Iron Modeler

Another year in the books…

Howdy!

Is it really the end of January, 2022?  That went quick…

As I write this, I have supper cooking in the air fryer and the 60^th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on the TV.  This year, 61 cars across five classes took the green flag—a massive field!  I was swapping Facebook messages with a few friends, and remembered that the last race we saw in person was in 2009.  While I miss the sounds and smells of “being there”, I find that I’m much more comfortable on my couch that I was sitting and freezing in the stands…

With the IMSA/ACO cooperation agreements in place, things are looking different—and will be next year as well.  I like the direction things are headed so far.  The race so far has been close, with a few unfortunate incidents that have taken some cars out of the race, but hey, that’s how it goes.  I just looked—it is right at the time where the sun has retreated to the west and there’s a neat purple-orange glow in the skies, the time when day turns to night.  As the darkness settles in and the blackness envelops the Speedway, all sorts of things could happen.  This is why I love sports car endurance racing.
  
On other fronts, the weather has been goofy here in the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere.  Two weeks ago, we were hit with an ice storm.  We only had about a tenth of an inch, but that tenth of an inch caused all sorts of issues.  We were without power for 17 hours that Sunday—I went to bed at 10, couldn’t sleep (it was cold, and I don’t do well all bundled up), and sometime around 11 heard the chain saws as the electric cooperative attended to the problem.  By 1:15 AM on Monday, we had power.  We were some of the lucky ones--some folks didn't get power back until late Monday.

Last weekend, we had snow, about 2 inches’ worth.  Fortunately, it was on a Saturday—as I’ve said before, 2 inches may as well be 20 feet in this neck of the woods.  This morning, we had heavy frost, but as I ventured out to buy groceries I noticed that several areas received a dusting of snow.  Yep.  January in South Carolina…

We’re six months away from my 40^th high school class reunion.  It has been so much fun catching up with people, and even more fun when we see they have bought a ticket to attend.  With that fun comes the sadness when we hear of yet another classmate who is no longer with us.  As I told our reunion chair, it is sad knowing they are gone, but sadder still when we realize many of them passed years ago, and we’re just now finding out.

And, of course, it is sad when a classmate tells us they won’t attend.  Some have valid reasons—a few have cited COVID-19, which I fully understand.  Some will be traveling, some can’t get away from work, and others have kids who are entering college, so they need to be around for that.  And, to be fair, there are some who can’t afford it—which I totally get, too.  Unfortunately, stuff costs what it costs—we’re not making a profit off this, and it is happening in South Florida, on the beach (literally), in July.

Some are still on the fence, so the committee has started to directly contact them to see what’s going on.  Hopefully, we can convince more than a few to come and join us.

On the plastic front, I had cleaned out the “Back Burner” projects except one—a Reheat 120mm figure of Neil Armstrong on the moon.  In the meantime, I have brought the aforementioned 1/72^nd scale A-7 and F-16’s out for completion.  Being 1/72^nd scale kits, I can get them finished in short order if I want to.  And I do want to…

As they sit now, the A-7 has had paint applied, and will get a clear coat in a day or so.  This kit was curious—the wings had been assembled, complete with the pylons, and at one time were attached to the fuselage.  I guess when Rick needed to move, he carefully broke the wings back off so the kit would fit in the box.  Also in the box were a bunch of Mk 82 Snakeyes, a few Shrikes, a couple of TER’s (the center wing pylons had already been fitted with MER’s), and a bunch of Sidewinders.  He had also thrown the elements for a VA-147 A-7A in the box, and a initially considered using them.  On close inspection, I was not sure they would work, so I went looking for different options.  My wife handed me a Hannants’ Xtradecal sheet with an A-7B from VA-155 that she had in her decal cabinet, so that’s where I’m headed.  I had an old Microscale sheet with a similar option, as well as another with a VA-215 “Barn Owls” scheme, but again I had doubts as to whether they would work or fall apart.  I took the safe route…

The two F-16’s were more or less still in kit form.  Rick had painted the cockpits and started to add a photoetch set to the C model. I decided to remove the PE parts and close the canopies on both—honestly, in 1/72^nd scale, you can’t see much anyway and to me the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.  At this moment, the fuselages are assembled and waiting to have the seams dressed. 

The bigger challenge was to figure out what direction Rick was headed with them.  There were no decals or notes, so I wasn’t sure.  I dredged through the decal stash and found some options.  For the F-16A, I settled on a Block 10 aircraft in South Carolina Air National Guard colors.  That led to a decision—the kit is a Block 15 with the enlarged horizontal stabs.  I could cut them down and re-contour them, but in the end I think I’ll avail myself of a set of Quickboost items instead.

Originally, I wanted to do the F-16C as the Aviano jet with the commemorative USAF 50^th Anniversary scheme, and intended to do just that.  However, a little voice in the back of my noggin kept saying “Block number!  Check the Block number, dummy!”  And, sure enough, the Aviano jet was a Block 40 (GE power, etc.), something the Hasegawa kit can’t do.  So, I went back through the decals and found decals for a Shaw AFB-based Block 25 jet attached to the 363^rd TFW.  The decals are from the “not quite crap, but certainly not gems!” period for Microscale, which means I may try to find an alternate—but I figure I’ll make the pair a South Carolina themed mini-collection.

Last time, I told you how I all but emptied the Back Burner cabinet.  Here’s some eye candy for you…

The Aeroclub 1/48th scale Gloster Gamecock.  This was before I added the serials using decals--at this point, all the color you see on the model is paint.  It is built as a machine from the RAF's No. 43 Squadron circa 1926.
Hasegawa's 1/72nd scale F-4N kit with Microscale decals to depict "Old Nick 200" from VF-111 circa 1974.

Another Hasegawa Phantom in 1/72nd scale, this time an F-4B dressed up as the CVW-15 CAG jet from VF-51, the airplane known as the Supersonic Can Opener

This is one of the busts that DML included in their 1/48th scale airplane kits--this is Ernst Udet.

Another 43 Squadron airplane--this is is Fujimi's 1/72nd scale Phantom FG.1.

AFV Club's 1/35th scale Wiesel 1 with TOW missile was built as a group build--the base was provided with the instructions to build a model and landscape the base.

This is a completed Bluejacket Shipcrafters 1/192nd scale kit of the USS Monitor.


Here is another project long in hibernation:  Reheat Model's 120mm U-2/SR-71/Shuttle pilot figure.

Authentic Airliners' 1/144th scale Convair 440 and Vintage Flyer decals were used to build this model on N4826C in her Delta Air Lines delivery colors.  An earlier post I wrote in 2011 has photos of her in 1990...

That's all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one other, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

 

Game Changers

Howdy, all!

There have been several times along the way in my scale modeling adventures where I have learned or discovered something that changed the way I built models.  The short list:

• Monogram Models diorama sheets.  These diorama sheets were written by a guy named Sheperd Paine.  I had never heard of him, but the dioramas he built were stunning.  He laid the path that eventually I would attempt to follow.  The models were unlike any I had ever seen.  It whetted my appetite to know more. 
• Challenge Publications' "Scale Modeler" magazine.  Before I saw that March 1978 issue at the local Albertson's, I had no idea that magazines like this existed!  The models I was looking at and reading about were superb.  The authors spoke of things I had never known about--liquid cement, filler putty, decal solvents, airbrushes--and I figured if I was going to get better, I needed them.  I also saw ads for exotic kits from exotic lands, aftermarket decals to decorate the model differently that the kit manufacturers specified, specialty paints that matched any one of a dozen heretofore unknown to me "standards", and doo-dads to detail models.  Until this time, I had seen their mention in passing in the Paine diorama sheets in the Monogram Models kits.
• Warrick Custom Hobbies, Orange Blossom Hobbies, and Universal Hobbies.  It was inside the walls of these establishments where I could actually see the things I had been reading about.  As a bonus, I could see completed models that matched or exceeded the work I saw in the magazines.    I've written about these shops before since I started this blog, so I won't re-take old ground.  Suffice to say that had I not had good hobby shops in the area when I was growing up, my pursuit of the hobby may have been very different, indeed.
• Kalmbach Publications' "FineScale Modeler" magazine and their modeling books.  I discovered FSM at the same time I saw Paine's "How To Build Dioramas" book and the "Hints and Tips For Plastic Modeling" book right next to it.  Between the covers of these pubs, I uncovered even more superb work.  I was still a relative neophyte, looking back, and still had a lot to learn.  My skills had improved, but I still had a lot to learn.
• Joining the IPMS/Flight 19 Chapter.  Joining a club put me in touch with like minded folks who shared my passion for little plastic airplanes, tanks, ships, cars, and the like.  That was reinforced when I took a break after moving to South Carolina--after nine years, I dipped my toes back into the club scene when I joined the IPMS/Mid-Carolina Swamp Fox Modelers and the AMPS Central South Carolina Wildcats, and haven't looked back. 

As I have presented "Model Building 101", I tell the stories of lessons learned.  For instance, when I get to the section on using fillers, I relate how a younger me would smear Squadron Green Putty over every glue seam as soon as the cement dried--and not in a thin layer, either.  I would squeeze out a blob of putty on my right forefinger and smear putty over every seam to bury them--and spend the next day sanding it all down.  I relate how I began using CA as a filler more frequently in my dotage--my previous attempts didn't quite end in disaster, but they didn't exactly win any awards.  I learned, in time, that it wasn't what I was using, the problem with the CA (like the Green Putty) was the how much.  I was simply relying on gobs of putty or a river of CA when, had I done my prep work better, I would have needed a small smear or a few drops.  Yeah, I'm hard-headed, what can I say...

The same thing goes for all the techniques I use today.  As I tell the folks who attend the seminar, most of the techniques I use were learned over the years.  Some of them I use exactly as I was taught, others are variations on the theme that I developed to work for me.  Which brings me to the most important thing I try to teach--model building is as individual as those who pursue it.  

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If you want to see "Model Building 101" in person, come to the 2019 IPMS/USA National Convention in Chattanooga.  I'll be presenting it there, tentatively on the schedule for Thursday morning at 9 AM.

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The preparations for the Second Annual South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show are almost complete.  We're about two weeks away from the festivities--if you'll be in the neighborhood of the National Guard Armory on Bluff Road in Columbia, SC on Saturday June 22nd, stop in and see us!

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This weekend is the 87th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  I look forward to all of the sports car endurance races, none more than Le Mans.  I don't know why I place this one above Daytona or Sebring, maybe it is the international draw that has been missing from the other two since the mid-1990's.  

My favorites for this year?  I'd like to see the #8 Toyota repeat this year in LMP1--being the only hybrids in the field, they have an advantage and unless they experience problems, the Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrids are favored.  In the petrol-powered cars, I like the Rebellion Racing teams.  They have a strong driver lineup, and they do well every year.

LMP2, for me, is a toss-up between DragonSpeed, Jackie Chan DC Racing, and United Autosport.  A lot depends on the durability of the cars and how well they stay out of trouble.

The LMGTE Pro field is usually hotly contested between the Corvette Racing teams and Ford Chip Ganassi squads, although the Porsche GT teams are strong every year, too.  Given this is the final year of factory support of the Ford GT, perhaps a swan song win would be nice.

My long shot for LMGTE Am is the Keating Racing Ford GT.  They're an American team that only runs Le Mans on the ACO schedule.  Another favorite is the Dempsey-Proton Racing team and their Porsche 911's.  Patrick Dempsey is a real racer, and to see his team win is special.

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That's all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

Summer Beckons...

Howdy!

The calendar just turned over to June.  Hard to believe, but the IPMS/USA National Convention is, as I'm typing this, 56 days, 16 hours, and 10 minutes away.  We're working hard here in the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere to put on the best IPMS Nationals ever--don't miss out.  If you haven't done so yet, go over to the  Convention website and check out what we've been up to.  Sign up for the show while you're there.  Columbia will be the place to be come the first week of August if you build models...

Speaking of building models, last time I told you about the Hasegawa Beaufighter that I was building for one of my seminars.  Well, race fans, it is now all but finished.  I need to take some photos of it to post here, but it is only lacking the photo shoot.  It came out quite nicely, thanks for asking...

And, I also told you about the Aeroclub Gloster Gamecock that I had started to build.  Well, I have it just about ready to assemble the major pieces.  I need to buy some brass wire for the wing struts and some aluminum stock to rebuild the landing gear.  Now, there's really nothing wrong with the kit parts, shape-wise, but they are white metal and they bend way too easily for my tastes.  So, I'll fashion a set from aluminum or stout styrene backed with wire to make sure it won't collapse.  I'm impressed.  I really am.  Of all the projects I have going at the moment, this one has put a smile on my face.

I also made a comment about sourcing an Aeroclub Gloster Gauntlet.  I know that Aerolcub had discontinued their vacuum formed kit some time ago and replaced it with an injection molded kit, but I also knew that one of the partners had died and Aeroclub's products were now difficult to find.  Well, I contacted John Adams (Mr. Aeroclub) and asked.  And, for 30 Pounds Stirling postage paid, I received one about a week and a half later.  Now that's what I call service.  The lesson?  It never hurts to ask...

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As I alluded to last time, I have started to work a few shifts at the hobby shop.  I see it this way:  I'm able to put some money in my pocket, I'm getting out of the house, and I'm helping others pursue their hobbies through the products I try to get into the shop.  The employee discount doesn't hurt, either, but that wasn't the goal of the exercise.  Until Convention is over, this will hold me.  After convention, I'll start fishing around for some tech editing gigs that I can do from home.  Win-win, I think...

One of the things I've been asked to do it to make some sense out of the model airplanes and ships we have at the store.  The stock and selection aren't bad, but some of the kits on the shelf have been there since the original owner bought them in 2008.  Time for a change, no?  So, I'm looking where we can clearance things and bring some of the new kits from Eduard, Airfix, Hasegawa, Revell, Academy, and Tamiya into the store to replace the ones that have been shelf sitters.  Starting this week, we're going to slowly get the new stuff ordered and move the older stuff out.  As I told one of the managers, I'd rather concentrate on getting good kits in and buying aftermarket decals than get two kits of the same subject--one good and one not so--simply because they have different markings options.  We'll have to see how that plays out.

I've also had to get used to fielding radio control questions, something that I learned last time I worked at the shop.  I no longer want to actually tear a car down to replace parts, but I'm finding that I have actually retained a great deal of what I picked up six and a half years ago.  The area where I'm re-learning is on the air side--quadcopters are all the rage.  I'm slowly getting the answers that I need...

One of the changes since last time is the new FAA regulations on drones.  Anything between .55 and 55 pounds needs to be registered, which covers about half of the products we sell.  Judging by the reactions we get when we remind people that it is a requirement, you'd think the FAA was asking for their first born.  Look, folks, we are only required to tell you that these things need to be registered and how to do it.  We don't police it, you can do as you please.  However, as I told one customer, I've dealt with the FAA for nearly 30 years.  Those $25K fines and /or imprisonment claims?  They're not idle threats.  And, having dealt with the FAA, those fines and punishments can't be talked down and you can't lawyer your way out of them.  Forewarned is forearmed, or something like that...

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The Stanley Cup finals are underway.  I was excited to see my beloved Florida Panthers made it into the playoffs, and equally as bummed when they got sent home in seven games by the Brooklyn Islanders (yeah, I had forgotten that nugget too).  My other team, the Philadelphia Flyers, likewise were shown an early exit, so from there I could just sit back and watch.  My picks going into the Conference Finals were Tampa Bay vs. St. Louis (the Lightning being the "other" Florida team and I've always liked the Blues).  So, you guessed it, both teams lost.  Now, I'd just like the San Jose Sharks to win a few more games and make it a seven game Finals against the Penguins...

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The annual World Racing Motorsports Spectacle Weekend came and went a few weeks ago.  Monaco was kind of, well, typical of the Formula One circus.  Indy was exciting--a rookie wins, crossing the finish line running out of gas?  What a story.  And then we have the NA$CAR Racing Entertainment Event at Charlotte.  I liked the fact that someone other than the usual juggernaut won, but man.  Could you make your rules any more fluid and fickle?  I really do remember when the rules were the same from week to week, as the en vogue facebook meme says...

In a few weeks comes my other favorite motorsports weekend of the year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  The entry list is impressive.  I still want to see Toyota win one of these with their hybrids, and seeing the Ford GT's up against Corvette Racing and the Ferraris will be so cool.  18-19 June, tune in...you won't want to miss this one!

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I guess that about wraps it up from here.  I hope to see all of you at the IPMS Nationals.  We have a great program in store for you all.

In the meantime, thanks for reading.  Be good to one another.  As always, I bid you Peace.

And then, things got hectic...

Yeah, yeah, I know...

See, its like this:  I finally had enough time to collect my meager thoughts.  The new car was running nicely (and still is), work was humming along, the family stuff was on an even keel...

I even got to take a vacation.  What happened after that?  See the title to this post...

We're a small shop at work--we do with five or six technicians what other shops won't touch unless they have at least ten people available to work the job.  We schedule things pretty tight, too--remember what I've said in the past about the empty hangar not making us any money?  With things packed nose to tail, everything has to pretty much run like a Rolex (by the way, did you see the Rolex 24?  More later...) or the whole schedule turns into a logjam.  Yep.  You guessed it.  Unforeseen problems with parts, unexpected findings, and some aircraft sales issues clogged the pipeline a bit.  As a result, we're trying to unburden ourselves from said pile of airplanes.  We have two in the hangar, two on the ramp, and two stashed in various hangars around the airport to keep them out of any inclement weather that might move in.  And, get this--we have two more on the way early next week.  So it kinda goes without saying that we're working overtime.  Lots of overtime.  As in seven day a week overtime.  The money's good, yes, but you have to be alive to enjoy it.  Fortunately, we're on schedule to deliver one by the close of business Monday, and another a day or so after that.  But we're still up to our eyeballs in aviation fun...

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To add to the array of spinning plates, my mother is again in poor health.  She was improving when we saw her in December, then she suffered a pretty significant setback, one which the family is dealing with.  Lots of issues there, not least of which is I'm going to have to carve away some time to visit.  Or clone myself.  Or both.

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All isn't gloom and doom, though.  I have actually tried to get back to the workbench and get some stuff done.  I broke my vow of not starting anything new until the backlog was done and started on the new Airfix 1/72 scale Folland Gnat T.1.  It has been a relatively quick build, and I hope to be able to get some color onto the model shortly.  There were a few minor issues.  The fit of the wing to the fuselage can be tricky--be careful once you get everything ready for the glue.  If you don't get a good, tight fit where the wings meet the inlets, work on it before you get out the glue brush--if you don't, you'll wind up with a slight gap that could set your wing askew.  I'm speaking from experience, here.  Also, watch the part numbers when you build the slipper tanks--I didn't and got the left top on the right bottom and vice-versa.  By the time I noticed, the tanks were permanently fused.  I had to trim and shim to get them to fit.  I hope that those of you reading this take heed and learn from my ignorance.

I'm gonna build this one up using the kit decals.  I figured it would be a good slump-buster, and I was right--were it not for all the overtime and other things, I'd have it finished by now.

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Other things, you ask?  Well, in addition to the family stuff, the court date for the guy who caused the accident in November came up a few weeks ago.  I think I told you all at some point that the man is 82-years old.  Well, when I saw him enter the courtroom, it reinforced what I had been thinking--he's indeed 82, has two hearing aids, two canes, and glasses with lenses thicker than any I've seen on a pair of glasses.  How this man--a fine man, I'm sure--can hold a driver's license evades me.

Anyway, he wanted to speak with the judge.  The way traffic court works in South Carolina starts with your ticket.  If you pay it and take the points, your case is removed from the docket.  You also have the option of holding the court date and speaking with the law enforcement officer who cited you.  At that point, the two parties usually work out what amounts to a plea agreement with reduced fine, you pay the fine and take the reduced points, the case gets closed, and all is right with the world.  If you either don't want  to speak with the LEO or don't like what he or she is telling you, you appear before the judge.  This session was to start at 10AM.  The trooper was in a jury trial and was not going to be able to appear until just before the judge was ready to take the bench.  By the time the trooper showed, there were about five minutes left before the judge entered the court.  An interesting conversation took place:

"I want to talk to the judge.  I want my ticket throwed out."

"Sir, I doubt the judge will do that, especially since there are several witnesses to the case present in the courtroom today."

"I wasn't speedin'.  There was other cars passin' me like I was on flypaper."

"Sir, you weren't cited for speeding.  You were cited for driving too fast for conditions."

"But them folks wuz speeding!"

"Sir, I run traffic stops there all the time.  I understand what you're saying, but I didn't cite you for speeding.  We weren't running a speed stop that day, and while they may have been exceeding the speed limit, that's not what you got the ticket for.  Traffic was stopped, and by your actions, you damaged seven vehicles."

This went on for a while.  Then, he changes the subject:

"My van was totaled!  They gots to get one of them lit signs warning about congestion or sumpin' on the road.  I've been driving for seventy two years, and ain't never had anythin' like this..."

"Sir, I understand you vehicle was totaled--so were three others.  As for the signs, the judge here can't help you.  All he will want to hear from you is guilty or not guilty of the charge of driving too fast for conditions."

He pressed that issue for several minutes.  Then, another quick sidestep:

"My brakes musta failed or my foot musta slipped."

"Sir, we tested your van's brakes--even with all the damage, the system was intact and you had a firm pedal.  But that's also something the judge isn't interested in..."

The trooper had to explain this to the man at least three times before he switched tracks again:

"The hospital cut me loose and I wuz still hurtin'!"

"Sir, You'll need to take that up with the hospital.  This judge won't rule on that.  All he wants to hear is guilty or not guilty to the charge."

Then the guy's wife starts chiming in:

"Can't you reduce the fine?"

Ma'am, the fine is $81.88 and two points, the lowest traffic fine we are allowed to levy on this charge.  The judge will not reduce the fine lower than that."

"You really think not?  My husband's a Veteran and everthin'."

"Ma'am, even if the judge thought your husband was the finest man he'd ever met, he can't, by law, reduce the fine.  He could be a Saint, and the law still applies."

Finally, the couple decide that maybe it is best to pay their fine, take the points, and move on.  Much to my delight and to the delight of the other witness.  Of course, by the time they decided this, the judge entered the courtroom.  We did the polite thing and sat until the trooper and judge dismissed us.

There's several hours of my life I'm never gonna see again.  But if he made his appearance with no witnesses present, the case would have likely been dismissed.  So, I did my good deed for the day, and got a few hours away from work on top of it all.  Sometimes life is like that...

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During one of the lulls in the action, my wife and I paid a visit to one of the smaller hobby shops in the area, one that we hadn't been to in quite a while.  When I say small, I mean it in size, mainly--what the shop lacks in size is usually offset by some of the stuff held within it's walls.  We poked through the stacks, and I noted that the owner must have bought parts of a collection.  One man's trash (or SIDNA) is another man's treasure (or future SIDNA, depending on how the stars align):  I snagged a Fujimi 1/72 scale HSS-2B Sea King in JASDF markings for $12 and a Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-111F for about $20 and some change.  Not bad, considering Hasegawa is pricing the kits of the Pig that they do re-release at nearly double that.  I also noticed some HO scale/gauge Proto2000 Atlantic Coast and Florida East Coast locomotives priced nicely--I didn't get them yet, but will soon do so.  It pays to shop local, doesn't it?

The Fujimi Sea King is a nice kit that can be difficult to find.  It had most of the detail differences included (sponsons, short and long horizontal stabilizer, ice shield) in the box.  I'd like to have some fun and maybe build this one as one of the CH-3B's that the U. S. Air Force used to resupply the Texas Tower radar sites or to recover drones.  Eventually, I will build a Navy version or three, but the Air Force titles on an engine gray and orange helo intrigue me...

As for the -111, I may again break my vow in order to do something I've meant to do for years.  Stay tuned.

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On our trip to Florida, we stopped by the usual haunts and came up with a few hits.  I bought the wife a copy of the new Kinetic T-45 Goshawk.  It is a nice kit--she has already finished the model, and it looks quite nice.  I also managed to snag a Revell Germany issue of the 1/72 scale MPM A-20G kit.  Just as nice at half the price.  Really.

She found one of the new Academy 1/48 scale F-4B Phantom II kits, which she promptly wrapped and gave to me on Christmas.  Personally, I think it is a superb kit regardless of the hubbub on the 'net.  Mine is destined to wear the Top Hat of VF-14...

She also was directed towards a Zvesda 747-8 kit that I had spied for an oh-so-nice price.  So she's got that going for her...

Before we left on the trip, she had pre-ordered a couple of the new Meng 1/72 scale F-102A kits.  All I can say is that if you are a Century Series fan, get one.  Or two.  Or a half-dozen.  Yes, they are that nice...

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The 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is history.  Scott Pruett won for the fifth time, tying Hurley Haywood in the most wins in "Daytona's twice 'round the clock classic" department.  Let's say that I'm not Scott's biggest fan, but I do appreciate the achievement.  Winning once is a lifetime goal of so many people, so to win it five times is truly remarkable.  And I'm glad that Charlie Kimball was on the team for this race--Charlie races in the IndyCar series even though he has Type 1 diabetes--he carries a Novo Nordic FlexPen in the car with him, and he's done quite well for himself on the track.  He's also a nice guy, and I'm happy that he now can say he was on a winning team in Daytona.  Wayne Taylor Racing and their new partner Velocity Worldwide was on the second step of the podium this year.  The BMW's were the class of the field, so Wayne's Corvette DP just didn't have the muscle to keep pace, even with Max Angelelli, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Wayne's son Jordan sharing the duty.  Last year's winner, Michael Shank Racing's #60 car, finished third but was later fined and stripped of all the winnings and most of the points because of a rules infraction.  Part of the fines go to Camp Boggy Creek...

In the GT ranks, Audi and Ferrari came to play, and play they did.  Audi Sport/AJR took first, AudiSport/APR took second, and AIM Autosport/FXDD took theird in their Ferrari 458.  And, the new GX class had mixed results--the three top finishers were all Porsche Caymans.  Three Mazda6 GX entries met with misfortune early on, all of them dropping out due to engine and mechanical problems after 50 laps.

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So there you are.  We covered a lot of ground this time--some work woes, some family woes, some interesting disorder in the court, some plastic tales, and some racing.  I hope that holds you for a while. 

And I hope to be back sooner.  Can't make any promises, but I'll do my best to fill your head with useless trivia, questionable knowledge, and goofy tales from back in the day.

Until then, thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

Another racer heads West...

The racing world lost another great champion today.  Dan Wheldon, 2005 IRL Champion and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, died today due to injuries sustained in a horrible 15-car crash 12 laps into the final race of the season.

The race was supposed to be a celebration in many respects.  The season-long battle for the championship was still being hotly contested.  Danica Patrick was making her last full-time start in the series, as she'll be moving over to NASCAR's Nationwide Series next year (and, if the stories were to be believed, Dan was in line to replace her at Andretti Motorsport, a team he had driven for previously).  The Rookie of the Year was still being contested.  In addition, IndyCar had offered a large reward to any non-series drivers who could come to Las Vegas and win.  And, if that weren't enough, they also offered $5 million dollars to Dan--he would start the race from the back, and if he won, he'd share the money with "one lucky fan"--all a result of his shocking win at Indy last May.  He'd made it up to 24th in the race.  Then...

It was to be anything but a celebration.  10 laps in, the racing was getting a bit too racy for some.  Ryan Briscoe and Alex Tagliani touched wheels, sending Tags swerving into Ryan Hunter-Reay.  But the worst was yet to come--Rookie Wade Cunningham touched wheels with James Hinchcilffe.  Cunningham then spun into Charlie Kimball's car.  Havoc ensued.  At one point during the wreck, three cars, including Wheldon's, went airborne.  When the smoke had cleared, the wreck had taken ames Jakes, Vitor Meira, Wade Cunningham, JR Hildebrand, Townsend Bell, Jay Howard, Tomas Scheckter, Charlie Kimball, Paul Tracy, EJ Viso, Alex Lloyd, Pippa Mann, and Buddy Rice out of the race.  It also took Will Power out of the race, ending his bid for the series Championship.  And, Dan's car was among the wrecks...

Now, I don't like it when race cars get covered with tarps after major wrecks.  I had a bad feeling when Wheldon's car was draped with a yellow tarp.  The few races I've seen where cars were draped with tarps did not end well--one of those times was after the wreck that killed Dale Earnhardt, the other was the wreck that effectively ended Steve Park's racing career.  A bad feeling gnawed at me all afternoon.  The race was red-flagged in order to clean up the debris from 15 race cars as well as to effect repairs to the track--the catch fence had been damaged, the SAFER barriers needed attention, and the racing surface itself was in need of several patches.

The shot of the Medivac helicopter leaving tightened the knot in my gut.  This could not end well.  A shot of Danica being consoled by her husband jerked that knot even tighter.  Then, several drivers were summoned to the IndyCar trailer.  A drivers meeting was convened.  By that point, I knew.  It was driven home to me when Tony Kannan exited the drivers meeting and broke down on the pit wall.  I knew.  Bad news.

Randy Bernard simply confirmed what we all knew.  He said that Dan had died due to "unsurvivable injuries".  The drivers were polled as to whether to continue the race.  They were divided on the issue until Bernard and Brian Barnhardt entered.  The decision was made for the remaining cars to run a five-lap salute to their fallen comrade.

Goodbye, Dan.  Thanks for the hours of entertainment you provided, both on the track and behind the microphone as a color commentator.  The racing world has lost a great man.

Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

A drive through the French countryside...

Let's take a ride.  C'mon, the car's waiting.  There you go--get those seat belts tight...

As we leave the parking area--yes, it is Pit Lane--we start to accelerate, but not too much, as there's a quick right-hand curve coming up and we'll go under a bridge.  See that "Dunlop" sign?  It has been there for years--as a matter of fact, the turn we just took as well as the next two--a quick left-right-left--are called Dunlop Curve and the Dunlop chicane.  As we leave the chicane, the speed starts to climb again--but be careful!  There's another series of curves ahead--another, gentler left-right-left--that, believe it or not, are known to millions as, you guessed it, The Esses.  No time to dwell on that, though--we have another turn ahead.  Down the gears, a little more brake, and a hard right-hander awaits--as does disaster if you don't hit your marks!  We've just passed through the village of Tertre Rouge, from which this particular turn gets its name.

After Tertre Rouge, we can really start climbing the gears--shift, accelerate, shift again.  Until 1990, you could shift up through the gears, put the foot flat to the floor, and rest for a while.  But these days, you have to get ready--quick, down a gear...then another...brake a bit, sharp right, then left, then right again--for what was originally called L'Arche chicane, but is now the Play Station chicane (is the naming right to everything up for grabs?)...

Back up through the gears.  We're now on the famed Mulsanne straight, known to the locals as Ligne Droite des Hunaudières.  Before the place was changed--the stretch went from Tertre Rouge, through the Kink, to the turn at Mulsanne uninterrupted--speeds could get as high as 250 miles per hour!  Things may have slowed down, but not much...

Quick with the downshift again...and again...brake, hard left, right, hard left again...we just made it through La Florandierè (now Michelin) chicane.  Quickly, shift...again...good.  As we get back up to speed, we're approaching a slight right hand bend on the road, the Mulsanne Kink.  Don't be fooled--a lot of great drivers have run afoul of the Kink.  Once through the kink, you can speed up a bit...

Okay, now we're near the village of Mulsanne.  And, like the rest of this place, there's usually a turn named after the village.  And this one's a doozy.  ready?  Shift down, down, down again...brake...the turn is about 100 degrees, so be smooth through the apex...

Now that we're through that one, up through the gears again.  We have a long, sweeping right hander that we can handle quite easily.  But don't get comfortable, because we have one of the trickiest combination of curves coming up.  And here they are...you know the drill, downshift, again, then apply the brakes.  This turn, called Indianapolis (no, the village here isn't Indianapolis...), is a sharp, double apex turn--almost a sharp chicane--right, then left.  Get ready for more fun, though--the next turn, called Arnage (yes, the village here *is* called Arnage) is as sharp a right hand turn as Indianapolis was a sharp left.  But you made it through, only scuffed a *little* of the paint on the Armco...

No time to fret about it.  Up though the gears again, foot to the floor for a short rest.  While you're resting, prepare yourself for the next complex of curves--a slight left, followed by a short by sweeping right, a straight bit, then another one of those may-as-well-be-a-chicane sharp left-right-left.  The first of those twisty bits are the Porsche Curves, that last bit is called Maison Blanche, or "The White House".  Keep focused! 

A short straight chute leads into the next chicane, left-right, then left-right again.  These are the Ford Chicane, and that leads onto another straight, only to go back around again.

And go back around they will, the drivers who will start this year's running of the most famous sports car endurance race in the world, the 24 Heures du Mans.  Lap after lap, they'll go up and down the gearbox.  Weather, mechanical failure, fatigue, and on-track mishaps lurk around every corner.  A blown pit stop or driver change can cost you precious time--and laps.  What seems like a lock on the lead can quickly become a multiple lap deficit.  Given enough time, you might make up those laps, but you are casting a pretty good stink eye on your competitors in hopes some ill befalls them, too. 

Two different classes run at the same time, each class with two categories of cars separated by chassis type, engine size, and, new for this year, whether the drivers are considered an ameteur or a professional.  Each car also has a team of at least three drivers who change off every so often during pit stops.  LMP1--Le Mans Protoype Level 1--are the biggest, baddest custom-made machines to hit the track these days.  The manufacturers spend som eserious coin on these beasts.  The cars to beat are the LMP1 diesel-powered Audis and Peugeots.  The rules will change next year, and these cars will be making their Swan song this weekend.  The LMP2 cars, protoypes with smaller displacement engines, are the next fastest on the track.  It wasn't too long ago when it was rare for an LMP2 to finish a sprint race (short, usually 2-hour events), let alone a 12- or 24-hour race.  But the quality and durability of these cars has improved a great deal.  In some sprint events in the United States, LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders beat all comers, so don't count them out.

The GT cars are production based--BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette.  The two GT classes used to be separated by engine size and chassis type as GT1 and GT2.  For this year, though, they are now listed as GTE Pro and GTE Am.  The difference?  The GTE Pro cars are driven by a team of professional co-drivers, and the GTE Am cars are only allowed on professional driver, the other co-drivers are all ameteurs (also known as "Gentleman Racers" or "Gentlemen Drivers"). 

So, how can you tell them apart at a glance?  Easy--look at the number placard on the side of the car.  LMP1 have red placards, LMP2 are blue, GTE Pro are green, and GTE Am are orange.  Another thing to look for--on the side of the car by the number placard are three LED's in the same color as the number placard.  If there is one LED lit, that car is first in class.  If there are two lit, that car is second in class, and if all three are lit that car is sitting third in class.  That doesn't necessarily mean that a particular car is leading the overall race, though--the second place LMP1 could actually be running fifth, behind all three LMP2 class leaders.  Likewise, the GTE Am leader may be in front of the GTE Pro.  These are races within races, and when it is all over, those that finish have put forth a Herculean effort to get there. 

And every year, the planning for the next year's race starts as soon as the Tricoleur waves at the end of 24 hours of racing in Le Mans.

And, like years past, I'll be planted in front of a television tuned to Speed TV this weekend.  And, like I've done for the past few years, I'm going to be building a model car in the 24-hour span.  I start the kit when the green waves, and the goal is to be done by the time the race ends.  If you've never tried it, you need to.  I've had a blast...

Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

A motorsports fan's weekend

Memorial Day weekend in the United States is many things--primarily, it is set aside so that we might remember those men and women who died serving the nation.  And, yes, I will have a post on Monday to address that.

But another thing Memorial Day is famous for is the racing action from around the world.  This is one of the few weekends where you can find me on the couch in front of the TV watching motor racing events.

First of the day is a stop in Monte Carlo to watch the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.  The race there is steeped in history, from the time it first ran, to the early Formula One days.  Drivers like Juan Fangio and Graham Hill would go on to win the race multiple times.  One chap, Paul Hawkins, would wind up in the harbor after a shunt put him off course.  The event was recreated on film for the James Garner movie "Grand Prix".  Auto racing fans, if you have never seen this movie, you must--no excuses!  (And "Le Mans" is also a must-see, as is "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby", as it does a better job of showcasing NASCAR than "Days of Thunder" ever hoped to!)  The circuit in Monte Carlo is one of the tightest and twistiest on the Grand Prix schedule, so tight that were it to present to the FIA to host a race as a new facility, it would probably not be sanctioned.  The fountain hairpin, the tunnel, the straight next to the harbor--all of these add an element of beauty to the race.

Next up is the Indianapolis 500.  This year is the 100th Anniversary of the first long race held at the Speedway (but not the 100th Indy 500--there were no races in 1917, 1918, and from 1942-1945 due to the World Wars.  Since 1996, the race has been a shadow of what it once was due to the split between the factions of North American open-wheel racing.  1996 saw the debut of Tony George's Indy Racing League, a racing series he started that saw cost control as their primary goal.  Before that, Indy was a place where innovation shined.  Smokey Yunick developed two memorable cars for the Indy 500:  The Reverse Torque Special, a Watson powered by an Offenhauser engine he reworked to rotate in the opposite direction; and the Hurst Floor Shifter Special (or The Capsule Car), a car designed where the driver sat offset in a small driver's pod.  In 1962, Smokey added a wing on the car to provide extra downforce to keep the car planted to the track.  The wing was initially banned by the sanctioning body (USAC), but was later allowed.

This year, like last year, will see four women start the race.  Unlike last year, I believe that all four have a shot at winning--even of they are long shots to do so.  Also, there is a female team owner in Sarah Fisher--and I believe were she not pregnant, she'd be racing, too.  In a way, she is--the racing team that bears her name hired Ed Carpenter--Tony George's stepson) to drive, and Ed is quite a good driver in his own right.  The girls in the race include media darling Danica Patrick, driving the ever-present Go Daddy car; second year starters Ana Beatriz and Simona De Silvestro, and rookie Pippa Mann.  Danica didn't qualify until the second day, but starts 26th.  Simona, who burned her hands during a practice crash, will start her backup car 24th, Pippa starts 31st, and Ana starts 32nd.

And, then comes the longest race on the NASCAR calendar, the Coca-Cola 600.  This race separates the manly men form the men--a car that lasts 500 miles may not last those last 100.  Starting in the afternoon, the track changes as the day moves into evening, and then into darkness.  Crew Chiefs and drivers need to be one step ahead on the set-up of the cars, and they need to make the right changes to keep pace with the changing track.  The race is demanding--many drivers wind up dehydrated after this one's over.

Of course, I do miss the day when drivers could "Do the Double"--qualify for and run the Indy 500 that morning, hop a jet for Charlotte and suit up to run the Coke 600.  When the races were held on different days, it made the task easier.  Drivers who have done the double include Bobby and Donnie Allison, Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough, John Andretti, Tony Stewart, and Robby Gordon.  John, Tony, and Robby all did it in the "modern" era when the races were held on the same day.  Tony Stewart is the only one of them to complete all 1,100 miles of racing on the same day, he did this in 2001.  A start time change to the Indy 500 prevented drivers from doing the double for a few years, but this year, the Indy 500 start time was moved back, making it possible again to run both races, should one choose to do so.  No drivers will attempt it this year, but who know if someone will step forward next year...

And, of course, the next big motorsports event--at least for me--will be in a few weeks (11/12 June), when the ACO hosts the 79th 24 Heures du Mans at le Circuit de la Sarthe.  I'm sure I'll have something to post about that as the time nears, so stay tuned.

Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

The month of Indy is upon us...

May.  Spring is on the wane, the heat and humidity levels are rising, and the racers are back at Indianapolis.  Well, maybe not quite yet, since their race in Brazil ran a day longer than it was planned to due to rain...

I remember watching footage of the 500 as a kid--you'd usually catch it on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" a few weeks after the race ran.  I didn't follow it as closely as some fans did back then, but I knew of it and of the storied drivers who attempted to beat the track.  Some won, some lost...

I was in college when I really started taking an interest in the race.  I got familiar with their qualifying format, Bump Day, Carburetion day, and the like.  Back then, you might have 50 or 60 cars vying for a spot in the starting grid.  Indy, unlike other races, sees the fastest 33 cars start the race.  It doesn't matter if you're the defending Champ, if you aren't quick enough, you go home--as Smokey Yunick said in his memoirs, "Turn in your hero badge and try again next year."

When the Split came in 1996, I lost interest.  It seemed to me then that North American open wheel racing was in serious trouble.  I wasn't far off the mark--the upstart Indy Racing League (IRL) sputtered on with their low-buck scheme using one or two approved powerplants and chassis to make racing affordable, while the established Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) seemed to hold all the cards--other than the Memorial Day race at the Brickyard, they had the well funded teams and still fostered a sense of innovation.  CART had better backing, and most of the established teams stayed with CART after the split.  After a few years, though, CART's armor started to tarnish when several big name teams--Penske, Ganassi, and what is now Andretti Autosport, to name a few--defected to the IRL. Their goal?  Run ans win the Indy 500.  As CART teams, their chances were limited under the IRL's rules which only allowed a certain number of non-IRL teams an opportunity to qualify.   CART went insolvent in 2003, re-branded itself as ChampCar, and then folded in early 2008.  The two series were reunified under the IRL (now IndyCar) banner. 

But the IRL wasn't the first time that open wheel racing in the States had issues.  The Indy 500 was originally sanctioned by The American Automobile Association, and remained so until the multitude of racing fatalities that occurred in 1955--Bill Vukovich died in a fiery crash at Indy, and over 200 hundred people were killed or injured at that year's running of the 24 Heures duMans when Pierre Leveigh's Mercedes went airborne and crashed into a group of spectators, to name a few.  AAA got out of the racing business.  The United States Auto Club (USAC) took over sanctioning duties for North American open-wheel racing (along with short track, sprint cars, and briefly, stock cars) until the late 1970's.  With attendance, purses and revenues on a decline, and a sense that the sanctioning body wasn't doing their job, a group of team owners drafted the "Gurney White Paper", which was inspired by the way Bernie Ecclestone had reformed Formula One.  CART would promote the races under USAC sponsorship.  When that was rejected by USAC, CART took over.  The rest, as they say...

These days, a good year sees maybe 35 to 40 cars make a qualifying attempt.  I do certainly hope that the new overseers of IndyCar take a long look at what Indy has become.  Do we need four weeks at the speedway?  After all, the cars haven't used carburetted engines since the 1960's or earlier, so what sense is having Carb Day?  Knock it down to two weeks, and you'll save the teams money and maybe be able to add a race to the schedule.

If you want a good idea of what Indy qualifying used to be like, you need to read Smokey Yunick's memoirs.  While largely though of as a NASCAR personality, Smokey's real love was Indy and the 500.  As he says, they had a little. skinny rule book and they fostered innovation.  And Smokey was certainly an innovator.

I do look forward to this year's running--it is the 100th running of the Indy 500, true, but the quality of the racing has improved.  In a twist of irony, the IRL under previous leader Tony George had turned into what CART was when the Split took place--a few large, well funded teams were the perennial winners, the others were also-rans.  Once they defected from CART, they quickly became the teams to beat, and the smaller, lesser known teams suffered as a result.  It seems that the new leadership at IndyCar understands this, and it also seems as if some of the former ChampCar teams have caught up to the long-standing IRL teams in terms of speed and quality.  New drivers have come along, both those from the defunct CART/ChampCar ranks and from the various developmental series.

And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "girl racers".  While ladies had run Indy before--Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie have both run the race--lately it has been the Danica Patrick show.  Before Danica was Sarah Fisher, now a team owner, and the forgettable Milka Duno--Milka came to the IRL from the Grand American Road Racing Associations' Rolex Sports Car series, where she was a perennial back marker.  If she couldn't get it done at sub-100 mile per hour speeds, she certainly became a hazard at 200+ mph.  Lately, two new young ladies have entered the series:  Simona deSilvestro and Ana Beatriz.  Simona and Ana, I believe, have what it takes to win races--Simona had the quickest lap this past weekend at the rain-soaked Brazilian race.

And my favorite to win?  This year, I'd like to see Sarah Fisher's hard work pay off.  She's due for some good fortune at Indy, and why not this year?

Whoever you cheer for, enjoy the month of Indy.  Try to catch some of the qualifying sessions.  They're so different from the way qualifying is usually done, and it can become habit-forming.

Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace. 

 

Budding historians--If you ever have a chance...

We travelled a few hours up the road today to Mooresville, NC to the Memory Lane Museum to see the 5th Annual "Legends Helping Legends" event.  They've been doing this to help out some of the race drivers from back in the day that have fallen on hard times with medical issues and the like--this year, the proceeds went to Harold Elliot, who had a stroke recently.  If you don't know who Harold is, you've not been a NASCAR fan for very long--he built engines for the likes of Junior Johnson and Rusty Wallace.  His engines took Darrell Waltrip to his 1981 Winston Cup Championship and Rusty Wallace to his Cup Championship in 1989.

In attendance today were drivers Ned Jarrett, Rex White, Donnie Allison, Harry Gant, Jim Vandiver, Jabe Thomas, Gene Hobby, Grey Smith, Brownie King, Lloyd Dane, Paul "Little Bud" Moore, and Elliot Forbes-Robinson; long-time Charlotte Observer reporter Tom Higgins; engine builders Waddell Wilson and Lou La Rosa; mechanics Paul Lewis, Slick Owens, and Don Johnson; and Mitze Moody, widow of Ralph Moody (the "Moody" part of "Holman/Moody"--if you ran Fords in the 1950s through the late 1960s, you ran HM equipment, period.), among others.  Speaking with each of them was an absolute hoot--more on that later.

The thing that struck me was that these folks aren't getting any younger.  Little Bud and EFR were perhaps the youngest of the group.  These folks, like many war veterans, have stories to tell--historically important stories, and once they're gone, the stories are gone, too.  If I were able, I  would have sat down with guys like Grey Smith, Lloyd Dane, Brownie Smith, Jabe Robinson and talk racing for a while.  The spotlight all too often gets placed (and deservedly so, I'll add) guys like Gentleman Ned, Harry Gant, or Waddell Wilson while the guys who ran in other series or parts of the country (Lloyd Dane ran on the West coast in the 1950s and '60s) and are largely unknown or become footnotes to history.

(A parallel to that for war veterans--Most people think World War Two consisted of Pearl Harbor, Midway, Normandy, and the Hiroshima attack.  The "Island-Hopping" campaign in the Pacific and the Mediterranean Theater are relatively unknown.  In World War I, the Western Front gets all the press, while Italy and the Middle East get ignored.  And so on...)

So, if you have a chance to attend one of these events, do it.  Go, talk to these guys.  Most of them like telling stories as much as we love to hear them.

Some anecdotes:

Grey Smith--a Friday night short track and modified driver--had a selection of photos of the various machines he ran, you picked one and he signed it.  I chose a photo of him cleaning the car after a heat race.  He said "I liked to keep the equipment clean.  Racing was fun, and you liked to give the fans a show--but I wanted them to know who was putting on the show, too."  He went on to tell us that he would go to the track on Friday morning, run the heats and the features, then tow the car home (no hauler), then clean the car, tear down the motor, get a list of parts he needed to get, repair, or otherwise prepare, and he might get to sleep by Tuesday night.  He was his crew, engine builder, chassis man, you name it.

Elliot Forbes-Robinson was very nice--he spoke with us for a little while, remarking how much he was enjoying himself.  As a road racer/sports car guy, I guess he doesn't often attend the events with the NASCAR oval track guys.  He was very much a gentleman.  I've been a fan of his for a long time, more so now.

And, my favorite quote of the day--I told Ned Jarrett that we really missed listening to him call races these days (he was a booth commentator for years before the big TV deal in 2001).  He replied, "Well, thanks.  I enjoyed calling them but I let the young guys do that these days."

The museum itself has a nice collection, including the 1968 Ford Torino driven by A.J Foyt, Richard Petty's 1969 Ford Torino Talladega, a few of Rusty Wallace's machines, Bill Elliott's 1982 Thunderbird, and a whole lot more.  The museum is about a mile west of I-77, Exit 36.  If you're in Charlotte, stop on in.

Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

 

A refreshing win

Today's Daytona 500 win by the Wood Brothers and driver Trevor Bayne was a great ending to a so-so race.  Seeing a red and white car with a gold #21 on the side brought back memories of when David Pearson accomplished the same feat in 1976.  Enjoy your win, gang!

I can't get thrilled over the two-car drafting at Daytona or Talladega.  The result was a lot of bent sheet metal and some bent feelings, I'm sure.  But, it is what it is...

Next year, though, will be Tony Stewart's year.  I can sense it...

Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace...