Pete J.

I know many in SoCal know of this automotive phenomenon which is known as Coffee & Cars. It happens every Saturday morning from 7 to 9 in a parking lot just north of the split of the I5 and I405. A bunch of people who happen to own interesting cars show just show up and spend the morning talking about cars and having a cup of coffee and a roll. The interesting thing is that you could travel the worlds museums and not see as many eclectic and unusual cars as randomly show up here. If you are anywhere in SoCal on a Saturday morning it is three hours well spent. Here is a mix of some of the photos I took this weekend. Enjoy 440 Cuda with a Murcielago! Two Italians and a German One of WO's best Extraordinarily rare Mercedes from the 'benz restoration facility in Irvine. The red one is a mid engine. Donald Healy's 100 Dodge Power wagon anyone? Martini rules! One of 8 rows. How many can you name? Mercedes drop top Hot rods? Sure! Yea, it happens every weekend. This was a good but not great weekend. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood.

I am going with a bit of gut instinct and pegging this one as a model. I don't see the signature exposed stitching on the leather that you see in most Ferrari's. Has to be a large scale model though, the detail is exquisite. Harry if this is a model, I'm going to need some details when this thing is done!

Very nice Mark. I knew yours was quite a bit different from mine. I never thought to do a left hand conversion. I will have to do that on the next one. Love the detail. Pete

Mark - As I recall we both finished the 1:24 scale Lotus's, Loti, aw heck super sevens at about the same time. Yours was full detail and mine was oob. It is a fine little kit. If you can find photos I think others may be an interesting comparison. Pete

I am more of a casual fan of the game but still enjoy an afternoon at the park, so I am not going to get into it with any of the rabid fans. I have been watching the game since Roger Maris and Mikey Mantel played the game. My perspective is right is right and calling it anything else is hogwash. The kid pitched a perfect game. Something that happens very seldom. Everyone agrees that he got 28 batters in a row out except for an admittedly bad call. If you must, give him a perfect game with an asterisk. Good enough for Roger good enough for Gallaraga. As to the electronic strike zone, that would make it more of a hitters game again and that would not be so bad. You really don't take that much away from the umpires. You still need them to call foul tips, swing or no swing and plays at the plate. A consistent strike zone could be defined in inches and not the inexact zone determined by the anatomy or stance(remember Eddie Gaedel in 1951) much less the umpires eyesight. You are still going to get the same cat and mouse of pitcher vs. batter. It just takes some of the guess work out of the game. Although it gives the fans a whole lot less to gripe about. Heckling the umpire has always been part of the game. Oh well. Just my opinion.

Mark - It looks better every time I see it. Absolute masterpiece.

Deep thought - "The answer is 42. Now all you need is the question."

No argument there. It is a stunning piece of craftsmanship. Very little of the original kit left. Everything has been rebuilt or machined. I've never seen anyone even attempt one at such a level, much less seven of them.

Deceptively simple kit. Requires a lot of patients, and careful brush painting to get it right. Take your time and you can have a winner.

Yea, me two..or too..or to..or 2 for 2 or something like that!

Back on topic - How about Missile tow,4321 Astronaut Blvd, Cape Canaveral, FL. Call 1-098-765-4321 There actually is an Astronaut Blvd. Logo=Space shuttle on a hook. Put a couple of sponsorship decals on the fenders like Tenactine or Lamacil. It's an old joke - If athletes get athletes foot, what do astronauts get? - missile toes. Am I actually that old??

Depends on the paint. Lacquers can be done in an hour, enamels and acrylics a couple of hours, if I am layering the paint. Final before polishing is always over night.

Ronco 5 tray food dehydrator. You can get them at Target, Kmart, Walgreen's, Amazon you name it. Get the 5 tray and not the 3. Very simple, vents at the top control temperature, nothing else to do but plug it in. Real consistent temperature. I have had mine for 12 years and never melted or damaged anything. The reason I like mine is that I have cut the bottoms of the top three trays for additional height and left a partial tray on one of them to give me a shelf for double height. I use mine to keep the rattle cans I use the most hot. Even on the hottest setting I've never had a problem and mine is in the garage in So Cal so we get hot weather. Best of all, at $39 it is very inexpensive. If this one ever gives out, I will buy another.

A convertable eh? Don't recall ever seeing one of those. Got to go real. The glass and the eggcrate grill look very real to me. The only problem that I have is the picture looks distorted. It looks like it has been narrowed. It doesn't look wide enough for a car of that era, but that could be lens distortion. Don't know for sure. Just a plan WAG. Good pick Harry!

Granted, then you need a friend with an Alps printer.

Not really. Just use white decal paper. If you use Adobe Photo Shop Essentials or better, and you need a border, it is very easy to put a very thin(1 or 2 pixel) black line around the outside edge to give you a cut line. Most decals should be done on white paper anyway to prevent bleed through of the back ground color. Now if you have metallics, that is a different story. Alps does an incredible job on metallics while other printers just can't do true metallic colors.

If you have any skill at a computer, scan the old ones and print them on new decal paper. It is really not that difficult and then you can make extras if you mess one up(which I generally do!)

That depends upon the manufacture of the lacquer. I use Dupont automotive lacquers and I start at 5 to 1 and go from there. You need to make it about the same consistency as skimmed milk. Also, nothing and I mean nothing dries as quickly or polishes up like lacquer. That is why a lot of us use it.

Here is one of the best deals I have found. http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/2.htm It is really good quality stuff, very thin film and it prints very well. It is full 8 1/2" X 11" and you can order a mixed set, half white half clear. On my HP printer I have a photo tray, so I cut mine up to 4x5 and run it through that since I rarely print a full size sheet. Also when I run decal on white, I use Adobe Photo shop Essentials and put a very fine black boarder around the image. That gives me a cut line and hides any halo. Have fun!

Wow! I think that is just weird. Looks like the someone did a poor job of chopping and channeling the passenger compartment and did nothing to the engine area. Love the big cooler on the running board. Perfect for keeping my Perrier cool. Very typical French weirdness. Thanks for the look.

There is an evil black hole that passes through every model area from time to time sucking up parts. Resistance is futile! If the black hole doesn't get it, the carpet monster will! One suggestion you might try. Get out the vacuum and a pair of your wife's old pantie hose. The ones she doesn't want any more. Put the pantie hose over the outlet end of the vacuum and go vacuum the floor. 90% of the time, you will find the part you are missing along with several that you thought were long gone! Worth a try.

Yup! Wrinkled paper, that's the ticket! Don't bother looking at the car, just check out the surounding area. Hey I'm back to 100%. 1 for 1.

Brian - Glad you enjoyed the Museum. Next time you are in town, The San Diego Model Car Club meets in the second floor on the third Tuesday at 6:30 every month. Modelers are always welcome. Just come in an introduce yourself. As an aside(and I don't know the story) but the Air & Space Museum was originally designed in the shape of the Ford V8 trade mark. I believe at some point it was a Ford display. Perhaps someone on the web knows the story.

George - Got to hang my hat on sumthin'. Might as well be that

Model on this one. I'm going for one in a row. Harry got me last time. I wish I could decipher what the reflection in the wheel is. I'm saying model because of the ripples in the floor in front of the rear wheels. Looks like paper to me.