Ace-Garageguy

ECOTOOLS 1606 makeup brush set. The big one is soft enough to safely remove dust from models with no damage to fragile parts like mirrors and antennae. The others are great for working with weathering powders, chalks, pastels, etc.

Fine lookin' rig.

You're probably one of 10 Amazon customers...or employees for that matter...who even knows tires have date codes.

I seem to have developed a thing for kinda unusual diecast trucks. Got a Liberty Classic 1949 International pickup (like this, but my cheap one is in the "Parts Plus" livery). Referred to by sellers as both 1/24 and 1/25, though at first glance it looks underscale to me. The real truck is on the same chassis as the '54 International above, supposedly 1/24, and this little guy is a lot smaller under there...but I haven't measured anything yet. S'okay. I can deal. It's a nice model, again better than I'd expected, and it will do exactly what I want it to do. The UPS chimps apparently played keep-away or soccer with the box again, as the plastic base the model comes screwed to was shattered into a dozen pieces, but the model survived with nothing more than a broken door mirror, and one leaf spring. Amazing.

If you want to represent the bumper-attachment brackets / flanges with a scale-correct appearance, I suggest considering something like 3M's heavy aluminum tape, used for temporary aircraft and race-car skin repairs, among other things. Easily cut with scissors or sharp hobby knife, self-adhesive. It's 2 mils thick, .002", which is roughly .05" in 1/25 scale, between 16 and 18 gauge in 1/25 scale, and about what you'd expect to find in a real bracket that is primarily in compression, and also locates the struts laterally and longitudinally with small through-bolts or rivets into the bumper. NOTE: Your photo appears to show the bumper brackets as having ears and a cross-bolt that attaches the struts to them. Not very easy to do in 1/25 scale, but small squares of the above mentioned foil will at least give the initial impression of something more elaborate than pins stuck in holes.

* IMAGE SCRAMBLED BY SOURCE. NEVER MIND.

I'm not arguing with you about anything. All I've been saying is that the Gremlin / Challenger nose swap could work, as the widths are close enough for a talented and skilled builder...real or in scale...to make it work. EDIT: It wouldn't be the first time a pony-car nose was grafted to a Gremlin; AMC built this in 1968...

Nice start...

Very nice, very unusual, obviously. Sure would make a great old hippie bus.

Thanks. The Rover setup even has twin SUs. That single-plane 4bbl manifold isn't much like OEM on GM engines though.

No shortage of fools though.

So glad for that insightful commentary. But here's the thing, sporty. I use tools that work for my needs. My cheap little wireless mouse does everything I need it to do just fine. Frankly, after using wired mice since the dawn of time, I was surprised by how well the thing works. And since it works fine for my needs at the moment, I see no reason to replace it until it doesn't. You just have to understand logic and adopt the rational solution.

What was the question? I got confused trying to put my Depends on backwards.

Gee, I guess I'll have to get rid of mine so I can be as cool and manly as you guys. Nah.

Just another case of people who "know" running off at the mouth without really having a clue. Lots of it around, getting worse all the time.

Nice boat, man.

However true that may be, the Gremlin / Hornet line used many carryover parts from AMC's full-size car lines, primarily for economic reasons, and as a result, the Hornet / Gremlin are hardly "small" cars. Smaller than some, but not exactly small. The point I was making is that the Gremlin and late-model Challenger are close enough in width that a real version of the concept shown above is entirely within the realm of possibility, and hardly as difficult as it might appear to be to the heavy-modification uninitiated. The quick research I just did list's the Hornet's width as 71.1", Gremlin at 70.59"...and they're both on the same basic chassis stampings. (EDIT: Some online sources claim the Pacer's floor stampings are the same as Gremlin / Hornet, so those three cars are very closely related structurally...if true.) A similar Q&D online source lists an '09 Challenger's width as 75.7". Four or five and a half inches is close enough to get the two major design elements to work together without excessive difficulty...which again, was my point.

Looking good. One of my intended projects too.

NICE...and so close. That one sure needs to get done.

19 feet? Interesting. Testors is still in business, but they're owned by Rustoleum now and have dropped a lot of product lines. https://www.testors.com/pages/about-testors/our-history/ What kind of glue are you looking for? If you want liquid, there are alternatives that are chemically the same. Can't help you if it's tube gloo you're after.

It's the exact same kit, other than the Checkers version doesn't have the optional '38 nose and stuff.

I like the concept, and the Gremlin was pretty wide for a "small" car, 'cause American Motors couldn't afford to tool up for something narrower and had to use big-car underpinnings...so the width might be close, or at least workable. What puts me off about the p-shopped mashup is the excessive length ahead of the front wheels, and as mentioned above, the excessive heaviness and bulk of the front bumper/airdam/whatever. The perspective of the angle of the face doesn't match the rest of the vehicle either...not even close...and looks stupid. Some tuning of the idea by somebody with talent could make this thing a knockout. EDIT: Too bad Harry P. has gone to the big studio in the sky. He could fix it.

It depends entirely on what works consistently well for you. I shoot primer on pretty much everything, because I usually end up doing work that will require a slight primer fill on every single part...like scraping parting lines, sanding and filling sink marks, etc. And because I also inevitably do at least minimal bodywork, and because I painted real cars for years, and because I need maximum adhesion when I invariably wetsand and polish, I prime bodies as a matter of course. But that's just what works for me.

Same here, and I really didn't want a wireless mouse for a variety of reasons...but I was in the middle of a project and HAD to have something immediately. Got a cheap Logitech M187, expecting little, and it's been brilliant. Only time it ever started acting up, kinda similar to your issues, was after a year when the battery was going away. New batt, no problem. Batteries DO go bad while in storage, or on the shelf, even the good ones, and even though the expiration date on the package may have years to run. Try a known good battery first, go from there.