Ace-Garageguy

And after eating the noisy neighbors, out would come the precious Spice... Wait, wait...I need to look that up...

I haven't seen those little guys right where I am yet, but when I was looking at property a few thousand feet up, there was a family of 'em browsing through the yard. Hmm, I says to myself. Free range porkchops (apparently good eating as long as they're handled right in the field). I now have recipes for all kinds of porky goodness, including javelina pastrami. Only critters I've seen on the ground so far are lotsa well-camouflaged tarantulas (no recipes for big hairy spiders yet, alas...I'll leave that to the Cambods), two kinds of rabbits, and quail (and the big gopher my neighbor caught).

Nice assembly representing the big Hewland, but it's a little pricey to buy just for the gearbox. Last time I looked, the Revell Shelby S1 kit was pretty much unloved and cheap...which is why I bought a bunch of them for the ZF. And the ZF will take more power than most of the affordable Porsche gearboxes, while gearboxes from exotics would be insanely expensive in the real world.

Nope. A 6-speed built by RBT in Texas, a development of the older 5-speed ZF. http://rbttrans.com/ The Revell kit has what is a dead ringer (close enough to easily pass, anyway) for an old ZF 5-speed, mounted upside down, at the rear, with a torque-tube bolted to the front of it. EDIT: Yup. Just pulled the kit and double-checked. Looks just like an old 5-spd ZF, upside down. No doubt whatsoever. Did I mention I specialized in Panteras for years, decades back, and kinda know the gearboxes?

A sand moat...

Only until I'm moved in, the chain link and barbed wire perimeter fences are up, the tracking lasers and machine guns are calibrated, and the moat is filled and stocked with giant mutant gill-equipped gila monsters.

Mo debinately. The first one has much better proportions than I remember, kinda Roth-esque (but I haven't looked in the boxes for years), and the second one looks mean. Nice work. The QC conversion looks good too...though in a small bump, the housing would be hitting the spring...which is why an A or T spring is often used with a quick-change. Just one other small engineering suggestion...if this were a real car, you'd want to bring that front suicide spring perch all the way up and over the spring pack. That way the U-bolts wouldn't be entirely responsible for supporting the weight of the vehicle...which can be multiplied several times in "bump". Rather, they'd just be there to keep the spring located to the underside of the perch (of course, you might already be planning this, and what we see might only be for mockup purposes...).

Try harder. High-end audio (tube-type amps, etc.), vinyl records and turntables to play 'em, "continuation" cars like the Jags and Kirkham Cobras, bias-ply tires, all manner of hand tools, countless "retro" styled and constructed clothing items, the Beechcraft Bonanza, ballpoint pens, photographic film, several styles of "mag" wheels, Weber and Holley carbs, firearms and ammunition whose designs go much farther back than '63, Coca Cola, etc. etc. etc.

I have absolutely no idea at the moment...but I kinda like it.

Which, more often than not, is a guaranteed source of the wrong answer. It never ceases to amaze me...well, not really any more...how many times I see the same useless, incorrect, but endlessly rebleated gibberish all over the interdwerbs. And it doesn't matter what the subject is, either. There is just no shortage of "experts" pontificating on things they're actually clueless about. EDIT: There are also a whole lot of real experts on the web who are more than happy to share the results of their experience, but unless the one looking for info has some basic knowledge of the subject being researched, it's pert near impossible to separate expertise from bloviation.

Thanks. Both this one and the Vicky (and at least 20 others) are exactly where they were when I last posted progress. Thank you too, sir. The '66 Chevelle is getting close to engine-start. The 2016 Caddy leather power seats are in, the custom console is progressing, and I just finished up most of the fuel system. I'm now in the process of reworking the inner fenders with louvers and more engine clearance. Then the front sheetmetal comes back off so I can rework the headers to accommodate the engine setback. There are countless interrelated details on a build like this, but it all comes down to putting your pants on one leg at a time. And patience. Lots and lots of patience. Once she'll move around the lot under her own power, she gets partially disassembled and goes to paint. While she's being painted, I'll be moving West, then come back here for a few weeks to put her all back together. Glad you're finding something useful. And yes, I've learned a whole jell of a lot in the course of building this model too. There are things I'd do much differently if I were starting today, and it's sometimes hard to resist the temptation to go back and change them. But she'll keep on going from here with no rework, soon as I get some more time...like after the Chevelle and DeLorean are both done, and I'm in Az. to stay.

Yup, the light-colored woodgrain is out-of-the-park gorgeous. Nice job, sir. Nice indeed.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with you there. Thing is, this board is an endless source of information. In order to avoid disappointment, big boys don't just assume every kit will live up to their 21st-century expectations. They research what they're interested in before buying something challenging and then smearing the entire product line because it doesn't build itself.

This may be the single most bizarre statement I've ever read on this forum.

Not really. Though Corvette started using a transaxle with the C5 (1997), the proportions and layout make it unsuitable for a mid-engined car. Unlike boxes made with a mid-mounted engine in mind, the Corvette transaxles (prior to the C8) have the differential mounted at the rear. This makes the drive axles come out at the rear too, and unless you want a goofy-long car, it just doesn't work.

Lotsa things in life strike people as "offensive". Unfortunately, these days that seems to be taken as sufficient rationale for silencing people with differing opinions. The OP voiced his opinion. I believe the majority here have presented convincing arguments as to why his opinion (to which he's entitled) may be partially unfounded, extreme, or just based on lack of experience.

Gifts to myself... OTC 6575-2 update set for my decades-old FWD wheel-bearing tool set. MetalAce English wheel parts to build the 44F design from Ron Fournier. Comes with blueprints for the frame. And a partridge...sorry. A new leather shot bag. My old one's pretty much shot.

Guess you've never seen The Wizard of Oz. 1939. Spectacular color. "Autochrome" was launched in France in 1907, the first kinda practical color photographic process. Kodachrome followed in 1935. Though it was essentially a positive "slide" film, prints were possible using complex processing. In 1936, German Agfa introduced a genuine color-negative process. In 1942, Kodak introduced their own color-negative film, Kodacolor. By the late '40s, the period of the shot above, color photography was well developed and under continuous improvement, but wasn't as common as black-and-white due to cost and complexity. Anyway, the shot above may be colorized, but it also has the characteristic monochrome look of some older color photographs where the less-stable colors have faded. EDIT: Nice shot. It's got me looking for a COE Ford cab to build something similar.

Sadly, that's SOP for many in the interdweeb age.

Nope. Not at all. We recognize the flaws in some of the old kits. But we elect to deal with them rather than whining and saying an entire product lineup "sucks" (except for Palmer and Premier, which are pretty much irredeemable). Same goes for the multiple flaws and inaccuracies in many new kits. We mention them, complain some, but either accept them, don't buy the kit in question, or opt to correct them. Big boys...not "fan boys".

This kit has a decent rendition of the ZF 5-speed that came in several mid-engined cars, including the Pantera. In reality, it can be mated to any engine by using a custom adapter/bellhousing.

Where's the ball going to fall? I'm more concerned about when the last shoe is going to drop.

Boy, do I sympathize with that. For the last very few years, I've finally managed to get involved with two companies here where everyone I have to deal with is a grown-up. Sure makes a difference when interactions are based on logic, rationality, and both sides can read and remember what was discussed previously.