Ace-Garageguy

This is the single most useful post in this entire thread. I'll be following up.

That's a 14.5 inch diameter in 1/25 scale...useless for dragster wire fronts, which were motorcycle front wires, typically in the 17" to 19" range. Herb Deeks also makes some nice 15" conversion centers, but NO LONGER makes the larger ones (to the best of my knowledge).

What's really unfortunate is that so much of human interaction apparently has to come down to "who's in control"....the old power struggle BS. When I go house or car shopping, I know what I want, I won't settle for anything that's TOO far off the mark (but I try to be reasonable in my expectations and not be the whiny baby), and I expect the sales person to LISTEN to me and accommodate what I want to do with MY money. That's what the sales person is paid for, in my view of things, and if somebody tries to steer me, or push me, of just doesn't listen, I don't play any idiot power games. I walk away, and try somebody else. That said, after dealing with several lazy morons while looking for out-of-state real estate, I've finally found someone who's bright, energetic, resourceful, knowledgeable, and will jump through as many hoops as necessary to get the job done...to MY satisfaction. Good people in ANY profession are out there, but they ARE rare...and far too many buyers let themselves be manipulated by not-the-best sales people.

Hey man, it's the "long hood, short deck" proportions pioneered by the Mustang.

Better than nothing, but it's only about 1% of what's available, and the only fabric listed there that's appropriate for this kind of model work is the "108 Lightweight". Composite cloth comes in a mind-boggling array of weights, weaves and compositions. Then there's non-woven materials like surfacing veil and mat, and multiple permutations of those too. There's unidirectional knitted fabric, and 3-dimensional fabric that has fibers in all three axes. They all do some things well, some things not so well. Some drape in complex shapes easily, some just flat don't drape at all. I've stated countless times that what folks need to get started doing glass work for models is the stuff sold by hobby shops in the RC model plane section. It's the right weight (approximately .55 oz. and .75 oz. and the 1.5 oz that's about what's shown as the "lightweight" cloth in the chart above), it's readily available, and it's cheap. It's a "plain weave" and follows complex shapes OK, but not wonderfully. Nobody listens, or instead of taking the damm advice, they want to know "what about this?" and "well, what about that?" I've also offered to write an in-depth article for the mag explaining the entire process, and apparently there's no interest...or not enough to pay for my knowledge. I'm tired of answering questions one at a time, for people who don't seem to pay attention to what I say anyway. I know this stuff upside down and backwards, it's complex, I made it a large part of my life's work to learn it, I've largely pioneered using high-strength epoxies and fiberglass for almost-scale-thickness panels for models, I've pioneered repair procedures for REAL aircraft that the factory engineers said couldn't be done, I've refined and developed the processes over many years, and still...oh, never mind. Good luck. http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/IndexText/FSIGGF001.html?E+Sig https://fiberglasswarehouse.com/breakdown-of-different-fiberglass-cloths/

Ain't it great to know your services will ALWAYS be in demand, no matter what?

The unfortunate fellow on the right probably doesn't have much in the way of intellectual options, but after doing an image search, it would seem he wasn't hittin' on all eight prior to the accident anyway. The disturbing trend is ignorance-by-choice, especially when it's worn as some misguided badge of honor. Ignorant and damm proud of it. There's a lot of it around.

You Some Folks Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish http://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

Properly mixed polyester resin should jell in about an hour at 60 F, and should be fully hard in a few hours. The ratio of catalyst to resin is important, as is the ratio of mixed resin to glass.

Making "inferior" parts is a choice. It often seems you ask for advice, but don't actually take it. I'll be glad to help you, as I most probably know more about composite materials than 90% of people in the business, and most certainly more than anyone on this board. Without knowing the weave, or having a sample of the particular cloth to weigh, I can not possibly tell you what weight it is. YOU can weigh a square section of the stuff on a gram scale and do some simple arithmetic to see what the per-square-yard weight is.

Define "too thin". ANYTHING correctly made from fiberglass cloth in an open mold is made of MULTIPLE LAMINATE LAYERS, not one single layer. The Bondo brand stuff is loosely woven "boat cloth" and is appropriate for multiple layers on REAL car parts (of low to moderate quality), but not anything in scale...other than perhaps a flat bulkhead. For some reason, newcomers to composite material fabrication seem to almost always make stuff WAY TOO THICK, ridiculously too thick. Even a not-great fiberglass laminate is MUCH stronger than a steel part of the same weight, so the glass part can be MUCH LIGHTER than a steel part of the same strength. An open-molded part will be in the neighborhood of 3 TIMES as strong as a steel part of the same weight, so it can be made at 1/3 the weight of steel and have the same strength. But I STILL see people making body panels from glass on real cars that weigh almost as much as steel. The final thickness of a model car body in 1/8 scale doesn't need to be any more than .030". This can be ideally achieved by 3 layers of fine cloth that is .010" thick.

Finally took the time to read this tragic, well written story. Much better use of my coffee-break than usual. Things like this always make me think of how many young lives are ruined or wasted due to a lack of strong adult role-models teaching kids the essentials of morality.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This thread may contain copyrighted material; the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available for the purposes of criticism, comment, review and news reporting which constitute the 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Not withstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, review and news reporting is not an infringement of copyright. From an article in the Intercollegiate Review: August 28, 2014 "Stupid is the new smart. Consider the nostrums of the digital era. “Video gaming is just a new form of literacy.” “Reality shows . . . challenge our emotional intelligence.” “Who cares if Johnny can’t read? The value of books is overstated.” “If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist.” Watching cartoons is “a kind of mental calisthenics” for small children. “The truth is, we need multitasking as much as we need air.” Translation? World of Warcraft is not altogether different from The Canterbury Tales. Vicarious existence through reality television contestants enables us to enjoy healthier interactions with real people. Ignorance is underrated. Living is interacting through online intermediaries. Let your television babysit your kids. Attention deficit disorder is strength, not malady. Welcome to Idiotville, population seven billion...Intelligent people are using reason to rationalize intellectual laziness as progress and ridiculing time-tested methods of acquiring knowledge, wisdom, and understanding as outdated." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's the entire article. Good for a laugh...and some serious thought. WARNING: REQUIRES READING https://home.isi.org/stupid-new-smart

Ah, the curse of the calibrated eyeball...

I really enjoy this part of the MCM board. It seems like a high percentage of truck modelers strive to get the mechanical bits right, and I always learn something here. Thanks for caring, and sharing the knowledge.

In-progress truck and car-hauler trailer, based on the old Monogram Orange Hauler

Sad indeed. The world needs people whose passion drives their craftsmanship, and the passing of such a man is always a great loss. I only have a very few examples of his work, but for that I'm thankful.

For the familiar screw type, try a sliver of BMF wrapped around the hose. For older style wire clamps, a single strand of very fine wire can be shaped into a convincing clamp.

One of my post-retirement projects will be a full on restomod of the '63 Olds convert my mother bought new, that I tracked down in Texas back in "96 and hauled back up here. Good thing I can do it all myself, 'cause I sure as jell couldn't afford to PAY to have it done. I figure about $15-20K in parts and materials, and a few sublets like chrome.

I've never met the owner, but like Ron said, there must be an emotional attachment. But hey...where can you go buy a virtually new '62 Falcon? And he sure won't see many others that nice.

Yup. Fresh engine, new factory-look interior, new windshield and most exterior aluminum trim, both bumpers chromed, extensive bodywork (she wasn't rusty, but had been bashed around...a lot), very nice paint (not perfect, but better than OEM), brakes and suspension all rebuilt, wheels blasted and painted, new tires, new OEM-style wiring harness, etc...it all adds up, especially with labor on even a low-end, simple car being at $100 / hr.

The 4-downdraft Webers were popular on both big-block and smallblock-powered Cobras. For some strange reason, I don't have any Cobra kits in stock, but the bits are out there. At least that's a place to start. And Webers STILL work great on real cars. They make as much power as EFI, but need more frequent tuning. EDIT: Also check Historic Racing Miniatures and Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. They've both had something in the Weber line...

We have a guy in the big car shop right now who's rapidly closing on having a $50,000 6-cylinder dead-stock '62 Falcon. I'm honestly glad he loves the little car so much, and she's going to be a real sweetheart, but that's a lot of jack to spend on a car that sold new for $1900.

It's Inglese. http://ingleseinductionsystems.com/ The EFI setups haven't been offered in model form (far as I know at the moment) but the multiple Weber manifold for a smallblock Ford HAS been offered. For manifolds for the rest of the Ford engines (other than the FE, which has also been offered) you're probably going to have to scratchbash. The Weber-look EFI setups like Inglese and Imagine bolt to the same footprint as Weber carbs. Some hack-n-scratch starting with scale downdraft Webers will get you the rest of the way to Weber-look EFI.