Howard Cohen

I have been going to Heritagecon for many years, the last few as a vendor. I was told the unofficial number through the door was 2400 paid admissions with almost 800 contest entries. Add that to the 100 plus vending tables, a host club and the museum's volunteers, and you have a large group of people and a great show.

Wow! Very sporty and racy looking! If you put the engine behind the driver, the Revell Aerovette has a great engine cradle to start with and enough space for a big block if needed Or you could borrow a drive line from one of your GT40 cars

Then the original Ala Kart appeared at the Detroit Autorama in 2009, fully restored, again Now add these to your comparison.

When I first saw the late AMT version, I thought they had used the Howdy Ledbetter clone, Howli-Kart, his tribute to the original car, as shown at the 50th GNRS in 1999. Howdy told me that it took his shop a full week to copy the nose piece that Sam built in one day...think about that one. Here are some photographs that I took 20 years ago of the Howli-Kart. FYI...the paint and scallops were done the same way as the original and Howdy had Dean Jeffries paint the scallops.

Nothing unusual, Air France always belly lands

Thank you

The Mustangs were part of a special display sponsored by Multimatic...55 Years of Mustang... Corvettes do rust, not the body, usually the frame If you were there and took in any of the forums, they were very good. If you missed them, make a point to attend one or two next year.

300 more photographs from today... https://public.fotki.com/howardcohen/motorama-2019/page2.html

The show starts tomorrow, Friday and runs to Sunday.. Here are a few teaser shots I took today. I will have more tomorrow International Center, Airport Road, Toronto https://public.fotki.com/howardcohen/motorama-2019/

I spent a few hours at the Autorama on Thursday while the cars were being moved in, set up, polished, shined and drooled over , walked about six miles, talked to lots of people and enjoyed myself. Follow the link to my 900 plus photographs and enjoy yourself... FYI...yes, that is a V8 in the front of the Corvair...the 28 Ford is a Bonneville racer built by an old friend from Hamilton, Ontario...the '69 Camaro was my favourite Ridler contender...the '58 Pontiac was stunning! At the end of my photographs there is a video of the Ford wagon as the turntable rotates, watch it. https://public.fotki.com/howardcohen/detroit-autorama-2019/

I used to carry aftermarket parts five years ago but the sales in Canada were so poor that I stopped. I had several well known lines of detail parts but Canadians preferred to buy in the U.S., preferred to pay in U.S. dollars and pay extra shipping and take a chance on customs. My pricing was more than competitive. I stopped importing parts and closed my website.

Modellers always want more parts, different parts, etc. and they want them instantly or sooner. As others have said, do your research and cost analysis carefully. Make sure you sell for more than cost and don't give credit. Grow slowly. I seldom see any modeller use all the parts they buy right away, so don't rush. Most important, don't kill yourself or make yourself ill making parts. In addition to the companies mentioned here that use 'S&S' in their name, there was also a company based in Ohio that used something similar in the 80s. A bit of research sounds like a good idea. FYI...there are hundreds of wheel companies and only one S/S .

I started on mine a few months ago, painted the chassis, interior and body, started assembly and hit the wall. Not everything fits easily, so I opted to take a break. The overall detail looks good but if the parts don't fit well...

In 2018, I attended many car races, shows, concours, museums and model car shows. I took many thousands of photographs, had several published in magazines, met so many very interesting people that I cannot tell about all of them and really enjoyed the year. Yes, there were sad days as well as a few close friends passed away and some new friends passed away. Overall, I was fortunate to enjoy the whole year. I have already started planning my calendar for 2019 and so far have about 20 events to attend. Here are some of my favourite photographs from 2018, enjoy

I agree that the serious modellers will spend more for parts and materials than many people realize, whether they spend it on decals, foil, paints, photo-etch, resin, 3D, whatever. Many years ago Revell brought out a snap Caprice Taxi/Police car. People complained about the $12 price tag, then went and spent $25 for detail parts without blinking. It seems we will spend the money on accessories while complaining about the basic kit, and most kits are basic. Most modellers will build the kit with the parts they have, not wishing to spend lots more on detail parts. Those who enter contests with massively detailed models are not the majority and the majority is the kit manufacturers mainstay. With the advent of 3D printing, we now have access to more detail parts and even the option of designing our own. Hmmm...endless possibilities? For the past few years I have been buying small collections in the area I live in, Toronto. I have bought about 40 collections averaging 3 dozen kits. Only 1 of those people has ever gone to a model contest or show. I know because I always ask. They prefer to stay home and build casually without any added parts from other kits or detail parts. That seems to be the customer base for the kits manufacturers. At the contests and shows, we see the heavy duty enthusiast who will spend the extra dollars. They are the 3D customers. Let's not confuse the two customers