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Everything posted by Ace-Garageguy
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And the engineers and everyone else in the chain of events that led to this (yesterday) thought they did a fine job too...6 people dead.
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Hobbico - BANKRUPT!
Ace-Garageguy replied to niteowl7710's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
The same attitude was prevalent in the train camp too. I've been reading through my collection of late 1940s through mid 1960s Model Railroader. The introduction of plastic easy-kits and RTR rolling stock, though lauded by some as making the hobby accessible to the skill-free crowd, was roundly condemned by "serious" modelers for the very same reason. It wasn't until about 1959, when a very highly skilled modeler by the name of Alan Armitage showed what could be done with plastic, that attitudes really began to change. Still, the toy-train group and the model train group are as far apart today as they were back then. Yes, I know. It's sad that the more access people have to information, the less they seem to value knowledge. -
I think people, more "serious" and "experienced" modelers, who REALLY want the stuff will either buy the vintage parts-packs (as I do), buy the excellent resin offerings already available (as I do), or go to the next level and cast their own replicas of kit parts not otherwise available (as I'm about to). Expecting major model companies to design and tool entirely new parts-pack kits for a market that probably gets smaller every day (as the geezers fall off their perches), when the concept has already been shown to be not-as-profitable as would be nice (if it was ever profitable at all), is just as much delusional wishful thinking as the guy who's certain that a full-detail 1954 Borgward Isabella kit would be the next million seller. Re-releasing existing packs, as R2 has been doing with the fine old AMT engines, or releasing already-tooled bits from existing kits (though the chrome seats was probably a mistake) makes a LOT more sense economically. Sometimes, it's just not as much fun to think like an adult.
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Hobbico - BANKRUPT!
Ace-Garageguy replied to niteowl7710's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
A thorough perusal of old hot-rod and custom car mags will show that model cars were aimed in large part at the older-teen, young-adult, REAL car guys...from the introduction of Revell's 1/32 scale car kits. These kits were advertised in the real-car mags, and feature articles reminding real-car guys that models could be used to work out customizing ideas in scale abounded. I don't think anyone could really believe that most "kids" (which I assume to mean pre-teens) had the manual skills to put together one of the multi-piece bodies that even adult modelers cry about today. I sure as hell couldn't make anything decent from one of them back then. Just as the toy-train / model train camps are (and were even in the 1950s) as different as night and day, I believe that car kits were initially made more for "modelers" than "kids". I also remember from my youth that, to get any kind of decent selection of models, I had to go to a hobby shop. Toy stores typically didn't have much, if anything, in models. That implies the target market was at least older kids, and adults. -
You are correct sir. I hadn't actually looked carefully at one of those kits in some years. I don't see any way to get that stuff to stick to anything like a compound curve. How you covered a tunnel and floors with the stuff without cutting it into multiple sections is beyond my comprehension.
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Tires...Tires...and more Tires!
Ace-Garageguy replied to 3dscaleparts's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Near as I can tell so far (though I haven't really looked that hard yet), there's very little available in aftermarket or interesting kit tires in 1/16 scale. I have a '34 Ford build that's fallen flat on its face because there just don't seem to be many "traditional" tires that are good quality available. WHATEVER you decide to do, please provide a 1/16 scale 3D printing option if you go that way. -
Hobbico - BANKRUPT!
Ace-Garageguy replied to niteowl7710's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
"Unsecured" debt would also include outstanding bills owed to suppliers and contractors. For instance: if the "replacement" tooling for our much longed-for '29 and '31 Ford kits is finished and ready to go into production, but the tab for doing it hasn't been paid. A situation like that could well delay our seeing any '29 or '31 kits on the shelves for many months...until somebody coughs up the jack to pay for the tooling, and demonstrates they have the funds available to pay for a production run. I'm not saying this is the situation (because I just don't know), but it's entirely possible. And it COULD well have been strangled cash-flow that caused the stoppage of these kits anyway. The "lost" or "damaged" molds thing may be entirely speculation or smokescreens. As a supplier of short-run aftermarket real-car tooling from time to time (air dams, spoilers, scoops, fiberglass seats, aero-kits, etc.) I've been left holding-the-bag full of nothing but promises (more than once) when my clients were unable to pay me. -
One of the most important theoretical physicists in human history is dead, at 76. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43396008
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Yup. And they both work reasonably well under the ancient-tool AMT '32 Fords too, and vice versa. And the REASON is because they're ALL 1/25 scale versions of the same car, so IF the different groups doing their measuring and dividing by 25 did their work correctly (surprising how many people in the industry don't seem to have these basic skills today), they all SHOULD fit each other...at least pretty damm close.
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The impossible-to-actually-use Revell interior pack...(image thanks to K&R Kustoms & Rods on Fotki: https://public.fotki.com/jferren/revell-parts-packs/ ) Four pieces of textured vinyl, a piece of black felt, and a piece of "chrome" paper. Neat idea, but impossible to do anything cool with unless you had the skills of a brain surgeon, and always the last parts-pack hanging when every other one was gone. Probably 90% just got thrown out.
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Here's a vintage Monte seat-upholstery pack, plus the world famous Convert-A-Top. Not exactly million-sellers even in their own time.
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This is the vintage AMT chrome frame. There are a couple currently available for about the same money as if they were new from AMT, at current prices.
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Well, if there was a traditional I-beam axle and buggy-spring rear end parts-pack, you could build it traditional and still pirate it for the IFS. There's a couple of shots of the front end in this thread...
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Both Revell and Aurora issued upholstery packs with soft materials like colored vinyl for seats and door panels, and felt for carpet. I can't put my hands on mine at the moment, and I haven't found any photos online, but I have a feeling they were the worst sellers in the entire parts-pack genre. Without heat-molding capability (to vacuum-mold the stuff over a custom or existing seat or panel) or the skill to micro-sew, they were just about useless.
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'32 Sedan Delivery Newstalgia Hot Rod: Updated 3/18/18
Ace-Garageguy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Stance and proportions don't get any better than this. Very nice work modifying the wheels to make it all look righteous. -
But not words, apparently. You also learn to pay attention to and learn from people who actually know what they're doing. I learn new things every day from people who know more than I do...and there are a lot of them. But arguing from ignorance doesn't usually move anyone forward in life.
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1/25 Flathead recommendation?
Ace-Garageguy replied to Earl Marischal's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
MY MISTAKE, and good to know. I never actually LOOKED at the engraving on the heads...just ASSUMED they were oldies. A lesson in why assuming and posting WRONG info isn't the wise move. I should know better. -
Exactly. And the Phantom Vickie has a nice IFS on a separate subframe that adapts easily to older chassis designs too. There are already a lot of slow sellers, usually available cheap if you know what you're doing, that make new-tooling really unnecessary.
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