Video Madness!

Catching you up on stuff I've been shooting/editing together lately: Build-Ups: Raleigh Competition

Raleigh Competition Stage I from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

1951 Schwinn DX

1951SchwinnDXtimelapseWeek1 from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

Events:

ShinySideUp2017 from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

Viejitos Family Night from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

Just a quick video of my latest project:

No paint so far, and there are more features yet to come.

My TSP Cycle Farm FAt BULL at sunset. from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

Potential and Possibilities

It's these early stages of a project when I am the most intrigued and excited. The project starts to tell me which of my initial ideas were winners, and which were crap. It's also an opportunity for new ideas to spark off of how the different pieces fall together... or require some piece to make them fit. It's a world of potential yet to be tapped and endless possibilities. Other people's projects can also have a similar effect. When they're in this mock-up and primer stage, and the builder hasn't started adding too much of their own stank on it, we all look at it and see it as we would finish it up. Well, those of us that see this stuff when we close our eyes at night, anyway. (This current project of mine as shown includes an Oldster T1 frame from TSP Cycle Farm, an NSU motorcycle girder fork, steel drop-center rim, Origin 8 Supercell 26x4.0 tire, and a Lowbrow Customs Stingray ribbed rear fender. There will be plenty more goodies coming soon.)

Ventura Society of Trike Drifters ;)

Took the drift trikes out on Sunday:

Choppercabras Halloween Ride

11th annual on Oct 30th. This year's theme: Medieval Madness

Atomic Cycles

The Others hit Sac town

CHOPPERCABRAS' 10TH ANNUAL SPRING THING

Memorial Day Weekend, 2011:

Bowling for Souls - Weird-Oh style!

SCISR Night Race video

That's right... I threw together another one from last Sunday's mayhem... or at least SOME of it:

Ride the Snake

SFVISBF Race Nov 2010 from Dave McGowan on Vimeo.

Freaky Baby (Official Music Video) - Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children Ma...

Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night

Go see Paul!

I had a dream this morning.

Now, I don't normally remember a lot of detail in my dreams, and I rarely dream about building things. That said, I woke up with a bolt-by-bolt memory of building and driving a little track roadster.

The flatty was nearly stock, save for a set of Edelbrock heads and a two-pot manifold. It was pretty gutless, and the dry-lakes gearing didn't do that ol' three speed any favors as I slipped the clutch to get it rolling around the streets of Ventura. A deep bellypan allowed me to sit low in the bucket body, down between the rails. Loads of patina - only the newly fabbed parts in primer. The track nose was sloping with a low, eliptical opening. A big steering wheel looked like it started out on a farm truck or tractor. The wheels were 17" spokes with tall and taller skinny blackwalls. The home-made bucket seats were well-worn leather on padded plywood forms... no aluminum bomber seats for this ride.

I don't know - maybe it's a vision of the futute, or maybe it's just what I wish my latest soapbox project could be.

Oh, Holy Handlebars! Bike drags!

Yup... we still do this.

Yeah - that's me catapulting over the curb at about 2:20.

The City

The concept of THE CITY intrigues me. I hadn't really given much consideration to the Blog as a form of storytelling, until now.

Are you a model BUILDER, or a model ASSEMBLER?

I was looking for a review of AMT's recently reissued "Hippie Hemi" dragster/showrod today, and stumbled across a build thread on SAE's message board. The builder became discouraged with it's "flimsy" frame and the less than perfect fit of some of the parts, and threw his semi-completed kit into the garabage. I've started this model myself today, and though I wouldn't call it a snap kit, I think that with a bit of patience and forethought, this a completely viable model.

Many modern day hobbyists seem to have lost (or perhaps never actually developed) any but the most rudimentary modelbuilding skills. As a kid, I remember having to trial fit, reshape/clearance and fill seams with regularity. Filler was a necessary part of every builder's toolbox. As moldmaking technology has advanced, it seems many have forgotten what that's like.

In comparison to the kits I remember from my childhood, today's kits nearly fall together. Open a few paint bottles and one of liquid cement, dump them into the box, shake, and out comes a completed model! I've talked to builders that won't touch anything but a Tamiya kit, because they "take too much time to assemble". I thought that was the POINT of this hobby!

My Hippie Hemi is being built box stock. Not only does the kit include a vinyl blower belt, flexible upper fuel line, and transparent oil pan with visible chrome crankshaft, but the envelope-style body (that has to be painted AFTER assembly if I wish to smooth the seams) is part of the CHALLENGE of building the best model that I can from this kit. Sure, this means that I'm going to have to revive nearly forgotten (for me) aircraft-style masking techniques, and the actual assembly order may not EXACTLY follow the instructions, but I'm daring the judges at the next contest I enter to fault me for it.

And I dare any of you to go out and buy a kit made from an older, worn, prone-to-warpage tool and make it the absolute best that you possibly can...

..or maybe just scratchbuild something.

Coaster Brake Challenge, Series3, Race1

Great time, even though I was hampered by a stuffed up head that turned into a full-blown headcold later in the day. I didn't finish all eight laps, but thought it better to err on the side of caution when I felt fatigue coming on - I no longer have health coverage since the layoff.

Bikes and my hometown. Cool video

Ventuckey from Mark Thalman on Vimeo.