Ace-Garageguy

Which one? His resin offerings change from time to time.

Got his resin '49 Bug split-window and Hebmüller conversions for the Tamiya '66 Beetle last week. Both very nice, as thin as styrene parts, crisp details...and though I bought them several days apart, he shipped them together, gave me a break on that cost. EDIT: They come with decals for the instruments too, window templates, and about the best instructions I've seen in any kit.

Excellent. Been using them for years as reamers when necessary.

This Fujimi 15" set as a possible starting point... Or this... Hobby Design maybe... And if you need 14" rims, there are many 14" sets out there you can turn the canters out of, and use the spokes from a set that looks like what you want...

There are some Aoshima sets that are somewhat similar, and could be reworked if you have a lathe, though it'd take some extra effort:

Imaginative and skillful build. Very nice indeed.

Couple VW resin transkits from bestmodelcarparts. This guy's stuff is some of the best quality resin I've seen so far. '49 VW split-window and Hebmüller convert, both intended to use the Tamiya '66 1300 Bug as the donor:

Fine, fine, fine.

Well that sure bites. Perhaps interestingly, when I moved here decades ago, there was a foundry called Glover Machine Works that cast and finish-machined brass fittings. They made narrow-gauge steam locomotives there up until about 1925 or '30 too (the last running Glover locomotive will be on display the first of August over in Kennesaw, at the museum housing the Civil War "General" locomotive). Of course Glover Machine Works is long gone, and the property was redeveloped to locate the Marietta Board of Lights and Water, among other govt. facilities. Ironic that what was once locally manufactured equipment necessary for distributing water is now nothing but a lost-in-the-past memory, as clean-hands business dwerbles have outsourced the icky making of things we need to other lands...leaving us no longer independent, but helpless and reliant...and the water company occupies the land where the factory once stood. I was fortunate to have toured the old facility many times before it was bulldozed in 1995. https://railfanning.org/2015/07/glover-machine-works-played-important-role-in-shaping-post-civil-war-south/ EDIT: Brass is, of course, an alloy of copper and zinc. Arizona still produces copper, and there's reason to believe there are still untapped commercially viable deposits of zinc in the state as well. Maybe it's time for some enterprising Arizonians to look into doing something worthwhile with these resources.

Nice to have more sources for dirt/asphalt short track builds...but the new illustrations don't show the wedgy body from the earlier "Drifter Super Modified".

Four, correctly-sized bolts in single-shear not safe? I'm curious as to the basis of reasoning here Not the way I'd do it either, but with tight holes and adequate fasteners there's no safety issue I'm aware of...though I'd need the specifics on the fasteners to run the actual numbers. Ungraded hardware-store bolts made of Chinesium could be a problem, but real grade 5 fasteners, assuming again they're correctly sized and installed, should be fine. Granted, a single bolt in a loose hole, as illustrated below, could lead to failure...but that's not the obvious case in this car..

Nice job. Nothing looks more like bare aluminum than bare aluminum. Any in-process pix, or possibility of a tutorial?

Always kinda liked this car. Nice job on the model.

Liking the chop and the nose. Cool little drag car.

I'm in awe. Seriously. Beautiful work.

Always a pleasure to watch your clean craftsmanship in progress.

Not the first time I've seen similar behavior by noobs lately, probably won't be the last. Of course, a man who's justifiably confident in his own skills (or in himself), won't be drawn into immediately attacking others to establish his place in the pecking order. He'll lead by example, posting his own exemplary work, and offer help and encouragement rather than general or veiled criticism of long-time members.

Lately I'm increasingly irked by midwits. Along with Karens, they seem to be multiplying like rabbits.

Very clever assembly jig for the grille insert. I'll have to remember that one.

Yup. I've seen people, more than one, driving obliviously down the interstate at 70MPH+ on a totally flat front tire, sparks flying, rubber smoking. Poor vehicle musta been howling in pain and pulling hard to the flat side. Once I tried to get a woman's attention, pointing to her tire. She sped up, apparently thinking I was some nutcase. Wait...there was no thinking involved...just irrational fear, and not fear of her actual impending doom. I always kinda wondered what it might be like to be that completely out of touch with reality. Seems to be more and more common though.

Woulda been $1500 if the wheel had been destroyed, which happens a lot in similar run-flat cases.