Ace-Garageguy

The Horn Toad engine (and pretty sure the Rattler too) is a takeoff on the old Pontiac OHC inline 6. The Red Barron engine is an underscale rendition of a WW I German aircraft engine (sorry, I forgot which one; creeping senility, ya' know?). Modifying some old inline six with a scratched head, headers, and Weber carbs or fuel-injection will probably be your best bet. Just an interesting FYI: When a full-scale replica of the Red Barron was built...well after the model was designed...a Pontiac OHC six was used for the engine, as no appropriately-sized aircraft inlines actually existed.

Yes. definitely. It varies from product to product. I've had some that's useless one month after opening, and some of the Loctite stuff has lasted for years...though it doesn't work as well as it ages.

I've just recently (like the past few days) been in touch with Herb Deeks. I have a set of the 15" Borrani PE conversion centers he sells on Ebay, but they are NOT large enough (diameter) to do 17" or 18" motorcycle or dragster wires for a correct-looking vintage digger. He does NOT still make the ones that will.

Absolutely correct. BUT...if you're not intimidated by the computer or learning new things, you CAN learn CAD. Google SketchUp is a simplified FREE 3D modeling program that's FREE for you to download and learn FREE. Did I say it's FREE? It's a perfect introduction to preparing the kinds of drawings that can be converted to doing 3D printing, and everything you will learn in SketchUp will transfer to other CAD programs you might like to get into later. http://www.sketchup.com/

All the more reason to run an ad-blocker. Adblock Plus is free, it WORKS (including removing all the annoying upload carp on Photobucket AND commercials on YouTube), it's available for all the popular browsers, and it only takes one or two clicks to install it. https://adblockplus.org/ A good anti-virus program is also a must. I can highly recommend this one. It's about $70 / per year and works better than anything else I've tried to date. https://www.eset.com/int/home/smart-security/

Yup. She looks great!

I just got the '73 release of the '57 Nomad. While I remember the '57 hardtop being challenging but basically a pretty good looking model, the '57 Nomad is the result of sloppy tooling modifications, obviously, to make a wagon from the existing shell. It's going to take a TON of correcting to look really good, especially the rear of the signature Nomad roof. So much in fact that I'm seriously considering pickup-trucking this one. And it's not "warpage". It's just incompetent and ham-handed re-tooling work. Too bad, but it really is a mess.

Sealed '73 issue of Revell's open-door '57 nomad. Two threads here are responsible for me buying this thing: 1) Greg Myers idea that the FI manifold base in this kit would make the best start for the American Graffiti "Milner Coupe" four-2bbl intake manifold, and 2) a thread about the old Revell open-door tri-fives. I'm so easily swayed to buy things I just don't need, like 43-year old still-sealed kits to hack up.

Interesting. Maybe it's a regional thing. The Atlanta-area ACME NNL-style show is huge compared to ten years back. Vendor spaces sold out, something like 700 models entered last year. All very high quality work too.

X2.

That is one seriously cool pineapple. I hadn't seen that one before. Pretty impressive work.

The engine block I'm using isn't the one that goes with the rest of the neat old engine kit. The block, trans and heads are from a Big T kit. The t-sourced Chebby engine has a blobular timing cover molded to the front of the block. Removing it, 'machining' the flange down, and using the engine kit timing cover is a big improvement. The block doesn't have any other casting details on the front either. I made some water pump flanges from .040 stock, and then 'machined' them down to the same level as the timing case flange, just like real. After bobbing the rear of the rough-zeed frame to fit up inside the channeled body shell, the frame got a tubular crossmember that the tube shocks will mount to, and the beginnings of a fabricated front crossmember that will allow the spring perch to rise relative to the rest of the chassis, dropping the nose more than just what's available from the kit's dropped axle. \ First fitup of the engine to see where it needs to go relative to the old K-member.

That's exactly what I thought too. Hmmm. I wonder where the sinister side is that I'm not seeing. Beautiful beautiful photo too, Ed. Man.

The technology has already advanced to where the "layers" are virtually invisible on high-end products. These are 1/35 scale figures printed from 3D laser scans. This guy is 1/48. Chevy grilles in 1/25 shouldn't be too tough.

Here's the link for the V-dub notchback. $57. http://www.shapeways.com/product/5D5TUZFQN/1-24-volkswagen-notchback-custom?optionId=24020493

Do you? "Spike"? Frankly, I have no clue. My "Magic 8-ball" doesn't know either. Please share, so everyone can marvel at your insight. I wait with bated breath.

It's been my experience in the past that it's rare to find a car shop where you can leave your toolbox open overnight and expect to have all your stuff the next day. I just went back to work today, after having been out since August 1. Not a single thing missing at either shop. The crews both have a wide age range and varied ethnic and demographic backgrounds. Not a thief or "borrower" in the whole bunch. I'm a lucky man to be working with them.

The drawback to 3D printing being a lifesaver for the hobby is simply that it takes someone with a very unique mindset AND skillset to make good parts using 3D, just as it takes a special combination of interest and skills to make good resin. Much of the recently-deceased Modelhaus offerings were repops of previously existing promos, kits or kit parts. Making a 3D printable file from scratch is a whole order of magnitude harder and more "tech" reliant than making silicone molds from existing masters or parts. As relatively easy as it is to make resin parts or even vacuum-formed parts at home, we don't see very many modelers doing it. And you can probably count on two hands the number of people capable of making top quality plugs from scratch the old-fashioned way. There's nobody, apparently, with the interest, finances and skillset to step up and fill the huge gap left by Modelhaus, either. Thinking that some wizard tech-savvy model car lover will shortly be offering the quality that Modelhaus did in 3D-print is wishful thinking at best. And 3D printed parts will still be more useful as masters for traditional resin casting too...at least until the speed of printing goes up a lot and the prices come down a lot. Look at it this way: there are almost 320 MILLION people in the USA. How many of them worked at Modelhaus, or still work in the model car aftermarket? See my point? There is just a tiny number of individuals who do the stuff, so buy the goodies while you can. There's nobody standing in line to take the old farts' places.

What I've learned about it from much trial and error: 1) Wait until it's completely dry to buff it. It will smear or scratch easily if it's the least bit wet. 2 hours, minimum for me now. And if the humidity is high, it will take longer. If you can smell it much. you probably don't want to try to buff it. 2) No need to do anything between coats, unless you shoot it dry and orange-peely. Successive coats will not "flow" it out usually, so you'll have to sand the peel out with 800 grit or finer. It's really best not to touch it between coats. 3) It will NOT hide any surface flaws or rough primer work. 4) I try to shoot it wet, so that every coat will slick out smooth. If you try to mist it on, it will get grainy, and no amount of buffing will make it slick. it will look like slightly polished rough-cast material, NOT polished sheet or machined metal. 5) Because it won't hide any scratches or surface roughness, I usually don't primer intricate parts like wheels any more, unless I'm certain I can get a perfect, slick primer coat down. Sanding orange-peel out of primer on intricately-shaped parts is difficult at best, impossible at worst. 6) Because I don't primer my small and intricate parts, I always thoroughly scrub them with Comet or other abrasive cleaner, hot water, and a toothbrush. This gives the surface of the parts enough "tooth" for good adhesion, actually seems to make the stuff flow out a little better, and also seems to make it less likely you'll buff through sharp edges. 7) test it on some similar parts before you commit to using it on a model you care about. Get familiar with using it, because it doesn't really handle like other paints. 8) If you shoot it slick, 2-3 coats is plenty. It may look hazy. That's OK. If you did it right, polishing it will bring up a smooth metallic sheen that looks just like real polished metal. 9) I've tried about everything to polish it. What works best for me is the fleece-side of old cotton sweatshirt material. The front wheel and the canopy on this were done with buffing metalizer. (The rest is another process).

We try to oblige. We knew going in that the rear of the frame was going to have to be zeed to get the stance I'm after, so here we go. Leveled the frame and marked it for a 45o cut. If you remember, cutting on a 45 and stacking the cut-off part on top of the original rails leaves you with a stock wheelbase if you go straight up with the cut piece. Since this thing is so big, getting everything measured and close matters. The cut. Reattached and jigged. The wire wheels are from the Big Jag kit, and they're too small to fit the smallest tires I have. They fall through the centers. The solution will be to attach a strip of stock to the inside of the plastic whitewall insert and fill the resulting groove. The rear Americans I have are also on the small side for the slicks I want to run. A larger outer rim machined down will give exactly the old-school look I'm after. This build is based on a gluebomb, the first large-scale model I ever bought...quite a few years back. It was cheap, and I wanted to see what these kits were like before I spent any real money or started collecting parts. I was pretty impressed, so I've been slowly putting together a parts-stash to pick from when I finally got around to building something big. This body shell had had one door cut out with something like the old Auto World hot-knife, and the cowl was broken through. Way more f'glass than I usually use, but it's as stout as it needs to be for really aggressive bodywork. I was able to get close to finish-shape on the cowl with no filler. The vent may bet cut open, or it may get filled. Quite close on the bodywork on the driver's side too. This body is going to represent a shell with welded-shut doors, and that's one of the big reasons for channeling it...so somebody could hop over the side relatively easily. Thanks for looking.

This is the scale issue. The little guy on the left came with the kit (labeled 1/32). The guy on the right is 1/24 (Lefty keeps my builds real by test fitting everything so it would work in the 1:1 world). The Gee Bee model scales in at right about 1/26 if you measure the wingspan, so Lefty would be a pretty big guy and would be a really tight squeeze in the cockpit, but he's a lot closer to scale than the kit-supplied joke thing. Lefty will actually fit in the cockpit pretty much like you do in the real thing, though he's kinda on the big side. If you've ever seen the movie The Rocketeer, you'll notice that the guy flying a full-scale replica of the earlier and just slightly smaller Gee Bee Z fits exactly the same way. The cockpit internals will be built to accommodate ol' Lefty, at least enough to see through the canopy and the side door (not included on the model, but we'll be getting one). EDIT: Here's a shot of the real GeeBee Z, showing very clearly how tiny the airplane is relative to the pilot. The plane was simply as small as the builders could make it, to just barely fit in a pilot and have absolutely minimum drag, with the largest possible engine. That's why it flew 267 MPH in 1931. Its slightly bigger brother, the GeeBee R-1 I'm building here, did 296 MPH in 1932, with an 800 HP, 1344 cu.in. Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial.

Rob...here's a set of handrails. http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-AHM-RS-2-diesel-switcher-parts-walkways-railings-window-material-excellent-/162189772531?hash=item25c34386f3:m:mqQiE2l0R0E0joeI8pRYYog

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.

It's an Alco RS-2 series road switcher. After AHM died, it reappeared under the Model Power name. You can buy a complete one for parts for under $10, one in good condition for around $15-$25, around $50 for excellent in the box. Ebay. The Walthers catalog Spike mentioned is a good start for upgrade parts. There's a fair bit of aftermarket detail available, from scale-correct handrails, grab-irons, steps and stanchions to horns, cab interiors, photo-etched grilles and cab window awnings, and air cylinders, brake parts and working couplers. Also Precision Scale. http://www.precisionscaleco.com/detail.htm Try a Google search for "Alco RS HO detail parts" too. Also try Cal-Scale, Detail Associates, Bowser-trains.com, caboosehobbies.com, hobbylinc, toytrainheaven.com, ebay for complete used locomotives and parts.

The gearbox looks good in the illustration. Of course, Palmer illustrations looked good too.