2021: What are you doing today

[chimp koose]

Finished surfacing my cyl heads today . I had sent them to a machine shop to cut .020 as I was shut out of my shop to covid at the time . I was not happy with the surface finish as I am using a .015" steel shim head gasket with a teflon? coating on one side on aluminum heads and the surface finish requirements were for a finer finish than they could produce . Spray glue, 180 grit paper ,  a surface table  and a long time rowing and they are now done ! Took off a few thou to get them looking like they do out of the box. I have HOURS into these heads as they came with the factory chamber cuts and no valve unshrouding done (they can be ordered that way, I bought them used .)Unshrouded them last easter, now my son in law has an identical set with one unshrouded by factory and the other one not ( bought as a pair that way?) Factory job is kinda crude .

[phat46]

Feels like you are watching from the guardrail ! Nice work !   I used to do oil painting when I was a kid 13 14 yrs old . The teacher would not allow me to paint cars . Did a lot of scenery , Bob Roth style . Have you ever thought of doing a painting of just an engine ?

Yeah I have, I have done some fairly close, somewhat detailed engines in cars, I thought no a flathead would be a good one. I did do this if that counts...

[chimp koose]

Looks great , motorcycle engines are like mechanical art.

[idrivejunk]

That painting is a beaut, too.

Today, well after midnite now but anyway... shuffled snow and ice for better thawing and aired up a GT tire then groceried with it. Hate using a broom on the 69 but did, and aired it out. Hidden wipers still a bit caked today but tomorrow, today... uh... must roar. Too much slush Saturday.

Did some wildcard F-1 / 6 scribbles in the afternoon then just now during audio entertainment added a couple greens and more black and orange to the current picture-

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QWrE8PQESEI/YDH4RaYTmtI/AAAAAAAAOTc/de7gIqf8TLolYT--BsTfdAclpUGlNV-zgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210221_000247.jpg

Thats a link to the fun in progress.

[WZ JUNK]

Yesterday was the first day that it was above freezing in the last 14 days.  I do not remember a string of cold days that long.  One of those days. when it was 15 below, the controls on my outside furnace for the shop were not working correctly and required me to work outside in shifts.  I do not want to do that again.  Another day I used my snowblower and I did the driveway and approaches at the shop, the circle drive in front of the house, and 8 driveways on my street.  A lot of my neighbors are older than me and they might need to get our for medical reasons.  Even though my old body hurt at the end of the day, it was a feel good day.

I am working on the old truck now.  I have repaired the top and it is ready for primer.  I have removed the running boards and I am changing them.  I never liked my design when I made them more than 30 years ago.  Next I will work on some improvements on the fit of the fiberglass tilt front end.

I made a removable plug for air the intake of the 460/Ranger truck.  I have always worried that rain water might get through that area and into the engine when I leave the truck outside.  It will probably be parked outside a lot during the spring rainy season this year.

This week I get my second vaccine shot.  That means I can get out and get some materials I have needed for projects.  It will also mean I can get my hair cut for the first time in a year.

I plan to change out the rear end assembly in my 54 Chevy car.  I will use an assembly that does not require any conversion of the brake parts.  I am giving up trying to make the brakes on the Versailles rear end assembly work. This has been the worst mechanical experience of my life.

[phat46]

That painting is a beaut, too.

Today, well after midnite now but anyway... shuffled snow and ice for better thawing and aired up a GT tire then groceried with it. Hate using a broom on the 69 but did, and aired it out. Hidden wipers still a bit caked today but tomorrow, today... uh... must roar. Too much slush Saturday.

Did some wildcard F-1 / 6 scribbles in the afternoon then just now during audio entertainment added a couple greens and more black and orange to the current picture-

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QWrE8PQESEI/YDH4RaYTmtI/AAAAAAAAOTc/de7gIqf8TLolYT--BsTfdAclpUGlNV-zgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210221_000247.jpg

Thats a link to the fun in progress.

That's looking really good, I like that style. It's interesting to see the difference in techniques used by different artists. I tend to finish my background completely, the foreground, then the subject. I will go back and add details if needed when finished. Ths long term piece I am playing with now is a bit of a departure from that for me. The background is mostly done, and one car got finished, but now I am hopping all around doing whatever strikes me at the moment. Also sketching things in the background that may or may not be added. I think I'll have another month on this, I have some more commissions to do now. This is 2' X 3', a large piece for me.

[idrivejunk]

That picture has all the composition going for it and some smooth looking brush work too. The lighting effects are starting to emerge. It will be a fine piece showcasing your ability.

I do kinda have a style and it resembles the pre-wrist-break one. Glad you can see it, my handwriting changed and took about four years to get neatness back albeit with pain now. Learning to trust it with a brush and the black on the car while maybe not all right with the imaginary lighting, pleases me with some of the brush strokes that happened. A bit of watercolor technique was effective there and washes will put it into the scene.

It is interesting, moving back into color and from pencils... the order in which things get laid out. On the Ventura pic, I put a fore / background down as duty so I wouldn't skip it, that part comes easy. Then the subject, but with no darks until last. Pow! Thats the fun part, then a smidgen of detailing foreground without ruining is the finish.

Totally different approach on the A pic. Bold darks first, like with pencils. Like you, I enjoy seeing and exercising contrasting styles and will always be exploring what catches my fancy that day. Kinda wierd color selection in my set and mixing acrylics is kind of like spraying poly primer, I gotta hurry. So I'll have to find some personal color recipies and such. Fun stuff, never enough time for it.

I plan to insert a sun at the very last, on my picture. Figuring the rest of it will guide exact placement but I am narrowing it down and figure about half will show. Whether it is AM or PM in the scene can be up to the observer if I pull it off right.

[idrivejunk]

Art, schmart. Get a thread! I keep threatening myself to make one.

I was outgunned by Mother Nature today, with a rainy front making me just pull my head back into the den when I went to wake up Grape. Meh. Still messy, wet, and chilly out. Beautiful Monday and Tuesday on the way but I'll be in the grey room feeling grey.

Looking through some pics, I saw where I used a FelPro gasket under my Performer intake a couple years back. I need to get a proper gasket and stuff as spring fever prep. Insert bullwhip sound.

These have been good background noise during art or relax or stuck indoors time... if you didn't hate Perry Mason or Gunsmoke give em a whirl, they will be familiar-

https://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/Fort_Laramie.php

[chimp koose]

IDJ I went to the lost westerns site you showed me the other day , awesome

[idrivejunk]

IDJ I went to the lost westerns site you showed me the other day , awesome

I really gobbled those up. Prime stuff for sure.  );b(  Playlist was heavy on the Roy Rogers toward the end.

The studio quality on the Ft Laramie shows is a nice welcome change up. Many familiar voices, but clear.

[kb426]

Short story. Yesterday after completing my list of tasks, I had the 51 out because of putting the 351 in the shed in front of it. I drove it around town to warm up the engine and charge the battery. As I'm making a loop around town, I drive past a C. store and there sat a pickup and trailer with a copper colored 57 chevy 2 door ht. on it. The little light went off as I drove by. I whipped a u turn and went back. I had a pleasant conversation with the new owners. That car belonged to one of my high school friend's. He wrecked the front end in the early 70's. We took the front clip off of a pink 4 door sedan for him to repair it. It never got fixed. It has been sitting at his father's farm ever since. He had moved to eastern Kansas years ago. Somehow he made contact with the buyer who is a serious car guy but also a buyer and seller. It turns out there was another 2 door ht. that I knew nothing about. They bought both and were headed home after filling up. I asked the buyer it it was all rusted up. He said not much. I'm very surprised at that. It sat behind the house on flat tires. Now I know. I've been surprised several times at the accidents in time. Makes you think there was a reason to be there at that moment.

[idrivejunk]

Glad you did something, the thread is looking killed again. I drove my loud junk today probably first time in a month and fishtailed it within the first 80 yards. Neighbor Pushypushpush pulled out and got right on me so I poked it and ended up drifting to save around the turn at end of block. Speaking of which, the cold snap wasn't the end of my block apparently woohoo. Steering juice was not touching the stick and rear brakes all dry and those got topped off before last usage. Brakes didn't bounce back with fluid immediately but they usually do so really no rears yet. Did me a whippysnappy nother dry pavement blip n fishtail on purpose once I reached work.

That helps! But it does feel kind of silly having it. Gas for it was 3.07 this morning, higher than that Monday when I filled up the daily. I don't burn dishwater though.

edit: Hey I can still edit. Just rolled all 3s across the Model J odometer.  

And last night I garden hosed the funk out of the GTP wheelwells and rockers, from snow, and put it away wet.

[phat46]

I put a few more hours in on this lately, it's seems to be coming along nicely now that I'm past the "man this isn't right" stage! 😄 Probably three more hours left, I guess I should just finish it, I have two commissions waiting in line.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Stopped at a Whataburger this past monday...  First words out of the talk box is:  We are on a limited menu do to winter storms.  For my burger meal, no medium soda  cups, no musturd for the burger (Frys food store sells it), no spicy ketchup packets, only regular ketchup. I had a large soda with the burger and fries

[enjenjo]

I have a couple pictures to post. Fatcat made me a prototype horn button for this truck I am working on with his 3D printer. It fits a LeCarra steering wheel but is patterned on the 54 Chevy truck horn button. He is making a production piece that is smoother, and I found someone who can Chrome plate it with a supposed two day turn around.

The second thing is cabinet that fatcat made to hold small parts drawers that can be removed one at a time without disturbing the others, It was a Christmas present, and I love it. The smaller one on top is an Amazon Basics shelf unit that bought at a discount because of damaged packaging. A few scratches, but no big deal. The shelves are adjustable in 1" increments, and rated at 50 lbs per shelf.