Young Miss Gentilischi survived thumbscrews and still managed to outpaint most of the men... you'll do just fine! I do hope that you wouldn't feel insulted if I let drop that you are far, far down on my list of people who need to get straightened out? Hmmm... Well-seasoned wood might be better than metal since it has more flexibility and less fragility. You don't hear of wood buildings collapsing due to "fatigue". Damn! The last time I had my eyes in that engineering book was '81? '82? I just can't remember this stuff. Strength of materials. Moments of inertia. I used to do DIE drawings for custom extrusions... but if you don't use those formulas for 20 years, they blow away like old flypaper. And, somewhere, a modeler is staring at this thread with the same horror felt by Monsieur le Guillotine. The thought of die drawings in the wrong hands causes small beads of perspiration to form on his upper lip. Carolly