Ace-Garageguy

Without studying the problem and the chemistry, my first GUESS would be that unreacted baking soda absorbs atmospheric moisture over time, leading to eventual swelling and failure. Like I said, that's an off the cuff GUESS. Now that we've addressed several of the issues here, my recommendation for BONDING die-cast parts together, or for FILLING LARGE GAPS, would be a relatively high-strength epoxy, thickened with cotton flock. (Finish fill with polyester putty) Cotton-fiber-filled epoxy material is used for structural bonding in aircraft, and is as permanent an adhesive as there is. By "relatively high strength", I mean an epoxy that takes AT LEAST a couple of hours to cure. Generally, the LONGER AN EPOXY TAKES TO CURE, THE STRONGER IT IS. The stuff I use, leftovers from aircraft work (but past its legal use-by date) has to be mixed on a gram-scale, takes several hours to gel, overnight to set up to handle, and an additional 24-hour post cure at elevated temperature to reach maximum strength. It's beyond overkill for most model applications, but it allows me to produce extremely thin parts that are far stronger than styrene. On something like a chopped top, I'd further reinforce the bonded joints with fine fiberglass cloth on the backsides, as I do on styrene models. There's nothing so maddening as being in the middle of the last phase of polishing paint, and having a crack appear in an insufficiently strong joint. That's why I tend towards overkill.

I completely forgot about that one. I have it, but haven't tried it yet. Search eBay for Scribe-R.

This demo gives you a little more idea of what to expect in general. This is pretty much what I found using it. It's pretty tough.

Man...you could get back from the grocery store before you left with that thing.

A couple of the sites I frequent with political and philosophical commentary have been hit with denial-of-service attacks in about the same timeframe that P-bucket went down. It's not inconceivable that some disgruntled tool decided to play nanny-nanny-boo-boo against P-bucket too.

It kicks off very fast, and is tough up to its ultimate yield strength. It fills large gaps in things, has good compressive strength, and is usable in about 20 hours less than the solid-filled high-strength epoxy I usually use for similar (but permanent) applications. This video is pretty convincing. NOTE: Another thought about die-cast: low quality die-cast "pot metal" can often be very porous and contaminated with a wide variety of things. I've seen people try to weld or solder the stuff with what should have been the correct materials and techniques, only to have it spit and pop and outgas as contaminates boiled out of it. These same contaminates can make some pot-metal die-cast very difficult to bond to with adhesives as well. A very thorough cleaning with 90% isopropyl alcohol, and a careful roughening of the surfaces to be bonded or filled will go a long way towards getting a successful result.

I can't honestly say I've tried CA on die-cast. One thing I DID try was CA mixed with baking soda, as a quick-setting substitute for epoxy on some metal fixtures I had to make fast (not die-cast metal, however). It's very tough and tenacious, but will chip off in one piece if stressed or flexed to its limit. Without actually experimenting on the exact metal you're working with, I'd hesitate to make any recommendation.

Pretty cool. Odds are you'll never see another mid-engined Audi-powered '58 Chebby. Most excellent. Something I've always thought would be great fun in 1:1 is to do all-carbon monocoque or tube-frame lookalike land yachts that weighed very little and went like real road-racers. You're on the same page here.

As accurate as it's possible to be at this time.

From this day forward, whenever I sit down at the modeling bench, I'll think of the Lawrence of Arabia theme...

I was a paying user from the beginning, being of the opinion that anything you get for nothing is usually worth what you pay for it. I've never had the S L O W uploads all the free users complained about, because I used AdBlock...which wasn't unethical because I PAID for the Pbucket service. I also NEVER lost access to my photos when all the deadbeats got the extortion note and 3rd-party hosting was shut down for FREE accounts. I just kept on paying my little $3/per month, and everything worked pretty much as always until yesterday. EDIT: Another site shows the problem started about 21:30 yesterday. No emails going in to or coming out either.

Easy answer: figure a 1940 Ford coupe stripped as far as possible for the old gas classes would weigh right near 2500 pounds. EXAMPLE: according to the class breaks shown above, a non-blown 327 cu.in. Chebby engine would put you in A/G in 1958*, B/G in 1968 *. * 2500 divided by 327 = 7.645. WITH A 454: 2500 divided by 454 = 5.5. That would be A/G in both years. NOTE: decide what era your car is supposed to represent to get the right calss. ALSO: the 454 wasn't available in earlier years, but a virtually identical-appearing 396 or 427 could have been...and either could have also been bored and stroked to larger displacements. NOTE 2: Class-legal weight reductions could be made by removing the front bumper and brackets, substituting lightweight bucket seats for the OEM, smaller, lighter light units in front and rear, a lighter battery, removing inner door and body stiffening structure, replacing side windows with plexiglass, upholstering with lightweight materials, etc. Components were often drilled to remove weight, and the maximum allowable 4" chop/channel would take weight out too. Later on, light fiberglass fenders and body panels were allowed by some sanctioning bodies.

Actually, it's NOT epoxy, and states as such on the label..."polyester". Polyester fillers in general have very little STRUCTURAL strength, and don't make good adhesives, especially when used on thin bond lines. They'll crack. People get in trouble trying to use "bondo" type products (polyester) to fill large gaps in die-cast parts, and when they try to glue two die-cast parts together with the stuff. Polyester filler IS a very good filler, though, and as Pete says, feathers well, resists shrinking, takes primer well, etc. BUT...epoxy and polyester are two entirely different chemistries. JB Weld IS epoxy, and has additives to enhance it's strength when used as an adhesive. A FURTHER NOTE: SOME die-casts have significant impurities that make them VERY difficult to bond to with ANYTHING, and may also cause them to literally self-destruct overtime.

When they get to the World Fembot Challenge, you'll have my interest...

I've been chasing one of those 1/87 kits (available here in Revell boxing too), as well as the same cab with a van trailer. For clean, unstarted kits, they often bring as much or more than 1/25 scale truck kits these days. Lotsa moolah for a tiny model.

The old Revell '57 Chebby kits also have the fuel-injection base Dennis mentions.

Not for a smallblock Chebby. A Chebby uses the manifold AS the valley cover, and has the forward water crossover cast in, as well as a hole for the distributor shaft in the rear. The Caddy manifold is a VERY different design, and can't really be adapted to work on a Chebby...if that's the engine you want to use a Man-A-Fre on. Chebby Man-A-Fre Typical Caddy 4X1 manifold:

Nice job taking one from semi-nasty to presentable model, while retaining most of the original work and feel. I've done a couple kinda similarly, just a general clean up and changing wheels/tires. I think the long-dead builder (his family was selling off his collection) would appreciate that somebody thought enough of his work to preserve it mostly intact.

Yes sir...that's it. Always wondered what happened to it, and really happy to see it was appreciated and saved. That was the first Porsche I ever really paid any attention to, and probably would never have known about it if it hadn't been featured in one of the US hot-rod mags. Thanx for the great pix !!

Yup...4 pipes ignoring the fact the center ports on the Caddy are siamesed, and nailhead header spacing, entirely wrong for a Caddy anyway. Oops...there I go ruining the "fun" again.

Ivo built his nailhead-powered car based on measurements he made off of Grabowski's car. The Isky T, the most famous one anyway, though much earlier, lacked the now-iconic "T-bucket" proportions.

Looks like it's been down for about 12 hours. Low-res photos still show on search engines though. Server is offline, could have crashed with no warning. Stuff happens. Always best not to panic. If they're not back up in a day or three, be concerned. I've stopped loading any new images to PB since the debacle, but all the old images have been accessible for the same $3 monthly fee I've been paying from the get-go.

Looking good. Nice build diary with lots of helpful info. I think I just may have to get one of these. Thanks for the inspiration.

I guess it's a matter of perspective. Personally, I'd rather have one D, Flawless diamond than a dump-truck load of chips.

Lotsa options out there, and they don't have to be costly.