Ace-Garageguy

Pretty cool. Looks WAY more like a 356 than anything else ever built from this horrible kit. Much applause for tackling such a major undertaking. Love the lights too.

I've been saying for years that the over-reliance on electronics, unnecessary complication, just plain stupid integration of every vehicle system through onboard computers (including the whole CAN-bus idea) is going to make the current crop of cars a nightmare as they age. And I get shouted down by "everything new is better" gibberish, and the misguided who seem to believe that additional layers of processors and logic code are somehow cheaper to manufacture than a couple of wires or a cable. Well fellas, I've been in the car biz for over 5 decades, I've worked with a LOT of mechanics (most of which were either knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers or just plain crooks), and THIS GUY IS THE BEST I'VE EVER SEEN. Anywhere. He tells it like it is.

Actually I did get eggs. But first I had to go pawn my watch so's I could afford them.

Yup, most likely a cast-iron Hydramatic (an entirely different animal from a Turbo 350, 400, or anything later). A current, highly internally-modified 4L60 or 4L80 will handle around 1,000 horsepower, so that's an option if you want to use more modern parts.

See my post immediately above. There's a link to a shot of the bellhousing and gearbox.

OK...this is the mid-engined Beast II, but you can see a pretty much normal looking automotive bellhousing, and a big cast-iron early Hydramatic gearbox bolted to it. A conventional driveshaft would run to the differential. (click the link, as the photo is copy-protected) http://www.sixmania.fr/wp-content/uploads/the-beast-2-rolls-royce-merlin-powered-car/arriere.jpg The big old Hydramatics were capable of handling a LOT of torque, and were the basis for the famous B&M "Hydro Stick" drag racing automatics. You can find a very good early Hydramatic in several Revell kits...including both Anglia drag cars. PS: Here's the article. Some of the technical description is scrambled though. http://www.sixmania.fr/en/the-beast-2-rolls-royce-merlin-powered/ EDIT: Don't worry too much about getting the driveline absolutely "correct", because everything like this would be a one-off, so there's no "right" way.

Surely there's some build shots and tech info on Dodd's Beast out there in webland too...

Here's a quick video with a decent shot of the adapter, PTO, reduction box, and gearbox bolted to the Merlin at 3:05. You might have some luck searching for more images of this car.

The power takeoff comes off the prop end, naturally. Try to find photos of the "Big Al" '34 Ford drag car, several other Allison powered beasts, or "tractor pulling" vehicles in the US. The 1710 Allison used in all the above is similar in appearance to a Merlin from a Spitfire, and the installation and gearbox setup would be essentially identical. If I get a few minutes free, I'll see if I can find you some definitive pix.

Yup, I've done repairs similar to the ones above, styrene carefully fitted and installed with liquid cement, allowed to dry several days, but I use very fine fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin (not the 5-minute stuff, but real structural epoxy) for final reinforcement on the backside. No progress shots, but this one had zero pillars when I got it, after somebody tried to chop the top, realized they were in over their head, and gave up. The slender pillars withstood rather a lot of handling to get it to this point.

Great build. Like everyone said, the tires change the look entirely. I've been wanting to do one of the Hoover Dam APs.

Stocked up on bread and milk to get me through the coming snowstorm...'cause that's what you do, right? Anybody have a good recipe for milk sammiges?

Car things are being pushed to becoming as disposable as cheap offshore-made appliances and last-generation cellphones, but if you try to explain this to anyone who's not in the business, you get shouted down with "EVERYTHING NEW IS BETTER-LASTS LONGER-IS SAFER-MORE CONVENIENT-MAKES YOUR LUNCH-DOES YOUR LAUNDRY-PARALLEL PARKS ITSELF IF YOU HAVE ZERO PHYSICAL SKILLS-BLA BLA BLA" ad nauseam.

Support from the aftermarket is nonexistent for loads of late-model electronic bits, and some vehicles are configured specifically so you can't swap in used bits, so if a part is NLA from the OEM, you either re-engineer systems entirely (often cost-prohibitive even IF you can find anyone who has the skills), or in some cases, just junk an otherwise perfectly good vehicle.

Real car reference material, but very useful for "traditional" model rod builders who like to understand reality, and get things right.

Japan seems to be going down the questionable engineering road much of the rest of the world now favors, unnecessary complication that really doesn't make a product "better", just more prone to failure and more costly to repair.

You reminded me of a doofus move I made. I had a clear 1/24 Lotus 30 body with a cool fade paint job on one of the sidewinder chassis, probably Cox. I had seen the real Chaparrals with their big flapping wings and thought it would be pretty slick to try something similar. I made a rig that let the motor swing up under acceleration, down when you let off, with struts to a wing and a bellcrank to flatten it on go, flip it almost vertical for an air brake on decel. The mechanism worked great, but I made the wing out of something like .040" brass sheet. Way top heavy. You can guess the rest.

Nights in White Satin was so long ago it sometimes seems like another lifetime, but other times those memories are as vivid as yesterday.

Hope you feel better soon, Bob. Joint pain that seems to come out of nowhere can really ruin your outlook.

"Horn-dog" is a semi-mecha species of dachshund/trumpet hybrid. (not from Wiki...)

I've bought a few of these ancient MRC power packs as NOS or NIB, after testing one. The "pulse power" is amazing, especially for old tech. Even el cheapo old Tyco locomotives will creep pretty well, and anything with a 5-pole skew-wound motor will move so slow you can barely see it. Yes, sometimes they'll buzz a little, and might try to overheat if you leave 'em creeping too long, but they make realistic switching in block-wired yards very doable without DCC. (I do have some DCC equipped locomotives, but it's not hard to wire a layout to do both. You just have to remember which locos are which, where they are, and flip the right switches powering the blocks.) The ones with "momentum" are even better...

My too pence...I'd happily pay that for the funny cars.

Says who?

"Three world wars and you're out" could be humanity's ultimate legacy, but hey...we wouldn't have to worry about "climate change" as an "existential threat" anymore.

World War Four, it was once said, will be fought with sticks and stones.