Pete J.

Fountain of youth? Naw, paint fumes Dave, paint fumes!

I agree and seem to have to explain it to others who are younger than me. Today's cars are so complex, they are simple. They have taken so much out of the driving experience that the driver is hardly involved with the process. Personally I have a car that requires much more of the driver. My car requires me to be involved at every level from clutching and shifting to monitoring engine performance and making decisions about how I want the drive train to perform. The heater and A/C controls are connected directly to valves and baffles. There is no thermostatic setting. The radio requires that I "tune" it. When I get in and put the key in the ignition I become an integral part of the car, without which very little can function. I like that involvement. My wife's car, on the other hand, only requires that I show up and steer. It can brake for me if I forget. It will stop, if I approach a dangerous situation. It maintains distance from the car ahead in cruise mode. I can talk to it to change the radio or heater and A/C. It will maintain the center of the lane if I choose. If my hands are not on the wheel for a short period, it will ask me if I need to stop for a rest and a cup of coffee. For long cross country trips, yes, it is comfortable and I like that, but day to day.....ummm, not so much.

It shouldn't surprise you Joe. Our society is full of "buzz words" that people throw about indiscriminately without the slightest clue about the actually legal context. "Discrimination" and "free speech" are among the most common today. For the general membership of this forum, no, I'm not going to get into it, nor am I trying to start a political discussion of those words. I use them only to illustrate my point about misunderstanding of the true legal use of words and will not respond to any comments in that regard. If you don't understand, then please feel free to do some research, but I am not going to address any comments out of the context of the prior discussion of collusion or price fixing as mentioned. That would be a violation of board rules. Please respect the rules.

Well no. I've been converting the japanese price in yen printed on the box on Tamiya for years and when you convert it from yen to dollars, it is far cheaper than what you would pay in the US. Sometimes as low a 1/3 the price but most often half price. Example: The current Tamiya Mercedes 300SL kit MSRP here is $71. The Japanese MSRP printed on the box is 4200 yen. With the current exchange rate that is $38.22. Hobby Link Japan will ship it for about $12. In California I would have about $5 sales tax. Total cost $77 vs $50 shipped in from Japan. Just checked Squadron and they have it listed for $51. After shipping is is $65 . Yup, HLJ is still a better deal, but we will have to wait and see what happens. Shopping around will always be a prudent approach.

Nope, paint fumes dude, paint fumes!

I hate to admit it, but I was just thinking the same thing and I am in the upper end at 68. I would love to see the kids take this up and I would do anything needed to help them out, but frankly from my position, getting youngsters into the hobby is up to their parents and grandparents like our parents did. Not much I can do to get a young person going in the hobby. I can encourage those I see on the juniors table and treat the ones that come to the meetings with respect and encourage them, but in the grand scheme of the hobby, it's up to parents, not us old persons.

One other part of this that many don't get it what a small percentage of the Tamiya market the US amounts too. It is less than %15 world wide. In the grand scheme of things if the gross sales here drop by even 10% of the US market, it really doesn't mean that much to the parent company in Japan. They know that if they put out the best product, people will buy it. Maybe not everyone, but they have a very specific market in mind and I think they are doing what the Japanese do and that is keeping the long view in mind. You and I may not see it, but I am certain they have plan.

True!

I'll toss one more bit if info on this fire just to stir things up a bit. If you look on the end of the Tamiya box there is always a number often after the model number separated by a -. It is not a model number and always end in two or more zeros. It may also be printed in a different color. That is the JDM price in Yen. It gives you an idea of what the MAP price in Japan is. As I said, it will be intersteting to see how this affects the overseas internet sellers like Hobby Link Japan.

Ok, now that makes me feel old. I'm so old they don't go back that far! Heck, I'm older than Dirt! When I was a kid, my folks use to put us kids to work pounding rocks together just to make our own dirt!

There are a lot of products out there that do this for may reasons. Some just hate seeing their product in the bargain basement. Others use it as a method of helping detect knockoffs, so they can better protect their brand. It also forces the retailers to offer something besides bargain prices to their customers. The ones I am most familiar with are Weber BBQ's and Kitchen Aid. Home Depot got in a big dustup with them years ago and lost the right to sell them. Think of it this way. This will help protect the local hobby store that may of you are howling about saving. If the internet boys have to charge the same price as the LHS then the LHS wins with on the spot service. I do wonder how this will effect the overseas internet like Hobby Link Japan. Will there be a domestic MAP?

I see you are in SD. I grew up in western Nebraska and remember B&W TV well, but we had an antenna on the roof with a rotary system instead of rabbit ears. You changed channels and had to realign the antenna to get the best reception. We had 3 channels also =(Cheyenne, Scottsbluff and Sterling) and Cheyenne didn't come in during the day in the summer. Didn't get TV period until Christmas of 1957(I was 8). First color set was in the late 60's. All my paints from that era dried up a long time ago and got tosses. Just for reference, my allowance from my parents at that time was 10 cents a week. Took a while to save enough for a model.

I would say it it pretty risky to draw any inferences about the hobby from this survey. First because we don't have a large enough sample size yet, though it is starting to shape up. Second because I think the early and middle age categories are full of people who may have been like me. I built during my early years when was a kid then stopped for a spell when life intervened and I had other things like fixing up the house and other chores on the weekends, and other family stuff. I then got back into it when my son got old enough to be interested, but only very part time. I then came back at a more intense level once family did not require so much attention. I'm not surprised by the number of "old guys" on this forum because we have the time, income and interest to participate at a higher level than the occasional builder with active families. What I see in my local clubs is older members passing away but being replaced by new older guys getting back into the hobby after years away.

Tim, superb work. Resistance soldering is such an amazing tool to have in your toolbox. It does stuff you just couldn't do with a torch or soldering iron. Thanks for showing us how it is done.

Good question. Are you thinking about buying a new one with a different size nozzle? Just FYI .5 is generally listed as "fine", .8 us a "medium" and 1mm or more is a "large".

Perhaps there is something going on here that we are missing. Maybe this is a disabled person or persons and the community is buying to support them.

If you click on his name and select other items, then in the left margin you can go down and select Sold items you can see what he sells. What is astonishing to me is that he has over 9000 positive feedbacks and not a single negative or neutral one. Something strange it going on here.

Love the old Big Boys. I grew up 100 miles east of Cheyenne and remember them fondly. The ground shook when they went by. You do know that they are restoring one of them don't you! https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/steam-update-03-22-2018.htm

Well, I can tell you what it's not from. I initially thought it was from an old Aurora monster kit but a quick review showes I was wrong. Foggy memories.

I had a similar problem with Tamiya figures in a Ford Focus that came with figures. I wound up shortening the feet to get the bottom in the seat and the arms came separated at the shoulder and needed to be glued any way. I positioned the body in the seat and then used a pin vise to drill through the shoulder once the arms were positioned. I then pinned it with a piece of wire and glued them in place. Then I removed the figure and using AB putty filled and resculpted the shoulder and painted it from there. I learned quite a bit about figure sculpting in the process.

I often wonder what Porsches throughout history would have been like, if they had stayed with a mid engine design. Would something like the 911 been as popular or iconic? Maybe, maybe not!

Yes, you did! I hisses and blows off steam to clear a path through the streets of Calcutta. Was built for and Indian Maharajah. http://www.vccci.com/articles-maharaja-and-their-automobile-1910-brooke-swan-car

By the way, I would like to see both side by side when you are done!

Your right it is dangerous to overload a truck, but the case you are talking about is more about miss loading a truck. Every truck has a "hitch" weight and exceeding that will cause the problem you mentioned. This is a stupid owner not the wrong truck.

Build another one. It is always good to see how far you have come with your modeling skills. It might make you smile!