Ace-Garageguy

Just a heads-up, fellas. There's a new fake PayPal e-mail scam making the rounds trying to get folks to "log in" to their accounts to clear up a security issue. Unfortunately, the portal you're directed to by the e-mail is fake, and all it's doing is stealing your password. You've been warned.

The Monogram kits are great. Reasonably accurate, well-proportioned, build beautiful models with some applied skill. The Lindberg kits I see as primarily parts-sources for other builds. The engines are kinda Y-block Fords. Many of the details are just flat wonky, and the proportions are ungainly and ugly. BUT...with some serious hack-n-wack you can build something cool from them if you know what you're doing.

I'm not crazy about Win10 either, but it becomes second nature after using it for a while. There are plenty of how-tos available online if you get stuck. If you really just prefer to stay with the look and UI of Win7 (which I liked a lot), here's an option... https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/ Here's more... https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-make-windows-10-feel-more-like-windows-7

Ain't that the truth. But nah...contrary to what everyone else in the known universe already knew worked just great, Chebby elected to re-invent the wheel with an iron head, a silicon-impregnated alloy block, and ferrous-coated pistons...with disastrous results. Sadly, there's still a whole jell of a lot of that kind of "thinking" out there in engineeringland.

Frankly I'm surprised at the gripeage about getting emails from FSM / SA. It's pretty standard these days to get constant marketing BS from anybody you ever do business with online. I purchase lots of parts, tools, equipment, and supplies for business. I always decline the "do you want to be on our mailing list?" question. No thanks. I'll buy what I want WHEN I WANT IT. But almost always, the marketing deluge ensues. Guess what, marketing bozos: trying to shove crapp down my throat via constant emailage will usually provoke me to find another supplier. PS: If you don't like a constant torrent of BUY BUY BUY !!!, never do business with Jeg's, CVS, or K&N...or Real Mazda Parts...etc. etc. etc.

Yeah, getting the package addressed to 1234 into the box with 1234 on it is SO demanding. OMG...the stress!!! HOW CAN THEY EVEN COPE ON A DAILY BASIS??? OMG !!! OMG !!! See...I wouldn't be such a hardarr about this stuff if I didn't have to deal with it MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK, sometimes MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY. It gets real old trying to make a living and being FORCED to compensate for rampant incompetence...or just not giving a damm...CONSTANTLY, in order to accomplish ANYTHING.

Well see, if you were snoozing or texting through the class called "numbers 101", it's kinda hard to actually get the right mailbox matched with the right package...even if the talking GPS says "you have arrived". Also, there's a possible comprehension problem concerning the words "you have arrived". Word meanings these days are entirely subjective, and don't necessarily mean the same to all people...depending of course on their particular "experience" and world-view. Then you combine words into phrases, and the comprehension thing becomes almost impossible for a large segment of society today. Add in numbers to this oh-so-confusing mix, and it's frankly a marvel that anything gets delivered at all.

Yup...beautiful work and clean, clean, clean.

When way too much is just enough...

I like your thinking. Frankly, I had very little interest in any of those cars when I was younger, having become a Euro-car snob round about '68 or so. But Now when I go back and look at a lot of the old American iron, I'm impressed...and probably in large part because it usually takes a lot less effort and fewer boxes full of cash to get and keep an old American car on the road than their European cousins demand. Now that the old US iron isn't strangled by emissions regs (in rational states, anyway) makes them more interesting too.

Yeah...much as I like a lot of what Musk has been doing, I'm disappointed he didn't step up to at least try to get Arecibo patched enough to survive. But I've read elsewhere that the NSF has an 8.3-BILLION dollar annual budget. One would think that a smart guy could squeeze enough bucks out of that to provide absolutely required maintenance. A report on the planned decommissioning of the facility stated a while back that "following a review of engineering assessments that found damage to the Arecibo Observatory cannot be stabilized without risk to construction workers and staff at the facility..." Kinda makes one wonder why those Neanderthals and idiot boomers 57 years back could BUILD it, but there's nobody around anymore who could FIX it...especially now that the entire world is populated by nothing but tech-savvy wizards. I guess if something can't be done with a screen and a keyboard, it's impossible.

Agreed. I've always considered the lines and proportions of this kit to be acceptable. It has its share of nits to pick, but the major elements look very good. To somebody who's seen a lot of E-types over the years, there's nothing on this kit that's immediately jarring. Some apparently don't know it shares nothing with the Monogram and Revell boxed roadster and coupe that started as Aurora kits. The lines and proportions of the Aurora / Revellogram kits (though they have gorgeous box art) are pretty awful, particularly the nose.

Yeah, it's been going down the tubes for a while, but your basic normie has been looking the other way, or is afflicted with terminal HITS (head-in-the-sand) syndrome. This is a pretty dramatic...and tragic... proof that those of us who've been paying attention have been seeing the reality of the situation. Funny that Arecibo falls under MY definition of "technology", as opposed to what is meant by the majority today...and as you say, the mainstream media didn't even notice. Mr. Gates or Mr. Zuckerberg or Mr. Bezos, "technology" kings all, could have easily paid to maintain or repair the thing when it would have been prudent, and would have never even missed the money...chump change to those guys.

Nice proportions. Same instantly recognizable car with the bloat removed. Looking good, sir.

Excellent point. And though there are other somewhat similar instruments, none of them are capable of what Arecibo could do.

Witness the symbolic beginning of the collapse of Western Civilization. 7 billion people on the planet, some of them individually worth billions of $$, yet nobody cared enough to maintain this incredible instrument. The Idiocracy is here...

I usually tape or jig the window in place exactly where I want it, dry. Then I'll apply a few drops or a small bead of a white PVA (polyvinyl acetate) "canopy" glue where the parts meet. It dries clear, you avoid smearing from moving the part around, and it's plenty strong for "glass". If you get any excess on anything, it cleans off with a damp Q-tip when it's wet too. My go-to is Micro Kristal Klear, but there are lots more...including plain old Elmers...that work just as well. They're all water-based, so there's no fogging that you can get with CA, no gooey mess like you can get with epoxy, and no solvent crazing like you can get with tube or liquid plastic cement.

Correct. Which is specifically why I said "through '87 engines of the original 1948 design". The original 1948 design, known as "XK", was fitted to the US spec XJ-6 through 1987 in 4.2 liter displacement. I have two. In other markets, the "XK" engine lasted through 1992 in the Daimler DS420.

Agreed. Though I see a couple other nits to pick (like the little depression stamped in the fender just over the end of the side-trim being shaped wrong and kinda huge), nothing significant. I'll be having a few. There are so many ways to do a wagon that this should be a big hit with the market. No problem with it having the old-school blobular chassis, either. The bits are out there to deal with that should anybody want to go full-detail, but as a curbside it looks great as-is.

Dead on the money.

Indeed. One of the best.

Exactly. The general shape and first impression of it are vastly superior to that sad old Monogram mess, but the first-generation E-type roadster kit from Revell decades ago, long before CAD and 3D printing made it entirely possible to fully evaluate a kit's accuracy prior to any tooling being cut, was really quite good. I will probably buy one and fix the stupid stuff that the designers should have caught while doing their JOBS. But I shouldn't have to FIX SOMEBODY ELSE'S WORK. And that is the entire point. To US these are hobby items, not hugely significant in the overall scheme of things. Adult toys, if you will. But to the people who design and market this stuff, and take our money, IT'S PAYING WORK. Folks seem to be allowing more and more slackness in doing ANYTHING to creep into every aspect of life, and the immediately obvious flaws in yet another newly-tooled and endlessly hyped kit are just another affront to those of us who take our work seriously, and strive for competence daily.

Very nice rendition of a rare piece. I've always felt the scale of this kit may be somewhat under 1/25, but I've never taken the time to research the dimensions of the real one and check.

Possibly. One of the shops I work with these days has a pretty good stockpile of older Jag bits. The owner and his son are hardcore old-Jag enthusiasts, have nicely restored several, and I believe they still have some in their own collection. I'll be there this PM, and I'll ask.