Ace-Garageguy

And speaking of Bogart...

^ Si, correcto. This is the paraphrased version from Blazing Saddles, the one that's most widely quoted.

Cap'n Nemo's car, from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There actually is a kit out there.

Doh. You're right. Something Mopar, fer sure. Maybe a DeSoto, just to keep it weird.

I may have to take you up on that dare. It's such a cool oddball, it needs to at least inspire something similar. I have a '55 Chebby that's already donated its frame to a '55 Olds conversion (from a diecast) and a '53 Ford that's minus a front clip. Ought to be able to get in the ballpark. Maybe with a blown Y-block. Project #10,789 (give or take a few).

It looks like a very fast lobster.

Coming together VERY nicely, capturing the look of these things well.

You're in education if I recall correctly, so you're in a position to make at least some impact on young people about taking personal responsibility for their own actions and respecting the rights of others, at least from the standpoint of treating others as one would wish to be treated. I don't know how you feel about the Second Amendment, but I also respectfully suggest you arm yourself and become proficient with your weapons if you aren't already. An unarmed populace is equally vulnerable to criminals AND abusers of power. As much as I respect the good guys in law enforcement, they may not be able to get to you quickly enough to do you any good in a really bad situation, and bad situations seem to be becoming more and more widespread.

The Pantera would have benefited from being just a little better car. It got a bad rap because of under-spec'd non-vented brakes, a tendency to overheat, sundry electrical problems, and a host of other gremlins...not the least of which was a structure positively designed to hold moisture and rust out from the inside. Had its functionality been in line with its looks and go, it could probably have overcome some of the "badge snobbery" you mention. The idea of exotic Italian looks coupled with American bulletproof reliability had a strong appeal. It just didn't happen to work out that way.

Here's a better shot of the firewall / body junction. The firewall slips under the edge of the cowl itself, much as it does on the new Revell model. There is a gasket between the firewall and the cowl, which is showing as a black line on the light blue car with the reversed and recessed firewall above. The recess with the line of screws in it in this shot is where the hood anti-squeaker webbing normally resides on a car with a hood. The dimple in the side of the cowl / firewall is there to clear the backside of the piano-style hinge that lives between the hood top and side panels. (Images taken from open internet sources under copyright "fair use" definition) The top of the cowl on a stocker is in reality the fuel tank. Here's a shot of the tank installed, with the attachment holes and webbing recesses showing, but with the bright metal surround removed. The line you see is the result of the car being painted with the bright-metal surround installed and masked. This is obviously an unrestored car that's likely been hacked on...a lot. And this is an OEM '30-'31 gas tank top / cowl, in naked steel. Removes any ambiguity as to how these things are made. You'll see stamped dimples that serve to keep the bright-metal surround aligned when it's installed, as opposed to a stamped ridge or "reveal" on the leading edge. Repop cowl tops that replace the OEM tank are often made "smooth", no dimples (this one is by Brookville). And this is the trim, or "cowl band" surround. Pretty sure the "bright" version was on all the cars, the "plain steel" version was on the trucks.

Man, do I understand your predicament exactly. It makes your job so much easier when you occasionally DO meet a shop manager who gets that simple idea. A lot of shop owners and managers I've known over the years will stay away from Wurth products, for instance, citing the high cost. But after I encountered one of Wurth's remarkable spray lubricants that fixed a sticking throttle problem that NOTHING I'd tried over the course of a year would cure (on my own vehicle that I test everything on before using it on a client's), I've had an open mind about paying more for consumables that actually work. A good shop manager should be able to easily break out what he's paying for those consumables monthly anyway, and divide the cost to add a fair percentage to every ticket that goes through. That way, of course, the shop isn't actually paying anything for stuff that works, as it's passed on to the clients...who in some cases get quicker turnaround and a better repair for a smaller final bill. Faster turnaround and fixes that stay fixed practically guarantee a shop full of cars, and referrals from happy owners. Quality consumables aren't the whole answer, but they certainly help. This is one of those places where a manager who used to be a tech can often make better informed product purchase decisions than someone who only buys based on his perceived short-term bottom line, and who has no experience of the difference between actually USING cheapo stuff as opposed to something pricier that really does the job.

Man, is that one gorgeous shape. i forget about that car, and then when I see it again, it's like...wow. Needs to be scratchbashed too (though I could do without the organ-pipes),

This one's been dormant for a while waiting for me to figure out the best way to proceed with the major body mods. The grille shell is old AMT Chrysler 300 from a parts-pack. I've got a few of these, so I'll be using this one as a mold so the body will fit it perfectly. I coated it (after squaring up and tacking in place securely) with polyvinyl-acetate mold release (the green stuff) using a small brush. This will allow the part to come away intact after the body is molded around it. Layers of fine glass and aircraft epoxy were laid up on the top... ...and the bottom of the nose. After curing, it was trimmed back. There was an adhesion problem on the upper surface, so it was scarfed back farther to expose clean plastic. The cheeks were then filled with an epoxy / cotton flock slurry which is immensely strong when cured.

Massive pinned thread right here. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/83153-paint-strippers-what-to-use/

Best laugh I've had all week.

Got one of these, specifically as a cowl-donor (this kit comes with two body shells) to modify Revell's new-tool '30 coupe into a '29. I also wanted one of the supremely ugly track-noses that comes in this kit to see what it would take to make it look good.

No. WAY more work. Just replacing the firewall allows you to hide the seam entirely, and if you fit it very carefully, you'll have no filling to do...at all. Replacing the entire cowl will get you into door lines, matching A-pillars to the roof, and other unnecessary work. I WILL be doing a cowl swap from a '29, along with some other supporting mods, to make the new-tool revell '30 coupe into a '28-'29.

Excellent advice, exactly what I have in process as we speak. Thinning down the rib around the cowl edge goes a long way to helping with the look too.

Shaken, not stirred...

It makes MY day to see them.

Congrats. Now if you can just figure out a way to make the poor ba-tards who have to USE the parts happy, life will be all rainbows and unicorns.

Warning warning danger danger Will Robinson. Logic disconnect. The very act of putting up the diagram IS teaching men to fish. It's not a terse two-word response implying "cause I said so" with no valid and supportable references. It's a clear and easy to understand explanation of the physics involved, but not so in-depth as to cause instant boredom. The net is replete with more in-depth information for anyone who desires it, and armed with that little drawing, they have a good basis to do their own "fishing". And "woe is me"? You've GOT to be kidding. Do you ever THINK before you post? Since you like fishing SO much and want to be SO helpful, why don't YOU find the original printed credit? CONTRIBUTE instead of criticizing. You might want to fix that "shift" key while you're at it.

Yup. I'll be doing a full set of f'glass molds of all of the parts for this shortly...soon as I get my anal-retentive old self to think it's "good enough".

OK, Ill give you that, but I pulled it from an un-credited source that had apparently copied it as well. Do a thorough reverse image search, and you'll see it appears MULTIPLE TIMES un-credited. You should have known? Possibly, maybe, you might notice that the image is very obviously taken from a scan of PRINTED material. There is a clear ghost image of words on the reverse of the page that was scanned for the net image. I don't see anywhere on your cited "Grumpy" reference what the printed source material is (though I didn't read through every forum post to try to find it.) Did YOU ?? Tracing the origin of every internet photo or diagram I use simply to illustrate a point is not in the purview of my responsibility to humankind. What IS within said responsibility is to not take credit for someone else's material or to try to profit by it...neither of which I did by action or implication. If YOU inferred otherwise from my neglecting to research and post the original credit, it's not my problem. What's more, it ain't rocket science. But PLEASE, feel free to attack me on any petty grounds you like...while I try to help modelers understand how things work. PS: The video clip I linked to ain't mine either.

Thanks for the interest guys. Here's a look at the underside of the tonneau after the top has been shot with a coat or 2 of SEM self-etching black. Detail is picked up exactly from the tape and cockpit rim, just as in any other molding process. After the part is trimmed, it literally snaps down on the the other body like it was made for it...which of course, it was. The fit is perfect, not close, but dead-on because it was made in-place on an identical body shell. At this point, the hood has been shot in a minimum number of coats of SEM self-etching green. The hood required zero bodywork correction, so a black primer that would really show imperfections was unnecessary at this point. The green is simply there to protect the surface until final priming and sanding begin. Also notice the filled areas where the hood hinge slots used to be are just about perfect at this point too. A coat of SEM high-build buff primer reveals the way-too-heavy weave that is apparent on the visible side of the part. This was really an experiment, so I didn't try to get a super-fine texture (which could be achieved by using a finer fabric weave for the final layer). Notice too that the molding-over-tape method has produced quite believable folds and wrinkles in the "fabric" of the tonneau. These would be difficult to sculpt and get as realistic a result. After several coats of high-build primer and sanding, the rough weave is starting to disappear. As this is still an experiment, I'll probably see how far I can go with this technique. If the final results don't satisfy me, it's easy to simply mold another tonneau over tape and use a more appropriately fine weave for the final layer. Now we're getting to the original vision I had for this thing. The helmet fairing is borrowed from one of my ongoing '29 Ford lakes car projects, and has about the look I'm after. Making a f'glass copy will provide another part for this particular model.