Ace-Garageguy

I want to know how the eff it's your place to try to tell me when to build, criticize my lack of finishing things, and make asinine references to ANY other aspects of my life? We have a compact on this site: NO PERSONAL REMARKS. I'm getting sick of it being your constant running joke that I don't finish models. Think about it. Whether or not I ever finish a model is none of your concern, unless you've changed your name to Karen. I'm not going to complain to the mods, because I'm not a little crybaby. But one more time... BACK OFF.

Yup.

How 'bout you do you? I don't come here to get hassled or psychoanalyzed. And I sure as hell don't try to shove my ideas of how or when people build down anybody else's throat. So back off.

Best analogy I can think of off the top of my head is preparing and eating a fine meal. Sure, the object is "accomplishing" a full belly. But you can get that with a PB&J sammich. In my mind, the careful selection and preparation of quality ingredients, developing the skills involved, the combinations of subtle flavors, and the time taken to savor every bite, every sip of wine, vastly overshadow the "accomplishment" of having a full belly at the end. Nice thing about model-building is that I can savor every step, redo what I'm not happy with endlessly, and not have to worry about burning something if my attention lapses, or have it go cold if I need to step away from the table. Building real cars is somewhat different, whether my own or someone else's. It's another story entirely. It's real life. The object is to end up with a functionally beautiful machine, and in the case of clients' cars, to do it in a timely enough manner that I get paid well and regularly. I'm involved in finishing up a client car now, and it takes priority over everything else...except preparing to move my home, shop, and studio 2000 miles west. Building my own cars falls somewhere in between, the final desired outcome being the same, but the process being rather more like model building for me. I can savor the process, but there's the added incentive to "finish" because I love driving something I've built even more than the building of it. But what do you do with a finished model? Sure, they're nice to look at, but the fun for me is mostly in the building...which is why I have way more kits than I'll probably ever get to, but I'll always have something to pull out and work on, no matter what subject might spark my interested on a given day. Finally, my own standards for myself are very high, and I derive zero pleasure from rushing through anything just to gitterdone, only to move on to another half-assed exercise in mediocrity. Far as your Yoda quote "Do. Or do not. There is no try" goes, I never walk away from anything making the excuse that I "tried", so that should be good enough. I work to master whatever it is I get involved in, at least to the point that I can look at my accomplishments, no matter how small or partial they may be, and see quality that I'd admire if it was someone else's work. So there you go. I'll "finish" a model when I bloody well get around to it, in my own damm time, and that's pretty much it.

I know a lot of folks who no longer have dreams, ambition, or the drive to accomplish much of anything...particularly anything of any significance. Even many people younger than me seem to be content to sit on their spreading behinds and wait for the inevitable end, putting forth the minimum effort in everything they do. I'm glad to know that I'll be actively engaged in something I have great passion for, whatever it is, until I'm dust. But whether I finish or not is not particularly important, so long as I'm truly alive in every moment. The journey is everything. We all arrive at the same ultimate destination.

And some people try to say there's not opportunity in this country for anyone to make it to the top. Clearly the purchaser had less intelligence than a bowl of chili, but had a half million and change to blow on...that.

Any luck, I'll be dug in at the Az. homestead within 6 months. I may have to come back to Ga. one more time to build up the '66 Chevelle after it's painted, but other than that, I'll be quit. Period. Forever. Except for my own stuff. Really. If I live that long.

Looks like the designer may have been thinking old Pontiac Tempest transaxle, and the builder used the 2-speed auto version...

Virgin 1994 repop of Revell's X-15. Built it as a kid, fairly well, lost it. Now I have anudder one. Need an X-1 too.

The Rodder's Journal #77 Winter 2017 Eddie Dye roadster feature. I started a model of the car a few years back when the Revell '29 Ford roadster came out, as the curve of the decklid and rear quarters is better than AMT's fine old classic...and the Dye car is so perfect to my eye, every little line needs to be right to do it justice in scale. Anyway, when I found RJ had a feature article on the restoration of the real car, I had to have it for reference.

Comment deleted.

Fine looking top. Fine looking models too.

There is some historical precedent...

Just keep in mind that losing unnecessary weight was a large reason early rods had their fenders removed. Much easier to shed weight than to increase horsepower, especially on a budget. Weight can be shed very effectively on these huge cars by shortening them, too. But also keep in mind getting the proportions right takes effort, and a critical eye.

Do it. Really cool design, certainly worth building. Better yet, invest in a little silicone mold goo and cast yourself a replica, save the original.

How much for his sweaty socks?

I remember in the '80s it was around 15% at my (then) bank. In those days, it was entirely possible to live comfortably on the interest if your principal was reasonable. Even back in '95, the return on my CDs was running around 10%. But they've been in the toilet since the recession. There are, however, mutual funds returning in the 30%-40% range. Caution is advised however. One reason I'm still working long past retirement age is trying to make up some losses from not pulling out in time.

If memory serves, it's a modified (most notably the rear wheel arches were opened up, and rollbar and windshield added to look more like a Cobra) fiberglass Microplas Mistral kit-car body (on who knows what chassis). Originating in England, licensed spinoffs were made and sold in sunny California by Bud Goodwin's Sports Car Engineering as a "Spyder". Goodwin later went on to found Fiberfab. Another version of the Mistral was made in Cali by Track Kraft as the TK-102.

Lovely little car. Those curves are certainly unmistakably Costin, though I really like your revised windscreen. I've collected most of the Merit kits over the years. Nice to see how good they can look.

I'd think they wouldn't be that much of an issue to quantity-over-quality builders though...

Lindberg did the earlier Charger (thru 2010) body style as a police car or SRT8. At least the police car was full-detail (I assume the SRT8 was as well) and the engine and chassis are surely very similar to the current cars. I'd think an enterprising builder could massage the older car into a passable new one.

I just got in two Vic's Resin kits from an online seller. The '59 Pontiac wagon I bought to do Mickey Thompson's Challenger tow car is pretty awful. Slush-cast, poorly scribed NON-symmetrical door lines that aren't in the right places anyway, large holes in places, roofline just flat wrong, missing lower rocker panels, etc. etc. If I were grading this mess for a class, I'd give it an F. I don't mind excessive flash and thickness on resin as long as the shapes and proportions are right, and there are no gaping holes. But this thing is way less than what's just barely acceptable. It's going to take one hell of a lot of work to make a good model from it, and I don't understand how somebody can turn out trash like this and think it's decent. The '56 Lincoln Premier I'd give a D. Again nasty slush-cast, but better than the Pontiac. At least all the edges got cast and there aren't any gaping holes...though there are plenty of pinholes. The roof-line is also completely wrong, and the top of the roof is wavy and lumpy. The roof and windows aren't symmetrical either, and it looks to have been chopped on one side but not the other. Again, it's going to take a helluva lot of work to make a good model...but it's not quite as bad as the Pontiac. Both models exhibit a grainy surface finish, as though some stupid dark-ages mold-release like talcum powder or poorly-sprayed poly-vinyl-alcohol was used, and will make it all but impossible to get clean details like chrome trim. For $125, I'm disappointed. Seriously disappointed. But I'll probably keep 'em, as I'm unaware of these subjects being available elsewhere.

UPDATE & REVIEWS... I just got in two Vic's kits from an online seller. The '59 Pontiac wagon I bought to do Mickey Thompson's Challenger tow car is pretty awful. Slush-cast, poorly scribed NON-symmetrical door lines that aren't in the right places anyway, large holes in places, roofline just flat wrong, missing lower rocker panels, etc. etc. If I were grading this mess for a class, I'd give it an F. It's going to take one hell of a lot of work to make a good model from it, and I don't understand how somebody can do trash work like this and think it's decent. The '56 Lincoln Premier I'd give a D. Again nasty slush-cast, but better than the Pontiac. At least all the edges got cast. The roof-line is also completely wrong, and the top of the roof is wavy and lumpy. It's not symmetrical either, and looks to have been chopped on one side but not the other. Again, it's going to take a helluva lot of work to make a good model...but it's not quite as bad as the Pontiac. Both models exhibit a grainy surface finish, as though some stupid dark-ages mold-release like talcum powder or poorly-sprayed poly-vinyl-alcohol was used, and will make it all but impossible to get clean details like chrome trim. For $125, I'm disappointed. Seriously disappointed. But I'll probably keep 'em, as I'm unaware of these subjects being available elsewhere.

At this point in time, most likely you're correct. IF the old Chevy kits existed as CAD files, with thorough documentation of draft angles, gate and pin locations, and why things were done as they were (which they probably don't), a competent CAD designer could modify them into another similar subject significantly easier than starting from nothing. The Chevy frame and body shell are similar enough to each other to make creating a Pontiac from a Chevy relatively straightforward. Oddly, it's only fairly recently that I've seen CAD designers being actively encouraged to try to recycle earlier work to save effort and expense. Seems to be a pretty self-evident idea, but common sense is a commodity in increasingly short-supply.