Ace-Garageguy

I don't know what search terms you used but there's plenty of info out there. And as usual for the interdwerbs, at least half of it is wrong. Try: "decant rustoleum for airbrush"

Try to stay strong. An end of physical being comes to us all, and is as natural as birth. But life can be very unkind, and it's up to each of us to deal with it as best we can. You have my sympathy.

I "got" a 3 hour hike in 92 degree weather, with humidity so high it felt more like swimming than hiking. "Got" some vitamin D and a little tan too. Can't do anything about being old, but I can do something about being fat and pasty white. Also got a cheap pair of flip-flops, 'cause I blew out my last pair yesterday. Now I'm kinda beat, but I'm going to do a little something on a model before bed.

I have a client/friend who's the same way. She always has mystery scratches and dings on every horizontal surface, and routinely asks me how they could have got there, and how much it would cost to fix them. She has a new silver car now, a bitch to match, and I give her the real body-shop price to repaint the roof, hood, and decklid...which of course she thinks is highway robbery astronomical (and like most people, has zero idea of what it takes to do a top-line undetectable repair). So, being the great guy I am, I'll take half the day and polish out as much as I can. She's always happy with the results, and I tell her if she wants to keep it looking nice, quit dragging stuff over it...which she firmly denies ever having done. Then I'll see her dump her purse out on the deckild to sort through all her useless crapp, or put her laptop on the roof or hood and slide it across the paint. And of course if I mention it she gets in a snit, says she SHOULD be able to do that without hurting anything, and that it's the paint's fault for being too soft. Same girl blamed the traffic island she drove over for her popped tire, bent wheel, and screwed alignment ($500 by the time I got it all fixed), and blamed the car she backed into for being in the wrong place. EDIT: This behavior is in no way unique to women.

Thing is, "scaling" of engines and other greasy bits is generally so sloppy that just because an engine is in a kit that's nominally 1/24 or 1/25, that doesn't necessarily make it accurate. I've encountered incorrectly scaled engines and components so many times, I've just about quit caring. It's simply impossible to make them all correct. If I were you, I'd measure all the rocker covers in the stash with digital calipers. There will be measurable differences from kit to kit; I'd use the largest one for 1/24, and let it go. The dimension for a Gen II 426 Hemi block from the rear face to the front is shown as being 23.625" In 1/24, that's .954 actual. In 1/24, it's .984. Are you, or most people anyway, really going to notice a .030" discrepancy in the length of the completed engine?

Nice yard-sale find. Those big Z-car kits are pretty spendy new these days. I've owned and/or built a few real ones over the years, so you have my interest. Did your dad's car have fiberglass front fenders? The way the left one is broken in the wreck shot sure looks like it.

I'll be watching. I think that's one of the best looking things GM ever built.

How do you like the Jeepster kit? I've been kinda lusting after one, but haven't looked into it much yet.

Today's high where I'm going was only 97, with 12% humidity. High here was 93 with 60% humidity, so it's not a whole lot different from what I'm used to, especially as I work in a non-AC shop here, and it's typically in the high 90s-low 100s in the buildings if it's mid-90s outside. Have to drink a LOT of water. But I'm just getting everything here ready anyway, Ray. And it's going to take a lot of effort. Soon as I can though, I'm going to get a load of cars moved out there. Then I have work to do inside the shop before I move the machine tools...painting, new lights, etc....so that will probably happen after it cools down a little. Shooting for being 100% by the end of the year, but I'm pretty sure that's going to run a couple months long.

In her back pocket, making a little sharp dent to make fixing the big soft one her butt has made on that poor decklid that much harder. I've been amused for decades by people who think "steel is strong" and never notice the waves and ripples moronic behavior like this leaves in their panels. You can bet the grit on her "soft" sneakers scuffed the begeezus out of the paint on that bumper cover as she so cutely wriggled up there, too.

One of the few things I kinda agree with (on principle) practiced by a group of folks who shall remain nameless is removing the hand of someone caught stealing. Pretty strong visual reminder of whatcha did wrong, and what the next offense will get you. "Uncivilized!!!!" I hear people screeching from the bleachers. OK. So somebody explain to me what's so dammed "civilized" about somebody helping himself to what I WORKED for?

I vote for scrubbing graffiti off of buildings, with a toothbrush.

Yeah, but I've got paper reference material that's over 70 years old. It won't ever stop working because it's no longer supported, or because the bookcase crashed, or because the playback program won't run in my brain anymore, etc. Fire is about the only one of those hazards I'm still vulnerable to, as my cat knows better, so do my exes (and none of 'em have keys anyway), and I'm 100 feet above any possible flooding. But you're right...nothing will be around forever. So appreciate whatcha got and take care of it.

Someone once aksed me "What's handling? Like how easy it is to park?" Speaking of which, those tall boys are at least easy to find in the lot.

Those TD Tobettes look like they could be the basis of a good looking custom treatment of that body style. What scale are they, and do they share any tooling with anything else? I kinda disliked the real ones for a long time, 'cause driving one is much like driving a poorly built kit-car on a truck chassis, but they're starting to grow on me again. Just missed a real one, only slightly broken, for $1500.

Managed to "get" two old car batteries I was pretty sure were dead to take and hold a charge. This'll save a nice few bucks getting some of my old iron running well enough to move to where the transport truck can load 'em for the trip to Az.

Damm Randy...that engine is some kinda nice. Makes me want to go work on my real one.

Got a little built-up Pyro/Lindberg Triumph GT6 to do a flat-red-and-primer car I owned long ago. I ran that car on straight ethanol during an experimental pilot program at Ga. Tech, back in the early 1980s. Man, that exhaust smelled good. Hard to start in cold weather, but otherwise just fine after some magic tuning. If I recall correctly, she'd run on anything higher than about 140 proof. Not a bad build, and the shape of the Pyro kit is pretty OK overall, though there are a few huge cringe-making flaws that need to be corrected for the model to give an acceptable first impression...like the windshield opening. Also snagged a ratty built up pair of old Tom Daniel Monogram kits to hack up, a Pie Wagon and an Ice T

Most excellent. I hope they hang the little bugger. Pity they won't. Seems like if he's smart enough to pull off a sophisticated fraud involving fake PayPal emails, he ought to be able to make enough money honestly to buy just about anything he could reasonably want. Some folks just aren't wired that way though, unfortunately.

Yeah, that's another thing. People generally assume CD or DVD info is secure and will last forever. The truth is that anywhere from 2 years to 100 years is what you can expect. You never know until it's gone bad. And home-burned discs usually seem to be more easily corrupted than professionally manufactured ones. So burning copies is no guarantee you can keep your data intact, any more than backing up to hard-disc, flash-drive, or the cloud guarantees it.

...unless you've been "educated" fairly recently.

It seems that a lot of present day "historians" know literally nothing about the last 200 or more years, even though there's no shortage of "dead-tree" archived material available. I wonder which will have the more profound effect on mankind's future...the somewhat ephemeral nature of digital media, or intentional historical revisionism coupled with willful ignorance.

Kinda like "I casted them parts..."

Yeah, which always makes me wonder about all the useless add-on "spoilers" and wings on run-of-the-mill production cars. My old Neon has one. From new. Every time I look at it, I cringe. Little car will never go fast enough to need downforce on the tail, the silly wing probably doesn't make any anyway, and if it does have any aerodynamic effect, it most likely induces drag...hurting gas mileage rather than helping it. Can't just take it off though, 'cause it's bolted on through holes in the deck. Which reminds me...the huge silly wing on the rear of the Countach slowed the car by 5MPH on the top end, and made lotsa noise doing it.