Ace-Garageguy

Good looking truck. A lot of these were still in service when I was a id, and that's pretty much what I think of as "truck". Nice work so far.

How much for the redhead, full scale?

Sorry you got taken, so far. I wish you luck getting a refund. I've bought models that were supposedly "new stock of a discontinued kit" from people who were non-modelers, and often, they simply can't tell by looking if a kit has been started or not...or they just dishonestly try to pass off crapp as gold. Hard to believe in the first case, not so hard in the second...and 100% true. This is one of the main reasons I prefer to buy through Ebay, if I can find what I'm looking for. Their refund policy is outstanding, and for well over 2000 transactions now, I haven't lost a cent...though I HAVE had around 10 problems, all of which were almost immediately resolved. Nevertheless, a lot of people seem to hate Ebay and PayPal, and that's their right. That said, the Italeri kit you mention is currently available from Ebay sellers, one at exactly the $40 price you mention (with FREE SHIPPING).

That's what almost invariably happens to me.

Here's a little on the appearance of similar magnetos themselves...The one below is quite modern, and similar looking mags are frequently seen on light aircraft engines today. Here's a 4-cylinder mag with a more conventional cap, fairly easy to model from a distributor. On these mags, the plug wires come out the black holes, visible at the end away from the camera. This is the plug wire end on an earlier type. Magnetos have been around almost as long as internal combustion engines, so if you're building a particular period in history, you may want to research mags more thoroughly.

Here's one running a magneto, the black thing under the exhaust and coolant manifolds, driven by the same positively-driven shaft (not belt, but chain or gears) that drives the water pump just ahead of it. Black wires running up to the plugs. Here's a better view of a similar drive, with a different mag, but the same idea. Here's another similar mag drive. In this one, the plug wires are clearly visible, yellow, coming out the top of the mag. I've also seen mags on the front side of the timing cover. Just about any setup you do like this would be "correct", as much of this stuff was designed and machined for a particular car...long before everything was available ready-made in catalogs.

Mo' debinately worth a try. I have just the project that might get back on the rails if it works. Thanks for the heads-up.

Yeah, the good ol' US of A never really led the world in basic English literacy, but it seems to be getting worse daily. Maybe it's because so many uneducated fools have internet access, so we're just seeing MORE of how widespread the problem is, but... I'm seeing these same mistakes more and more often made by "professional writers" and "journalists", and "tech" people who don't understand simple fractions, etc. How do you graduate high-school or get a degree with almost ZERO basic skills? The wild part is that a LOT of them seem to be proud of their ignorance, and wear it as some kind of anti-nerd badge of honor.

Certainly good to have someone with your industry background here as a regular. The Accurate Miniatures line put out some of the finest models I've ever seen. Hardly "shake the box" kits, but there's a museum-quality model in every one, if a little skilled effort is supplied by the builder. I sure wish all kits were manufactured to similar standards.

And another little thing, not totally unexpected but still mildly irksome...I bought a "manufacturer refurbished" Dell Win7 Pro laptop for a specific use...to tune the EFI in a project car I'm working on. Good price, good feedback for the seller, advertised as "reconditioned by our expert technicians to be in 100% as-new working condition, but with a few minor appearance imperfections from use". Fine. I didn't expect a new machine. What I GOT was missing the retainer screw that holds the disc drive in...which fell out on the floor, a mostly non-functional touch-pad, and an SD card slot that looks like it was attacked by a chimp with a hammer and screwdriver. It also seems to be missing the drivers that allow it to recognize a wi-fi OR hardwired network. I can't connect to the net with it to GET the drivers, and the SD slot looks to be iffy at best, so getting the drivers in that way is possibly problematic too. Apparently the "expert technicians" are being drawn from the same ability-pool as most of the "mechanics" whose work I correct on a daily basis now. Can I fix it? Yeah, but I bought it to USE...not to become another rebuild project. Now...to see if they will honor the 30-day refund promise...

First Ebay / USPTO shipment out of over 2000 to go completely MIA. No update since Aug. 12, coming from Seattle.

Maybe it's my little bit of Klingon blood that makes me like some meat at just-killed temperature, and bloody.

Maybe everybody is outside watching instead of loading trucks and sitting at computer terminals...

Ditto. I bought a '62 in 1972, blown (up) 40-horse, had minimal rust in the driver's floor, both rockers and the rt. rear lower corner. Put in a 1600 dual-port with twin Dellortos, and she made a surprisingly good truck. I musta put at least 100k miles on that thing, beating her pretty hard most of the time. Snapped the non-counter-weighted crank once, and she still made it home. Kept until the then-current ex 'liquidated' several of my cars without my knowledge in about '91.

To be really safe, ANY meat needs to go to at least 160 F INTERNALLY. Eating rare beef is a little risky, but it's a risk I'm willing to take...and it's the only meat or fish I eat too raw...except for the occasional sushi. That said, the notion that pork, per se, causes high blood pressure, is one of those often repeated and mostly incorrect ideas. http://www.livestrong.com/article/492293-does-eating-pork-cause-high-blood-pressure/

Been eatin' kinda raw cow for a long time now, still ticking over pretty well for pushing the big seven-oh. I DO cook pork very thoroughly though. Trichinosis is a seriously nasty infestation.

What's REALLY slick about that one is the fractional conversion on the display. I haven't seen that in a low-priced unit before. If the repeatability is really half a thou, as noted in the specs, it's good enough for just about anything short of all-out racing engines. Gonna get me one too.

Thanks guys. I stayed off my feet for a few days, and got back to semi-normal. I've been working short days and walking as much as possible, and think I'll be 100% shortly. Last time I went to the doc for something relatively minor, they did permanent damage to me (which kinda changed my life...and not in a good way). I waited too long to sue, and now I avoid them unless blood is pouring out on the floor and I don't have the right size cork.

In general, I agree that some digital equipment is overly complex and can be failure prone. All my micrometers are old-school Central and Starrett analogs. That said, I've had a Mitutoyo digital caliper since 1995, and it's still going strong. It lives with my mill and lathe, where repeatable precision is really important. I also have several cheap ($20 or less) Chinese knockoffs that I keep in various toolboxes at the places I work most, and on the model-car bench, and they ALL are still functioning just fine, with some being more than 10 years old. You DO have to replace the batteries every two years or so, more often if you use them really frequently. The GREAT thing about digital is that almost ALL of them have buttons to switch the display from inch-decimal to metric. This can be really handy, because 1 mm = about one SCALE inch in 1/25. For example, say you're building a roll bar. Rather than having to convert 2" to scale, or .080" actual, if you're going through unlabeled styrene rod or tube, all you need to do is open the tool to 2 mm on the metric scale, and then measure your pile of styrene by the go / no go method. OR press the display button to convert to inch-decimal, about .080", and you can run to the store and buy a pack of .080" styrene. I actually like to use analog dial calipers, but you need to spend more money to get a GOOD one, as the tiny and precise internal parts are less likely to be well-made in el-cheapos.

You think if I drink some Drano it'll kill 'em?

A bloody-rare roast beef and sharp cheddar sammidge on rye, and a slice of key-lime pie. Simple pleasures for simple minds. And it's OK. I walked the 2 miles to the store and back today, and I have a hiking date tomorrow. That'll be at LEAST 5 miles.

THANK YOU SIR. I'll file those shots for future reference, 'cause I REALLY want to do that. Thanks again.

If I still had cable TV Id watch the series just to see Lena Headey (who I first noticed on the TV Terminator series years ago). Thrones looks like pretty good entertainment.

Getting DOUBLE BILLED for a $100+ transaction at Amazon. Man, I'm SO EFFING SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE E-COMMERCE BS. On my way to the bank to raise hell there first...