Ace-Garageguy

You don't need to "hack it up" with a Dremel. These fit together just fine. Always have. This is why dry test-fitting is always recommended...so you understand how stuff fits before you're committed.

The Lindberg name is also still around, having been picked up by Round2, like AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights. The kits are all re-releases, some originally tooled by other manufacturers. Quality and accuracy vary from kit to kit, but there is some very fine stuff in their catalogue too. Their '53 Fords are among my favorite kits, and can make exquisite models, as below, built by Marcos Cruz:

"June" was the fictional Beaver Cleaver's mother's first name.

I very stupidly left out Moebius. They make some absolutely BEAUTIFUL models of vehicles nobody else has kitted (for the most part). Just a few examples: AND...they've purchased the tooling and re-released the excellent Galaxie Chevy kits we were afraid were gone forever:

^^^ Excellent.

I was lucky enough to visit this aircraft and walk through her well before her purchase and subsequent restoration, when there was still a very real possibility she'd be scrapped. It's good to know there are people in this country who understand the importance of preserving our mechanical heritage and history, and who are willing to step up with hard work and carloads of money to make it happen.

Forecast cold front coming through later in the week. Highs s'posed to be in the upper 70s on Sunday, 20 degrees cooler than today.

Celebrations next year will also revolve around 100 years of Rt. 66.

This airplane was an abandoned rotting hulk in the Mojave Desert back in 1987. Now she flies.

Yeah, but I could eat it at one sitting. Quantity over quality, ya know?

'56 or '57 Mk II Continental. Nice survivor driver. Older paint in good condition, a little slightly wavy bodywork, clean mostly original interior. Just the way I'd love to have it... EDIT: You really don't get a sense of how HUGE these things are from photographs.

Today is the last day of several July events according to Googli's AI, including National Baked Bean Month, National Blueberry Month, and Plastic Free July.

Arrrrrrr!!!!! No resale for me. I'll add 'em to the other 5000 kits I'll never get to that will end up in a dumpster when I'm dead. A man has to plan realistically for the future.

Thanks for the heads-up on these. I slid by Ollie's yesterday and let a couple follow me home...though I'd also sworn off buying any more kits. And just so they wouldn't be too lonely, I let a few more jump in the cart too.

In general, AMT-labeled kits haven't evolved all that much. There were some bleak years where accuracy suffered, but their current offerings are very similar to the best of their work in the 1960s. Some are re-releases of quite old kits, and some are very nicely entirely retooled. Revell has lost some accuracy as far as mechanical bits in some kits go, but has gained a little in ease of assembly. For example, for all the complaining about the "fiddly" nature of their early '29-'31 Ford kits and all the re-releases of same... ...I consider them superior in a number of ways to their more recently tooled versions and re-releases, though the later kits ARE easier to build. SOME current/fairly recent Revell offerings are re-releases of much earlier kits (Revell of Germany) but are generally excellent in my opinion. For example... Many of the kits from Atlantis are '60s-vintage Revell tooling in new packaging. Japanese kits like Tamiya and Fujimi are pretty consistently high quality with a lot of parts and detail. There are other Japanese and knockoff kits that are of uneven quality and accuracy in even major proportions and lines. There are several lower-volume manufacturers like Salvinos and some I can't recall at the moment that make interesting, good quality stuff too. Search for specific opinions here before buying a particular kit. And note: I'm only referring to injection molded styrene. Resin is a whole 'nother ball game.

PM'ed

Anyone want flies with that?

No irkage so far today...but give it time.

One of my shop computers died, the old WIN 7 machine...terminal hard-drive crash...but since I only use it to search/buy parts and stream music, there was no data lost. My computer wizards have a nice selection of refurbed WIN 11 machines for cheap...and I've been running their refurbs both at home and in the shops, for years.

I don't really care who the manufacturer is. I buy a kit primarily based on subject matter and accuracy of the major bits (so it looks like what it's supposed to be) and deal with whatever warts it has as they come up.

2005 Neon 2-liter head teardown. I made the valve spring compressor extension eons ago for something else. Not perfect for the Neon, but it works. '66 Chevelle. My custom EFI hard and soft lines and brackets for fuel regulator, throttle, and stand-alone TPI sensor for the trans controller are complete at this point. Because of the stupid design of the front crossmember on this high-dollar chassis (NOT Art Morrison), I had to machine custom 17 degree split spacers to mount the steering rack...after correcting wonky slotted mounting holes and awful bump-steer. How anybody who's s'posed to be a "car builder" could think it's OK to mount a steering rack on slotted holes in a crossmember...no matter how hard you tighten the bolts...is beyond my comprehension. With the steering rack in the final position and the engine on the revised mounts I had to heavily modify to move it 3/4 inch to the rear, I can now measure the CORRECT length for the splined steering shaft to replace what my predecessor put in the thing. I also had to install a firewall eyeball and machine a custom bushing for it to correct the impossible angle the last guy left. You can see that building custom headers to snake through here will be...fun. Custom DeLorean instrument panel nearing completion...on my model bench. The brushed aluminum bezel matches the finish on the body. Faces are screen printed on vinyl overlay on frosted styrene sheet. Compare this to the OEM DeLorean panel, below it. DeLorean custom relay/engine management board and custom harness progressing nicely. Started the car on Saturday. She runs fine...but the CIS cold-start system is inop, so getting that playing nice is the next mission, before anything else.

Went to the ACME meeting yesterday and got a winning raffle ticket, picked an MPC Sodbuster. Not something I probably would have bought, but on examining it, I found it has exactly the tires I need for another 4X4 build. It looks to be a nice kit too, so who knows. I have a friend who's really into 1:1 shortbed squarebodies, so I might de-4WD it and build it for him. Slid by Ollie's on the way home and snagged a couple copies of the most recent Revell '32 Ford roadster too, plus an AMT Sandkat that I've kinda wanted to do something with, but not badly enough to pay much. They had an AMT Kenworth mixer for cheap too, again a kit I've wanted but not enough to pay much for. And finally, a Monogram '32 Ford simply because I think it's the BEST proportioned '32 Ford roadster ever kitted by anyone, and I've wanted to build a conservative full-fendered roadster based on it for some time. A friend has a black fiberglass SBC-powered 1:1 that is as close to a flawless street roadster I've ever seen...that he drives a lot...which is the inspiration.

At this point I don't regret having bought anything either in tools or materials or stock. Even if I only use a tool once, it was worth whatever I paid to be able to do the job, and it'll be there if I ever need it again. I've cut way back on buying kits, as I have just about anything I could ever want, but occasionally I'll still add something that's new, that I missed the on last issue, or that's just too good a deal to pass up.