car drawing

looks like it could be a hot-wheels car

Strat finished!

Remember this?

 

It's the Squire Strat I bought (used of course)  for the purpose of modifying.  When I first posted about it (http://cardrawingsetc.blogspot.com/2009/01/long-time-no-blog-new-guitars-again.html), I showed an image of what I planned to do:

Well, here's how it turned out:

 

Not too bad, I guess.  I made the mistake of painting it in a dusty basement used for wood work so the paint is far from perfect, but it turned out alright.  I finished it this past spring (2009), but just now got around to posting about it.

Here's a close up a little switch I added to work the lights....

Yes, I said  lights. I embedded a red LED light between each fret.

 

They are powered  by a couple AA batteries mounted in the guitar between the neck and middle

pickups.  One wire goes along the length of the neck from the first fret light to the end of the neck, where it ends (so I can remove the neck) and contacts a wire going to the batteries.

Each LED is soldered to the neck wire and to a fret.

A ground wire goes from the batteries to the bridge.  Whenever a string touches a fret, it closes the circuit and  the light comes on.  (Well technically, two lights come on since the strings always touch two frets - except the on the first .)

Eventually I'll post a video, but for now here's a photo.

Car Drawing

Car Drawing

I think it looks like a bug of some kind, but I like it.

Car Drawing

A sketch...


...and a Photoshop rendering based on it. (click to enlarge)

Car Drawing

Car Drawing

This sketch led to my entry to a Peugot design contest several years ago (2005 or 2006 I think). Here's an amateurish Photoshop comp and a few single renders.

Car Drawing

It's been a while, so here's 3.

Car Drawing

rear wheel too small, rear end too short.

oh well.

Car Drawing

It's been a while since I've posted.


The rear wheel is messed up.

Air Box

I built an air box for my RX-7. An aftermarket intake is pointless without one - at least on a rotary. Hot air = power loss, probably just a few horsepower in this case but hey, it's cheap, functional, and looks good. I got the design from a guy on the RX-7 Club forum. (I had to modify it since his car is a turbo and mine is not.)

I had a Mazda emblem sitting in my room, so I decided to use it for this.


I used some sort of foam insulation tape to help seal the box.


I had removed the windshield washer reservoir, leaving a hole just below the intake. I used some heater hose to make an air scoop from the bumper up through the hole. It looks like it should help quite a bit, but I have no way of testing it.

car drawing

Car Drawing

Car Drawing

Car Drawing

Something "new" + more photos of the 7.

What is it?







Could it be...?



I think I know!



Yes, new wheels! Well, not really new. I painted them about a month ago. Not that I didn't like the original color (silver with chrome lip and center). I just don't like silver and white together. I prefer darker colored wheels, especially on lighter cars. I think it looks more aggressive.


It looks like it has a 4x4 lift kit because the car had been on jackstands for a week or so and the suspension had not settled when I took this photo.

I used the only wheel paint I know of: Dupli-color wheel coating along with their wheel clear coat. The color is Graphite. It turned out darker than I expected, but it's still nice. I'm not sure about long term durability, but no real problems so far other than a few chips in the lug nut holes while I was installing them on the car.

More photos I took a couple days ago:



It had just rained when I took these, the little bumps are water drops. The photos are so small it's hard to tell.









My favorite. I like this one so much I uploaded it in a bigger size. Click the photo to see.

Car Drawing

ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Scion iQ Concept



just...no...

Where's my e-paper?!

I can't believe it's the year 2009 and we still have to lick envelopes to seal them. Then again it's 2009, why are we still using paper envelopes?


(Yes, I Photoshopped it.)

¿ʇɐɥʍ

ǝɹǝɥ 'ooʇ uɐɔ noʎ ¡op uɐɔ ı ʇɐɥʍ ʞooן

Car Drawing

It's been a while...

my rx-7

I realized I haven't put up any pics of my car, a 1991 Mazda RX-7. Here it is. Please click on the images to see much larger and better versions.

I took the first three photos on the same evening in late summer/early fall 2008. For some reason, I think these photos look like they could have been actually taken in '91. I'm not sure if it's the grain or the color, or lighting or what. If not for the wheels and exhaust, I could use these photos to make a "retro" brochure or something.








The interior: