Phirewriter

That turned out nice, very cool idea for the power plant.

They were well known when I was in the business. Nice to know they're still around. So many people and communities seem to forget the importance and artistry of this medium.

Looking forward to this too. My late father had all the Hubley metal kits some in duplicate since he owned Model A's for a while. Haven't considered starting any since I made a decision not to add to the project pile but do eventually want to. One of his dream cars was a Dusenberg and have a number of those kits.

I've got a few muscle bikes, a couple of Stingray 3 and 5 speeds, orange Krate, Lemon Krate, Ross Apollo 5 speed, Murray Eliminator 3 speed, Sears Spyder, Sears Screamer 5 speed and a couple of Frankenstein builds that have yet to be completed. Eventually I'll fit what I can on my garage walls. You can see I started already if you look behind the old Ford...

Yeah when it comes down to it the checks matter most. Getting my book autographed was a suggestion from a friend and it just took off from there, I just have a couple of Chaparral illustrations signed by Jim Hall and some Shelby stuff. Sometimes it's nice to be able to look at some tangible evidence that you met your racing heroes.

Awesome! Been awhile since I've had contact with anyone else who did this kind of work. Lo and behold here on this board... I did neglect to mention LED's but by that time in my area it was just the final nail in the coffin. I've been signed up to a couple of neon message boards that haven't had any activity for so long I've stopped checking them years ago.

We have a shop, one shop, that specializes in that. Here in my area people tend to be, um, a bit conservative with their money and generally won't spend what it takes to do that kind of work. Many of the signs I have in my collection are from customers who even after being given a more than reasonable quote for repairs or the creation of a one off sign eventually refused to pay. Many of the local communities around here are very restrictive when it comes to signage, some don't even allow for beer signs at drinking establishments showing at the street level much less using neon in the overall outdoor signage. One thing that almost had me rolling on the floor laughing are the idiot city planner and zoning fools who complain about the dangers of neon, with the mercury and phosphorus and all, yet probably have CFL bulbs all over their homes. Neon gas glows red. All other colours use argon which glows blue, mercury makes it glow bright. All colours other than red (not a hard rule) are argon tubes with the phosphorus coating determining the final colour. So... Technically most neon signs are nothing more than fancy fluorescent lights. (CFL bulb) As a matter of fact if I didn't want to explain what I did for a living to someone who wouldn't get it, I just told them I made light bulbs.

Yup! I don't recall how long I've been here but it's been awhile. When I signed up for this community I was still in the industry. Between EPA and municipal regulations plus the quick rise of overseas competition virtually destroyed the North American industry and my livelyhood with it. There's certainly neon shops around yet. In my area we had over a dozen companies that produced neon products for a variety of applications from commercial signs, architectural to custom made signs. Within 2 years we have only 2, one is doing well and the other will probably be gone by 2019. There's maybe 6 statewide that actually produce on site. I was able to work in the custom and art end of the industry since I can draw and design, oh and and spell correctly (you'd be amazed, well maybe not) I still have all the equipment necessary to go back into it plus I've kept my hazmat certification current. The big issue is finding a shop with 440 plus the processing equipment can kill electronic systems if something overloads. The place I worked for had a shielded area. If leasing a shop, property owners that have no problems with hazardous materials (neon requires the use of mercury and phosphorus) Unfortunately I don't see it as a money maker for now. I am hoping in the future I'll be able to get out of the city and have a big enough shop where I can do all the projects I'm hoping to do before I go room temperature. Perhaps if I find time to take some decent pictures I'll post some stuff in the art thread although most is not automotive related. I still have quite a few things I did for myself plus stuff people didn't pay for that I've kept.

Hey, hey now! even though I didn't finish college (thanks ex-wife) I was going for an art degree. Still make money at it but is not my primary means for providing for myself. Was always into all things auto and motorcycle and that was a fallback when things went sideways in my life. Spent 20 some years as a neon artist and made decent money. I was always doing side jobs either painting cars and bikes or fine art/illustration. Regardless of your degree I think often it comes down to desire and work ethic. Regardless of what I wanted to do I always did what I had to do in order to get by. Seriously no offense taken. I have however encountered younger art school grads that think doing anything other than their chosen path is beneath them and put little effort in what they do to get by on the short term.

Indeed and I have no problems with that as the book I mentioned in my last post has numerous autographs with a nice message. Since that's an item I have zero intentions of ever selling it makes it even more special to me.

It really throws them if you give them an amount so you don't end up with a ton of pennies back but do receive some silver. As it's been pointed out here math is hard I guess. I worked retail for a bit as a young man and long before computerized POP systems, I managed just fine and I am somewhat math challenged at times. It doesn't require a degree in rocket surgery to count change.

I've been able to find most kits that are being offered on eBay locally for normal prices. I'm also fortunate enough to have Model Empire as my LHS and since they also distribute they have a large back catalogue of Revell subjects so definitely look there before you overpay on the bay. I should mention though they were out of the Baja Bronco and the Foose pickup last time I was there.

Interesting what value celebrities feel they're worth to their fans. I've got a Can Am racing book by Dave Friedman. Over the years it's been accumulating autographs from my racing heroes. Since 1994 or so I've been bringing up to Road America for the historic races and have many great's some no longer with us. All of them were free! Even Mario's was although I believe he charges for his scribble now. All of them were not only courteous but many seemed to really enjoy talking with people there to meet them. The only autograph I ever paid for was Carroll Shelby's and at least that went to his children's heart fund foundation (although he did sign some of my original artwork free, much to the dismay of his handlers)

Had a similar situation a while back, she said something like "I suppose you're holding the door because I'm a women". I replied, no I'm holding it because I'm a gentleman. That caused her give me a deer in the headlights look since she couldn't come up with a snarky reply. You can't be polite to people these days without someone giving you grief or questioning your motives

Concerning the visible chassis; it was my understanding that it couldn't be run due to the fact that it required hardware that either couldn't be sourced or would have driven the price point beyond what would be saleable. It also has tires that possibility were soucred out of country (Japan) and also are no longer available. Early Monogram rubber tires were, that's why the recent issue of the Black Widow hot rod has new tooled tires. Besides with the tooling changes made to the V8 converting it to a hand crank, it will no longer fit the chassis. It's unfortunate and I would be amazed to see it again but I don't think we will.

The Lindberg Challenger started life as a Palmer tool along with a Mustang and a '70ish Corvette.

That's a cool little car, love it!

I wouldn't disagree, just selfish wants. I have a 1/32 track and like to build period style (60's) cars to race as I have a rather large collection of vintage parts. I have modern stuff too but the old stuff can sometimes be more fun.

The Car Craft Dream Rod was originally tooled by MPC and boxed for AMT as were a number of other kits from the early 60's The MPC labeled box is correct for the Tiger Shark.

Don't forget the Watson Roadster too. Hopefully we'll see all of them reissued, work great for slot car builds.

In addition to the auto subjects mentioned above they're also carrying Airfix aircraft kits for those who are interested such as myself. I was told by the hobby department girl that they're replacing some of the Revell subjects. They had a nice selection of WWII kits. She also mentioned that she had more Round 2 cars coming but didn't know what kits as of yet.

Indeed, very cool! Let's see more!

Gee, I thought this is how it worked.

Yup got both, going to Meng's website it looks like there's quite a few.

The only Harley edition pick up kit that I know of is the 2000 Ford F-150 It is indeed to bad this hasn't been reissued but Harley can be very difficult with licensing.