Ace-Garageguy

1/2 pound+ medium rare onion-and-pepper-crusted burger with at least a sixth pound of melted blue cheese, thick slabs of ripe sweet tomatoes and pepperoncini rings, on crusty pumpernickel with lotsa mayo, cheap Merlot to wash it down. Mmmm mmmm tasty. And I still have fresh raspberries for dessert.

Yup. An older issue I have has some real problems with the rear of the roof, etc., but I'll give the repop a chance. Lotsa cool parts in it, anyway.

All good advice, and this one especially. One of the guys at the place I've been snagging HO stuff asked me if I'd be interested in some things he didn't want to bother pricing and putting in his stall. I said sure, I'm always interested, and gave him my number. Couple weeks went by, he called, said he had a big box of stuff I could come look at. The catch was, take all of it, no cherry picking. I looked through it, found several nice locomotives and cars, some structures, kits, etc. I figgered a couple hundred bucks would get the stuff I really wanted, and I'd live with the rest of it, or trade it. He asked me to make an offer, which I usually try to avoid. It's YOUR stuff, give me a price you can live with. He kinda sheepishly said "would you go $60?" Yup. Sold.

Well-being and the feelings thereof are generally enhanced after exercise, even if you hurt; exercise has beneficial psychological effects as well as physical.

People have been offed for less than that. Probably don't want to smile in the rough part of town, if you catch my drift.

I had almost no modeling time last year, and frankly, with the way things were going, not much interest anyway. Still, I managed to make some small progress on the 4 I'd like to wrap up first. Did a little work on a display dio too.

That does occur to me from time to time, as I easily have enough model stuff now to stock what would have been a fantastic hobby shop in the '60s or '70s or '80s. But I just don't care. If I live forever, I'll never get bored...at least for 30 years or so. And if I run out of interest in building, or the ability, I WILL open a hobby shop, and in the meantime I'll be trying to find someone to will it all to who won't pile it up in a big bonfire or the nearest dumpster.

A few months back I bought several Sampson extruded aluminum passenger car kits that represent fluted stainless steel. These are very simple kits, with diecast ends, doors, and truck frames, and wooden underbodies. When highly polished, they still look great, and super-detailing with updated couplers, brake rigging, and diaphragms makes them really come alive. One was particularly rough, and I bought it mainly because I figured it would end up in the trash if I didn't, so there wasn't much to lose. Where a clear acetate vista-dome had been taped to the carbody, oxidation and heavy pitting had effectively ruined the extruded lines. The oxidation was pretty bad, and pitting had begun to migrate to areas adjacent to the dome as well. After repeated scrubbings with vinegar and a stainless wire brush, we had this. Still badly pitted, but I could see the full extent of the damage. After a few coats of self-etching chromate primer, she was looking a little better, and after brushing in the direction of the striations, minor pitting was getting filled. I continued priming and wire-brushing enough times to fill most of the damage on the sides, then tried a piece of 400 grit folded to a sharp edge to try to start bringing the roof back...and it's working. I finished enough to make me confident I can bring her all the way back with enough time and patience, then restore the "stainless" with one of the newer "bare metal" products. That's probably as far as I'm going to go for a while, but I'd say it's a successful proof-of-concept. Even if I can't get a really good "stainless" finish, a lot of these cars got painted over the years in reality, so she'll be pretty again one way or another.

"Butler" always made me wonder exactly how one buttles.

Just as I pulled up to the place I buy propane, the Amerigas truck pulled out, after having restocked the cage with full bottles. Happy happy, as it's going down to 18F in the next few days. Perfect timing, as the indoor counter girl I paid thought they were out, and still waiting for a delivery.

Hmmmm...probably made in England from real steel instead of "offshore" tin and pot-metal, and will probably last another 100 years.

Start saving (taking advantage of compound interest) for your retirement when you're in your 20s, and even without a gubmint safety net, you'll be comfortable by the time you're a toothless useless old geezer.

"Clean" is a term I once angrily tried to explain to an entry-level employee as "a total absence of dirt, grease, and grit" after he repeatedly brought me filthy internal engine parts asking "is this clean enough?".

"Qualifies for food stamps" is something nobody will ever say about me...probably.

Generally true, but very recently I've been buying tons of vintage HO scale model train stuff for on average less than 1/3 of what any of it could be purchased online or in a hobby shop for, and in some cases, as little as 1/10. I've also picked up vintage car kits for around 1/2 of what they're going for online, and a few for much better deals than that. I personally wouldn't rule out any likely source for models, as you don't know what's out there until you try. You might find insanely overpriced gloobombs, and you might find a grail kit NIB for $10. You just never know.

Sleep includes brain activity, breathing, digestion, and in my case much tossing and turning, so why not?

Sleep is rapidly becoming my favorite activity.

As wisely stated above, a lot of it comes down to being in the right place at the right time, and having the cash to make a deal on the spot. I can't count the number of times I've gone back later to snag something, just to find it gone. The last time was a virgin MPC Astro-Vette, at the ACME show here in late October, for a fair bit under what they can be had for online in rough condition. Someday, I'll learn.

ATV use really ought to be done with a little respect for the fact that not everyone wants to hear them in neighborhoods where people are entitled to restful quiet.

"Issues" that crop up in our lives over and over and over from the same sources can lead to short-tempered reactions, after the same issues have been repeatedly addressed and settled.

Apparently all the little techie wizards working on this krappola have left out a big part of the equation, the one that deals with UNDERSTANDING. AI, as it appears to be functioning now, is happily content to regurgitate and scramble BS it pulls from various web sources, just like most people who rely solely on Google for their instant "knowledge". Without an actual KNOWLEDGE BASE, and without the ability to make ACCURATE logical progressions based on actual FACTS, it's useless.

Strange or unexpected chemical reactions between polymers can develop over time. Nobody expected the dreaded "tire melt" phenomenon that occurred between some vinyl kit tire compounds and some styrene kit compounds. Sorry, but that's all I've got on this one.

Vinegar etching goes back as far as the 1930s for die-cast and brass model train stuff, probably farther. It still works fine for diecast, brass, aluminum, and others. These days I prefer rattlecan self-etching primers made for automobile spot repairs, available in most chain auto-parts stores and many big-box emporiums. Far as I can tell, it enhances adhesion on every kind of metal you're likely to encounter as a modeler. I usually clean metal with lacquer thinner before priming. Automotive self-etching rattlecan primer is compatible with any topcoat...at least so far in my experience. If you need to correct surface imperfections on metal parts, automotive rattlecan "sanding" or "high build" primers work well over metal coated with self-etching primer, as that's what they're designed for.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" simply means "treat everyone else the way you'd like to be treated", and if everyone lived by that simple Golden Rule, life would be much better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

George Orwell said there's be days like these.