Ace-Garageguy

Excellent.

Wrong. This one's still good. And it takes some effort on the part of the buyer to determine exactly what size to buy. https://www.alliedelec.com/product/altech-corp/2222-0-100/70078419/

I wonder if anybody's stuffed a coyote into a roadrunner yet. Beep beep.

Yeah...reminds me of something that happened on a real car back in the old days when we still used acrylic lacquer for repairs. No clear. A two-tone job, red and white. I pulled the tape off the red (shot last) and started color-sanding with water prior to polishing. Horror of horrors, the red "bled" into the white, even though it had been "dry" for a day, and tinted it a nice pink. Took a while to straighten that one out.

Thanks. That's probably a good idea. But never having worked with acrylics, water-based anyway, I don't know if I want to get into another learning curve just to get this one done. On the other hand, it might be the best way to avoid a real PITA if I get lifting and crazing again with "hot" paints. Hmmmm...definitely something to consider. I really appreciate your input.

I really appreciate your interest and comment, Don. Yeah, trying to build them so I could measure and scale-up to build a real car seems to be an obsession with me. It often leads me into problems that would be pretty easy to solve in full-scale, but because of the limited space available for hands and access in general in 1/24-1/25, it can take me a while to figure out what to do, or just to decide what to let slide. Frankly, I got in a little over my head on this one too...skill-wise. There are some things I wouldn't do now the way I did earlier, and a few things I got kinda stuck on. My further-refined skills and additional tools today give me enough...I think...to bring her on home without too much backtracking. Thanks again for your continued interest.

VERY nice. I LOVE the '55. We had an 88 convert when I was a kid, two-tone blue with a white top. Couldn't ever understand why the old man traded it on a Falcon. I've tried to track her down, but no go. I did manage to find the '63 convert my mother had, down in Texas, and dragged it back up here. Needs lotsa love, been sitting since the '80s.

Couldn't find a TC real quick, but here's a '33 MG J2 with a hot Ford V8 60... And a TD...

Exactly.

I've seen a V8-60 in an MG TC, with finned heads and all, and that was pretty cool. Looked right at home. Probably had about 100 HP with the heads, pipes, 2 carbs, etc., so about double the stock TC for not much more weight.

Yeah...well...putting a flathead in a Camaro makes no sense. It's a thermally inefficient engine, relatively fragile, low-revving, with expensive (these days) parts. Yeah, they're as cool as anything on the planet in period pieces. But you can get 3 times the power and reliability at 1/3 the cost with an old junkyard Chebby. On the other hand, a built flathead Ford in something like a '49 Chebby that came with a stovebolt 6 would definitely be a great swap. Just my personal opinion, fellers.

Yeah, and most of the clowns who talk that sort of...stuff 1) weren't around way back when, haven't done the heavy research it takes to be really familiar with it all otherwise, and generally have no idea what was the actual reality (car build styles were all over the board) and 2) probably couldn't build a car if their lives literally depended on it...especially not if they didn't have catalogs and truckloads of money. Yup.

I'm so confused. Is the Hemi shown above 1/24? From which kit? I musta missed something...

1/4" sheetrock over badly deteriorating plaster sounds a lot like slapping fiberglass and bondo over heavy rust on a car. Sure, I've seen it done hundreds of times (on cars), but it's just not a quality or permanent repair...though lotsa folks seem to think it is. 1/4" sheetrock, though "stiff", isn't structural, and depending on how well you're able to get it attached (the rock needs to be secured to stud-centers...and if the plaster is crumbling, lumpy, etc. this can be frustrating, and you can end up with ugly, wavy walls), you might be fine. Then again, as the plaster continues to deteriorate, it could conceivably move around enough to cause lumps and bulges and waves in the rock. Do you want to risk that? My 3rd-to-last house was in a historical part of town, built in the mid-1800s. I removed and replaced the crumbling plaster, reluctantly, with 1/2" sheetrock, one room at a time. The framing was remarkably square and straight. Hauled everything to the dump in my own pickup, so the disposal expense was minimal. Tearout isn't particularly difficult if you're not above working up a sweat. I had pros put up and tape the rock. Almost all the wiring was surface-mounted, as it was added well after the house was built. What was visible was replaced with modern equipment that looked like the original stuff, and everything hidden was brought up to code. I certainly don't claim to be a "pro" (and I'm not arguing with Steve, as he's obviously done a whole lot more wall work than I have), but I've done enough renovation to have a reasonably valid opinion. In general, I tend to favor removing any compromised material, whether rotted wood, crumbling plaster, bad roofing, or rusted steel, and replacing it with sound new stuff. The house I'm in now is a victim of every previous repair and "upgrade" done on the cheap. It's a disaster, everything I open up is worse than the last mess I fixed, and I've decided to terminate the renovation and move on. EDIT: Just FYI, not too long ago, there were some issues with bad offshore-made sheetrock. Odd, chemical smells, outgassing causing corrosion in wiring and connectors, etc. You might want to look into that before you make a material purchase.

That's a pretty cool thing. Liking that 4-carb setup. Really lusting after the real 3-carb rig too.

Thanks again for your interest. She's back on the bench again as of late last night. If I don't get too carried away with stuff I was considering (like working lights), I can most likely have her presentable for the ACME show here in November.

Thanks for asking, Bob. I've sanded all the bad cracking and crazing off, as I just didn't want to dip-strip it and risk having all those little roll-cage joints come loose. It looks like it'll be OK, but I'm really hesitant to shoot it again until I'm 100% certain the next stuff will work right. I'm going for a gloss dark gray on the chassis, my choices aren't great, and all of them will require some experimentation before I risk screwing the thing up again. I've also decided to add a few things to it, like an instrument panel, a bracket for the brake pedal to swing on, and probably a frame for a windscreen, just on the driver's side. I'll most likely make up all the fuel and hydraulic lines before painting too, so I don't scratch it in the process.

I can't recommend the one-part stuff, especially for heavy fills. It dries by evaporation and shrinks a LOT in the process. It also requires many coats to do a decent job of filling anything deep, because once the top surface "skins", the interior can take a week or more to dry thoroughly if you put it on thick. Too thick, it will crack, or as you noticed, split. The one-part stuff is old-school lacquer putty, really only appropriate these days for filling pinholes and very minor imperfections...and if you need something to do that, something like Tamiya white (one-part) is much better. Because the one-part stuff cures by evaporation, a dehydrator should help it along...if you just insist on using it. Because the 2-part stuff cures by a chemical reaction, it "dries" all the way through (assuming it's mixed correctly), and shrinks very little. A dehydrator won't have much, if any effect.

Yup. It's a 2-part polyester product. The tube of hardener comes in the package, and is behind the tube you can see.

Thanks, guys. Great info there. I have every issue but the first one, mistakenly bought a later issue with a kinda lookalike box...but no original goodies.

Recently, I've seen a few people mention they're not having good results with this stuff. There is a little learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you can do heavy fills with no waiting for it to shrink like you'll have on old-style lacquer putties. You will still most likely need several applications to get a perfect shape and surface, but it goes a WHOLE LOT FASTER than the old-school stuff...and it doesn't crack and fall off years later. I've been doing high-end bodywork on real cars for decades, and I got pretty familiar with using 2-part catalyzed fillers. Using this stuff on a model is a lot like using bondo on a real car, but there are some differences, too. Here's a list of tricks that might make it easier for new users. This may all sound like it's a real PITA, but after working with the stuff a few times, it will seem easy, and eventually become second nature. And there's no limit to the kind of custom stuff you can do with it. 1) Whatever you're trying to stick it to needs to be clean, and sanded thoroughly, so that no shiny spots remain. For the 2-part putties, I like a 180-grit sanded surface for best adhesion on models. And very often, adhesion to primer isn't very good. 2) There is most definitely a sweet-spot for mixing, and thorough mixing is very important. This can be a pain in hot weather, as the stuff starts to kick pretty fast, and you literally have only a couple of minutes to spread it. 3) Once it's started to kick, stop trying to spread it any more. It won't stick properly. 4) Even though it starts to kick pretty quick, it can take 20 minutes to an hour before it's ready to sand. It's kinda counter-intuitive, but the stuff sticks better the longer you leave it alone. It's tempting to start shaping when it's still a little soft, but that will invariably pull up edges rather than allow a nice feather. I sometimes get in a hurry to this day, though I have a pretty good idea of what I can get away with. Every now and then, I'll still pull up an edge because I started shaping too soon. 5) If you buy the Bondo "professional" in the metal tube, don't squeeze the tube. Because the stuff separates while it's on the shelf, if you squeeze the tube, you'll probably get some runny resin and some dryer inert filler on your mixing board, instead of a nice creamy gray mass. The best way to remix it is with a piece of 1/8 welding rod, or a bamboo skewer, etc. Just stick it down in the tube and pump up and down. After a few strokes, it will be a nice consistent color again, with the liquid back in suspension. 6) The catalyst will separate too. Best way to fix it is to carefully remove the cap (with the opening up), gently squeeze the air out, put the cap back on tightly, and then gently knead the tube for a few minutes. 7) Instead of squeezing the putty tube to get material out, I have come to prefer something like a wooden coffee stir-stick to dip a little out, and scrape it off on a mixing board. Keep a place to lay the gooey stick so you don't get it all over your fingers and everywhere else. ? The same method works best with the catalyst too. For that, a metal axle or a piece of 1/16" brass stock works well. DO NOT get your sticks mixed up. Just a little catalyst in the resin tube can ruin the whole batch. 9) You want your mixed material to be a medium pink. Dark pink has too much catalyst and may stay rubbery, and peel up instead of feathering. Too far towards the gray side, the stuff may just never cure at all. 10) Experiment until you can get a good mix every time, and make sure it feathers...BEFORE you try to use it on a model. 11) For mixing and spreading, small paddles or spatulas made from .020" -.040" styrene work well. You can cut different widths and even shapes; for instance if you're doing the curved top of a fender, you can cut the curve you want to achieve into the spreader. 12) If you don't want to waste good styrene stock, I've found these plastic bread ties work very well, are easily trimmed, and can be scraped clean and used several times. And if they come on the bread you like, they're free. Here's a thread that illustrates the kind of work you can do with it...

Yes, and most especially when we hear cowardly phrases like "some people did something", or the New York Times' idiotic tweet yesterday saying "airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center". Ban me if I'm over the political line, but some things need to be said, whether they make people uncomfortable or not. The United States of America was attacked viciously and without warning on Sept. 11, 2001, with more killed than at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941...most of them innocent, defenseless civilians. Never forget.

Hey, story of everything I build. But we're having so much fun, right? I get it.

Some kinda beautiful. Put me down for two.