Me in a Miata

What a nice kit! However, I am sorry to say that it hasn’t progressed much since I last posted.
The floor has been attached to the chassis, seat covered using spay 3M adhesive, part of the interior trim is done, drive-train and front axle. I am now working on the engine shown in place in the first photo. The dash has been completed, but not mounted yet.

If you look carefully in the last picture you will see the gearshift mount on the floor. This was done because the floor was supposed to be mounted after the engine - who reads instructions?

One of the nice features of this kit are the opening doors - with working handles. I still have the right side interior trim to install. Now back to work on painting engine parts.

Spent fathers day in Poplar Ridge with my wife Jan, Garrett, and Jan’s family. Garrett drove two hours from Buffalo to be with me and then drove his grandfather around in his new car so we could have some beer. It was a near perfect summer day,even with the threat of late thunderstorms. Gypsy
made the trip top down and stayed that way until we left for Auburn to see the latest Narnia Chronicle with Garrett.

Prior to fathers day I had asked Jan for a special gift. One of my dream car kits has been to build a 1/8 scale 1932 Ford Deuce V-8 and I had just found out that Revell had re-issued the kit in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the car.

I received the kit shortly after fathers day - it was bigger than I thought. The kit in box weighs over 9 lbs. I looked it over, but had already decided that I was going to build it as a rat - rod.
I already had some of the paints, most importantly - primer gray. I will honor the early “poor”
hot - roders by sticking to my guns.

The first part is done - cutting out the doors and trunk. I then installed the hinges and trunk compartment and gave it all a coat of Testors’ gray prime coat. I then built up the frame rails and gave them the same treatment. The floor boards are flat black. I then gave the body two coats of Testors’ gloss-coat for the decals to adhere, and finished with another coat of gloss, then two coats of dull-coat to bring back the dull finish of primer.

I still have a long way to go - kind of like building a real hot-rod. Engine next, an early V-8 with six carbs and all engine wiring and fuel lines. then the front and rear axels. last wheels and tires
topped off with spun aluminum moons.

Thanks to all that made fathers day special - I really have a great family!!!!

Here is where I’m at now - my dear wife does spoil me!!!

There will be more on this latter - if the paint fumes don’t get me!

Yesterday was the first day of our spring break. I have this week off from my daily routine of school bus driving (except for tomorrow, I have to go in to train and help Pete with a 19-A pretrip
instruction) and Jan has time off for good behavior from ELCOR.

We took yesterday to take the Gypsy II to Binghamton for the check engine light. Last month it would not pass inspection because of two stored codes from the light coming on. I know there is nothing wrong with the car, but NYS inspection will not pass it with those codes. So, what should have been a $21.00 inspection cost me $171.00 to find out what I already knew - the light and diagnostics are faulty. Since the inspection the light has only come on once. That was the reason for going to Binghamton. But alas it left no codes, and better yet it didn’t cost us anything but a nice days trip.

We came home on an alternate route - one not shown our atlas. For a moment Jan was all worried thinking we were lost on a back road in Pennsylvania. I however figured we were heading southwest and would end up somewhere - that’s a place you end up when you think you’re lost.

We did end up in a town with a road that was on the map, found another major highway and headed further into PA. We finally picked up route 6 and headed west through Towanda, stopping to eat at BK then continuing our journey to Troy, Pa. where we picked up 14 north to Elmira.

Gypsy and I love the winding roads and hills of Pennsylvania. Jan was happy to see the welcome sign for NY.

Today, I stayed home, working on trying to complete another card model. I still have problems trying to correctly shape the card stock without making wrinkles. The next offering will be the
TravelAir Mystery Ship - a beautiful plane.

It has to be a least 15 if not 20 years ago that I purchased five Williams Brothers Model kits. The first was a model of the Gee Bee R-1 racing plane of the 1930’s (see JustPlanNuts Blog). The next was the Gee Bee Z, predecessor of the Gee Bee R-1. Next was the Wedell - Williams done up as # 92, and last to be built (the fifth remains in its box unbuilt) was the Seversky P-35.

All these models have survived the years hung on a wall in the living room. Every once in a while
(a great while) they need to be taken down an dusted.

It was while doing this with a fine paint brush that I destroyed a decal on my favorite, the Gee Bee R-1. I was crushed. Was the company still in business or had it folded like so many of the other model companies I grew up with?

An internet search found my answer - William Brothers Models.

I wrote an email to “whom it may concern” on Sunday requesting a replacement decal sheet for that model - I offered to pay for it.

On Monday I received a reply from the company president - decal sheet on the way, no charge,
just do a favor for another fellow modeler.

I wrote a thank you to Mr. Daniel J. Brett expressing my gratitude. I sent him a description of my build of the Gee Bee R-1, and pictures of the Gee Bee Z and the Wedell - Williams. I was not expecting him to write back, but he did.

And so this post is dedicated to a man I don’t know but who took the time to make my day.

William Brothers Gee Bee Z 1/32 scale