Ace-Garageguy

And that, right there, is the problem I have with relying on digital info systems for everything. A drive or server crash, changes in "policy" enforcement from an online provider, or a hacking event...everything gone. It's not living in the past to be somewhat wary of digital storage, boys and girls. It's living in reality.

Actions of a local body shop that transcend incompetence and constitute intentional fraud. Photographs of a vehicle taken immediately after the collision clearly show the damage from every angle, but my inspection of the vehicle on the body shop premises after teardown shows considerable additional structural damage that was absolutely impossible to have occurred with the bumper cover in place. Looks like they picked the wrong guy, my client, to try to cheat. This is a well known chain, who are DRPs for several insurance companies. In the first place, I've rarely seen such a bungled initial estimate (for instance, they added time on the R&R of the radiator for "automatic transmission cooler", when the car is a manual) and the added "supplement" is curiously consistent with additional structural damage that, again, simply could NOT have occurred with the bumper cover in place. Looks like some mouth breather drove the car into a post or bollard AFTER the bumper cover was removed, probably while looking at his phone, and the damage was added to the estimate in an effort to cover it up. Unfortunately for them, the supplement caused the car to "total". It's an older sports car my friend bought new, the value bottomed out, now it's become desirable and is appreciating, he loves it, and brought me in to negotiate a way to save it from the scrapper. And guess what I found...

Yup. It's a sensual pleasure, pure and simple.

I found a 9mm or .38 bullet hole in my Neon the morning after the 4th...

Good looking models both.

I'll be interested in hearing/seeing what you figure out. I have a similar situation that needs rivets on a truck cab, and a D-type Jag that needs 'em too. Though I've bought several sets, I haven't had time to play with them yet.

When the content goes away, what's the point of "supporting" any publication? I expect actual value for money. When I find I'm paying primarily for advertising pages and dumbed down regurgitated content, I withdraw my "support". Knowing what I do of what contributors to mags get paid, it's certainly not a financial inability to attract competent writer/photographers that is to blame for declining content. It's just not trying very hard. You have to have fresh, useful content so people will buy the dammed thing to see the ads. Lousy content, mostly ads, no "supporters". Pretty simple really.

Yup. The cast logo appears to be printed cleanly, which is the real magic here, and smoothing the ribs just isn't all that difficult. BUT...what I wish is that all these engines would come WITHOUT BELTS. Any reasonably competent modeler can create believable belts that look a whole helluva lot better than painting printed ones.

I quit reading SA a long time back, as it got thinner and thinner, with less and less of interest to me...as with most all of the car and other hobby mags. Content is down across the board, writing quality continues to decline everywhere (as does reading comprehension), and most of the "experts" aren't. There's a lot more useful info published on this site every day than there usually is in a typical monthly issue of most magazines now...though there are some notable exceptions...so why bother? Damm near anything anyone could want to know is available online anyway (if you're knowledgeable enough to sort through the BS and rebleated gibberish that is 90% of what's out there) so why continue to mess with paying authors, layout artists, printers, and mailing? I personally MISS quality print mags, but they've been few and far between for a long time now.

I quit reading SA a long time back, as it got thinner and thinner, with less and less of interest to me...as with most all of the car and other hobby mags. Content is down across the board, writing quality continues to decline everywhere (as does reading comprehension), and most of the "experts" aren't. There's a lot more useful info published on this site every day than there usually is in a typical monthly issue of most magazines now...though there some notable exceptions...so why bother? Damm near anything anyone could want to know is available online anyway (if you're knowledgeable enough to sort through the BS and rebleated gibberish that is 90% of what's out there) so why continue to mess with paying authors, layout artists, printers, and mailing? I personally MISS quality print mags, but they've been few and far between for a long time now.

Thank you sir. One original is mint, one very close, but I have several builders too. The mint one even smells new, and transports me back to a far better time with just one whiff. I've started exactly the kind of build you're talking about...mixing the best parts from both kits to get what I would consider a much more accurate representation of the real car than either kit builds on its own. The stance of the original kit is horrible, and many of the proportions are a little off in the re-tool, most notably the ridiculous 1/32 scale engine.

Very attractive model. The relationships between the visual masses and the overall stance are much better than most guys manage with this kit.

NASCAR front suspensions are generally of the unequal-length-upper-and-lower-control-arm type, required to maintain acceptable camber patterns in turns...something drag racing cars do not have to deal with. NASCAR vehicles have to contend with high lateral and vertical loadings for an extended period of time (due to high-speed cornering forces), and for multiple intervals per lap. So in general, NASCAR front suspensions will be much more heavily built than the light lower-control arm-and-strut type suspension shown on the example above. However, the relative simplicity of the illustrated suspension makes it a natural for scratch-building.

Bloody talking-head TV "journalist" reporting on the fire aboard the Bonhomme Richard not knowing the difference between "ordnance" and "ordinances". Kinda like kit designers not being able to measure and divide accurately. If you get PAID to do something, try to do it right. Oh...wait...using the right word and being able to do simple arithmetic is hard. Wah wah wah. Seeing one of our Harrier carriers burning is kinda irksome too, and of course the interdwerb is awash with know-nothing morons commenting on it. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/07/12/amphibious-assault-ship-ablaze-in-port-san-diego/

I understand that it doesn't appeal to everyone. My particular fascination with it comes from having seen it at a show soon after it was built...when it blew me away, having seen it in the mags previously...and later getting a first-issue kit of the thing as a gift. I was a follower of Barris at the time, and read everything I could get my greasy little hands on about his work. Say what you will about Barris, but over the years he did build some great looking stuff (and some real awful stuff too, of course), and contributed a whole helluva lot to the knowledge base of car-building hobbyists with all his in-depth tech articles in the real-car mags.

Could you possibly post photos of those boxings? If the entire Kart is in those kits, I'd like to get my hands on a few more "builders". I have a couple first-issue kits, and several of the '29 Ford kits where parts of the Kart are modified (fender unit missing louvers, for example), but if I can get complete, original Karts in other kits, I can save my virgin originals (for what I don't know).

You are correct. Even with 200,000 miles on them, many newer cars...if they've been very well maintained...are significantly cleaner-running than older carbureted cars. But the vast majority of old cars are only used for special occasions anyway, and contribute very little...almost nothing whatsoever...to air pollution. Unfortunately, some misguided power-mad all-controlling jurisdictions are trying to outlaw old cars on public roads, and there are even some fine folks pushing for legislation that would force MANDATORY SCRAPPING of vehicles that don't conform to present day emissions and "safety" standards. I fondly remember when this was a free country.

My state does a pretty good job with emissions inspections, at least from a rationality standpoint. Rationality is becoming a rare commodity. Anything older than 25 years is exempt, and geezers older than 65 who drive their cars less than 5000 miles a year are also exempt. It is getting harder to find the stations that can handle pre-OBD II vehicles, but there's only one more year to go before they're all exempt anyway.

I'm pretty sure the full original-tool Ala Kart double kit was only re-run once by AMT, so there was about a 30 year span (before the internet allowed model collectors to easily connect) when the AMT kits were hard to find. I imagine that was the justification for re-popping it in resin. What's also kinda surprising is that the kit was entirely re-tooled for the 2002 release. That's a lot of money to spend considering most of the original tooling still exists, and most of the Ala Kart parts were included in the old AMT '29 Ford roadster kit (issued many times over the years).

I'll have to check. But I did happen to see on a build thread here that the Revell '66 GTO contains the exact same POS engine as the '64. EDIT: From what I can tell from another thread here, it appears that the '69 is also. EDIT 2: Yup. The '69 is the same. Yuck. The big giveaway is the distributor drive coming through the intake manifold like a smallblock Chebby. That's completely wrong for a Pontiac, and there are a slew of other inaccuracies...kinda big ones if you're at all familiar with the real engines.

No pix, but every day I chip away a little at the mods I'm doing on several long term builds. All small things, usually requiring overnight drying before I can move on, so having several projects going at this time works out. One fer-instance: the engine in the Monogram 1/24 '64 GTO is appallingly bad, but the decent 1/25 engines I have just look way too small in the engine bay. The block needed to be lengthened and reshaped at the rear, the oil filter setup entirely reworked, holes repaired from removing the blobular starter and oil filter, heads cut down and reshaped, intake manifold significantly reworked, etc. etc. etc. And this is another build that started out to be "relatively simple".

I can empathize. I've been having anger management issues, significantly over-reacting to normal stressors. These are difficult times, what with loads of conflicting info out there, ineffective and ignorant "leadership", media intent on stirring things up, and widespread civil unrest. I can only suggest meditation. It's worked for me in the past, on multiple occasions. We CAN take control of our emotions, but it takes a conscious effort. I was skeptical decades ago, but after looking into it with an open mind, I found a way that works for me and doesn't make me feel like a mindlessly chanting brain-dead hippy. I use a form of Zen. EDIT: Neither Zen nor Buddhism are religions. Buddhism is a philosophy of living, recognizing the inter-connectedness of everything, and having the "Golden Rule" as its central idea. EDIT 2: Here's a brief overview: https://mindworks.org/blog/what-is-zen-meditation-benefits-techniques/