Ace-Garageguy

I've found that using a dull butter knife and a tree-size bow saw for model work really raises the degree of difficulty to where the feeling of accomplishment as I "build for myself" is unsurpassed. Likewise applying paint with a roller, or better yet a dirty pinecone.

Glue-bombs, throwaways, trash...it's all just source material. Personally, I enjoy making something out of what some chimp has destroyed or given up on. Case in point: Still a WIP, but she's coming along nicely...(and I most likely wouldn't have built a radical custom from a pristine kit).

if you happen to live near any kind of decent hardware store, you can get 3 feet of 1/16" steel welding rod for about a buck. Cuts easily with dykes. Permanent replacement.

Why would you think that abject stupidity, ignorance, and incompetence are purely American problems?

I have a couple, but I'd like to have 'em all. The Exner-esque styling, though outlandish, has always appealed to me.

Yup.

Yeah, but today throwing the rock is probably the wise choice...

I know only too well. And lest I forget momentarily, I need only listen to mainstream media for 5 minutes, or look at a few social media posts...when I can stomach it...to be reminded unequivocally.

...for a Revell model made in the 1960s and never repopped.

...and where they were when they offloaded same 6 hours later.

Interesting, however, is that all the "confused" response almost universally demonstrates is that the person using it can't read and comprehend simple English.

Oh, the humanity !!!

My parents taught me when I was about 3... But then they weren't selfie-obsessed politically-correct know-nothings who spent every waking moment online, rebleating the mindless virtue-signal du jour on social media, or ordering useless Chinese-made stuff they don't need, or food delivery because they can't cook either...all the while ranting that successful people should be penalized for earning their own wealth.

Especially the unearned just-for-showing-up kind.

To paraphrase John Wayne: numbers are hard; they're even harder if you're stupid.

With a little measuring and simple arithmetic, you can scale quite accurately from the light blue side shot posted above. Assume 15" wheels and go from there. Easy.

Non of mine run at the moment... Great old car, by the way. I'm genuinely envious.

Yup. There's lotza "obsolete" NOS electronics available to keep most anything running indefinitely...unless one has the throw-it-away mentality, and has to have the latest BS-hyped-and-gots-all-the-useless-bells-and-whistles Chinese-made version. I bought a couple 4.1 megapixel Nikons @ about $15 each for my model and real-car build records, and they're perfectly adequate for that. I bought a sweet-sounding 1990's vintage stereo amp as a backup for one I bought back then that's still going strong, and sounds better than units costing ten times as much. A pair of NIB chargers for my old flip-phone for $5 each, CB radios, long-range walkie-talkie pairs, etc. etc. etc. Cheap, functional tech that does the job.

That's the way I look at it. A gallon of gas could be had in 1971 for $.35 (that's 35 cents for the math-impaired). Or a beer. In a bar. Whatza gallon of gas today? $2.80- $3.50. Somewhere around ten times as much. Howza bout a beer in a bar? Maybe $3.50 for the average stuff most people drink? Again about ten times as much. So...if your earning power has kept pace with inflation, you're really not paying any more for anything (as in: if you were making $100 per week in '71 and make $1000 now).

Or forgive...

It's marked 1/24, but it looks OK alongside 1/25 models. I haven't measured it, but there's a possibility the scaling isn't entirely accurate, as the engine is close to the size of 1/25 Ford flatheads.

Last time I was in AZ I decided to stop by a swap-meet that usually has mostly junk. Found an operating early '50s Thor Model 100 valve grinder, and a late '50s Craftsman radial arm saw, also, oddly, a Model 100. The saw even came with the original manual, a stand-cabinet, lotsa accessories...and a reprint of the valve grinder manual is available (and on the way). Also picked up a gorgeous vintage wood plane, a new-in-box heat gun, several vintage valve spring compressors, and a couple of vintage and functional hand valve-lapping tools. All for less than $200.00.

My solution to similar circumstances has been to make my own copies of the "rare" kit body and do my hacking on that...thus saving the priceless original kit for my mindless heirs to put in a landfill when I'm dead.

I betcha common-core grads think this is a helluva deal...

The V-12 aircraft engines from WW II were indeed huge. The Merlin was 1650 cu.in, the Allison 1710. So roughly 3 to 4 times the swept volume of a typical big-block automotive V8. Add the superchargers, speed-reduction gearbox for the prop, and the accessory drives...huge.