Daily archives: July 29, 2008

Ratty T

This entry was posted in 1:32nd Ford Hot Rod model car rat rod on by

Model T chassis- front Z, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

I’ve become fascinated by rat rods in the last year or so, so when I got a Lindberg model T in 1:32nd scale it seemed natural that I should make something old school.

It’s a simple model, so I’ll try to keep my modifications to it simple. The first step was to drop the body nearer the ground. As in the real thing, this was done by Z’ing the frame. The chassis is cast as a single piece incorporating the sump and some of the front suspension. The trailing arms helped me line everything back up when I cut through the rails just behind the radiator mount. The thickness of the cut allowed me to insert a section of plastic strip into the gap which gave a firm mount for the step. A similar process was followed at the rear.

The frame rails and suspension have been painted Games Workshop Chaos Black, my flat black of choice. The sump and trailing arms will probably be Boltgun Metal. Everything will get a light coat of rust before the car goes together.

Fred Bear Attacks

This entry was posted in Products on by

Fred Bear Attacks, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

The first of a series I’m going to call “Not Quite The End Of The World”. It’s the SAS versus a giant teddy bear, in some corner of a scrap yard. Who will win?

More pictures in the Fred Bear Attacks set.

Headz- Cowboys

This entry was posted in cowboys Etsy Products silly on by

Headz- Cowboys, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

You may remember a batch of severed cowboy heads from a month or so ago. They were for this. I’ll probably make an Indian Headz as well, for sale on Etsy when I get an account.

Hand lettered, so it looks different on each side. I’m not entirely happy with the varnish finish, but that should buff out. See more pictures in the Cowboy Headz set.

The Bechdel Test

This entry was posted in Global Weirding memory sex sexism Venn writing on by

Charlie Stross has posted a piece about Alison Bechdel’s rules for movies (though she attributes the rules to Liz Wallace.)

1. Does it have at least two women in it,

2. Who [at some point] talk to each other,

3. About something besides a man.

Time to test some of my output against the rules. I don’t think Global Weirding passes, but then it’s a first person tale from a male character, which Stross allows a pass for. Ruby Red does pass, because of conversations between Elaine and Ruby. Deputised Experts, I think, has conversations about the investigation between female characters, so it should be okay as well. And George and Hannah talk about everything but men in Memory, though George was written primarily as a geek and could have just as easily been a man. Venn? Well, there’s only one female character in episode 1, and lots of the following episodes are specifically about sex and relationships, so…..

The Dead Code

This entry was posted in DVD Movie Nostalgia Review on by

I watched WarGames: The Dead Code last night. I think the best word to sum it up is unnecessary. Replacing nuclear holocaust with bioterrorism and WOPR with RIPLEY it follows almost exactly the same arc as the original film, right down to a virtual replay of the ending.

All this film did was make me want to watch the original again. It’s WarGames‘ 25th anniversary this year. If you can play Region 1 discs there’s a 25th Anniversary edition coming out soon. Wired talked to some of the people involved in WarGames, including the scriptwriters, director John Badham and geek crush Ally Sheedy.