russosborne

all I said was you yourself stated you had 15 years of experience working on GM's assembly line and that might be why you seem to be defending them. First was fact, and as I stated the reason I gave was IMHO-means in my humble opinion, in case you aren't familiar with that. I've noticed over the years on different forums that GM employees past or present tend to do that. If I was wrong about you sorry. Russ sorry, had to edit this to get the quote right.

Harry, In post #360 Dean stated that he had 15 years of experience working on the GM assembly line. Might be why he is defending them. IMHO anyway. Russ

Funny, no one has mentioned the Crown Vic fairly recent (10-12 years ago)problem with exploding gas tanks, everyone wants to focus on the Pintos. Remember how many of them exploded on rear impact? At least here in Phoenix it was a really big deal as at that time Phoenix police used nothing but the Crown Vics and there were several police officers involved in those explosions. Obviously at that time Ford management still hadn't learned their lessons. It turned out to be a really cheap and simple fix. The tank was getting punctured by a bolt on the 8.8 rear, and a little shield fixed it. Just wanted to let people know it isn't just the Pinto that had gas tank problems, being a former owner of one. Russ

Yeah, we went to that store during the week. Extremely disappointing experience. First issue was the hobby store once inside the building was hard to find. No signs pointing the way. And it was quite a walk from the front (only) entrance. My wife is in a wheelchair. If I wasn't pushing her I doubt if she would have even tried to get there. If I was in a wheelchair pushing myself I wouldn't have tried. This should be a concern since we aren't the only ones in that situation. Felt like I was in a warehouse, not a hobby store. The hobby store seemed like an after thought, not something that was planned. Ceiling lights way too high, hard for me to see well. Old eyes. Even the outside sign for the hobby store was small, not exactly something someone not looking for it would be likely to notice, especially from Greenway. Kit selection was decent, although there weren't some recent releases I had hoped to see. Very VERY little in the way of aftermarket stuff. Yes, I did look in the LOCKED cabinet that was in what I would call the main aisle, not even where the model kits were. If this is how they planned it to be I don't expect them to last at all. If not, they should have waited to open until everything was ready to go. The way the store currently is does not make someone want to return. Maybe RC'ers, that seemed to be the main emphasis, and they do have the indoor RC track right next to them. But even that track looked wrong. We were watching a couple of cars run. There didn't seem to be anyway for someone to get to the cars in several spots if the car overturns, and that happened frequently. But not being an RC'er, maybe I am just not looking at it right. Overall rating, I wouldn't go out of my way to go there again. Either Andy's on 59th and Greenway or the chain store (Hobby something, I forget the name) on 43rd and Bell would be my choice. Russ

actually, on further review, I am going to skip it this time. the money would be better off spent on stuff that we need. Russ

That must be why I don't see them, I have had that on here for a long time. Russ

Yeah. I would have more good to say about it if the inspectors showed up at a company without any advance notice, but they always schedule the inspection months in advance. Nice scam in my opinion. Russ

for the most part, ISO is BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. All it really means if you are certified is that you are doing what you say you are supposed to be doing. If you don't require incoming inspection in your procedures, there is no need to do it. If you say you only inspect 10%, that is all you have to do. Everyone sticks their head in the sand from 3PM to 3:05 PM, check. Etc. They are just checking to see if you follow your own procedures, so your customers don't have to if you are certified. I've worked at several electronic manufacturers who are ISO certified. Trust me, it is a real joke most of the time. ISO inspection next week? Time to make sure it looks like we are doing the right thing. Get the test procedures out and make sure everyone has them on the bench. Make sure everyone can point to the Quality Policy. After the inspection, time to go back to sop. I'm sure that there may be some ISO levels that require companies to do stuff that is standard across an industry, but 9001 in my experience isn't one of those. Russ

Not here. Running Firefox, don't know if that matters. Russ

If anyone is interested a group of people have put together a new Boss Bird funny car in the last 2 years. They had a bit of a set back last year when it caught fire and burned the body down, but they are still going strong last I heard. Not sure about the status of the Boss Bird at this moment. Last I heard the guys responsible had it back together and were back on the track testing. Nitro car, I saw it at Norwalk a couple of years ago. I was seriously into Pontiacs then, having a 70 Lemans project car, but that got sold for nothing when we moved to Phoenix this spring. Russ

"Well, the rules don't say you can't do "X", but I don't like it when you do so I am going to say something about it." That is what it seems is happening to me. Russ btw, I am on several real car forums for specific cars, and none of the ones I am on get upset if you talk about other cars in the "general discussion"forums. Which I think is a valid comparison. Now if you are talking about a Vette in a how to repair Mustangs discussion all bets are off. and I have even been a moderator on one.

Not absolutely sure, but in my and others experience on this site it seems as though those chains don't update their inventory more than a couple of times a year, if that. If you want the new kits now, you really will need to get them online if you don't have a real hobby store close by. Russ

Is this the same place as the contest was in April? I will try to go, but once again money is an issue. Russ

Thanks, that is a cool color. I'm partial to purples/violets. Russ

What Lee said.

We were coworkers and friends before I moved to Ohio 8 years ago. I lost contact with him, I don't know if he ever got online, he hadn't at that time. If anyone knows him I'd appreciate any info. His health wasn't the greatest. He had had a bypass maybe 12 or so years ago and would be in his 60's now. Big time collector, he would always go to all of the shows locally. Since I am back here now I'd like to get back in touch with him. Thanks, Russ

Yes it is. Hadn't thought of that. Thanks! Russ

I can't help you with your question, but if you don't mind, what color and brand is that paint? Thanks, Russ

Does it matter which I paint first? Using craft paint and testors enamel on a steering wheel. Masking isn't going to happen. I'd prefer to just use the craft paint, but I don't have any silver and right now isn't a good time to be spending any money on a hobby. I wouldn't think it matters with those two, but better safe than sorry. Thanks, Russ

I think almost all of you are missing the point of the OP. He wasn't complaining about the cost now vs. 20 or however many years ago. He is talking about costs going up in recent months. As the other Canadian (imarriedawitch)(love that name!) mentioned, up there the newest AMT kits are now (doing quick math) about 40-50% higher than what the older kits are going for. Russ

Darn it Tom, I am not really a huge VW fan but I am drooling over this now. Will have to wait until I get re-employed though. Russ

Thanks, all. Yeah, family is the reason we moved back here to Phoenix. I just wasn't expecting something like this. Fortunately my brother is financially able to do this. I know if he wasn't he would still try, but at least his family isn't starving because we can't pay the rent. One nice thing about this is that my best friend's mom is not doing well and is in a rehab place. She has always been like a second mom to me, and at least for now I can go visit her every day. It's sad, sometimes I am her only visitor. My best friend isn't handling this well at all.

I got a call yesterday (Monday) morning from the temp place I had my job thru saying that the company I was at had a numbers reduction and I was a victim. It was a lousy job with a very lousy company, but still it helped pay the bills. I was actively looking to leave it, but it would have been nice to have another job ready to go first. Good news is that I am renting a house from my brother and he said not to worry about paying rent until I get another job. He has lots of contacts and is checking to see if any of them can help with that. So between my wife's disability payment and my mother in law's help we can still afford to eat and pay the other bills. But this sucks. I haven't had much luck with getting interviews in my field of work since we moved back here to Phoenix. And to top it all off, I still can't get to my workbench to build models. It has my wife's craft stuff stacked on it, she has run out of room to unpack any more boxes. Going to try to work on that this week, but there are also some house related things I need to do that are more important. Russ

Well, I am going to have some room in the house. I am figuring at least 75 kits worth for sure. I have 25 of them in already. Now the problem is finding the boxes the others are in. I think they got buried in the carport. The bedroom that we are making into our craft/hobby room has a nice sized closet, and that will be my model "room". About 25 inches deep and 6 foot long. The shelf in it holds a stack of 7 kits high and probably 10 stacks long. Might have to scrounge for some more closet space in another room for the rest. Or do the condensing a couple of people have mentioned. Oh, and my mom just told me that I still have another box of kits at my sister's house. Along with a whole bunch of stuff we left when we moved to Ohio 8 years ago. Sigh. These kits have been in a garage the whole 8 years. Should be interesting to see what has happened to them. Been sick this week, probably stress related, so I haven't gotten a whole lot done. Who knew moving cross country, giving up a job, losing a house, etc could cause stress? Thanks, Russ