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Missing lower radiator hose? No alternator bracket? What's YOUR pet peeve? ?


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My biggest Pet Peeve is when people swoon all over a "name" builder with cover shots and features, but if you REALLY look at their builds, you have to laugh. Gluing on 8 lbs' of photo-etech and paint so thick panel lines disappear does NOT make a "professional" build. But I see it repeatedly...

Name names? Never.... But when ever I see these builds, I laugh to myself. Why would you glue Dzus fasteners on the ROOF of a full bodied car? Or mount vents on trunk lids?!?! How about coil wires coming out of the TOP of an MSD ignition module?!? But boy-oh-boy... that glob paint job sure is shiny!

Just bugs me that we have forums for help on getting it right, but what's touted as being feature-worthy in print or on-line is all wrong.

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7. Inconsistent kid design.

Me too man! First one was a boy...and he turned out to be 5-8..barely 150 lbs...then a girl...who turned out just at 5-0! Then I got married again and we had a boy...who turned out to be 6-2 at 230 lbs!...then a girl...who ended up at 5-6!!! What the heck? No consistency there! :D

Yeah I know it was a typo...just couldn't resist a little fun! ;)

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What jumps out at me on that dragster is the lack of a radiator. Oddly, the B&W picture of 1:1 versions don't have radiators either, which doesn't make sense to me for water cooled engines...

The engines are still water-cooled, only all of the coolant is in the block and cylinder heads. There is no water pump to circulate the coolant, it just sits there and absorbs heat. No radiator is needed because they are only running for a minute or so at a stretch. They are shut off at the far end of the strip, then towed or pushed back to the pits. If the water gets too hot, it can be drained and replaced with cooler water before the next round, but the "down time" between rounds was usually sufficient to get the engine into the right temperature range.

Often, you don't want ice-cold coolant when you are ready to race. The recent Bill Jenkins book mentions a late-Sixties aluminum engine block, and his desire to keep the engine temp at around 140 degrees. Jenkins and his crew rigged up a system to circulate heated liquid through the engine overnight so it would remain at the desired temperature. On his earlier cars, for between-rounds cool-downs, Jenkins wired the car's generator to act as a motor, then ran a shorter fan belt connecting the generator (now electric motor) and water pump pulleys.

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No pet peeves here, just enjoying the Hobby like so many others do. If a person is happy just building a Model out of the box, then why not show it off, regardless of whether or not it is missing something. If they want to improve on a kit or make the necessary "corrections" then ask fellow Modelers here what they could do for the next project. Me, personally, when I'm working on something I will scour the internet, read books or view projects of others to get the necessary references to build a certain model with all the accurate "Bells and Whistles". Right now, this is a necessity due to the Resin items I am currently Mastering. A suggestion in this area would be to start a permanent "How-To" thread to show beginning Modelers how to add these missing things using plastic scraps or common items found in their own household or maybe the local electronics or hardware store. There are so many cheaper ways of doing things, especially for those on a tight budget.

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The engines are still water-cooled, only all of the coolant is in the block and cylinder heads.

From wikipedia: (Funny cars) The heads are machined from a solid block of billet aluminum and have no water jackets, as the high latent heat of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder heads.

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Me too man! First one was a boy...and he turned out to be 5-8..barely 150 lbs...then a girl...who turned out just at 5-0! Then I got married again and we had a boy...who turned out to be 6-2 at 230 lbs!...then a girl...who ended up at 5-6!!! What the heck? No consistency there! :D

Yeah I know it was a typo...just couldn't resist a little fun! ;)

I'm blaming Autocorrect. :P:lol:

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From wikipedia: (Funny cars) The heads are machined from a solid block of billet aluminum and have no water jackets, as the high latent heat of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need for water cooling of the cylinder heads.

They are (solid) now...they weren't back then...

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How about modelers that put a fully detailed model (engine and chassis over a mirrored base not in the rules) in a judged show in shelf model class /curbside and win first in class.This happened at the Masscar show on 3/18/12. People will put their models in the class that will benefit them the most,even though the model does not belong in that class.

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How about modelers that put a fully detailed model (engine and chassis over a mirrored base not in the rules) in a judged show in shelf model class /curbside and win first in class.This happened at the Masscar show on 3/18/12. People will put their models in the class that will benefit them the most,even though the model does not belong in that class.

That's weird. Why have categories? What is up with the judges? It might have be even an error by the modeler but the judging body should have moved or disqualified the entrant.

Must have been a nice build though.

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No wash in panel lines bugs me. Even if they are non-opening panels they still need a bit of thinned smoke washed in there.

But then too dark wash in panel lines is just as bad.

Also, centre parted dizzies, floating alternators (how hard is it to mould on a bracket kit makers?) and the weirdly spaced Revel put in the 5 window kit to avoid paying Chrysler royalties.

I'm OK with extra thick plug wires though - they're just big fat racing leads...

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My biggest Pet Peeve is when people swoon all over a "name" builder with cover shots and features, but if you REALLY look at their builds, you have to laugh. Gluing on 8 lbs' of photo-etech and paint so thick panel lines disappear does NOT make a "professional" build. But I see it repeatedly...

Name names? Never.... But when ever I see these builds, I laugh to myself. Why would you glue Dzus fasteners on the ROOF of a full bodied car? Or mount vents on trunk lids?!?! How about coil wires coming out of the TOP of an MSD ignition module?!? But boy-oh-boy... that glob paint job sure is shiny!

Just bugs me that we have forums for help on getting it right, but what's touted as being feature-worthy in print or on-line is all wrong.

I know who you are referring too. that is one of my pet peeves too.

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