News/Updates 

I was curious about how well the glow-in-the-dark effect would show up on video. Pretty good, as it turns out:

From NYTimes.com (article includes several photos):

By JIM NORMAN

DOWNSIZING may be a chilling concept nearly everywhere, but not in the workshop of George Luhrs, a machinist in Shoreham, N.Y., with an affinity for the very small. Mr Luhrs has built a single-cylinder engine you could lose in a pocketful of nickels and dimes.

The piston of Mr. Luhrs’s itsy-bitsy engine rides in a cylinder whose bore is just 1/8-inch across. The engine’s stroke — the distance that the piston travels up and down inside the cylinder — is only 5/32 of an inch. The spark plug? You could lay seven of them across the face of a dime and still see F.D.R. peeking through.

Mr. Luhrs, whose day job is doing experimental fabrication for aerospace and other companies, is not the sort of hobbyist content to just step back and admire the exquisite details of his handiwork. This engine kicks over and starts, Mr. Luhrs said, though he has yet to overcome all the challenges of working at such a small scale. The engine’s minuscule valves are not yet closing properly, causing the motor to lose compression and stall.

That this little engine runs at all is something of a mechanical miracle. If you let your imagination run wild, in a world where microsurgery has become routine and nanotechnology is mentioned constantly, you can almost visualize the making of ultrasmall parts. But as Craig Libuse, director of craftsmanshipmuseum.com, a Web site dedicated to the recognition of manual skills, observed recently, “You can’t scale electricity, and a fuel molecule is still a fuel molecule.”

For other modelers, the urge to scale back does not stop with miniaturization; it also extends to historical accuracy. Chevrolet’s mainstay V-8, introduced in 1955 models as a 265-cubic-inch engine, is known as the small block, but Jim Moyer, a 66-year-old semiretired machinist and welder in Boyds, Wash., took the concept a few steps further. Over an eight-year period, he built a very small-block replica of a later 327-cubic-inch version used to power Corvettes of the 1960s.

Its designation notwithstanding, Mr. Moyer’s 327, one-sixth the size of the real motor, has a displacement of 1.1 cubic inches. For those inclined to pull the slide rule out of the pocket protector, yes, the displacement in this little V-8 is considerably smaller than the scale would dictate. That is because the bore in each cylinder (0.6 inch, compared with 4 inches in the original) is undersize, a compromise to assure that the cylinders would withstand the heat and compression generated by the eight tiny pistons pumping up and down through their stroke of less than half an inch (compared with 3.25 inches of the real engine).

The cooling system of Mr. Moyer’s 327 is incomplete and will probably stay that way, he said. “I just like to see the pulleys and belts going around when it runs, and they would be hidden by a radiator.”

To prevent overheating and seizure in the absence of a cooling system, Mr. Moyer runs his engine only for short periods.

“But I go out and start ’er up several times a day. I just love to watch ’er run.”

Roger Butzen, 63, the sales development director for a book-printing company, has been building miniature engines in his garage in Diamond Bar, Calif., for about 12 years.

Among his accomplishments is a replica of a 426-cubic-inch Chrysler V-8 that looks and sounds ready to bolt into a Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda of the muscle car era — except that it is just a quarter the size of the original and displaces just 6.3 inches.

Before that, he replicated the V-twin engine of a friend’s Harley-Davidson; it looked just like the original but was only a third the size. Each of the projects took him about a year and a half to complete.

“It’s really fun,” Mr. Butzen said. “I enjoy all the time I spend in the shop, and I enjoy the expressions on people’s faces when they see me start one of these engines. Psychologically, it’s a beautiful thing.”

Mr. Butzen said he was nudged into his hobby by his wife, Maridee, who gave him a kit to build a model of a working steam roller that she thought he would enjoy assembling and running.

“I am sure she hadn’t a clue what she was getting into,” he said, adding that she had been “extremely supportive” as he bought more equipment and took over the family garage for later projects.

Mike Rehmus, editor of Model Engine Builder, a magazine published five times a year in Vallejo, Calif., said that the builders of miniature internal-combustion engines seemed to have in common a “satisfaction of making something mechanical run that started out as a pile of raw metal.”

“The first time it runs is pretty exciting — we call it the first pop,” he said. “This is pretty good therapy for a lot of people.”

Even at the larger end of motor miniaturization, these power plants are a trip through Tinytown.

Take, for example, the 1/3-scale Ferrari 312PB racecar that Pierre Scerri, a telecommunications engineer from Avignon, France, designed and built over a 15-year period, taking an estimated 20,000 hours. All it needs is a 1/3-size driver to slip into the seat, fasten the precisely scaled four-point seat belt, turn the absolutely accurate 1/3-scale key, and the 12-cylinder engine will roar to life with an exhaust tuned to the perfect Ferrari pitch, albeit not as loud.

Mr. Libuse of the online craftsmanship museum said that miniature-engine hobbyists exemplified the innovative spirit of American industry.

“They don’t get the money that ballplayers and movie stars make,” Mr. Libuse said, “but they actually go out and do stuff. They are like the founders of this country.”

“When Ferrari needs a tachometer, they go to a manufacturer and order one,” Mr. Libuse said. “When people like Pierre Scerri need one, they build it from scratch. When he needs a set of tires, he doesn’t go to Michelin; he learns how to make tires and molds them himself.”

LINKS:

Model Engine Builder magazine: modelenginebuilder.com

The Internet Craftsmanship Museum, an on-line museum sponsored by Sherline Products, which makes and sells tools for milling small parts: craftsmanshipmuseum.com

Jim Moyer, builder of the Corvette 327 Small Block: moyermade.com

Pierre Scerri, builder of the 1:3 scale Ferrari: mps-sportproto.com/en/historique.php

Short YouTube video of Pierre Scerri’s Ferrari running: youtube.com/watch?v=aSDnMUeimuM

George Luhrs, builder of micro-engines: minimodelengines.com

This wonderful bit of off-color humor was posted at CollegeHumor.com:

"Nothing is quite as satisfying as building and displaying your own model. Today we will be building 1:48 scale Huey Hog chopper. You will need a modeling knife and plastic cement, as well as the included paints and decals. Let's begin..."

Read the rest of the gory details here, and always remember: safety first!

"...Authorities destroyed six vehicles Wednesday at an auto graveyard, hoping would-be racers think again after looking at the mashed machines. Illegal street racing is responsible for or suspected in 13 deaths in Southern California since March.

"The thrill-seeking, adrenaline-pumping activity is rampant in Riverside and San Bernardino counties east of Los Angeles where rows of tract homes line wide streets that attract racers.

"Nearly 1,000 people — drivers and spectators — have been arrested for investigation of street racing activities over the past two years in San Bernardino County alone. Police need a court order to destroy the cars. They must prove that the serial or identification numbers on a vehicle or its parts are removed, altered or destroyed..."

(Read the full story here)

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The response from professional and semi-professional racers regarding any kind of street racing is pretty universal: if you want to race, take it to the track. Although that's definitely the best advice, Daniel Moldonado (one of the crush-ees from the article) was probably right when he said "it will never go away." Street racing has pretty much been around since there were streets to race on, and its appeal goes beyond the racing itself.

Still, if you're a driver who wants to have no-rules racing, take it out of the city. Go find a stretch of empty road, an airfield, or a section of hardpan to do it. That way it's only your own life at risk.

Well, at long last we get to see what the Tulsa Plymouth looks like. Although many people are disappointed by its condition, I have to say it held up remarkably well for being under water for the better part of a half-century. And yes, now that I know what it looks like I fully intend to make a model project out of it.

The car has been removed from the vault, and transported to the Tulsa Convention Center for tonights unveiling. It actually looks pretty decent through the cover: enough survived that you can easily make out the shape of the car (including the side trim). You can see & read more here.

Back in January, I noted an article that talked about the '57 Plymouth buried in Tulsa, OK. Its official unveiling will be Friday, but the events have already begun. A crew did a test run with a stand-in car over the weekend, and this morning the vault will be temporarily opened to allow HazMat crews a chance to inspect the scene. OklaTravelNet.com and KOTV.com will be covering the event online.

UPDATE:

It doesn't look good. The "sneak peek" this morning revealed that the car has been sitting in several feet of rusty, dirty water. Organizers hope that the car's wrap may have protected it somewhat:

Paul Boutin has posted an interesting read here on Slate. Although his assertions are likely to rile a few car buffs, it's a fun read.

Announced yesterday on CBS.com:

To the Fans of Jericho:

Wow!

Over the past few weeks you have put forth an impressive and probably unprecedented display of passion in support of a prime time television series. You got our attention; your emails and collective voice have been heard.

As a result, CBS has ordered seven episodes of “Jericho” for mid-season next year. In success, there is the potential for more. But, for there to be more “Jericho,” we will need more viewers.

A loyal and passionate community has clearly formed around the show. But that community needs to grow. It needs to grow on the CBS Television Network, as well as on the many digital platforms where we make the show available.

We will count on you to rally around the show, to recruit new viewers with the same grass-roots energy, intensity and volume you have displayed in recent weeks.

At this time, I cannot tell you the specific date or time period that “Jericho” will return to our schedule. However, in the interim, we are working on several initiatives to help introduce the show to new audiences. This includes re-broadcasting “Jericho” on CBS this summer, streaming episodes and clips from these episodes across the CBS Audience Network (online), releasing the first season DVD on September 25 and continuing the story of Jericho in the digital world until the new episodes return. We will let you know specifics when we have them so you can pass them on.

On behalf of everyone at CBS, thank you for expressing your support of “Jericho” in such an extraordinary manner. Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference.

Sincerely,
Nina Tassler
President, CBS Entertainment

P.S. Please stop sending us nuts

The July 2007 Car & Driver hit the stands this weekend, and includes a movie car shoot-out with the Starsky & Hutch Torino, the Back to the Future DeLorean, Max's Interceptor, the General Lee, and the '66 Batmobile. A photo of Nate Truman's '66 replica is fetaured on the cover:

Tonight's MTV movie awards heavily featured the Transformers, including some exclusive clips and a preshow with several of the Autobot cars.

UPDATE: Transformers took the "Best Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" award.

Today was the street day for the TF movie figures, and my collection has grown a little bit. Of course, one of the first ones I had to get was Ratchet.

Also, if you missed the news, the TF movie has been bumped to July 3rd (from Seibertron.com).

I've always liked the look of cars in "official dress," and Jada has had some great looking phantom Police cars. Their latest preview doesn't disappoint:



You can see more here.

USA Today has an article on the upcoming Speed Racer movie, and have given us a first look at the new Mach V: