Ace-Garageguy

AND...1/4" for the spoke diameter should be fine. I'm almost certain that's correct for a T. It is for several other early (real) cars I've had to make spokes for when none were available.

If you haven't already, read through this tutorial again. I find he pretty much covers all the points. Laying out jigs for any number of spokes is simply a matter of counting (the inner and outer numbers are often different) and dividing that number into the 360 degrees of a circle. That will tell you how many degrees of separation you'll need between spokes, to be laid out carefully with a protractor.

That, sir, is one sweet piece of work. Much impressed here.

In the morning right after I get up, I'm about 1/2" or so shorter than I was in my youth. At the end of the day, after being hammered down by the endless stupidity everywhere, I feel like I'm about 2 foot eight.

That would be a piece of your masterwork certainly worth watching.

Welp, I got it running again. Thanks for the responses. I ended up running a malware program I rarely use, and it found something that had managed to sneak in under my gold-plated antivirus/malware setup. I REALLY wish there was an agency with some TEETH that would go after bad hackers, virus writers, etc., and just shoot 'em.

Anybody else have their Chrome browser just stop working? My backup Firefox works fine, but Chrome can't connect to anything.

Wheels depend on the era being modeled and the budget the real car would have been operating on. Wire wheels in the early days, sometimes with metal streamlining covers. Then steel disc wheels from production cars, or cast/forged alloy aftermarket units and wheels made for other types of racing, all of which were...and still are...commonly fitted with "Moon" discs for streamlining. Tires ran the gamut from totally stock street items, to the same with the treads shaved off, to Indy race-car tires, and specially constructed custom tires for the big guns. In 1958 for instance, Goodyear invested in excess of $30,000 to build a set of 500MPH-rated tires for Mickey Thompson's Challenger I. All they got for it was one small decal on the car, and rights to use it in their advertising. Not like today, where the car would be emblazoned with the sponsor's name in letters you could read from space.

Thanks for the comments and interest. Funny...I thought about that, and after your reminder, it will probably happen. There are some repairs that need to be done on the plug, but nothing overly dramatic. It would be nice to have it in one solid piece to try the paint scheme I'm thinking of too, and possibly make up some frisket masks. I'm also kinda thinking of doing a silicone mold of the whole thing, maybe making a few copies as curbsides that could be opened up by an enterprising builder.

Excellent.

A note on engine sizes: The real Dodge Red Ram hemi engine was chosen for the Ala Kart because it was the smallest (exterior dimensions as well as displacement) of the Chrysler corporate hemi engines available at the time, and could be made to fit in the engine bay. A REAL Red Ram measures approximately 27" from the rear face of the block to the front face of the crank pulley. The ORIGINAL Ala Kart kit gets this almost exactly right. The "new tool" kit is embarrassingly under-scale, for no good reason. By the way...the big Chrysler Firepower hemi was 32" long, and 2" wider across the heads than the Red Ram

I think I fixed the problem...

Hmmmmm... I bumped the original thread to the top of this section, and it opens. Let me see if I can replace the link that's not working. Hmmmm...

Bump (there's a glitch apparently keeping this thread from coming up; I'm trying a fiddle)

New-tool windshield on the left. Fairly similar in proportion and height. Old tool firewall on the left here. It represents the original car more correctly IIRC. Now for the real insect in the ointment. The new-tool valve cover is on the left, and is ridiculously under-scale. This has been debated endlessly, but the original Dodge Red-Ram valve covers are scaled almost dead on the money. Tiny little heads to match, in the new-tool kit. The new-tool block (bottom part in gray plastic) is also under-scale, but the trans is about right. Go figure that one out. The gearbox in the old kit is actually one of the best early Ford gearboxes ever mastered. And the really odd part: there IS sufficient room in the engine bay of the new-tool kit to fit the correctly-scaled engine. Yes, it's very tight, but it is on the real car too.

For those who are interested and would like easy access to Part One, or who missed it entirely, click here: It's been a while. But here are more shots of the parts of the two kits, compared. Original issue tires above, "new tool" tires below. The new versions are nice, with insert whitewalls. They also appear to be scaled to 14" rims, while the early ones were 15" Original issue wheels on the left, new-tool on right. Again, the new-tool parts appear to represent 14" rims. Rear axles, original to the left. The newer part looks a little better, but it fails to render the diff center section correctly. Front suspension wishbones and steering linkage, original on the right. The newer parts are probably preferable here too, but they need some work. There are pretty significant proportion differences on the top. I tend to think (without measuring yet) that somewhere between the two is correct. There are differences in the trim stitching as well. New tool part on the right. The original frame is on the left, new-tool on right. Pretty similar. I don't honestly know if the real car has a chromed rear crossmember. Need to look into that.

Sounds like a nice trip, looks like a fun place.

Either a razor saw and miter box, or a Dremel with a cutoff wheel rig. Either way, you'll most likely have to dress the ends after the cut with a file to get them dead-square, and the inner diameter will need to be deburred too. A drill bit works well. For the razor saw, you'll want a very fine blade, probably around 32 TPI (teeth per inch). The little roller cutters they sell to cut tubing tend to squash the ends as they cut, so if you're trying to make shocks that have inner sliding elements, it can be a bugger.

This kit has one set up for a mid-engined configuration, and it's a slightly simplified replica of the prototype helicopter engine installation in the Howmet Turbine Car. These kits can often be found for what you'd pay for just a good resin engine.

^^^ I've researched this extensively, and had second-hand corroboration from Revell. The engine doesn't accurately represent anything real.

Here's a thread for other options.

Revell also made a parts-pack turbine, though it's not a replica of anything real.

I know for a fact somebody makes (or made) resin copies of the unit from the Monogram 1/24 Huey.

Made the mold for the hard tonneau. The draft angles were not quite right on the plug and I got in a hurry. The result was minor damage to the plug, but the mold is fine. The body parts were designed and developed to go on a suitably modified AMT '29 Ford body shell. The junkyard yielded this candidate, needing some repairs as well...which is just fine. The hood is solidly glued to the cowl, so this thing is pretty much useless otherwise anyway. Here's the modified shell, and the first set of parts out of the molds. They have been cleaned of mold release, and shot with a coat of self-etching black primer to show up defects. This underside shot demonstrates how thin the molds and parts are. Entirely different from the usual "resin". Parts being fitted to the modified shell. Though everything needs a little more finessing, it all works and fits as intended.

Last of the Thanksgiving leftovers. This was the first time I've cooked and had people in since I moved into this place 4 years back. The chow was a hit. Turkey stuffed with onions, oranges and white wine, rubbed with garlic and olive oil (it steams from the inside as the oranges and onions cook, making the sweetest, most moist meat imaginable). Stuffing made separately from cubed pumpernickel, cinnamon bread, and potato rolls, with raisins and sausage. Lumpy skin-on mashed potatoes with rutabaga, cream, lotsa butter, and a LOT of real gravy from the bird drippings. For something green, steamed Brussels sprouts in butter. Store-bought pumpkin pie as good as any I've ever had, topped with heavy cream. Even though I made twice as much stuffing and 3X the gravy I thought we'd need, I only ended up with 2 days worth of leftovers for me. Even the folks who'd eaten elsewhere before they got here cleaned their plates.