Ace-Garageguy

1/2 a pot of coffee and a bag of M&Ms.

grimmel filmly snarklips

That seems like the best option then. Maybe only the first 1/2 inch, if you can get away with that. Definitely probably easier and less grief than trying to get an entire clip to fit at the door lines, and the hood line at the cowl. If the widths are within a few millimeters of each other, it should fly quite nicely with very careful measuring and cutting. And most of your original hood would fit everywhere but the very front...easy enough to trim or shim as required.

There is an evolving conversation regarding this here...

Every site on Earth has enforceable "terms of service". That's not a valid excuse.

^^^ @ alexis There are probably a lot of people who would contribute high quality content. Getting paid for online content could be worked out to be fair to all parties, I'm sure. It's done all the time, all over the planet.

^^^ Yeah, pretty much my thoughts too. The skirt is obviously roughly triangular in section, with a slightly concave upper surface. Styrene stock of about .020" can be easily fabricated into the required 3-sided part with careful fitting. To get the concave shape to hold itself, all you need to do is wrap a length of styrene around something metal of the appropriate radius, tape it very securely in place with a high-quality heat-resistant masking product like 3M Green, and dip it in boiling water for about 30 seconds...or less. Allow it to cool, untape, and you have a perfectly-formed curved panel.

I agree with those of you who'd like to see the magazine in its paper form, as I'm a hold-it-in-my-hand and turn-the-pages kind of guy myself. BUT...if Gregg's ongoing and undoubtedly very painful and debilitating medical issues, and financial problems remaining from the ex-printer pullout are making it almost impossible to continue in the paper format, it might be time to cut losses and move on with a plan that's realistically workable. As the saying goes, the first thing to do when you find you're in a hole is to stop digging. Obviously, many here would pay something for access to this site, as I would. Some, most certainly the current subscribers, would pay for access to "premium" content. I'm not advocating making this a pay site across the board, but adding a "subscribers only" section that's only accessible to those paid-up folks, and reducing the cost of publication by putting what would have been in the mag in an online format, could go a long way towards meeting the financial obligation Gregg has to give subscribers SOMETHING, at least in the short term, and setting it up should be relatively easy. Is that a perfect solution? No, as Gregg wants to continue publishing a hard-copy entity, and subscribers want it too. But the reality of the situation is just getting worse for everyone concerned with every passing day. But it IS a workable solution, one that removes currently impossible hurdles from Gregg's path, and gets subscribers something for their money...at least until Gregg's issues become manageable and it's actually possible to get back in the print game on a timely basis. Just a thought...

PS. Another easier way out of dealing with a misshapen front clip is to just make it into a gasser with a flip-up nose, representing a fiberglass race part that's not particularly accurate.

^^^ That sounds like an intelligent approach. Getting a front clip from one manufacturer to fit a body from another manufacturer opens innumerable worm-filled cans, not the least of which is the seeming inability of kit-design teams to all come up with the same numbers when they measure something...even within the SAME manufacturer during the SAME time period. Grafting a roof, however, eliminates many possible sources of throw-it-against-the-wall frustration...and the resulting seams should definitely be easier to fill / hide / disguise. The key is careful advance measuring and evaluation of where to make the cuts...preferably where the factory dimensions are the closest to each other. In general, the roof-swap idea, even from two different manufacturers, has worked very well for me on several projects.

Since 2012 I've semi-finished 1.5.

axle grease works.

up your nose

Do you need to fab the fender flares as well?

She's a beauty, for sure. And if she were available in styrene, I'd HAVE to have a couple. Are you listening Revell?

The only hairpins I had for the rear that came close to what I needed had damage, and required some repair. The idea is to get them INSIDE the rear bellypan, to allow for as narrow a track as possible for streamlining and aesthetic reasons. Hairpins like this would definitely be too light for a car that was to be drag-raced, but would have been OK for the relatively gentle acceleration encountered during dry-lakes runs. Below, installed with appropriate styrene bolt-heads at the pivot points. Next, the rear wheel well filler panels were clearanced as required. The hairpins just clear the seat during full deflection of the rear spring. Though it's unlikely this little car will ever get raced, it's my habit to get as close to functionally correct as I can. Finally, up on her feet for the first time on the final suspension pieces.

Thanks for your interest and kind comment. It means a lot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So...the rear suspension was only previously mocked up to establish the ride-height and related overall "look". Time to finish it up. One way to attach springs to old Ford axle bells is with heavy-wall tubular hangers welded to the bell ends. A big bolt or stud in the center of the tubes picks up the spring shackles. Below, styrene rod stock is being used to represent the tubular hangers. It's necessary to keep both ends of the axle bells "clocked" correctly relative to each other, so I've put in a piece of threaded rod and some nuts to keep everything aligned during fabrication. I also like to keep the bolt-head detail on the axle bells aligned with the cast-in reinforcement ribs in the quick-change housing, if at all possible. I've mentioned it before, but I typically thin the ends of the axle bells to get away from the toylike look most kit parts have. Next thing is to remove the cast-on shackle-blobs from the spring, and replace them with something a little more realistic made up from more rod. I'll stack two short lengths of rod on each end, to represent spring eyes and shackle bushings, and go back later to make shackles from .010" strip stock. Below, after being trimmed, the "shackles" and axle hangers have been drilled .020" to accommodate more pivots made from steel pins. The spring was kinda rough, and looked too narrow as well as brittle. To alleviate both problems I laminated .010" sheet stock to both sides. After trimming and dressing a little, it's beginning to look almost respectable. And now for a couple of steps back. In the process of making up the spring hangers and shackles, I failed to keep my measuring true. You have to remember that a couple of millimeters in 1/25 scale equals a couple on INCHES in full scale, and that WILL show, and affect the ride height and stance...most definitely. Rather than rebuild the fiddly little parts on the axle I'd just finished roughing in, I decided to remove the rear crossmember and build a new one that would put the axle centerline back where it needed to be. Not really a great loss, as I'd never been really happy with the salvaged crossmember I used originally anyway. Carefully measured this time, and jigged / fixtured so things will set where they belong.

It depends on the specific product, which is where reading the label can be of value. Some is butyrate, hard to bond, but most of it's styrene.

I want to sincerely thank EVERYONE who's posted here. Because of your enthusiasm and participation, this has morphed into one of the most relevant information-packed threads I've seen, and should go a long way towards helping anyone to build the most accurate-appearing Ford SOHC possible. And frankly, I still think the T'rantula-sourced cam covers get the look closest, especially on the scalloped lower edge.

Also seems like a few are wearing rose-tinted glasses that have morphed into blinders.

Remarkably, it's not as widely known as one would expect. Shortly after PhotoBucket did the dirty, the powers-that-be here at the MCM forum generously allowed an unlimited amount of storage for model car photos right on their own servers. Previously, there had been a rather low limit for MCM site-hosted images, and posters were encouraged to employ 3rd party hosting services for that reason.

the huge manatees

Yup, same here. And on the off chance I DO live to be 140, I should have plenty to do.

Frankly, I fail to see how anyone who is paying attention to the trends in this country, and globally, can not be WAY beyond irked every moment of every day. More like disturbed, deeply concerned, downright fearful for the future of Western civilization if things don't change dramatically, and soon. The values and principles that made this country great are being trampled on, denigrated, and outright denied. Revisionist history is rampant. The "education system" is a pathetic joke. So is "journalism". "Leaders" are often liars, cheats, clowns, or just dangerously stupid. Facts and science are being denied in favor of feelings, because telling the TRUTH might seem hurtful to some ignorant fool who's incapable of dealing with or even comprehending reality. But hey...everybody put on your smiley face, cover your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, and go through the days singing lalalalalalalalalala like all the rest of the sheeple. The reason I'm irked is because I AM THANKFUL for what the USA is, was, and the principles it was founded on. I'M THANKFUL to have been born in the most free country on the planet, with the greatest opportunities available to ANYONE who works hard. And I'M THANKFUL that I'm smart enough to see the unfortunate direction it's headed.