Ramfins59

I heard from a friend yesterday that Classic Plastic Model Club's President, Del Paone has passed away. He was battling cancer. Del was a great modeler and all-around party animal. Years ago when I lived on Long Island (NY) we'd travel up to the Holiday Inn in Taunton, MA for the MassCar Model Exhibition. The show was on Sunday but we would go up on Saturday afternoon and stay at the hotel. After bringing our luggage and models up to our room, we would meet all the party people downstairs at the bar. Invariably Del was "holding court" in his usually boisterous way, wearing his shorts and buying drinks and shots for everyone. I don't think Del even owned a pair of long pants. I suffered many serious hangovers on the day of the show as a result of partying until the wee hours of the morning. I "bend an elbow" in memory of my friend Del Paone...... R.I.P. buddy.

Welcome to our plastic playground Justin.

Welcome to our plastic playground Clayton.

Welcome to our plastic playground Jean-Lloyd.

You're not so old Tom...... I hit 71 back in April.

"Great times" doesn't even come close to describing how much fun and laughter we had together for those few short years. Dave was only 52 when he passed.

Welcome to our plastic playground Alex.

Welcome to our plastic playground Ed.

In my "younger days" growing up in "The Bronx" I used to love drinking Rheingold beer... Loved their chug-a-mugs... Can't find it anymore. Now, living in western PA I've been taking a liking to Yuengling.

Dave Dickash wound up becoming one of my very best friends after I had my series of TIA's, or "mild strokes", in June of 2000. I had lost interest in models for awhile and Dave took me "under his wing" in order to get me back into building again. On Saturday mornings he would drive to my house (we lived on Long Island, NY) in his all steel bodied '32 Ford sedan HiBoy Street Rod to pick me up and we'd go back to his home to work on models. While in his basement workshop he'd play (blast) numerous CD's (Pink Floyd, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, etc..) Dave was a drummer and I played Bass so we appreciated the music and had pretty much similar tastes. We'd break for lunch and "refreshments" and also spend some time sitting on his front porch "imagineering" various projects. We had some hilarious discussions on that front porch. Dave and I would go to local model and car shows and cruise nights in his Hot Rod and I'd be a grinning fool in the passenger seat of "Dadeuce". I was devastated when he lost his battle with cancer in 2004 and will always cherish the wonderful times we had together. I miss him greatly and still look to him for inspiration at times, even though we had different tastes in the models we built.

Gee thanks Joe. I lived at 553 Academy St. (North of Dyckman St.) Not the greatest of neighborhoods now, so please be careful.

Very cool Joe. Thanks for the tour of your neck of the woods.

Welcome to our plastic playground Dewight.

I'd love to get one of those '50 Plymouth kits.

Yes they did, and I was able to get one before they closed up shop. It also has the correct hood and dash for the '51. I'll be combining those parts with a 1950 Ford convertible kit which is in my large TO DO pile. I was also able to get Modelhaus' '52 Chevy conversion parts which I'll use on an AMT '51 Chevy kit, also in my TO DO pile.