Pete J.

Yea me too. I was painting my fence and pruning the shrubs. Forgot to put on a hat!

I haven't touched a tube of glue in 30 or more years. Zap makes a line of superglues for modelers. They are great because the bond almost instantly. No waiting for the glue to harden. The bad thing is they bond almost instantly so stuff sticks together faster than I can move some times or they stick to the wrong things. My personal favorite is PoliZap with the silver and blue label. I also use a lot of the thin solvent glue such as Tenex, Tamiya super thin, or Weldon. This you just flow into the joint and is dissolves the plastic to make a very tight bond. It take a little getting use to.

I personally don't have a problem with the reserve system. Both buyer and seller are playing a poker game and they know it. It is fun to watch. Neither side is showing there cards in the hope of getting the best deal with negotiations. The reserve is there as protection for the buyer to refuse a bid that is too low. Yes, they could offer the initial bid for the reserve, but in many cases that would scare off potential buyers. Comparing it to an in person auction, it is like looking around the room to see how may people are interested in the item. I don't know if e-bay still has it but they use to have a second chance offer. If the item didn't meet reserve the seller had the option to offer it to the highest bidder at a price above the last bid. I have bought items that way and I have walked away from some. Like others have said, when I bid, I always set the max I am willing to pay for an item. If I know I am going to be on line at the time the auction ends, I don't bid until the last few seconds and throw in my max bid. That is referred to as snipping and I have no problems with that. If I get the item, good, if not, I am not tempted to raise my bid a little more to see if I can get it. Saves me a bunch of money that way. As to shill bids, well that has been a part of auctions for as long as there have been auctions. It's not ethical in my opinion and a seller can be ban on eBay for doing it, but there are ways around that too. For that reason, I don't bid on items from people who don't have a track record. A little research will serve you well in this regard. eBay is an open auction. If you keep your wits about you, you can find some good deals, but if you don't like the uncertainties then it is not for you. eBay offers buyers protection against really bad sellers, like people who take your money and run, so that is good, but it is definitely a buyer beware market. There is no protection against paying too much. I don't know how many times I have seen people pay more for an item on eBay than they can go down to the store and buy it new off the shelf.

I have been helping my son with a new car search and found something I like a lot. As a Vet, I have USAA insurance. (I was an agent for other companies but always kept their car insurance). They deal with active duty military, ex military and their families only! They are run by Vets for Vets and are a cooperative not a company owned by stock holder. Ok, it did a bit of a rant their but they are not like other financial institutions. The have a car buying service that has associations with local dealers. You call USAA up. Tell them what you want and how it is equipped and they take it from there. They search the local dealers, find the car, give you the info on what the margin is. The only reason you are in the dealer is to sign paper work and pickup the car. You just avoid the whole deal. Very simple and easy. Now I know there are other services out there like this, but these guys have build up a level of trust with their policy holders that others just can't match. I have been in insurance and investments for 30 years and I never once doubted them. I have been a customer for 42 years. They know how to take the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH out of buying a car. If you are thinking of setting up a dealership or the like, you would be well served to look at their model.

There is just something about a Ferrari that and Aston or Jag just doesn't have. To be honest about it, if you could afford one of these, money isn't the issue. If it is, you shouldn't be buying one of these to begin with. If I had the money, I'd have the Ferrari but my preference runs to the 458 Italia coupe. No convertibles for me! Just not a fan of the extra weight and loss of rigidity you get when the top is taken off.

I went back through my old photos and you are right. The steering wheel was wood color. I think I was thinking of my 911(I still have the steering wheel from that but that is another story). However it was not wood. It was, as was typical for the era, a fake plastic wood grain. The US spec models did not have the extended noses. As I recall the only true Datsun dealer installed options were the front and rear bumper guards, rear window shade which came with a pair of sport mirrors and A/C. The nose and headlight covers were sold at a very limited number of dealers as they were only legal in a very few states. Mine was a horrible light green and I had the mirrors and rear window shade painted to match the car(they were flat black from the factory) when I picked it up from the dealer(in Sterling Colorado). I was headed to Texas and wanted to make sure the sun was not a real problem. I also had the front bumper guard and A/C installed from the factory.

I will never understand why they put rear seats in these things! Just put a parcel shelf in with some tie downs and be done with it. You will never take more than two people anywhere in this vehicle. Don't waste your time upholstering the seats. Dumb!

Fond memories of the 240Z! Traded in my '69 Mustang for a '72 Z when I graduated from college in 72. Both six cylinders but oh what a difference in the performance. Two years later I traded the Z for the 74 911. Boy those were the days. Been hooked on six or less cylinders ever since. By the way, just a minor nit to pick. The Z didn't get a wooden steering wheel until they came out with the 260 in 73 at least in the USA. Before that it was a black plastic. Very nice job on the interior.

So true. We are sitting in 80 degree weather here in SoCal, but sometimes the earth moves just to remind us who is really in charge. And then when the rain comes, the earth moves again in the form of mud slides. Some times it just decides to catch fire and burn everything to the ground. But like most, I wouldn't live anywhere else. We all make choices that others can't understand but they are our choices and we live with them, good or bad.

Joe Martin passed away yesterday. I know this is not a common name to most of you, but the company he founded and ran is. He created Sherline with their outstanding line of table top machining tools. His lathes and mills are the gold standard by which all others have been judged. I had the opportunity to meet him once and he was most personable and would talk to anyone who shared his passion for miniature machining. He also founded the museum that bears his name. It is founded on the premise that there are hundreds of craftsman who toil in garages and basements who's work deserves to be displayed. He was a friend to all modelers and will be missed.

I think you pointed out one of the great things about our hobby. There is a budget level that just about anyone could have fun in this hobby. Now, you may not be able to get all the things others have, but with a little ingenuity you can still have fun and build a decent model. Don't look at what the other guy has and say " I wish I had his budget." Look at yourself and say "I'm glad I have what I have". Frankly both of you are getting as much fun out of it.

Heck Mark, I need my reading glasses just to find my magnifying glasses to get my optivisor on!

Just came across this one. Person gets on a web site and asks were he can get a part for his airbrush. ?????WTF dude- Google it! I did and immediately had at least 20 sources pop up. At least try to help yourself before you ask someone else to help you.

Their not the only ones. You ought to see the Californian flat landers in the 4wd SUV's in the mountains!

Yea, Seaslugs. I lived in Spokane in the 70's and 80's and it took a lot of disappointment for them to earn that lack of respect. One season does not erase years of nonperformance. I have the same issues with the Chargers. They have had great talent go to waste with poor coaching, ownership and infighting. Respect is earned by a history of performance, not a single season.

Mark, looks like you are getting down to the end to me! You have made a lot of progress over the last couple of months. I don't know about you, but with my projects, I seem to have a lot of subassemblies that take forever and looks like I have a lot to do. Then one day, they are done and it is just a matter of putting them all together. The end seems to come on kind of suddenly. See you in two weeks?

More than making cars in Iran, who knew that South Korea had the ties with Iran to set up a plant in Iran. I have no understanding of that relationship at all.

Since I have been back in the hobby for the last 20 years I am going to list several things and some logic behind the listing: #4 Photo etching. These little bits of metal seemed to resurrect the hobby industry 20 years ago. I remember going down to my LHS just to see what was new. It fired a lot of enthusiasm. #3 Super glue. Oh how this has changed the hobby! If you remember having to wait overnight for tube glue to dry, you remember what a revolution this stuff really was. #2 The computer. Or more correctly computer aided manufacturing. This changed the accuracy of the molds used to make our models. We now expect a quality piece every time. Before we were just happy to get a lump of plastic that kind of looked like what the box art showed. Now we expect the highest level of detail and accuracy and we actually get stuff that goes together easily. We can spend our time on the details and finish rather than just getting tab A into slot B. #1 Internet- Wow has this made a difference. Without this tool we would not have 90% of the small shop suppliers who rely on it to stay in business. We would not have easy access to thousand of outlets for just about anything you can think of in modeling. We now can get any model or parts we want within a few days from anywhere in the world, not just the very limited(as part of all that is out there) supply of our LHS. We have research at our finger tips any time we want it. Last but not least is the gathering of, dare I say it, millions of modelers to share our interests, enthusiasm and knowledge with. It is like a club meeting any time you want it.

Boy there are not a lot of people claiming to have this one and I would bet there are some who got it wrong. This thing is a real red herring. I was shocked when I found it and it took me a couple of hours. Thanks Harry! Two more hours of my life I will never get back.

I really get ticked at people who are in the wrong lane and then do something really stupid to make up for it. Example: At the local mall there is a three lane wide exit with a cross street and traffic light. The right hand lane is a right turn only lane. The two lanes left proceed through the intersection to the entrance ramp to the freeway which coincidentally is two lanes wide. You always seem to get some idiot who can't read the signs and gets to the traffic light in the right turn lane when they want to enter the freeway. Rather than go ahead and make the right turn and come around again, they decide it is a three car wide drag race to see who can squeeze into the two lane onramp. DUMB!

Got it but boy is it obscure!

Ronco food dehydrator, $35 plus shipping from amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Ronco-FD1005WHGEN-5-Tray-Electric-Dehydrator/dp/B000G20TCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391482404&sr=8-1&keywords=ronco+5+tray+food+dehydrator Heck, I'll bet you spent more than that on the kit you are working on. I've had one for 20 years. Works great, easy to figure out. What more could you want?

Hey, what is an extra "o" among friends. At my age, I lucky to get the words out at all!

Mike, got to disagree with you on that one. Defense doesn't win games they loose game. I have seen plenty of great defensive teams and they keep the game close but without a good offense you just can't win. I think a lot of people are shortchanging the Seaslugs offense. They put up more points against Denver that anyone all season. You got to have both sides to win consistently. Perhaps their defense has been a shining star but the offense also scored a lot of points this year.

Dude, that coat was, ah like so totally 60's man!