers yet another new interest, research, buy more, see something, rinse, repeat...endlessly. For instance: a book on the McLaren sports racing cars I hadn't opened in the two years since I got it (finally read it over this Christmas) made me want to do a series of as many of the McLaren sports racers in 1/25 or 1/24 as I could find. So... Earlier, a build here of the Lola Mk6 GT precursor to the GT40 got me going on doing both roadgoing and racing versions of the Lola, and more research turned up several versions of the GT40 I was previously unaware of, so I had to get more GT40 kits, and the Porsche 917 series I'd started led to the 910 and 908 and 906 (I already had a bunch of 904s)...etc. But really, I'm just nuts.

I'm thinking very careful pre-fitting of bumpers or whatever you want to use this stuff on (make sure wheels push easily into tires, etc.), then spray 'em, let 'em dry a couple days, and assemble with gloves on to prevent fingerprinting...something like the light cotton ones that come with higher-end diecasts, or possibly latex or vinyl.

About 5.3. A 3.5 oz. (100 mL) can of SpazStix I have here was $13 a few years back, so the price for the new Revell stuff doesn't seem too out of line to me...

"Top o' the mornin' to ya'" chirped the wee leprechaun.

Clapboard...wasn't that the guitar player from Cream?

Or a piece of toast covered in peanut butter.

Yeah, me too.

Excellent reason to get a bigger house.

Thank you, sir! What with the Rover V8 being based on the old GM 215 alloy V8, it's almost a natural for one to find its way into a Chevette...and the idea of having a UK-style hot rod has definite appeal.

Yup. Yup, yup...except for a few hundred bucks worth of aftermarket stuff to fill the empty spaces between the kit boxes.

Weekly...

Mine's pretty big, certainly more than I can get to in 20+ years...but I've heard it's not the size that matters so much, but what you can do with it.

This gets more interesting all the time. I just recalled I also have a 5-speed manual gearbox out of a TR-8 that needs an input shaft bearing and maybe synchros. It has a bellhousing that should bolt to the Rover engine. If I remember correctly, the US Chevette has a weird torque-tube rear end, but... Hmmmmmm...

Status seekers tend to buy things based on cost and how envious they think their neighbors and peers will be, often knowing nothing about what they're buying...like the folks who used to routinely stuff Porsches backwards into fixed objects, because they believed that if you had money, you didn't need to waste time learning to drive a rear-engined car.

Competence in just about every field is in increasingly short supply, and when Atlas gets done shrugging...oh baby.

Thanks for the clarification. Your knowledge is much appreciated. A seller on eBay has one with a Modelhaus interior for about 4 times what I paid for mine with no interior...which isn't an issue 'cause it won't get built stock anyway.

That's interesting. Thanks. I have a 4 liter Rover engine that needs freshening, was seriously thinking about building a Locost 7 around it...but I bet I could find a blown-engine Chevette for a few bucks out West. Sure would make a fun little sleeper.

Yup, I was "collecting" them too, back when the popular wisdom said we'd never see them again...right up until just before the repops were intro'd from the same tooling.

It's an AccuCast ABS (not resin) repop of a Johan promo, as far as I can tell. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/accucast-models-1959-dodge-custom-royal-2-dr-hardtop--1223217

AND...both cylinder heads need to be lengthened slightly, to properly line up with the intake manifold, and the manifold itself is lacking the thermostat housing / water neck detail of the real engine.

The specific issue is that the engine I elected to use is, as I stated above, somewhat small for 1/24, and several details are toylike and blobular. The distributor is molded into the intake manifold, and after removing it and extending the rear of the block and re-contouring the rear face of same to more accurately represent the real engine, and to provide room for a nice distributor, I ended up with a hole on top of the rear of the block that would normally be closed with a valley cover. The kit engine doesn't have it, of course due to the shortcuts taken in modeling it, so the manifold needs to be shaved on the underside and an approximation of a valley cover fabbed up. It's barely visible on an assembled engine, so it doesn't need to be anything too complex. No biggie, but just another of the myriad things that crop up when you chase reasonable accuracy.

Check your specific application. There's not always a UJ on either side of the center support. My LWB Chevy pickup, for instance, has three UJs total: one at the trans yoke (2), one at center yoke (10) behind the support bearing (6), and one at the diff end of the rear shaft (11).