Ace-Garageguy

END ELDER ABUSE is a bumper sticker I need, being a useless, past it, shouting-at-clouds geezer.

That right there puts you way ahead of a lot of fellas. And I can count on one finger the shops I know locally that can set up and machine a part on manual equipment. Don't get me wrong. There are wizards out there who can do and know WAY more than I ever will, and thankfully some of them make great YT videos. But I don't know but one within reasonable driving distance from me, and he's probably not going to be around that much longer. Middle schools need to be teaching this kind of stuff if we're at all serious about bringing manufacturing back to the USA, but that's a whole nother can of worms.

Yes sir. I got into machine work in about 1996. I backed a fabricator who had the best design for a built-up Ford 9" housing for drag racing I've ever seen. Long story short, things didn't work out, so I kept the stuff I'd paid for, a Bridgeport clone (Taiwan made, but decent, with 3-axis DRO), a 16" lathe, a nice water-cooled Miller TIG rig (pre-digital, so it'll probably run forever), 2 bandsaws, etc. A friend at the time was an old wizard machinist who could make anything, quick, he taught me a lot, and I've been making stuff and learning more ever since. I would not call myself a real "machinist" but I haven't come across anything I've had to farm out yet (other than crankshaft work and balancing). I bought a used but perfect Unimat a while back (wanted one since the 1960s), have been collecting tooling and accessories for it too, and making model car and train parts. Finally sprung for a Sherline lathe and mill, used, with tons of tooling, a couple of years back. The big lathe is just too big and the Unimat is just too small to do some things, and the Sherline is the perfect in-between machine. If I'd bought the Sherline first, I wouldn't have needed the Unimat, but the little machine is a joy to use and fits in considerably less space than the Sherline. Only thing I've done with the Sherline so far was set it up, make a few cuts to verify its condition, and then re-pack it. Machine work is some of the most fun I've ever had. Turning a raw piece of metal into a functional, machined part gives me more satisfaction than just about anything else. If I had it to do over, I definitely would have taken metal shop in high school. We DID have to learn basic machining operations at Tech, but back then it was something "engineers" were expected to understand.

"Way cool" is an expression I used to detest...like "totally tubular".

Falling in love is something I'll most likely never do again in this lifetime.

I got a haircut, got the '89 GMC started, gassed, and hauled some trash, got my lawn mowed (exercise doing something useful instead of a hike), and got two vehicles titled and tagged. Back to work on the Chevelle tomorrow.

That's purty.

Really like the concept.

Protein from ze bugs we're told is the future, but the tree cows say "eat mor chikin".

Tree cows are not a species I've ever encountered in the wild.

Gained some lard around the middle over the winter, as always, but it starts coming back off today...'cause there's nothing I can do about being an old man, but I can change being a fat old man.

I never even considered that as an option. Maybe someday, 'cause there are a few cars I really would like to have box-stock replicas of. Edit: Nah, probly not. I can find all kinds of ways to complicate even the simplest snapper.

Got two vehicles titled and tagged in person at at the office in less than 15 minutes. One thing about this state...they have done a great job streamlining the process...assuming you have all your docs in a row.

First thing is to decide on today's priorities for procrastination.

Looking good. Really appreciate the info on the mesh for the headlights too. It's the best looking I've seen yet.

Hike on Red Top Mountain sounds like a winner.

Outside here it's 65F, I'm already back from the tag office, it's going to be in the low 80s later, and as soon as I order some AN fittings I'm going for a hike.

"Community values" and the offending thereof are usually held up as the reason for social media censorship, shadow-banning, or deleting comments, but try to get a straight, definitive answer as to what specific words, phrases, or concepts are deemed "offensive" and all you get is generalities and mumbo jumbo, the meaning being "bad is whatever we say it is whenever we say it is, so go pound sand".

Neighbor burning household garbage again. Great weather today, warm, very low humidity, opened up the house and turned on the exhaust fan, and of course now the place is filled with the stench of burning plastic. Guess I'll have to call the FD next time, as although burning yard waste IS legal, which is fine with me, burning garbage is specifically NOT legal, and I'm really tired of the morons who are too stupid to grasp the difference.

That's the only game in town for that car of course, but it's not a well proportioned kit. I started marking one up for cutting to accurize it, got far enough along to know it IS possible to make it look like a GT6, and put it away until I had more time.

Wiggly pigglies all greased up are hard to catch.

No.

King Kong was a hairy old ape, and a hairy old ape was he.

Any chance it was this? Beechcraft Starship, a rare bird indeed. https://vintageaviationnews.com/vintage-aviation/the-last-beechcraft-starships.html