This is my first build of a Gasser. I must say, this kit was allot of fun to build. I'm planning to build another one in the future.
As this my first ever Gasser, hopefully I did it justice.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1019798.aspx
 Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel celebrate with Red Bull boss Christian Horner on the podium |
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/red_bull_under_the_spotlight.php
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/06/10/sergio-perez-today-was-a-very-crazy-race/
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/cost-cutting-or-budget-capping/
I have been slowly working on another heavy haulage transport vehicle. My inspirations comes from various tractor units I have passed by while in the car and from looking at pics I got from off the net. The weathering is as usual, a well used unit with many years of experience on the road.
The tractor unit is mostly heavily modified from two kits and some minor scratch building. I also added a scratch built trailer based on two different trailers from pics of the net and from one in my area. So I hope you enjoy the photos.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1018300.aspx
This project will be a what-if, in that what if Ford made a Mach 1 concept based on the new Mustang. I'm starting with the 1/12 scale GT500 kit, and the styling will be based on the '71-'72 version.
I got the engine assembled and painted. I still have some detail work to do, but it's complete as far as kit parts. I went with a blue block, heads, oil pan, and cam covers to mimic the blue painted engines of the original.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1018100.aspx
hi all,
anyone here have a hood, windshield, and interior tub for a 72 Commando Jeep that they can spare?
please let me know I have plenty to trade.
thanks, Niel
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1015698.aspx
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/how-engines-drive-f1-forwards/
Audi versus Toyota in battle of the hybrids at Le Mans is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Toyota return to challenge the might of Audi - and DeltaWing's radical racer will turn heads. A look ahead to this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours.
Audi versus Toyota in battle of the hybrids at Le Mans is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/OW065OeXGUA/
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few days ago, we let you know that several sources were reporting that bankrupt Swedish automaker, Saab, was finally sold to Hong Kong-based, Sweden-registered renewable energy company, National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS). This in turn booted Youngman out of the bidding war for the third time, but we had not yet seen any official reports. Well, we now have all something official.
NEVS’ boss, Karl Johan Jiang (interesting mixture of names) announced at a news conference that NEVS indeed won the folded automaker and that NEVS will indeed use the “Saab” name on its cars. NEVS was awarded the Saab factory, its tooling company and the 9-3’s architecture, which is odd, as BAIC purchased the intellectual rights to the 9-3 several months ago. We assume that BAIC got the drivetrain rights and Saab retained the underpinnings and body.
NEVS also let us know that we will not be without a new Saab vehicle on the road for much longer, as NEVS is currently developing an EV car based on the 9-3’s architecture that it was awarded and that car should be released in the next 18 months. Sales will start in China, then eventually move worldwide.
Unfortunately, NEVS’ bid did not include the 9-4x or 9-5 rights, so other than the 9-3, Saab will be starting all over again with brand new models, if it ever gets off of the ground. Given the Saab 9-3’s somewhat sporty nature, we expect to see a higher performance EV made of it. It definitely won’t be a screamer, like the Tesla Model S, but also not as slow as a Nissan Leaf.
There should be loads more information coming down the pike in the next 18 months, and we will update you as often as we can. Until then, congratulations to NEVS and the “Saab” name for making it through this long saga.
It's Official, Saab Awarded to NEVS and EV Plans are Already Underway originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 15 June 2012 09:00 EST.
Lewis Hamilton was almost overcome with emotion after winning the Canadian Grand Prix and taking his first victory of the season at the seventh time of asking. Which is ironic, because one of the most impressive aspects of his performance was its control.
The McLaren driver admitted he too often let his emotions get the better of him in 2011, and he went away for the winter intending to reset his mental state. His performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday was the final confirmation that the world is seeing a new, more potent, Hamilton in 2012.
His change of approach has been apparent from the start of the season. He has remained calm in the face of much adversity when last year he might not have and has never once deviated from his determination that consistency is what will win him the title this season.
Until Sunday, there had been questions about whether he could marry that approach with winning races in the same spectacular style that has earned him such a huge following - not least because winning was exactly what he had not done.
Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the Canadian GP with McLaren chairman Ron Dennis (left). Photo:Getty
But he drove a superb, perfectly judged race in Montreal to take the 18th victory of his career and the world championship lead – albeit by only two points from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton talked in Canada about the difference between last year and this.
“I think I’m driving the same,” he said, “but last year, every year, I’m able to drive fast, but to remain in the right headspace and remain focused this year is not an issue.”
This new “headspace”, it seems, finally contains room for a skill he has shown only rarely before.
The headlines – and much of the attention – will focus on the exciting last 20 laps in Montreal, when Hamilton dropped to third following his second pit stop and had to make up 15 seconds on Alonso to win the race.
But more impressive was Hamilton’s coolness and awareness of what was going on around him before that.
There have been times in Hamilton’s career when he seemed to look to the team for answers that other great drivers have tended to be able work out themselves.
Brilliantly skilled as his driving is, planning a race had never seemed to be one of his strongpoints. But on Sunday all that changed.
As he led the race during the second stint, he was told by his engineers that Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel were on the same two-stop strategy as he was. He questioned it, saying: ‘Are you sure they’re not doing a one-stop?” He was right; they were wrong.
It was the sort of leading from the cockpit that is more usual from Alonso, Hamilton’s great rival. But on Sunday it was the Spaniard and Ferrari who got it badly wrong, and Hamilton and McLaren who called it exactly right.
“When the guys were behind me,” Hamilton said. “I kinda had a feeling that Fernando would be doing a one-stop, so I knew I had to make a gap while looking after the tyres.
“I was able to make a gap and then hold it, even though Fernando started to pick his pace up. It was one of the best stints I’ve had for a long, long time.”
The final, winning, stint was spectacular to watch. But with the tyres on the cars of Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel fading fast, and Hamilton lapping as much as two seconds faster than them, it was obvious from pretty soon after the McLaren driver’s second stop that he was going to win.
And so, in a moment, the narrative of Hamilton’s season has turned full circle.
Before Canada, the talk was all about how McLaren had taken the fastest car and thrown away their advantage through operational errors – several pit stop problems and the refuelling error in qualifying that cost Hamilton almost certain victory in Spain.
Those criticisms remain valid, and Hamilton did have hiccoughs at both his pit stops in Canada, but the win has finally come – and in a style that suggests strongly it will not be his last.
“I’m definitely not going to change my approach, but I think it’s working reasonably well so far,” Hamilton said.
“I probably definitely had to be more on the limit today to catch the two guys ahead, perhaps a little bit more risky than in the past but it is about consistency this year.
“It’s unbelievable to see just how close it is. We got a win and 25 points and I only have a two-point lead and I think it will stay that close throughout the year. Again, it just highlights how important consistency is.”
On the other side of the McLaren garage, things are not as rosy.
Jenson Button sounded like a broken man after struggling to 16th place, saying he was “confused and very lost” about his lack of pace – which has been a problem since Bahrain four races ago.
“I couldn’t look after tyres, I didn’t have any pace, there was nothing there,” he said, cutting a forlorn figure as Hamilton celebrated.
Why do you think you were so slow, he was asked? “Haven’t a clue,” he replied.
Button started the season with a dominant win in Australia, where he made Hamilton look pretty ordinary, and after a lacklustre race in Malaysia, Button again beat Hamilton in finishing second to Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in China.
At that point, Button looked like the favourite for the title. But since then he has scored two points in four races.
Clearly something is going very wrong somewhere in the set-up of Button’s car for as he put it himself: “I’m not two seconds slower than Lewis and I don’t know what’s going on.”
He is now 43 points behind Hamilton in a season that looks, for all its unpredictability, as if it is distilling down to a battle between Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel, the three finest drivers in the world.
Unless McLaren find some answers soon, Button will be reduced, like the rest of us, to watching it from afar.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/06/hamilton_1.html
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TV buffs get the Emmys, movie buffs get the Oscars, and music lovers get the Grammys; so, where does that leave us gearheads? Well, the International Engine of the Year Awards, of course, and the 2012 results are hot off the press!
Ford took home the top prize of International Engine of the Year, with its 999 cc engine found in the European Focus. This engine, despite its petite size, cranks out 125 PS (123 horsepower) and manages to squeeze out 56.5 mpg. The 1.0-liter engine didn’t win a close battle either, it took home top honors by a full 113 points. Points are accumulated based on fuel economy, smoothness, performance, noise and drivability and each engine can only receive 15 of each voter’s total 25 points to give. Needless to say, that was quite a landslide victory.
That’s not the biggest news though, as BMW brought home top honors in four different categories. Bimmer took home the 1.4- to 1.8-liter prize with its 181-horsepower, 1.6-liter engine found in the MINI Cooper S. In the 1.8- to 2.0-liter class, BMW took first prize with its 241-horsepower, 2.0-liter twin-turbocharged four-pot. In the 2.5-liter to 3.0-liter class, BMW wrapped up top honors with its bi-turbo 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine and its 335 horsepower. Last, but certainly not least, BMW took home 1st place in the 3.0- to 4.0-liter class with its 414-horsepower, 4.0-liter V-8 engine.
Despite all of the accolades, the highest mark that BMW achieved in the Engine of the Year award was 5th place, with its 2.0-liter twin-turbo four-banger.
Click past the jump to see all of the results of each class.
International Engine of the Year Awards are in and BMW Cleaned House originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 14 June 2012 15:00 EST.
Wondering if anybody has an update on the availability of Tamiya TS paints. These are my favorite way to finish models and I'm running out fast.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1020261.aspx
Source: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-mx-the-holeshot-high-point/
 The wreckage of Jochen Rindt's car at Barcelona |
“Colin. I have been racing F1 for 5 years and I have made one mistake (I rammed Chris Amon in Clermont Ferrand) and I had one accident in Zandvoort due to gear selection failure otherwise I managed to stay out of trouble. This situation changed rapidly since I joined your team. “Honestly your cars are so quick that we would still be competitive with a few extra pounds used to make the weakest parts stronger, on top of that I think you ought to spend some time checking what your different employes are doing, I sure the wishbones on the F2 car would have looked different. Please give my suggestions some thought, I can only drive a car in which I have some confidence, and I feel the point of no confidence is quite near.”A little more than a year later Rindt's Lotus suffered mechanical breakdown just before braking into one of the corners. He swerved violently to the left and crashed into a poorly-installed barrier, killing him instantly.
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/the_point_of_no_confidence_is.php
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh probably summed up the new Formula 1 season best in the wake of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
"Who's going to predict who's going to win the next race?" Whitmarsh pondered after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had become the fourth different driver, for the fourth different team, to win in the first four races. "It could be Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes, Ferrari, us."
A Formula 1 season has not started in such an unpredictable fashion for 29 years.
Back in 1983, Brabham's Nelson Piquet, McLaren's John Watson, Renault's Alain Prost and Ferrari's Patrick Tambay were the men in question. Only Watson did not go on to be a major contender for the rest of the season, which featured a four-way title fight between Piquet, Prost, Tambay and the second Ferrari driver Rene Arnoux.
Fernando Alonso's Ferrari may not be the best car, but he is making it a contender. Photo: AFP
This year, the winners have been McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Vettel.
Paradoxically, though, on the balance of form over the four races, you would probably say that of those four only Button and Vettel will definitely be championship contenders.
Rosberg's Mercedes car is clearly quick, at least in qualifying, but its race pace has been inconsistent. Alonso has been driving brilliantly in the Ferrari - but on current form the car is nowhere near good enough to mount a title challenge.
THE SEASON SO FAR
For all the unpredictability of the results, and the thrilling spectacle of the races themselves, the same drivers and teams who have dominated F1 in recent years fill the top five positions in the championship.
Victory in Bahrain vaulted Vettel into the lead, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull's second driver Mark Webber, Button and Alonso.
Of those, Alonso's position is the most remarkable.
At best, the Ferrari is the fifth fastest car behind the Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes. And there have been times when it was probably the seventh fastest - behind also the Williams and Sauber.
Yet the Spaniard has won a race and conceded only 10 points to the world championship leader after four grands prix.
This stunning demonstration of consistency and skill is why it would be hard to look past Alonso if there was an award for driver of the year so far.
If he is to be a title contender this year, though, much depends on the major car upgrades Ferrari are planning to introduce for the next race in Spain - and which will be tried out for the first time at the official F1 test in Mugello next week.
If these do not give Ferrari a significant boost in performance, even Alonso will drift out of contention and, presumably, be overtaken soon by the drivers immediately behind him in the championship - Rosberg and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen
MOST IMPROVED TEAMS - AND OTHERWISE
Just as Alonso is artificially high in the championship - at least in terms of the quality of the car he is driving - so Raikkonen and, arguably, Rosberg are artificially low.
It has been clear from the beginning of the season that the Lotus is one of the very fastest cars on the grid - but scrappy weekends at the first three races prevented the team from scoring strong results.
In Bahrain they finally got it together, and Raikkonen and team-mate Romain Grosjean finished second and third behind Vettel. As BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson explained in his race review, the Finn might well have won.
According to figures compiled by Anderson, Lotus are second only to Caterham in a table that compares their performance last year to this.
Mercedes are some way down the list - but have definitely made more progress than any of the other traditional top teams. Ferrari are at the bottom.
The difficulty in assessing Mercedes' potential, though, is that for all their impressive performance in taking pole and victory in China, their form in the other races has been poor.
The Mercedes is quick in qualifying - thanks in part, no doubt, to its controversial 'double DRS' system - but they are the team whose performance deteriorates the most from practice and qualifying to race.
You can be sure a lot of their work at the Mugello test next week will be focused on this phenomenon.
The next-worst team on this criterion, incidentally, are McLaren.
THE TITLE BATTLE
Ferrari are the most consistent top team (and behind only Sauber) in terms of form from practice to race - a measure of how close a team gets to extracting the maximum from their car.
Red Bull are pretty close behind, even though it took the world champions until the fourth race of the season to record their first win.
One of the reasons teams have been struggling with consistency - both from race to race and within a weekend - is that they are finding it difficult to get the best out of the Pirelli tyres this year.
As Button has said: "Last year, we knew the tyres had high degradation but we understood them. This year, I don't really know what to make of the tyres."
Teams are struggling to keep the tyres in the right window of operating temperature, and different cars work them better in different ambient temperatures. Circuit characteristics also play a role.
Mercedes, for example, have been suffering problems with rear-tyre usage. So China was perfect for them. It was run in cool conditions on a circuit that is 'front-limited' - the front tyres tend to go off first.
Red Bull, by contrast, were struggling to get their car to work properly in China, and the result was their worst qualifying performance of the year. The race was less problematic, but Red Bull's race pace has been strong all year.
In the hotter conditions of Bahrain, on a 'rear-limited' track, Mercedes struggled and Red Bull shone.
Until Bahrain, McLaren had coped pretty well with the varying conditions from race to race, but their struggles with rear tyre wear in Bahrain will have set alarm bells ringing.
PICKING A FAVOURITE
Vettel predicted in Bahrain that, because the teams are all so close in terms of competitiveness, changing conditions will continue to have an effect on form throughout the season.
His team principal Christian Horner added that the season would "ebb and flow".
"It is a matter," Horner said, "of trying to be consistent at the races you can't win and take the maximum out of them. And at the races you can, you need to deliver."
So who is the favourite?
Before Bahrain, you would probably have said one of the McLaren drivers. Now, you might be tempted to say Vettel.
But what about Webber, who has had the edge on Vettel in three of the four races? Or Raikkonen? Or even Alonso, if Ferrari can effect a turnaround with the car.
One thing is clear - it's all very different from last year, when by this stage it was already blindingly obvious that Vettel was going to be champion.
As to who it will be this time, as Hamilton has said: "It's anyone's at the moment."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/04/four_different_winners_-_now_p.html
"All good, mate," is probably Mark Webber's favourite phrase. It's a fair bit more loaded with meaning than it sounds, and it sums up the way he will be feeling after the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Australian's second win in three years in Formula 1's most prestigious race, and his first of the season, had been coming for a while and it confirms Webber's return to form after a difficult 2011.
It will have been particularly sweet as it came at another race in which he has had an edge on team-mate Sebastian Vettel, whose romp to the world title last year was probably harder on Webber than anyone.
When a driver takes 11 wins and 15 pole positions in 19 races, as Vettel did last year, most of his rivals can console themselves with the thought that he has a better car than they do. Not so his team-mate, who suffered through 2011 with dignity and largely in silence.
Mark Webber (right) is congratulated by Prince Albert II (left) of Monaco after winning the Monaco Grand Prix. Photo: Getty
This season, though, has seen a Webber more like the one who led the championship for much of 2010 before falling at the final hurdle.
There was virtually nothing to choose between the two Red Bull drivers for most of that season - and this year Webber is back to that position.
Although it has taken until Monaco for Webber to draw level with Vettel on points, the qualifying score is four-two in Webber's favour.
It would almost certainly have been five-one had Red Bull not erroneously decided not to send him out for a second run in the second session of qualifying in Spain two weeks ago, thinking he had done enough to make it through to the top-10 shoot-out.
Out-qualifying Vettel so comprehensively again in Monaco, on a track where all the drivers admit the man in the cockpit can make that bit more of a difference than on more mundane tracks, will have been particularly sweet.
The two Red Bull drivers have been more evenly matched in races this year, but while it took until his Monaco victory for Webber to draw level with Vettel in the championship, that is not necessarily an accurate reflection of their relative pace.
Webber scored four consecutive fourth places in the first four races as Vettel took a win, a second and a fifth. But only in Bahrain was Vettel demonstrably faster - and Webber would almost certainly have taken the second place his team-mate did in Australia had it not been for a pit-stop delay.
A win in Monaco, to become the sixth different driver to win in the first six races of the year confirms - as if confirmation were needed - that Webber is a major contender for the championship again this year.
He admitted after the race in Monaco that "last year was a little bit of a mystery; the gap was sometimes really, really extreme". One imagines Vettel feels very much the same about this season.
Monaco was another example. There was Webber on the front row while Vettel was back in 10th having used up all his 'super-soft' tyres just getting into the top-10 shoot-out - exactly as had happened in Spain.
Red Bull have been struggling comparatively in qualifying all year, but their race pace has been strong almost everywhere. So it was again in Monaco, where Vettel, on a different strategy, suddenly became a factor for victory mid-way through the race.
"That wasn't in the plan," Webber joked afterwards, admitting he had been a little nervous about his team-mate's progress. Eventually, though, the tyres on Vettel's car cried enough - and he had to settle for fourth.
Team boss Christian Horner could not explain after the race how Vettel was so competitive in the race in the same car in which he had struggled in qualifying. But the answer will almost certainly lie somewhere in the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres, the secrets of which are proving elusive to the teams so far this season.
It says something for Red Bull's professionalism and competence as a team that although aspects of their car's performance are flummoxing even a man as brilliant as their designer Adrian Newey, they find both drivers tied on points just three off the championship lead.
Equally, it speaks volumes for the quality of Fernando Alonso's driving so far this year that he is the man they are chasing, despite being in a car that has not yet been fast enough to set a pole position.
The Spaniard was in impressive form again in Monaco. From fifth on the grid, he made another great start and ran fourth to the first pit stops, when he jumped Lewis Hamilton's McLaren thanks to a stunning in-lap, on which he set the fastest times of the race until that point on both the first sectors.
Alonso and Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali both admitted afterwards that he could potentially even have got ahead of second-placed Nico Rosberg and perhaps Webber, too, had he stayed out a little longer. But, as they said, you only know this in hindsight.
Still, third place was enough to vault him past Vettel into a clear championship lead. No wonder Horner said after the race: "Fernando has driven very well. He's going to be a key factor all the way through this championship for sure."
He wisely added that it would be wrong to rule out McLaren, despite another lacklustre performance in Monaco, and the same should also be said of Mercedes.
Mercedes bounced back with a bang in Monaco after a dip in form in Bahrain and Spain following Rosberg's dominant win in China last month.
And after a difficult start to the season, it was Michael Schumacher who stuck the car on pole, which he lost as a result of the five-place grid penalty he earned for running into the back of Williams's Bruno Senna in Spain.
Schumacher was unlucky in the race, tagged by Lotus's Romain Grosjean at the start, and then retiring with a fuel pressure problem after running seventh for a while.
It will take a few more performances like that to convince everyone that the veteran German can be a consistent force at the front, and he is almost certainly too far behind to be a factor in the championship battle.
But his presence at the front, should it continue, will add an intriguing dimension to an already fascinating season.
"All good," as Webber would doubtless say.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/andrew_benson.html
This kit I bought from Mr. Prestigious, aka streetrod aka Barry Faddon over a month ago.
I wasn't sure how I was going to build it, but I wanted it different from the '70 Duster 340 conversion I built almost 3 years ago. After some thought, I decided to build it as a hotted up version with different paint, graphics, induction, and wheels and tires. My paint will be Tamiya TS-31 Bright Orange with 1970 'Cuda 340 Hockey Stick stripes from Keith Marks.
I am undecided on which wheels to use. The wheels at the top of the picture are simular to Cragar Dragstars or the American Racing Torque Thrusts at the bottom. I am leaning towards the Dragstars though. We shall see...
More to come...
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/1013445.aspx
Source: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-mx-the-holeshot-high-point/
