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Everything posted by Ace-Garageguy
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Shouldn't have to worry about the returning vets from the next conflict being disrespected. There won't be anyone to go anyway. http://time.com/2938158/youth-fail-to-qualify-military-service/ Pentagon: 7 in 10 Youths Would Fail to Qualify for Military Service
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Anybody else just bought a Foose Cady for parts ?
Ace-Garageguy replied to 57peppershaker's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
For what it's worth, in the real world, aftermarket frames (like Art Morrison, etc.) made for specific vehicles, are usually very similar visually in shape to the OEM frames they replace. This is because well-designed aftermarket frames are engineered to pick up the original body mount locations. For this reason, kit frames that represent OEM units can be modified to represent aftermarket upgrades, usually, by cleaning them up in general, modifying or replacing crossmembers as necessary, installing IFS, and narrowing the rear rails to accommodate wider rubber. The Foose frame appears to be either a Morrison or similar unit, or an OEM frame that's been clipped both front and rear...achieving essentially the same thing. The '41 Caddy frame, below, is much like the '48. -
Sounds like you might not have actually READ what I posted. And don't EVER call me anything even bordering on dishonest. To recap: 1) THERE ARE TWO SEPARATE ISSUES. 2) The FIRST issue had to do with a moron seller NOT PUTTING BOTH ITEMS IN THE PACKAGE, but putting them both under the same tracking number, and charging me for both. I was reimbursed by eBay for the missing item THAT NEVER ARRIVED, finally, after having to get somebody involved who could actually READ AND UNDERSTAND. 3) The SECOND issue involved a DIFFERENT package, from a DIFFERENT seller, AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT AND UNRELATED ITEM, NOT DELIVERED HERE but shown on the USPS tracking site as delivered. I did NOT contact eBay about it, but chased it down with the help of personnel at the PO, after which it WAS delivered HERE. No ripoffs, mister. EDIT: No ripoffs OTHER than the time stolen out of MY LIFE to have to deal with this idiocy.
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Allow myself to introduce....... myself
Ace-Garageguy replied to BeakDoc's topic in Welcome! Introduce Yourself
Welcome Chris. Since you're in Atlanta, you ought to check out ACME (Atlanta Car Model Enthusiasts). It's a very active club with several certified wizards as members, and they put on a great annual NNL-style show every November. http://www.acme-ipms.com/welcome-to-acme -
Yup. But it took several hours of MY time, time I could have spent working on my OWN projects and earning income. Which is where I need to be right now.
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Both my eBay and USPS problems are now satisfactorily resolved, the former after several heated exchanges with eBay (who STILL failed to acknowledge the actual problem, but made the refund anyway) and the latter by two very competent and helpful people at the Post Office who tracked down the "sub carrier", who was then able to retrieve the item and deliver it to my mailbox. All well and good, much appreciated, but it seems I spend a far higher percentage of my time these days compensating for or correcting other people's incompetence than ever before.
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Don't forget middle-management bloat and insane compensation for high-level executives. Mary Barra's (GM CEO) compensation package for 2015 was $28.6 million... ...for spouting nebulous feel-good business-speak gobbledygook like this: "GM envisions a world with zero crashes, to save lives; zero emissions, so future generations can inherit a healthier planet; and zero congestion, so customers get back a precious commodity -- time. She’s focused on strengthening GM’s core business of great cars, trucks and crossovers, while also working to lead the transformation of personal mobility through advanced technologies like connectivity, electrification, autonomous driving and car sharing. Barra has also established a strategic direction based on putting the customer at the center of everything the company does." That makes her cut at around $10 per vehicle sold in the US market by GM. In an industry that will shave 1/2 cent per vehicle in quality of materials or engineering to make a few more bucks, you'd kinda think they'd see that kind of executive compensation as a colossal waste. But no. Ohhhhh...a female CEO. Whoopeeegeewhizz. Gotta take that PC stance, you know. Oh yeah...they're looking at paying out $10 BILLION for that little switch problem. Gotta get it somewhere...
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Either porch-pirates or incompetent USPS driver. Tracking number shows a small package of parts was "left at the front door" at 4:52 PM. Odd, as it was a small package that is a size they usually leave in the mailbox. I arrived home at 5:08 PM. Nothing on the porch or in the box. Nada. Zip. Zero. Going to the PO in the AM to try to find out WTF happened. Yeah, it WAS scanned in as "delivered", but that doesn't mean for certain the driver actually put it at the right address. I get other people's stuff occasionally. Numbers are hard.
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Nope. DeSoto Firedome. Similar but different engine.
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Like much about boats and ships, paint and colors will be different than what you've experienced before, and dependent on the particular subject you're building. There were functional reasons for many things. Sheet lead was the material of choice for "anti-fouling" below the waterline prior to the introduction of copper in the mid 1700s, when the copper bottom sheathing of fast commercial vessels like Cutty Sark was found to be very effective. Marine growth adhering to a ship's hull slows her down due to increased drag, and can make her less effective sailing upwind. The copper made critters (like barnacles) and goo less likely to stick to a hull, and repelled or vastly impeded the boring shipworms. Later anti-fouling paints applied below the waterline contained formulations of copper and other biocides...some of which have now been outlawed (lead-based TBT)...and they could have characteristic colors. The first effective anti-fouling paints came into use around the mid 1800s, but real scientific investigation into why they worked and what worked best didn't begin until around 1900. So the period your model ship represents, and what she was used for, and even where she was plays a part in which color will be correct below the waterline. Tradition is also a factor. For instance, the Chesapeake Bay oyster-dredging Skipjacks were very often painted all white above the waterline...including mast and boom. A gold ball was placed at the top of the mast if the boat carried no debt. Lots of fun stuff to research and learn...which to me is one of the best parts of modeling.
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This is absolutely true...but. Using high strength epoxy and tissue-thin fiberglass cloth, I can make .010" thick body panels that are quite sufficiently strong to be used for 1/25 scale models. They are very time consuming to make, and require rather a lot of skill and judgment that comes from long experience. And still, they would be 1/4 inch thick if scaled up to 1:1 (though with careful design, they can be made to give the impression of scale-thickness parts). Now here's the "but" part: Though it wasn't specifically the OP's question, there are MANY things on some very recent car models that are highly disappointing from an unnecessarily-thick standpoint, clumsily represented, and downright toy-like klugey. In many cases, the somewhat delicate appearance that would make parts of these models MUCH more realistic in certain areas has been sacrificed in order to (apparently) combat the "fiddly" complaints typically leveled at some of the better models by less competent builders. Dumbing down to appeal to the lower common denominator seems to be more prevalent in model cars than other genres.
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I think the general perception in the industry is that model cars still appeal somewhat to the "toy" crowd these days, and that planes, armor, (and the better train stuff) is going to be more likely built by adults who have fully-developed eye-hand coordination and manual skills. They're also apparently not as likely to run screaming when they see a high-ticket model as the typical car-modeler either, for some reason. Finer, thinner, more accurate tooling costs more bucks to develop, which translates to more expensive kits. It IS unfortunate. I dabble in all the genres mentioned, and I'm well aware of what CAN be done with injection molded styrene when the kit designers target competent modelers, and when the designers themselves are competent. The HO railroad kits from Tichy / Gould are a case in point. They're little jewels. Some of the grab irons are only .010" thick. But ham-handed kiddies tend to need clunky, thick parts so they don't destroy them during handling, and they're not as discerning about scale accuracy and technical correctness either. PS. Speaking of Gould, this is the guy himself. Started a model company on a shoestring, did all his own tooling. Not the kind of guy to say "it can't be done here anymore" and hand off all the real work to the Chinese. http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Gould.htm
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Nice, loose, not-overworked style. I like it. I've always had a thing for big driving lights in the grille too.
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The Dodge Red Ram small hemi came in the original Ala Kart double kit, and all of its MANY subsequent '29 Ford derivatives. There is a ridiculously underscale one in the "new-tool" Ala Kart.
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Micro Balloons questions.
Ace-Garageguy replied to HotRodaSaurus's topic in Model Building Questions and Answers
I bought some to test back in June. Haven't had time yet. -
I went back and read all of the thread I'd missed. Beautiful work, and masterful attention to technical detail...as always. That cross-pushrod valve train arrangement is one of the odd ones. If I remember correctly, it's featured in this book...
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Fascinating. I learned quite some time ago to keep an open mind, having experienced things myself that defy conventional explanations.
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The inline Zephyr six block shares a lot of design characteristics with the little English Ford 4. The height and width of the block is very similar (as the bore and stroke were the same as the Consul/Zephyr 1508 4-cylinder early on), and the distributor location is similar too (though the carbs are on the opposite side of the head). Grafting two cylinders from a four cylinder English Ford pushrod 4 to the rear of another one ought to get you well into the ballpark visually. The stock L24 Z-car engine most likely has Hitachi knockoffs of SU carbs. Similar visually, but they have square shoulders on the vacuum chambers, as opposed to the rounded ones on the SU version.
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Choosing a glue bomb..
Ace-Garageguy replied to slusher's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Old kit "glass" doesn't bother me. Even if it's in good shape, it usually looks thick and has serious distortion. After experimenting with ideas from Bill Geary and Tulio Lazzaroni, I've found that windshields, backlites, etc. formed from clear sheet look much more realistic. If you're going to go to all the trouble of entirely rebuilding somebody's old mess, why not upgrade it too? Same goes for drilling out chrome headlights and replacing them with reflectors and clear lenses...unless, of course, you're doing a period-piece straight restoration of the kit as it was manufactured. -
Clear coat gone wrong
Ace-Garageguy replied to 1hobby1's topic in Model Building Questions and Answers
Fifth line in the OP's post: " it passed the spoon test I had painted "