Ace-Garageguy

I'm GLAD to see somebody getting paid decent money for what is absolutely first-class work. If I live to be 120, I seriously doubt I'll ever be in this tier, but if I had the bucks, I'd happily buy at least one piece of his, just to have something that rates "best".

Always a pleasure to watch your work.

In a scenario where there is actually a "live" operator, the cooling-time part of the cycle would be "adjustable"...but would probably be determined by the process engineer in advance of a production run, and quality-verified...so adjustments to the cycle would likely require input from the process engineer before being implemented. Even if the system is fully automated, however, the line would normally be "tuned" before full-scale production was started, with elements of various parts of the cycle adjusted to eliminate the possibility of problems like this. Again, quality-verified before production. Different tools can have different operating characteristics. The plastic formulation is also a potential issue. If the Tg of one batch of styrene is lower than a previous batch, cooling times would need to be adjusted accordingly. Injection-molded plastic parts MUST be uniformly below the Tg of the specific material before ejection from the mold, or warpage is virtually guaranteed.

Thank you sir. Will do. I really need something I can rely on to do what I'm trying to do.

Now THAT'S a useful piece of info. I'd really like to have a decent looking setup like that without having to do all that work to convert the Caddy...which is one reason I don't use more Chebby engines in hoodless hot-rods.

All good advice regarding building an accurate model of the movie car. One caveat: if you elect to use the Cadillac parts-pack manifold, bear in mind that, being for an engine that has a different cooling layout than the smallblock Chevy, it has no provision for the Chevrolet's forward coolant crossover that's cast into the Chevy manifold, or the thermostat housing. Photos I've found of the Milner car also show the engine to have a front oil fill tube, which comes up out of the manifold as well. A Chevy manifold also functions as the valley cover, and seals the top of the engine lifter gallery. To make an accurate manifold, you'll need to graft the front of a correct Chevy manifold on to the Caddy manifold. You'll also need to 'seal' the bottom of the manifold to represent the integral valley-cover function of a part made for a Chevy. Not too hard, but if you want accuracy, it's necessary. Milner car: Caddy mill: This may be less confusing. A smallblock Chevy manifold (above) almost always has a water passage and thermostat housing cast into the front. The manifold itself also acts as the valley cover, and includes a hole in the rear for the distributor drive shaft. A Cadillac manifold for the engine represented by the parts-pack (below), has no integral cast water passage or t-stat housing, and it also requires a separate valley cover. Making the Caddy manifold look right on a Chebby takes some work.

I'm perfectly willing to try your magic Snake Mask. What are the rough proportions you use, or about what consistency to you try for? White glue is already about the viscosity of the Micro Mask I have, and it's easily controlled with a brush for fine edges. I just need more guidance on your concoction.

The colors are exquisite. Incredibly beautiful. Thanks for that one too.

Finally got some movement. My contribution will be the later Lindberg edition of this kit. Though it's marked 1/32 and has a tiny little pilot figure, the wingspan actually scales out to 1/26 or so. I'll be modifying as I go to make the cockpit more scale-correct, but it won't be a completely correct model by any means...just something that gives a good impression of this crazy airplane with a few detail enhancements. The real Gee Bee had very smooth plywood-covered wings, sanded and slicked up. The Pyro version of the kit has very obvious wing ribs...right for fabric-covered wings, but not for this bird. I WAS going to sand all the ribbing off the old Pyro wings, but I found a started Lindberg model cheap. An oven-cleaner bath is getting all the old brush-paint off quite nicely. The control surfaces should be smooth too. The Lindberg kit has them just a little smoother than the older Pyro version, but they'll still take a fair bit of work. The cockpit parts in the background will have to be replaced. The kit tires are kinda blobular, but I found some straight-treaded rubber Dunlops that will look better at first glance. The engine is just a flat plank, and it needs the center brought forward somewhat, as I'll be setting it back deeper inside the cowl. The 'engine case' I'll be using, to the right, is a part from an old AMT drag-strip accessories kit. Machining a somewhat better curve on the 'engine case'. The engine plank shot flat black, with 3 of the cylinders treated to a silver dry wash to make them pop just a little. I'll do 'em all, then go back with a black wash between the fins.

Here you go. Better late than never.

Slowly but slowly. The steering cross-shaft and steering box had me stuck for a bit, but not any more. First thing to do was to determine where the shaft could come out of the body and give the pitman arm enough free travel, and be high enough so the drag link would clear the headers. Then brackets got 'welded' to the chassis tubes in the right place. The body was put back on and the exact center of the steering cross shaft was marked through the hole. Brackets with nicely rounded cutouts that will take the brass tube the shaft will run in. I went to all this bother because I want to be able to take the body off to show the cockpit details.

The ancient 1/25 Revell parts-pack engines are ALL built with the same amount of internal detail. Reissues of the smallblock Chebby, the 427 Ford, and first-generation OHV Pontiac and Cadillac V8 engine kits are plentiful and cheap. There are also kits of the 392 Chrysler Hemi and the Buick nailhead engine in the same line, but they've never been reissued and are somewhat expensive when you can find them.

A clean machine is a happy machine.

It is an intensely personal decision as to whether one wishes to be armed or not, and I certainly respect your position. As long as we retain the right to CHOOSE, I'm happy. But let me just remind you...and everyone...there are really BAD people in the world who will take your stuff and hurt, maim or kill you without any hesitation. Whether they're born bad or made that way by "society" is a question for another discussion. The salient point is that THEY'RE OUT THERE. They cannot be reasoned with, talked down, or intimidated...especially if they're whacked on some chemical. I am NOT a physical match for TWO grown men a third of my age. After they kicked my door open and came in the house, screaming incoherently, and one of them started coming at me...closer than 10 feet and advancing, my only choice was to allow myself to be beaten into jelly, or to fire. You don't try to "wing" somebody in that instant. The idea is to STOP them. I thought up until that night that it would NEVER happen to me. I don't live in a high-crime area, I don't associate with thugs or crooks, and home-invasions are unheard of. I've never been any kind of gun "nut" and was ambivalent about the idea of being armed for self defense. No more. My final point, again, is that it CAN happen to you, no matter how good a little boy or girl you are, no matter how well you color inside the lines, and no matter how much of a pacifist you may be. If you think you can talk a drugged-up psycho out of messing you up, or you think the police will get there in time to protect you...you really need to think again.

Entirely possible with existing technology, but not very likely to find the capability to do a one-shot deal in 1/25 scale for decent money, I'd think. I could be wrong.

First time since my latest back episode began a few weeks back, I've been able to get around without shuffling. Walked the 2 miles to the grocery store and back in OK time. Looks like back to work tomorrow.

Agreed. Both Heinlein and Ayn Rand put a lot of commonly held ideas in a completely different light for me. I don't swallow either of their positions whole, but they're certainly worth thinking about.

Which gets us back to a lot of the cool cars out there today..."they didn't do anything themselves, just paid other guys to do all the work". Some things never change. I don't mind seeing checkbook hot-rods particularly. After all, they keep me eating. What I DO mind is seeing the guy who wrote the checks trying to take credit for actually doing the dirty work. But like I said, some things never change.

Just semantics, really. The operative word here is "began". And semantics again concerning what I referred to as "first generation" 3D-printed "test-shots". The production-scale 3D-models, when they're even made, are made BEFORE any tool steel is cut and have a function very similar to later-phase test-shots pulled from pre-production-ready tooling. They are, as I noted, production-scale positives, used to evaluate part fit and fidelity of the scale model to the original BEFORE any tooling is cut. So they technically aren't "tooling mockups" either, but production-scale pre-tooling design-evaluation models. Otherwise, we're in complete and total agreement.

'62 Chrysler 300, optional induction system if I recall correctly, but I don't have one here to check. Other Johan Mopars had it too, I think. Johan molded quite a few in light green during that era.

In the '60s i don't recall having "cruise nights", but I DO recall that the mix of cars at the local drive-in on a Friday or Saturday night usually included everything from rough in-progress hot rods, multi-carb flathead-powered tailgragger shoebox Fords, to the rich clean-hands kids in brandy-new GTOs, Mustangs and 442s.

That looks like fun. Looks like a real tool, too.

Yes, the right to dissent is one of the things we should remember to hold dear, but I personally have to wonder just how much there is to protest about when you get millions of bucks for chasing a little ball around, while living in the most free country on Earth.

Just FYI...that particular series of Oldsmobile engines was very popular in drag-racing and for swap material because of its relatively large cubic-inch displacement and reputation for being quite bulletproof. Revell offered several other versions of that basic tooling in the original '41 Willys SWC (GMC 6-71 blower), the Anglia and Thames kits (Hilborn fuel-injected), and at least one of the Roth customs (the Beatnik Bandit has a GMC 4-71 blower and multiple carbs). None of them will build into an entirely stock engine, but adding the best bits from the AMT '40 Tudor (Olds) engine (the water pump / timing cover and 3X2 manifold) and the recent Revell '50 Olds (valve covers, distributor and belts / pulleys) can make a pretty good looking model.

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." Robert A. Heinlein