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FloridaBoy

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  • Birthday 06/10/1947

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  1. Zinn, I prefer to refer to you by your last name as that is my way of showing disrespect. I could care less about your "challenge" which to everyone on this thread is a veiled attempt to set me up, with me reacting like a little puppy to your whims, of which you demonstrate colossal ignorance. I do not make excuses, I find other means, which I am doing now. To you, showing a model car on this forum is the testament of a man, and gives you the right to attack others, and you call me a taint to the hobby. I even "challenged" you to contact Model Car Garage and find out about me, for you don't even know who I am, but willing to make assumptions all over the place. I am not going to ask Gregg to make available more MB space for me, as that would take time. What I plan to do today is to get those god d$#%$#%#mn photos downloaded just to shut you and your ilk up. I don't attack people unless attacked first. If in the unfortunate situation we inadvertently meet at a major contest, pardon me in advance I refuse to shake your hand, or even acknowledge your presence. I would prefer if possible to keep your %^^%$%#$ mouth shut and that goes to your butt boy Sauber. Right this minute I am working off my fotki.com album page, which only has part of my finished and works in progress. Should you wish to critique it, I don't give a ######, to quote Jack Nicholson. Frankly, I am a little grateful as you and Sauber gave me quite a clear picture about the putrid state of model cars -- which is if you disagree with me, I will attack you in person. Very Jerry Springerlike. With my background, I learned to deal with bottom dwellers is to get at the bottom of the ditch and deal with them. I am quitting this mess, and leaving this forum for as long as I want, to get rid of the taint of model car culture you have contributed to. So, Gregg, excuse me for my ire, it was he who opened the window. Zinn, be careful when making assumptions about people's character, you are so far off -- you are nominated for the Andy Dick School of Psychoanalysts. As soon as I can get these pictures not for you, but in spite of you, and I never back down from a do able dare, you are sort of "got" because I manned up to show my stuff, and if you blast it, or have your butt boys do it, it puts your integrity in question, which I have done, to show you have a vendetta against anything you say about my work or me. It is you who dug your own hole, which is where you belong. Gregg, please close this thread when I post my pictures. I know you and Harrypri as moderators are watching and monitoring this closely. It felt good to get mad and raise the blood, as it is done on a somewhat private thread, and would never occur on the floor of a model car event, at least on my behalf. It is a very sad state of affairs when a guy who intends to improve the local model car environment by exposing cheating which is designed to keep the bad boys honest, but then someone has to resort to a personal attack on page 4 after everything was going OK. I was warned earlier via emails by several people on this forum about other certain people ready to pounce on someone who dares to express and opinion. I am enjoying the adrenaline rush from being angry with you, but really disappointed with the rest of the forum that so many supported or rationalized cheating or breaking rules. That is the real reason I am done, not some petty syncophants. My love for the hobby continues despite the culture around here, and on some parts of this forum, and I will continue to build alone like I have during the bleak periods of model car history down here, which if not addressed sometime soon, will most assuredly occur again. I've been there twice and see the same factors again, only this time I am well stocked in kits and supplies to occupy me for the rest of my life. Just remember, every time you hear of a contest being cancelled, or a hobby shop closing, just hear my words in the background to the tune of the movie theme "Memories", me saying, "I told you so". Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  2. Zinn and Sauber Again to continue to personally criticize me is unacceptable and is tainting the intent of this post. You are attempting to divert the direction by engaging in a bline personal attack on a person who has the testicles to bring this to a point. Attack the one with an opinion, and Zinn, your little saying at the end of your posts bely your true attitude. You cloak a personal attack by standing behind your right to voice an opinion. Yes, I do have a chip on my shoulder which I am proud of, as I stand up against things and practices I consider immoral, and cheating is still immoral the last time I checked, I do not need anger management as I never abuse or destroy things, and the most I do is offend those apathetics with my opinons and observations/facts which brought them to the forefront. As for being old, yep, I find myself a little more irascible, because I just don't walk on eggshells like when I was younger and trying to fit in. Now I would rather be right than be popular, and the honor is standing up for the conviction rather than cower behind the more easier route, and it is fashionable to attack the instigator. I am a member of fotki and photobucket, but my photos of some of my work are in fotki. But after an evening of thinking about it, why am I going to work just because a couple of yokels challenged me? Frankly, I wouldn't cross the street to piss on either of your shoes. God, that felt good. I am already in the process of putting all of the fotki pictures on my facebook website where it can be accessed and this forum or magazine doesn't have to do anything to increase my MB attachment space. Besides putting my pictures in my facebook site would allow my sons and his college roommates to see my work, where there was considerable interest, where I have more motivation to please a small percentage of syncopants on this forum. As for throwing a contest, this forum has been an educator. I sincerely brought this topic up to clean house a little by giving you all some awareness, and when you see it address it, and it will work little by little for more attendance and hopefuly in contests. But as usual on this forum, which has happened twice to me, I get personally attacked for an issue I stand up for by a very small minded person who has no ability to inarticulate an intelligent responseoe and finds it easy to generate a personal attack on the initiator, just like a little old lady at a bridge game spreading gossip. I will have my all of my photos posted on facebook by Saturday at the latest, and since you are so eager, you can just access my page and browse. If you attack me there, my "friends" will have suitable responses. Yhe real tragedy here is the alarmingly higher percentage of those who are either apathetic, or militantly apathetic by just digging its head in the sand, or those who condone cheating, or rationalize it. If the model car building population is anything like that percentage on this forum, I would be wasting my time on any effort to organize a contest. I will now go and wretch about the state of this hobby. Most of you are making great builds and I encourage you to continue, just stock up on kits, as I am seeing 1971 all over again. There will be no contest, which ain't any big deal as there aren't any apparently planned at this time. A cheater/organizer ruined this area. So Sauber and Zinn, if you treat others at contests like you treat some, you are part of the problem rather than the solution. I could care less proving myself to either or any of you, so Saturday you can see my work on facebook, and Sunday have fun ripping it apart. Now you have power. As for me, I am fed up with a large percentage of people since the personal attack, and the general apathetic attitude. You can criticize my ideas any day of the week, but to go after me with a boguy pshchological evaluation without the benefit of any degree, have fun. As for me, I will be gone from this forum for a while until at least I finish wretching. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  3. Goes for you too, Zinn. Maybe you guys can talk MCM into giving me more attachment space, and I will be a posting fool. After all, all I am is a bitter old man who blames my problems on others......lol. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  4. Sauber, The fact that you criticized me personally when I stick to an issue tells us you either have little content or confidence in your convictions and ability to make a point. Second, if you check closer, this was not a complaint as you label, but a stand against a practice that is becoming rampant among us, and reading the replies, it is rampant and is turning people off and away by the hordes. I had convictions and courage to bring it to a head, and my subtitle said this was not for the faint hearted, which obviously some of the posters her fall into that category. My goal is that people will notice when it is happening, and bring light to the contest organizers, and just by the fear of discovery, it will tend to clean up an otherwise dirty contest. Next, instead of making vague generalities, if you review my posts and replies you will see that 99.9% are either tips, help in techniques, assistance in the history of kits or the hobby itself, or just helping out other modelers, which I have done for years, and will continue to do so. Now, addressing the bitter old man stuff, first let me know that the remark is not acceptable to me, and it is for sure we will never be friends. If you want to see what kind of person I am, just email Bob Kuronow at Model Car Garage, who founded and runs the company what he thinks of me. He will tell you I am anything like you describe. You need to bone up on your character evaluation. I do have a chip on my shoulder, admittedly, as that goes back to my ancestry. Last, I do not need to respond to your petty challenges, simply because I am prevented by MB space to post any more photos on this forum. Right now under "attachments", I have used 1.24 of 1.95MB space and the last time I tried to post one photo it rejected me, and this was the second time, so I just gave up. I use my persistence energy only when it matters. Frankly I have been told off much better than here. You obviously have little regard or respect for the people who have been in this hobby for so long, or you have made it personal with me, so obviously you didn't read my tips on how to disagree without creating resentment on harrypri's last post. When you have worked so much in this hobby as I have, or Treehugger has or others veterans on this forum, you younger guys should afford the older ones respect because we have been there in thick and thin, putting up with the ups and downs, and still have that enthusiasm. I sure hope you evaluate your own resentment toward others in the future not for the people, but what they have become - seasoned veterans. If you want to see my work, you can PM me through the forum with your email address, and I will reply with attached photos of my old work and present projects. I could care less of your opinions as I have already anticipated them judging from your tone on this thread. Once sent, I can guarantee you will never hear from me again. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  5. Dingo, I had several nasty incidents over the years in model car contests, but had faith back then and still to a degree now. One of the most memorable was the end of my win streak. I had just entered at a large local hobby shop in Ft Lauderdale by the beach my absolute best car, a sectioned 50 Ford Convertible, with lots of custom work, operating doors, and a polished white pearl paint job. I went back to the shop for the results and to retrieve my "winner", which to me and basically the consensus of window lookers, should have killed everything else there. Nothing. But when I picked up my car, the owner sternly advised me he was punishing me for building too good of a car, to give someone else a chance, and his approach to judging, against the entry sheet was to take age as a consideration in the reward of the car. For example, a 15 year old building an above average car would be judged above a 19 year old who had the experience to do better. When I showed him the judging criteria, he basically told me "that I had won enough", and even resented such a good model, even though I bought the kit and supplies from him. Word got around, as he scolded me in public, and frankly all I was going to do is never enter his contest again. I didn't, and a friend stole on of my cars from my display case and entered it, greedy for hardware. I retrieved it with my friend, who confessed to the deed, and again the hobby shop owner scolded me for being in on it. He had one contest afterwards, and it attracted all of 20 cars, and never had one again. When he went out of business, he was pretty down and out, and bitter, and it was my pleasure to help him out by buying his entire model car and supply inventory 10cents on the dollar. He was grateful and so was I to see a rat get his deserves. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  6. I would venture a guess that it is the car in "Grease". To me it looks like a 46-48 Merc, but using a Revell 48 Ford Convertible will be a good kit to start with, but you will need to fabricate the grille, headlights and decals/trim. It is a neat car to model....I never thunk to build one. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  7. I live in South Florida, and have painted cars in just about every type of climate environment. The only problem I ever had was with humidity and heat, which made the paint prone to run a little or bubble. Painting in a basement could result in some dust particles on the finish, which are removed in part or whole by a polishing system and rubbing out the car. I built quite an elaborate paint booth for my garage, and still encountered a dust spot now and then, no matter how many precautions I took. I now use my workroom inside my spare bedroom and my paint booth with a fan and vent to the outside, and to date haven't had any problems. Last January it got a little cold in the daytime at 20 degrees but it was bone dry and the paint came out crisp and clean. My spare bedroom is generally closed off when I am not working in it, so I would guess that the interior temp at time of paint was in the thirties. To me, the greatest enemies of applying paint are sunlight or lack of light, dust, humidity, rainy conditions outside, fans, space and portable heaters close by, and heat. Avoiding these would give you the results you desire I would guess. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  8. Mustang, Because cheating is accepted by the masses does not make it right. Because others accept it and participate in it are not rational reasons to let it go. Take a look at our culture, cheating does occur until someone says "enough!!!" and people get caught, like Bernie Madoff, like AIG, like steroids, like the NBA ref cheating, like Bill Belechik of the Patriots cheating, and the numerous NCAA violations, and the invention of playback cameras to keep referees in check, are good signs that our culture is willing to deal with cheaters. The problem is that it is very uncomfortable pointing the finger at cheaters, because the cheater is usually very proficient in looking innocent or ignorant, and making the finger pointer look like a troublemaker, so we don't bother. Too many in pre-war Europe didn't want to do anything about it either. Loosening the moral fiber whether we participate or not hurts us all, and I will stand by that as I have witnessed this occurrence for 49 years. Second, again, I do not agree at all with the opinion that entering a motor in a model built by a professional is OK even if stated. How does one judge if the same pro built 2 engines in the same category? How does one judge workmanship if done by others? Personally I love those motors, as I have seen them on display but I would only display a model with outsider's assistance. How would you feel if you entered a car if you toiled over a model for months, to be killed on the table by a guy who outsourced the engine, paint, body work, and interior? Ain't right at all in my book. Last, I may as well bring it up. It used to be rampant, and now it is rare, but still happens. What do you do to a modeler who "inadvertently" damages another competitor's model on the table? I have seen guys "by accident" let their kids play with other cars, break doors and trunks, break off wheels, which is nothing less that despicable behavior in my book. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  9. harrypri I've been thinking about it, seriously. I have been on contest committees which conceived and held a contest from soup to nuts, and of course I would never think of entering my own contest. I have some very good things on my side, like friends, a very viable hosting place (my retirement community has a large rec room tables and parking and would be happy to rent it out to me). some good start up ideas, and I think a good judging system. My location is in the absolute central part of Broward/Dade/Palm Beach, has hotels nearby, plenty of parking, and things to do for others. I am 3 minutes off I-95 and you can get to my place within 30 minutes from any spot in the 3 counties. There are 3 hobby shops I have relationships with. It is possible, and demanding, and possibly after the holiday season, I will commence it. If there are any guys within driving distance of Ft Lauderdale on this forum, I would welcome their participation. I like the Ridler Award format, a panel of judges views the candidate cars, assigns a "Best 8" then takes a very close inspection to award one of a few cars awards. This takes the heat off one judge who judges a field of cars. I would do my best to make meaningful awards, as I have have seen some plaques with pictures of their autos photoshopped on them, special recognition, swap meet, auction, gravity drags, quick builds and so on. There are two remaining problems, first locating a committed dedicated team to help organize, and money, that is in the form of sponsorship. It is do-able, but the big question is can I start it off? Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  10. Model Car Contests, as I have mentioned in posts before, is more than the judging, competition and hardware. I haven't seriously entered a model car contest in a long time, except for a little intra-club ha-ha for a plaque with a cartoon on it. Contests are those in which anyone whether they compete or not, learn and absorb new ideas, designs, techniques, colors, and a lot if they pay close attention. Second, they usually have a swap meet which guys sell a lot of discontinued kits, or even current kits at discounted prices. I picked up an old AMT 59 Ford 3in1 Galaxie Hardtop to replace one my exwife inadvertently threw out years ago. That made the contest worthwhile. As for the hassle of the politics, we all have different ways of dealing with it, and I am sensing a lot of skepticism on behalf of a lot of guys regarding the aspect of competing. True, we are submitting art forms to compete against each other, but it is like comparing apples to oranges, and really there is no resolve. Do you give more points to a guy who opens a door and does an average job overall, over a guy who didn't take the chance? Everyone seems to have an opinion, but there is no answer. I love display tables and primer tables for they are models from purists, but again, it is the competition that brought this hobby from the doldrums in the early eighties, after a long hiatus of non activity. There is a place for competition, even if we don't personally accept it. Contests are a foundation for an area's model car activity. Even if you don't belong to a club, there is patronage at hobby shops, having a few friends, to stay connected. Contests give a geographical area an identity. Look at Toledo and Salt Lake, Birmingham, and they all provide an impression on us about the quality modeling going on there. Last, models like to be recognized, and the best ways are through exposure at contests and magazine features. A unshown model is like hanging a Picasso in a closet. I am no show off, but I like to show off my cars, like the comments about them, even the critiques and questions. The absolute best time I had in a long time was giving a seminar on opening doors and making quick hinges, again done at a contest,which I did not enter. Right now I am not entering in this state because a guy is "gunning for me" who has a dastardly vendetta to "knock off" Willaman on the judges table, and he is a known cheater. So my cars are geared for other venues outside the state next year and entering out of curiosity just to see if I can regain some of the old juices. I always loved competition in everything in my life, from surfing, Hobie Cat sailing, model cars, model railroading, and tennis. It just brings the life contained in me. I spend a lot of time interacting with my models during the build period which is fun, and get a real hoot out of fabrication of custom work or detailing, but down the line would like to show off what I did. That is just me. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  11. I could not segue in my remarks about women in model car building and contests. To me, to have a womens category is condescending. Down here, the absolute best club that ever existed was the Treasure Coast Scale Auto Society (TCSAS) which boasted 50 members had several fabulous contests, helped restore the Cushenberry 40 Ford Matador, and had several builders of national and magazine feature calibre. It shown bright but burnt out for a multiude of reasons. One of the guys always brought his girlfriend Dixie, who was a shy and real looker, and basically made home in the background, that is until our first contest, and she put down about 7 cars which were among the best seen. She was the best foiler I have seen even to today, not a wrinkle, and could foil a name sideplate. She competed against the men, and was very successful, and if she were put in her own category, which she didn't want, she would have been quite alone. In 1994, TCSAS flew in Augie and Pat Covert to appear at the annual contest, which featured about 500 cars, and hers stood out in Factory Stock and Street Machine classes, and both guys said her work was superior. I believe in Junior category as I believe in that with time and diligence you get better. so a 16 year old kid just didn't have the time, in many cases that a 50 years old man does. Granted this is still a male dominated hobby, and a "powder puff" division is demeaning to those concerned. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  12. I discarded all of the meaningless trophies, that is those that were awarded more for politics and less than achievement, and kept the meaningful ones. I display all of the meaningful trophies in my dining room shelves, and my cars in the hutch. Our family tradition was that we display our trophies, incluing the tennis trophies, running trophies my ex wife won, basketball and cheerleading trophies my children won over the years. It is not for ego, but for memories and validation of our efforts. For example one of the trophies I discarded was a model car trophy in an IPMS contest in which my 4 entries were the only ones entered. When I put them down, I anticipated competition, and none happened, and down here cars are basically ignored and I won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in that category. Useless, out.......... My favorite trophy is a tennis doubles trophy in the City Championships where I worked and teamed with the #1 player in the state, a UM graduate with a win over Borg. He carried me, but once the opponents realized who he was, they focused on me, and I held up, although the match went to midnight, hard fought, and provided a great memory. My favorite model car trophies were my very first, won in 1961, which inspired me to strive to branch out my technique, validate my present workmanship. My second favorite are my 3 Pactra "Pegasus" trophies, 2 senior and 1 paint from 64-65. I met Augie Hiscano and even got to see his special entry, which had real oil in the crankcase in 1964. To me, trophies are not testimonies to my excellence as all it takes is one scroll on Work in Progress and Finished Under Glass on this forum I realize where I stand. Added to that are some of those links you guys hooked me up with and I bookmarked. All are inspirational and reflect top state of the art work. Trophies are accolades, and like everything else, if too much value is placed on them, or if you infer you are the best because you won one, just open up one of the cars shown on this forum. There is always someone better. For example, in 94 I finished a chopped AMT 49 Merc after 2 months on the bench, and thought I was hot stuff. Then I saw Fred Grumke's Mercs, including the Hirohata Merc he did for the Museum put me right where I belonged. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  13. Obstacles slow me down, mostly figger it out time...... I am in final stages of a favored model and ran into an obstacle which will hold me up, like fitting a rolling front wheel under the fender of a 40 Ford, yet still look lowered and have the stance I want. I expected it to be ready for paint tomorrow, but nooooooooo....................... But I have another project which occupies less passion and enthusiasm just because it turned out ugly, but it suits me because I have completed most of the work, and getting close to paint. I had just a couple of little things to do, like fabricate an EFI system, valve covers, and interior decorative inside panels for my car, which I call "The Hybrid", a combo AMT 40 Willys couple and AMT 40 Ford fenders, which fit, and so far is going along smoothly. I was sort of hoping that the fabrication would hold me up but it went smoothly, so it will be painted tomorrow. One car I wanted to finish, and couldn't, and another one I didn't really care about practically put itself together. That isn't that bad a night, but in my book not the goal I intended. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  14. There was a remotely available 1/24-1/25 manufacturer which made incredibly detailed kits and parts. The manufacturer was named Eldon, and they produced a series of street rod kits, and to my knowledge a really overdetailed series of spare motors. a la AMT and Revell. The Eldon offering among others is the 427 Ford side oiler with a 3 carb set up, which went down to the block heads, cams, and cranks. It was all chrome, and sort of meets the description on this post. I still have 2 left, one still in the shrink pack with instructions on the back. These kits also came in other types and I got them from a hobby shop that specialized in carrying model car kits and supplies only. The owner I think was using his shop to stock his personal builds. Talk about heaven it was only a mile from my house at my building peak, and hosted about 5 contests per year. He also displayed my cars, offered me some free kits and parts as my cars tended to generate interest, so he said. One of the cars he gave me which got lost over the years was a T "Milk Wagon' with the 427 motor and it was a total hard build but an incredible finish. These models were so dubious that I never saw an Eldon model anywhere else, kit or finished. I am out of attachment space. If someone will email me, I will reply with a photo of the kit attached and you can post it. Talk about unexpected finds.......when looking for some kits, I found a box with my old stash of Revell spare parts, including several Spare Parts motors, some AMT Parts Paks, incluidng motors and grilles, and I am in pig heaven. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
  15. Guys, Regarding the "toys" comments, I have mixed feelings. If one were to see the time and diligence put in to my model building, (hopefully very soon) ever since the early sixties, it would be quite apparent it is not trivialized, and now with only so much time left on this planet, time spent on any model is now even MORE important. My models are a part/extension of me, an expression of my perception of creativity, and a very viable means of spending time alone or even when ill, it gives me solace. On the other hand, I have as recently as 2005 laid on a Emergency Room Table with a congestive heart failure, heard my own "code blue" called in, and then even declared dead by one attending nurse which I heard, but one doctor said "keep trying" and the defribrillator brought me back to full consciousness. I heard them declare me dead and was explained later that my brain didn't die but my heart did. From that perspective, I have a new lease on life, and trying to make it worthwhile in everything I do. In the big picture of life, my car is a collection of metal, leather, rubber and plastic which gets me places, my bed is a place to sleep and my pastimes are "toys" so to speak, because it is not worth it as I have seen to get into fistfights at contests over a trivial point of disagreement. I love building model cars and always will, and until I can't do it anymore, I will probably spend my last minute of being able to move sanding down a fender. If some of you young'uns out there are still in it for 20 - 50 years like some of us here on the forum, you have the long term committment and dedication to be as irascible as we are. All I am asking for is that the model car contests held here be dedicated to fairness and follow through. This problem down here causing decline based on my conversations with many is primarily attributable to one or two people, who run things now. All they have to know is that it is going on, rather than be in denial. I sure hope I have the strength to do my part in the months to come, and know I have to crawl before I walk, and walk before I run. Take a close look at the past five years of Model Car Magazine (and others) and you can see the great attributes and characteristics of this great hobby - even to the point of photography, writing and editing, fabrication of just about every kind of material, research and ingesting history. Only model railroading comes close, well at least in my book. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman khart talks about his pet peeve, in which he is miffed at club members entering their own contest, for obvious reasons. Down here, if that would have happened at the last contest I attended, the grand total entry would be 40 cars from a sister club. This contest was highly publicized and got only 3 or 4 lone wolves. Heck, there are no hobby shops left to leave pamphlets............. Now it seems the typcial builder buys a model discounted at Wally World or Michaels, airbrushes his own paint concoction, and enters a contest on hearsay and rarely pamphlets or ads in papers. We are losing our connection, too.
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