Doughnut

I agree with James on the parenting issue. I have a desk dedicated to model bulding (got it free on Craig's List). My daughter (age 9) and son (age 3) are constantly coming to me to see what I'm working on. I actually take the time to stop and talk to them! My daughter has now built several models including one that won her the top junior award. My son loves cars and trucks and will most likely be building some soon. Take the time to mentor them and they will enjoy building. I got out of the hobby when I discovered girls as well (back in the 80's). I got back in the hobby about six years ago and now have 1,400 kits! I assume my son will be the same way. There are a lot of people who will come back to the hobby in years to come. And as for everyone who always blames the video games, I am an avid gamer, as is my daughter. It's doesn't stop us from building too. In fact, I have plans to build models of many of the cars from the racing game Gran Turismo. Great subject matter. It may not be the Golden Age, but it least it's a Silver or Bronze. I'll call it the Polypropylene Age.

I still plan on making it! Of course, my wife may have something to say about it. Thanks, Don.

Sorry to get back to the main question for a minute. This is my 1951 Pontiac that I pulled out of a field last year where it had been sitting for almost 40 years. The car is 100% complete, but needs a lot of work. It actually fired up with compression on all cylinders so I will be keeping the Straight Eight in it. That's my little girl giving it it's first wash since the Nixon administration.

I actually kept all of the small baby food jars from when by boy was an infant (I did run them all through the dishwasher). I have a whole drawer of them in the garage complete with the airtight lids. They are bigger than 1 oz, but I've kept mixed and decanted paint in them for over a year now without it drying up. If you know of anyone who has a infant, it's worth asking. Otherwise you can sometimes find them four for a dollar at the discount stores.

Fantastic! One of the more original ideas I've seen in a long time.

It's difficult to give a broad response to a decal question without seeing them. If they are yellowed, I would recommend the "hanging them in the sunny window" trick that I've heard works. I built the Bobby Allison Buick (80's kit) a little while back using the kit decals and they went on fine. One thing that I always recommend is scanning the decals before cutting them apart (use the 600dpi setting). That way, if something goes wrong, you can have one of the many talented decal printers use your file to create a new set. I scan my decals as soon as I open the kit. I then place them in a manila folder or three-ring binder in a dark area for safekeeping.

No, you don't need to have the fan motor outside the window. You should just have it outside the area where the actual blades of the fan are, like the squirrel-cage motors shown. You don't want to us an old range hood as they suck the paint fumes directly through the fan and motor area. I used a large squirrel-cage motor meant for a hot water heater that I purchased from Axman Surplus for $15 new. It has been great and sucks hard enough that I don't even have over spray in the booth (but not so hard that it moves the model pieces). Since it was not mentioned, make sure you use some sort of filtration between the paint booth and the fan. I use small furnace filters which capture all the paint. You can tell if they are capturing it all when you remove the filter and see if there is any paint on the fan blades. Good luck.

I do know some people who buy collections. Can you tell me how many kits are we talking about?

Unbelievable! It's looking fantastic. Can I ask where you located the wheels? Thanks for posting the pics.

I use a Ronco Junior, which looks just like the one Harbor Freight is offering. I originally purchased a higher-end model, but it turned out that it was baking at 135 degrees! That would not have been pretty. It does make great jerky in about two hours, though. The Ronco Junior is slightly smaller than the normal Ronco, and tests right at 105 degrees. I would hesitate on getting one with a fun because it has a tendancy to blow dust particles onto your paint and then bake them in.

And I have replied! Let me know what you are looking to print and we'll try to help you out. (By we, I mean me or the members of the RPM Model Club). Thanks, Don

In the past few months, I have picked up a few of the Warhammer 40,000 models. I'm finishing up the Orc Battlewagon right now and it's been a blast. It's good to take a break from the cars for a little bit and focus on my weathering technics. I was very surprised to see just how detailed some of the parts areon the sprues, especially from the two sided parts with no visable mold lines! I believe it'sbecause they use a softer plastic that flows into the molds better. Thanks for posting this.

I am VERY excited to buy these! I will be grabbing some as soon as they appear in the store and I will build them, not just throw them on a shelf. No offense to some of the others who have posted here, but I am getting very tired of all the variations on the new Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers. How many variations do you need? Get out some styrene and make your own version. One or two is enough.

Haven't played Call of Duty yet, but I'll have to check it out. Last game I finished completely was Fallout 3. Sometimes it's good to kick back, relax, and kill the undead.

My Chevy Astro van had 357,000 miles on it when I sold it and the only major repair I ever had was replacing the water pump at 300,000 miles. I still see the new owner driving the thing down the street. Like a rock!

Andy put it correctly. There's more to the story than what you have seen or read, both good and bad. I'm sure it will all play out in the courts, as it has for the past year. I'm sure nobody involved thought it would come to the boarding of the house with Ted in it. As for visiting Minneapolis, I have lived in this beautiful state all my life and will never leave. I love having all four seasons. Minnesota is constantly rated high for standard of living, our health and longevity, and high aptitude among our students. Sure, we pay a high tax rate, but you get what you pay for, and in my opinion, it's worth it. FYI - it's 70 and sunny as I'm writing this with a slight breeze. Can't get any better than that.

Excellent work! I've got the blue Landy Coronet on my bench right now! I received the decals from Billy Gooche, but I'm not thrilled with the quality, so I'm redoing the decals myself. I thought I would build it along side my Drag-On Lady Coronet. Thanks for clueing me in on where you got your Cragars.

I've been using Mac's since 1984. I still have an original Lisa, which I bet I could use as a jack-stand to hold up my truck in case of emergency, it's that sturdy! I currently use a pair of G4's to do everything I need. Someday I'll upgrade. Gregg was completely right with Simple Text being part of OS9. It was not Simple Text that was doing the actual talking part, that was the OS itself. Simple Text was merely a text editing program. The old OS will actually read error messages to you (in that beautiful Stephen Hawking voice) if you let them. I'm glad you found some new verbal software that works with OSX. In regards to printers, I view Epson as some of the best, but their drivers are not always up to the latest standards. I found that if I load the software that came on the disc (regardless of what the minimum requirements are), and then download only compatible updates from the Epson site, they seem to work. Trying to install drivers directly downloaded from the Epson site has never worked for me unless I have the base program from the printer drivers disc already installed. Good luck and welcome to the dark side. As for the comment about Bill Gates, just remember that when Apple was struggling, Bill came in and saved the day. I heard he owns about 15% of Apple, so he wins either way.

Dave, of course, has the right idea. Even if you don't have a scanner, you can produce these. I have seen sellers on ebay show perfect scans of the box top and all sides of rare kits. I simply save the pictures to a folder and I can recreate the tiny boxes later. I just did one for the Gremlin Funny Car using this method. Good luck.

Just in case this wasn't mentioned, you can always go to www.imcdb.org (internet movie cars database) and type in a movie and they will tell you the car and have some great pictures along with it. It is VERY extensive. Give it a try - it's kinda cool.

Master modeler Jim Kampmann is building the new Ford Mustang FR500CJ Cobra Jet. He is combining parts from several of the latest issues with the original donor being the 2006 Revell Mustang GT. I am posting this sneak peek of his work-in-progress because I am extremely proud that he decided to come to me to create the decals for this build.

Ray, Take a look at our website and let us know if you like what you see. Maybe we can work something out if Harry doesn't pan out. http://www.RPMModelClub.com Thanks.

I was looking for the same color for a 1940 Ford that I want to do as a factory stock. All my searching eventually led me to the auto parts store in the touch-up spray paint section. I found the burgundy I was searching for (they actually had about 5 different shades). Use one of their spray primers and it won't hurt the plastic. Good luck.

I got my issue yesterday and was happy to see my ugly mug in the Toledo photo. At least it proves to the wife that I was there and not at a strip club somewhere. Thanks, Don Stadick

Right there with you Cal. It's a balmy -4 here in Minnesota with a wind chill of -40. At least the cold and snow gives us a good excuse to stay inside and build. We have the four seasons here in Minnesota: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Building Season!