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Everything posted by Ace-Garageguy
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Revell Foose '48 Cadillac de-Foosed
Ace-Garageguy replied to Perspect Scale Modelworks's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Me too. Folks may not like his particular style, but the man is an absolute master of his craft, and that's not a subjective opinion based on whether I "like" his work of not. It's absolute indisputable objective fact. That said... Jay, I REALLY like what you've done with this. Until you showed us the way, I honestly had no idea how good these mods could look. I applaud your vision, and your skill in making it real. -
'26/'27 turtle deck T hot rod kits requested
Ace-Garageguy replied to Phildaupho's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Unfortunately, the Buttera engine block scales out to be a full inch shorter (length) than the '32 kit engines. The heads are a full 1.5" too short. The height from the oil pan rail to the top of the block is about .5" (scale) shorter on the Buttera engine than the '32 versions. The oil pan itself is about 1.5" short (front to rear) in the Buttera kit too. This isn't a deal breaker to the garden variety modeler, obviously, and I don't go around measuring these things just to stir up trouble. But the fact is that I've been looking at greasy bits and fast things professionally for the better part of the last 50 years, and immediately, the engine in the Buttera kit looked wrong to me...just as the underscale "new tool" Ala Kart engine did, the exhaust-port spacing on the nailhead engine in Revell's '29, and the discrepancies between two of Revell's representations of the exact same 6.1L Hemi engine in two contemporary kits, the Magnum and Challenger. It probably doesn't help that I'm also a designer and artist, and have a well developed sense of proportion. And inevitably, when something looks wrong to me, my apprehension is borne out when I put the calipers to whatever it is. Funny story...I once walked into an aircraft hangar to look at a brandy-new Cirrus SR22. I immediately remarked that it was longer than the previous version of the airplane, and I thought the difference was in the cowling. The owner disagreed vehemently, so I suggested we just measure the damm thing. Sure enough, it WAS 3/8" longer. I had instantly been aware of a 3/8" difference...on an airplane that's 26 feet long. Like I said, I don't do it to stir up trouble, but I also believe that accuracy matters...in every field...and if part of a kit designer's job description includes "measuring", he can damm well be expected to get it right. And WHY the underscale engine? I have no clue. Just as in the "new tool" Ala Kart, the correctly scaled engine WILL FIT in the engine bay. It's tight, just as it is on a real one (in both cases) but it DOES fit. Maybe the powers that be should just hire me to look at their first 3D-printed pre-tool-cutting models. If I like the proportions, being the prickly anal-retentive SOB I am, you can be pretty sure nobody is going to have any hairs to split on down the road. -
What a beauty. I could certainly deal with living on the French Riviera in the late 1950s, driving that, and dating women who looked and dressed like Vogue models. I think I'll put in a request for an alternate reality.
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There's a few for me, all pretty much equally evocative of better times with infinite possibilities still in the future... The Revell SWC Willys is certainly one, as is the original opening-door Revell '57 Chebby. The others are the AMT '40 Tudor Sedan, the AMT '49 Ford coupe, AMT '53 Ford pickup, and two of AMT's double kits, the original issue Ala Kart / '29 Ford and the XR-6 / '27 T.
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Interesting questions. I'm getting pretty long in the tooth, but frankly, I'm happy as a clam (and I have it on good authority that clams are very happy indeed) when a new well-done kit hits the market, and in the past few years I've branched out from primarily hot-rods and customs (and important race cars like historic Corvettes and Porsches and McLarens and Ferraris) to fairly late-model Euro and Asian tuners too. But I'm still a sucker for the "restored" issues of the kits from my youth...and clean originals.
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Golden Commandos 1965 Plymouth
Ace-Garageguy replied to afxmustang's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
Not the subject of your question, but I could sure go for a kit of this... -
That's chilly. Still lacking central heat, if it gets that cold here, I'll have to set fire to my house to stay warm.
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I think you may want to check your premises here. The tail-end of the boomers who are still earning (like me) and retirees who were strong earners while working (and are comfortable financially in retirement) are probably the biggest spenders in this hobby, and probably will be for some time to come. While there are admittedly high-earning "genX and younger" folks (probably like you if you're in IT), a LOT of them just aren't. Many used-to-be highly skilled trades that paid very well (in the $100,000 annually range)...like mechanic...have been dumbed down by a combination of dealership greed, rocketing expenses, and almost exclusively "computer diagnostics" having taken over the role of actual physical competence. $25,000 a year is what a typical dealership mechanic can expect to make these days, and that doesn't go far in the real world. Neither does the financial remuneration one gets from serving coffee at Starbucks, or shifting Chinese-made crapp at WalMart. And the manual skills that take significant effort to develop, and exposure to "dangerous" sharp tools and smelly, messy chemicals are not high on the lists of "things that appeal to young people".
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WARNING: If you don't like passionate speakers who want every human being to THINK and ACHIEVE, PLEASE do NOT view this video. AND: Though he DOES use the word "conservative" in its political sense, once, early in the talk, this presentation has NOTHING whatsoever to do with politics. NOTHING. This is a really smart guy who sees the big picture and is trying to inspire and make a difference in the world. He's not a self-improvement-guru huckster going for the fast buck, but a gifted psychologist, educator and philosopher. I came across him by accident, and can't help but agree enthusiastically with almost everything he says.
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I'm not going to beat this dead horse...honest. What I AM going to do is to say that, after spending more time thinking about all the build options with this kit (it IS a grand parts source for bodies for a string of early dragsters) and getting mostly over my disappointment in not finding a WELL SCALED NEW-TOOL QUICK CHANGE (which the hobby is sorely lacking), along with other correctly-scaled bits, I think I probably could have been a little kinder to it. I'll most likely be buying a few more...as long as they're cheap.
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Man, that's nice. Get the plates on there so you can drive the thing.
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That's a really good looking model...and a very handsome car with stock proportions. I think Revell's version of the top-chop works much better as a model that's not too heavily customized otherwise....which is Scott's stated intention for building his. A mild chop just works better with a mild overall theme that's still looks much like the original car.
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Early funnycars..magneto or distributor?
Ace-Garageguy replied to DWR's topic in WIP: Drag Racing Models
There was a lot going on in those heady days of rapid innovation and development in all kinds of racing. For an overview of Ford's direct involvement in the birth of the Funny, read this... http://www.hotrod.com/articles/birth-of-the-flip-top/ -
'26/'27 turtle deck T hot rod kits requested
Ace-Garageguy replied to Phildaupho's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
I'd vote for that in principle...BUT...though the bodies and the tube-frame under the Buttera-based T kits are well-scaled, for some inexplicable reason, the smallblock Ford engine, trans and other guts are significantly UNDERSCALE. It's something that, if put forward as-is, will have the folks who understand and demand "scale" screaming bloody murder. Revell already has scale-correct tooling for a smallblock Ford in their '32 kits, so getting it right shouldn't be too terribly hard. AMT / R2 also has STOCK '27 T underpinnings in the "Police Car" phaeton and its relatives (I believe it started life with the double kit including the XR6). -
'26/'27 turtle deck T hot rod kits requested
Ace-Garageguy replied to Phildaupho's topic in Car Kit News & Reviews
I hope they listen to you. I've been wondering for many years why a styrene '26 / '27 was never offered...and I've been vocal about it. The little T body on either '32 or A-bone rails was and is an iconic real-hot-rod package, and as such, is a natural to extend the appeal of the underpinnings in Revell's MIA A-bone kits. -
Can you fuse two cars together?
Ace-Garageguy replied to Blackkat13's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Me? Finish something? Surely you jest, sir. -
Early funnycars..magneto or distributor?
Ace-Garageguy replied to DWR's topic in WIP: Drag Racing Models
A little sumpin' else to remember..."funnycars" evolved directly from A/FX cars through the intermediate step of S/FX cars...super or supercharged factory experimental. A/FX cars were put together with bits that were theoretically available from the factory. Batteries were required, as well as battery / distributor ignition systems (depending on how you interpret the '64 NHRA rules, and whether or not the factory listed a magneto as a factory option). The cars were NOT supercharged, so a hot battery-coil-distributor could be used effectively. For '65-'66 in NHRA A/FX class, altered wheelbase cars were coming in, batteries were still required, and the engines were still NON supercharged. BUT...a pair of wild supercharged gas-burning Dodge exhibition cars ran as S/FX in '64. Essentially top-gas dragster engines, they ran Scheifer / Cirello style mags that looked like this...(and as on Spike's blown Chrysler engine above)... AND...Jack Chrisman's Sachs & Sons Comet ran B/FD in '64 with a nitro-burning supercharged engine. Considered by many to be the original "funnycar", it also ran a mag. Naturally. Eddie Schartman's tube-frame flip-top Comet became the NHRA's first official Funny Car winner in 1966. -
Dieselpunk Hybrid hot-rod: Turbines and drivetrain, Jan.25
Ace-Garageguy replied to Ace-Garageguy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks guys. With the shorter days, I'll be getting in earlier, so the plan is to start getting back to the bench in the evenings. I'd really like to get this one sorted enough to pull molds of the opening panels soon. -
Early funnycars..magneto or distributor?
Ace-Garageguy replied to DWR's topic in WIP: Drag Racing Models
Buncha info on mags... And how they work here (including running them on the street)... http://cs.scaleautomag.com/sca/general_discussion/f/3/t/113284.aspx And a little on the old Spalding Flamethrower that looks kinda like a mag but isn't... -
Agreed 100%.
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Testors Lacquer removal
Ace-Garageguy replied to Bryan Brogan's topic in Model Building Questions and Answers
I've successfully had brake fluid cut some automotive urethane clears and primers that none of the alcohols or lye-based products would touch. However...I have no idea what exactly the primers were. And a note of caution: (you probably already know this) Prolonged soaking in brake fluid can leach the plasticizers out of styrene and leave it brittle...very brittle. -
I'm not a Marine, but I sure as hell respect them.