Ace-Garageguy

Most excellent.

I have a Phantom Vickie if you want to do that trade. ...of course if Pat doesn't take it. Not trying to cut him out of a deal.

You're right of course. Royal Navy painted in clear view and an arresting hook. Duh. She was just SO pretty, I didn't even notice.

I just had to post this here. Too pretty. Late Griffon-powered Spit. Sorry.

Man. If I could HIKE to the hobby shop, I'd fer sure be in better shape.

A UNIMAT SL1000 (miniature lathe / milling machine) This one is somewhere around 40 to 45 years old. I've wanted one of these for more than 50 years, have been needing a small lathe lots lately, had the bucks, and found one that looks almost new, in the original box, with all the parts the original setup came with...some still wrapped in oil paper. A lot of "experts" bash these things, but I've worked on one before, and if you respect what the machine is, what it was designed to do, and what its capabilities are, you'll find it's a little jewel of a tool. I have a lathe with a 16" swing in the big-car shop, so I don't need to make large parts or take heavy cuts on this little guy anyway. The thing is incredibly versatile, and parts and accessories are readily available worldwide. Old-school German / Austrian craftsmanship. Spindle runout new was supposed to be about half a thou, and .001"-.002" is common on older machines...perfectly adequate for model work.

Ditto. Most kits I buy are old vintage, unavailable except online. When I DO infrequently buy a current or recent kit, I'll usually go to HobbyTown nearby, as it's the closest thing we've got to a real hobby shop. Their prices are competitive with what I'd pay online plus shipping, and they're always WELL STOCKED with tools, styrene, brass, paint, and most every other supply or material...so buying newer kits there helps to keep them going for what I actually need.

I have heard that, yes, but never knew why. I do seem to recall that there were some design changes made to simplify and speed up production. Do you have a link to the article perchance? PS. I also seem to remember that one of the old-school SoCal machine shops that hard-core old rod guys would remember was one of the early builders of racing Merlins. I seem to remember a shot of a bare block being line-bored in one of the old rod mags, with the old guy and his young apprentice in the shot. Ring any bells, anybody?

I bought two of his Merlins for a twin-engined LSR VW bus a while back. While they are very nice, I was a little disappointed with them, having assumed (which I know I should never do) that they would be cast from individual parts. They were instead cast from a built-up engine. The project stalled at that point, and I've been getting around to getting set up for silicone moldmaking and casting small parts again. The project list is long enough to justify the expense finally, but I'm not going to buy materials with a limited shelf life until I have more free time.

Holy moley. I HAVE to get one of those.

There have been a few. The first two I always think of are these. John Dodd's "The Beast"... And this crazy Australian '55 Chebby...

Very good quality print of a short B&W film. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice a Hallock windshield on one of the cars in the infield, and a '37 Ford V8-60 lightweight tubular axle under the front end of one of the race cars. Plenty of other period details too, like some early ideas in roll bars. Judging from the non-race cars visible , this was shot either just before or just after WW II.

The old Red Baron kit has a seriously underscale Mercedes inline aero engine too,

All the "cool" guys on the HAMB say it.

If my memory is correct, the Spalding Flamethrower was introduced in the mid-to-late 1950s. The manual I have only lists the Chevy 265 and 283 smallblock V8 engines, so that would put it earlier than '62, for certain (the 327 came out in '62). They used early 1950s production car 1956 Ford points. The advantage, though some "experts" say they lessened point float, was actually that, because they were TWO 4-cylinder distributors in one, firing TWO coils, they allowed far more dwell time than a single-point system. That means more coil saturation, and a fatter, hotter spark. The advantages of a setup like this had been known for years, but the Flamethrower is the first factory unit I know of (hot-rodders had been using similar tech earlier in custom-made systems). Grant made the same unit later, and they were used for a long time. They'll work on the street just fine, and they were often seen on blown drag-only engines.They're still appropriate (and work very well if you don't want to trust electronics). And though they were never made specifically for Ford flatheads, many have been converted. It's not a hard job for a competent machinist.

Glad you're enjoying it. PART 7 Time to get her up on her feet. I made up a temporary axle assembly from styrene tube that would telescope into the new brass fork tubes, and using them as a jig, cemented a cross-tube to serve as an axle. This insured the axle ends would be square with the forks. I then cut the cross-tube in half, so I could get it in the axle holes in the wheel. The REAL Bronson bike was customized somewhat, and one of the mods was a 21" front rim and tire. The model came with an incorrect 19" rim. I scrounged a 21 incher from another later-model Sportster gluebomb. The rear wheel on the Bronson bike is the stock 18 inch job, but I wanted a little different look there too, with a fatter tire. A 16" rim from another gluebomb, and a fatter, taller tire to fit it, and I got her mocked up looking pretty much as I had envisioned. The front brake disc is about the same diameter as the old brake drum center on the 19" kit wheel, so the proportions aren't really changed all that much. The tank has been shot with self-etching Duplicolor green primer, after sanding off the glue smudges and cleaning up the edges. The HOT primer didn't attack the 48 year-old plastic one tiny little bit, which is consistant with my constant harping about the poor quality of current kit plastic. With the forks, triple trees and front axle in place, this is how she'll look on the stand at this point. And with the handlebars and headlight mocked in final position... Now comes the tedious part...taking her apart again, and finishing up all the bits. I'll also have to come up with a hydraulic front brake master cylinder that isn't too bulky. I'll be staying with the stock style rear drum...and probably going to lower just a little...

There was a time I would have liked to see all those too. But...over the years, I found cheap kit sources for most of them, and getting all the leftover bonus kit parts as stash material for about the same price as I'd have to pay for one stand-alone engine kit has worked out well for me. Revell did the Caddy, Buick nailhead, and early Hemi eons ago as parts-packs, and the Caddy is still plentiful and relatively cheap. You can get four nailheads in the Tommy Ivo Showboat, and the early hemi is in the Miss Deal kit. LS engines can be found in slow-moving and often cheap kits, the 4.6 Ford is in several as well, and the same goes for the new Hemi.

I'd guesstimate pretty much slim to none...other than AMT's 1710 Allison, and those Merlins the guy overseas makes. There are some nice engine kits in 1/35 though, and one of them is about right to pass for the smallish Jacobs R-755 radials in the Cessna 190 / 195 / LC-126 in 1/24. That bees part of the reason several years back I bought a buncha 1/24 aircraft models to use as engine source-material (to resin cast for my own use).

Lotsa this around...

Agreed. Somebody recently suggested the wheels / tires from the new-tool Ala Kart as well. Those wheels and whitewall inserts also are on separate sprues (as are the red bullet taillights in the kit). I'd buy a bunch of alla that.

Hey...anybody who wants to start to learn the skills needed to develop injection molding tooling, well here you go. THEN you can tell R2 and Revell and Moebius what they "need" to do. I just got my invite. Dear WILLIAM,Designing for plastic injection molding, especially in a speed-focused process, is like raising teenagers – some parts (and teens) are more challenging than others. But by evaluating a few creative options, even the most difficult of these challenges can be overcome.This presentation looks in-depth at designing complex geometries for rapid injection molding, applying a non-traditional, rapid manufacturing approach to a traditional procedure to accomplish intricacy.Join this Webinar to learn more. https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1179464&tp_key=cb64ef5ed2&sti=TBMGemail

I have comparo pix in the camera. I'll load a batch into the computer and post here in a few days. It's not a drop-in swap, for sure. In the meantime, I want to get a couple of unibody Mopars on the lift at the shop, take a few measurements, and photograph how the rockers blend into the underfloor.

Cool, imaginative technique. I wonder if it will catch on.

No argument there. Modelhaus had that pretty well covered, but no more... These ancient Revell parts-packs always bring good bucks, always sell...