No, I am not talking about the Van Halen song. Not that Van Halen doesn’t rock.

But in case you can’t help yourself…Reach down…between my legs…ease the seat back…

Panama Rocks is a tourist trap out in the middle of nowhere, the Chautauqua Lake region of Western New York. It has a mile long hiking trail that goes around a bunch of…you guessed it…rocks.

I’m not gonna do a lot of research for you, if interested in knowing more, go here. https://www.panamarocks.com

I took my youngest daughter and her cousin. You can see how big some of these are as compared to a 12 and 8 year old.

It is really pretty there and a good time if you got a couple bucks and kids with too much energy. Climbing the rocks should help wear them out. It was really hot that day but some of the rock formations had cool breezes coming out of them. Bring some water and closed toe shoes.

There is not a lot to do there, but the nature lover in you, and maybe the scientist, will be happy you went. I am not used to hiking and I did the trail no problem. Just watch the rocks and the tree roots. Like I said, it was really hot that day so by the time I was done I was soaked in my own juices. In the picture I already found some water from the men’s room and dumped it on my head.

I bought a 2015 Hyundai Elantra.  I am not bragging about it really. Not a GTO, after all.

I got it for business reasons. It is my hope that my days at the New York State Thruway Authority as a toll collector are about done. My new dream job, since being a fat, lazy author isn’t panning out, is to deliver new motor homes to the dealers.

In truth, I have been thinking about doing this for quite some time, and only of late has things come together enough for me to do it.

So, what does one do after he spends $15,000 on a car? If you guessed rip the front bumper off, you where right!

I went on line and bought all the supplies to dingy…

Huh Huh

He said dingy

…tow the car behind a motor home. Perverts. etrailer.com has all the stuff you need for pulling something or the other down the road. After removing the fascia, the front bumper needs to go.

Once that is done the new part can be installed. It is what the tow bar will hook up to. A bit of swearing, (mostly looking for tools in the mess that is Rob’s garage) came into play but the job isn’t that bad.

Once the tow bar is put on we plan to weld the feet in.

I thought I would just take a minute to say hello. I am still alive, still writing. Honestly, not much of note has happened in the last few months. Sales of the book are slow, I go to work hang out with my kids and my girlfriend when I can. The miles do rack up on the motorcycle, and I may be changing jobs soon. If anything good happens, like I go to a car show, I will let you know. Later.

-Scott Downey

So The Nickel City Con is done, broken Batmobile and all. I had a good time. Sold a few units and talked about my book, Project 49. I did buy a few posters, one of zombies and another of my hero, DarkWing Duck. Maybe post about them after I get frames.

I did see Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jennie) in passing. Wow is she short!

That and the people in the booth next to me got kicked out for running a gambling scam. I was wondering about that because it looked fishy. No merchandise rolled out of there. Still they made a killing, until they got kicked out.

Here is some pics of the best cosplay!

The lady on the other side of me, nice lady, had an awesome collection of Lego Mini-figs and other Lego and Lego comparable stuff. Hit up http://www.custom-brick-creations.com, the pic is just a small part of it!

Now I would like to announce the winner of his own copy of Project 49 from the raffle!

Congrats to: Brian Boyce of Cheektowaga, NY!

On the way to the Nickel City Con, the Batmobile blew a radiator hose causing it to crash on the 190. Click the link for the article.

http://buffalonews.com/2018/05/17/holy-guardrail-batman-batmobile-crashes-on-buffalo-highway/?utm_campaign=puma&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1526589988

I will be at the Nickel City Con this Friday through Saturday at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. My table is right by the bathrooms, first aid station.

Come and get your signed copy of Project 49 for $20 or take a chance to win one for a dollar!

http://www.nickelcitycon.com/

Ever have a Darkwing Duck kind of day?

I would read the post under this one first, things will make a bit more sense.

Did I spell Lexus right? Ahh who cares. Lexus. Eww. So why did I put a Lexus together. So I could smash it up. Remember that I want to make dioramas? The… you know, that thing… is one part of a three model diorama. The rusted truck and trailer are the other parts.

Remember also what I said a heat gun could do to a model car? Here you go.

The bench helped. I like the headlight hanging out. Used a bit of string. I am waiting for a driver for the truck to come in the mail then I will assemble that.

The car…see how I got around saying “Lexus?” Aw damn.

It was pre-owned. Parts were AWOL along with the destructions. I had to fabricate the front tires on and a lot of guess work went into getting the rear tires on. I plan to stop at the second hand store and pick up some necklaces, that I will spray with rust color to “chain” the car to the trailer.

More to come later. It is Auto Arts second year anniversary! Here is to another year of hot rides, chicken wings and debauchery.

Hey why not, right? If I can’t get the hot cars to come to me, I might as well build them myself. Budget constraints make it so they have to be a bit smaller. Like 1/24th-ish smaller.

I have not built a model car in like four odd years or so, and some of them have been around half assembled for seven or eight. The thing I found out is I am a bit rusty. Like this GMC pickup.

It was meant to look that way. This is the fast version of how it is done. First paint it rust color. While you wait for it to dry, get some sea salt, table salt and a spray bottle full of just water. Mist the body, sprinkle on the salt, and wait for that to dry.

Just walk away, trust me. Resist the urge to point a heat gun or hair dryer at it. Chances are you will warp something.

I did a trailer too because I want to do dioramas. I want the models to tell a story, not just sit by themselves in a display case.

I bent the fenders and dented the deck plate with a body hammer before I painted it. I never see a brand new trailer without dents and rust around my native home of New York, so I found this fitting.

If you wish to know more about this process, I would suggest you get the book, Ratz, Rods and Rust: Building models Cranky’s Way by Virgil Suárez. It has a lot of tips for car building, not just rust.

https://www.amazon.com/Ratz-Rodz-Rust-Building-Crankys/dp/1500812420/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517096580&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=ratz+rods+and+rust+building+models+crankys+way