Ace-Garageguy

Here's an example of a weirdly tall down-draft carb setup on a twincam Frontenac. Obviously, if you want to get this under the hood...

Here's a blown SOHC head, chain driven side-saddle blower. This and other fascinating racing T engine pix and info are available here (but to see the pix, you need to sign up for an account): https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3723&showall=1

I got a small electric space heater for my cat.

And just an FYI...just about any stripper you use will work more effectively and faster if it's warm. That's why the makers of the toxic yellow-can Easy Off I favor for chrome and enamel removal say to warm the oven before spraying the stuff in. After immersing a chrome tree or painted part in your stripper of choice, seal the container, and find a way to gently warm it. You'll probably notice a significant difference. Another thing...sometimes the stripper will have softened whatever coating you're trying to remove, but it will still be too tough to just rinse off. Very often, I've found that scrubbing with Comet or some other abrasive cleanser and a toothbrush (use plenty of Comet, too) will do the rest of the job quite nicely. AND...occasionally I've encountered paints and primers that NOTHING will remove (short of actual paint-stripper that will ruin the plastic).

I've been trying to retire for over a year now, but the last two jobs I promised to complete have been dragging on and on and on and on...for a variety of reasons, some even being my own fault. I walked away from the bench a while back, intending to try to concentrate on work, but finally found I just wasn't happy at all without the whatever-it-is-I-get from building models. Last week or so, I've been building some, and it makes everything else in my life more enjoyable somehow...even the stuff I detest having to do. I realize this isn't what you asked, but I'm really looking forward to being able to build...or not...whenever I please, without the ever present guilt that I should be doing something "important".

^^^ Making me hungry again, man. I love ALL of that stuff.

My guess would be to accommodate some tall downdraft carbs. The Frontenac head itself doesn't add all that much height. Tall and narrow bodywork wasn't at all unusual, but the white car above is just...well...

Any remote possibility you'd consider selling a vac-formed shell? I'm serious.

Probably a good idea. I generally stay away from polyester resin in the house (other than tiny amounts of Bondo) because of the smell (though I use it extensively on the real cars), and what I find to be difficulty mixing very small quantities accurately (I mix the aircraft and West epoxies on a gram scale, and 10 grams of mixed material is about as small as I go to give me a close enough mix to ensure a full cure), but I can develop small-quantity mix tables for polyester resin with a little effort. It's trickier though, as the sweet spot with polyester catalyst is right at 1.5% of resin weight, whereas my favorite epoxy mixes at a 1.4:1 ratio (for one unit X of resin, the total mixture weight needs to be 1.4 times the first weight X)...easy to do on a gram scale. With the mix ratio of polyester being only 100:1.5, it's not so easy to do very small amounts. Hmmmmm...

THANKS for that. I love engines, I love Y-blocks, and I had no idea they lasted so long down South. The first one definitely had some tuning issues, or a couple of tight valve clearances, but it sounded like the boys got the second one running about right.

Nuttin but a bowl of steamed Brussles sprouts and dipping butter. Looking through the fridge for what was getting close to past-it (Americans WASTE over 25% of the food they buy on average, and I really don't like to waste if I can help it), I noticed I still had sprouts I didn't cook for Thanksgiving. The outer leaves were wilted and the stem ends were dried out, but after a little judicious trimming, they were fine. I think a lot of people hate Brussels sprouts because they get bitter if they're overcooked, but steamed just until they turn dark green, and slathered in melted butter, they're slightly sweet, have an almost meaty texture and make a surprisingly satisfying meal all on their own. Good for ya, too.

Yes sir, agreed all the above. I was removing panels for opening features last night, and the X-Actos widened the openings so much I had to shim them back with .010" stock, which is also a real PITA. Question: The only thing I've found so far that sticks well enough and is hard and tough enough to take new scribed lines over filled areas is West Epoxy System 105 and micro. Works beautifully, even with two lines scribed parallel a few thou apart, but it takes 12 hours to set up. You have any faster alternatives?

Solely in the context of how the board is organized now and how it could be LOGICALLY improved, I agree in principle (though just how more categories would "muddy the waters" for anyone I'm not clear on, as there's certainly no obligation to look at anything one isn't interested in). But back to "race cars are cars built for racing". Exactly, and the two existing categories of NASCAR and drag-racing deny by implication the existence of road racing (whether it be European F1 or other formula cars, stateside SCCA, FIA closed course production and prototype cars {LeMans etc.}, vintage CanAm and TransAm, European saloon racing, etc.), LSR competition, drifting, rally cars, , USAC midgets and champ cars, contemporary Indy cars, and a host of other classes of competition that simply DO NOT FIT in either of the two categories we currently have to choose from. My carefully considered suggestions: I would advocate for a single category for "Competition Vehicles", whether they be any of the above, or even off-road crawlers and high-speed desert racers...except motorcycles. Encourage intelligent titles that clearly identify what the thing is supposed to be. I'd change "cars" to "Cars, SUVs and Small Trucks" as I believe most people tend to think of these three as being related, and as evidenced by a lot of folks who refer to anything with smallish, steerable wheels as a "car". I'd probably tend towards a separate section for "Hot Rods and Customs" as well. Though these are currently lumped together under generic "cars", builders of out-of-the-box and/or factory stock have a very different mindset from those who modify everything. Of course, this opens the floodgates to more muddy water. Exactly what constitutes a hot-rod or a custom? Different wheels? Not usually, but if extreme, then yes. Intricate scalloped paint on an otherwise stock body? Yes. Engine swap in an otherwise stock-appearing car? Definitely yes. In short, anything with significant modifications. This really isn't hard. I'd still have a separate category for "Large Trucks" or "Heavy Trucks". Though relatively small, some of the best work on the board is presented under that heading, and I simply believe heavy commercial vehicles are different enough from anything else on wheels to deserve their own space. I'd split "everything else" into "Motorcycles" and "Everything Else", as boats, ships, trains and aircraft do NOT logically fit with motorcycles on a forum geared to powered surface vehicles in general. I'd dump the separate category for "resin and diecast", as some of the heavily modified diecasts BELONG in the respective categories of their subject matter, and resin models are already all over the board anyway. Talk about muddy waters. If it's believed diecast or other pre-built collectors still need their own corner, a topic labeled "diecast or other collectibles, bought-not-built" should do the job nicely. I'd also dump the "big boyz" category, as it's tiny, rarely visited by many members, and any of the subjects fit the above categories. Encourage posters to state the scale of the model in the thread title, if it's not obvious. As already noted, some people will indeed post in the wrong place no matter what you do, but I believe these changes would make things simpler and more rational, and easier for some to get their work in the right place. I also think it would encourage the more casual visitors to get a sampling of a broader cross-section of what's being built than the current arrangement does.

Probably could have just said "niche" without prefacing it with "goofy". Even though I have zero interest in building models of cars the way the factory made them look, I don't feel the need to call that particular category "goofy".

I've been wanting to do the original Stingray concept car for quite some time. I just bought anudder won a deese to hack into it.

Here's something interesting...the trusty backside of a broken-tip #11 blade will pull a nice curl BUT it widens the groove considerably. I measured the width. It's .5 mm. SO...anyone hoping to get a narrower kerf with a broken-tip #11 blade is just peeing into the wind. Scribing door and other panel lines deeper with the backside of a non-broken-tip #11 blade also has inherent limitations. Because the tip is tapered, as you go deeper, the tip also tends to widen the slot. To produce consistently high quality models, it's important to pay attention to things like this. I've just been working on the bench for a couple of hours, paying very careful attention to the results (which I've never done with this level of intensity before) with these two versions of a lot of folks' favorite tool, and I don't find it to be entirely satisfactory.

See above. I realized that as soon as I posted.

^^^ Yes, Pico Elgin, who I mentioned above (and who's a member of my local club) 3D-prints rims with the spoke holes integral. They may (or may shortly) be available through Shapeways.

Depends on how cold it is.

Seek and you shall find, grasshopper. Though the techniques presented at the link below won't work for a '30s car with exposed hinges, 1/18 is large enough to use brass tubing and wire to replicate the old style hinges. Read through the thread, then look at real '32 hinges. Combine the ideas.

Also a BMC line chisel, again Japanese.

This is something else I just found. Looks like a real winner, and has tips available in several sizes. Looks like it's the same idea as the Tamiya tools shown above. Mr. Line Chisel, from Mr. Hobby

I found the video I think is the best out there. Paul Budzik. It was gone for a while, but it looks like it went back up in February.

The handle end of the Excels is about 8.5mm X .84mm (.335" X .032"). They're about 2.25" long overall (about 57.5mm).

Joe, I'd looked at that particular video recently. They look good, but the things this other guy were using were thinner, and produced a curl without displacing (raising) material on either side of the scribed line. He kinda made a bog deal of that fact, and after watching and trying various tools, I understood his point. Naturally, how much material is displaced is partially an effect of technique. EDIT: I found it. It went back up in February. The guy's name is Paul Budzik. I posted the vid below.