Ace-Garageguy

Thanks guys. As always, I appreciate your interest and comments. And Pico...you just never know.

And thank you all for your interest and comments.

Kinda hard to understand why that didn't grind to beat all hell, sounding like you were chewing rocks with a front wheel, every time you stepped on the brake pedal. It has to have been crying for help for weeks to get that bad.

Gotcha.

Again, I'm curious. In my understanding, fun=enjoyment. So...why the hell would anybody do this stuff if it wasn't for enjoyment? Much of the narrative always seems to me to be implying that "fun" and pursuing excellence are mutually exclusive, and that those of us who enjoy pursuing quality, even if we never finish anything, somehow are not doing it right. Can "fun" be challenging? Can "having FUN" sometimes be frustrating? Can "fun" be difficult? Can "fun" be very time consuming with little tangible reward? Yes to all the above in my world-view. And in case it's not clear, I'd rather have one unfinished model exhibiting exceptionally fine craftsmanship than a hundred just slapped-together. BUT...that is certainly not to say that I don't see how people can enjoy putting kits together, even with nothing added whatsoever. Minimal effort. Or working to ANY standard they desire to embrace. If that floats somebody's boat, that's just dandy with me. And I don't think we need fun-police. Or quality-police. So...if you enjoy modeling the particular way you approach it, if it adds something to your life (even if it's not adhering to anyone else's definition of "FUN"), even if frustration occasionally makes you want to throw something across the room, then you're doing it right.

Lotsa info here... And here:

Me too. Some of the Homeowners Associations here are run by power-mad baby-Hitlers, commonly known now as "Karens". Their mission in life is to tell other people what to do, how, and when. I've refused to live in any planned neighborhood for decades for this very reason. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to bother a lot of folks to be told what mailbox is acceptable, how often to mow their lawns, trim their trees, or whether they can have guests park in the street for a party. I've had a friend once told he couldn't work on his own car, in his own garage, if the garage door was open...and that working on one's car was discouraged anyway.

Glad to. Box was full; now it's not.

Cycloac is nothing but a trade name for a grade of ABS. CA, epoxy, or one of the hotter solvent glues (MEK, MEK/acetone mix, etc.) will do you, but solvent resistance is high with some grades of ABS, so TEST. NOTE: MEK-based solvents can contain varying concentrations of MEK. Some are much "hotter" than others. Be aware that not everything that has MEK on the label has it in the same concentration, so different products may perform differently on the same base material. NOTE 2: In general, the longer an epoxy takes to cure, the stronger the bond. 30 minute goop is much stronger than 5 minute goop, for instance.

I'm always somewhat mystified by the people who define craftsmanship in terms of what other people think of their models, who say quality doesn't matter because they don't compete, and who say they build for themselves. I approach craftsmanship from the perspective that I care what I think of my models, though I don't compete, and I build solely for my own enjoyment, to my own standards...and part of that enjoyment comes from doing objectively good work, to the best of my ability...and not being content to settle for mediocrity. I'd rather have unfinished models that have some exceptionally fine work in them than a cabinet full of completed models that have little or none. When I look at even a small bit of work that I've done that I'd be impressed by if I saw it on a contest table, that one small achievement gives me vastly more pleasure than looking at a hundred half-assed builds.

Yes. Absolutely. 100%. Guaranteed.

Nothin' too exciting...just a clean copy of the February 1969 R&C for the Shalako article... I had completely forgotten it ran a Porsche 4-cam 4 cylinder from an RSK. Wow. That's probably a hundred-grand engine today. Big bonus is an old-school junkyard-based buildup of a Chevy 350, pulling an honest 440 streetable HP on a single Holley, with the heads I already have. There's a thread elsewhere bemoaning the demise of paper car mags, and boy damm...looking through this old mag, there's at least 4 times more hard-core greasy hands info than in anything still being printed. Stupid me, back in the late '80s, I dumped all my old car mags. I have a pretty good set of early Hot Rod again, but occasionally buy R&C, R&T, C&D, and especially Sports Car Engineering.

That, sir, is pretty damm cool.

While the Atlantic engine is indeed based on two 2-liter Neon blocks, it's a lot more than just sticking a couple of engines together. At the moment, I can't find the full engineering details of the Atlantic engine, but I recall this: The Atlantic straight eight derivative is a DOHC engine, with a custom 8-chamber cylinder head that supplies considerable rigidity to the unit. Kindof a big deal from an engineering standpoint. Look closely, you'll see the plug spacing between 4 and 5 is significantly wider than the others. This is most likely to allow space, lengthwise, for the flywheel of the front crankshaft.

How about a straight-eight Lada?

No reason why not. Crosley, for one, used a crankcase fabricated from steel sheet and plate, oven brazed together...something like this general idea: A custom-cast block isn't impossible either. The most difficult problem to overcome is where to put the necessary flywheels.

HOWEVER...if we can assume the engines can be independently balanced, the stock cranks could be oriented 90 degrees from each other to even out the exhaust pulses, and avoid any two cylinders exhausting at the same time. But let me think this all the way through...

But I'm also wrong. A 4-cylinder inline crank is not half of a straight eight crank.

No problem. You simply orient the second crank just as it would be in a straight eight engine, and make certain to orient the cams so that when two pistons are both at the top of their strokes, one is at TDC firing, and the other is at TDC overlap. No magic custom crank or cams required. This is a conventional straight eight crank. The solution should be obvious.

Kewl.

Thanks again for all the extra info. And thanks for pointing me towards Bilek. I found the Dodge radio truck, essentially the same kit as the Italeri ambulance I wanted (different decals...and Bilek did an ambulance too) for a price too good to pass up. I'm really impressed with the kit. Even though it has no engine, I sure would be more than happy to pay for that kind of quality and parts count in larger scale. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into building some military subjects, learn some of the great weathering techniques I've been blown away by, and to not feel the need to extensively modify everything like I usually do with cars.

Good looking vehicle. Looks well maintained. I recently semi-inherited a client's 2001 PT she bought back in '03 or so. I've done most all the repairs on it (the few she paid somebody else to do I ended up doing over again), including several cam belts and a head gasket. Little car is pushing 200,000 miles, and the trans won't shift out of second. It's just a sensor, but the paint is starting to go, and she wanted something nicer. Found a 2009 Corolla with an honest 34,000 miles on it for her, looks and smells new, so she's happy. She wanted to either give the PT away or sell it cheap, but it's worth so little, the kind of folks who'd probably buy it won't do the $1000+ cam belt job that's coming up pretty soon, and the little car would end up getting junked. I'm kinda attached to it, it's still entirely solid and reliable, so I bought it for almost nothing. I need a PT like I need another hole in the head, but they're great little light duty trucks, comfortable to travel in, and I can just about fix anything on it now in my sleep. Probably give it a nice paint job when I get out West, and try to find it a good home. Funny thing out where I'm going...you see a lot of older, well maintained cars still earning their gas and oil. Seems like folks take care of stuff better out there, and I like that.

Wishing you well.

Actually, it really shouldn't fit the 1/25 Revell frame all that well because it's nominally 1/24. But numbers are apparently very hard for professionals who get paid to work with them. The body really is quite nice, and is just a little larger in some dimensions than a correct 1/25 body would be. The good news is that there actually are some aftermarket full-scale bodies out there that have been supersized to better deal with the expanding dimensions of the typical American, but still fit on a correct frame. As with everything hot-rod or design related, proportion is important, so just be critical of how everything looks as you mock it up.

Nice model. Captures the feel of the real one well. But speaking of the real one, whoever did the brake line on the diff needs to go back and take plumbing 101 over again.