RHB785

Thanks fellas. I have a couple of pics of a '39 Ford sloper at a car show here in Newcastle earlier this year on my mobile phone. I just have to work out how to upload them to my computer as I've misplaced the driver disc I got with the phone. Regards, RHB.

Now I like that Manny. We don't see too many Airstreams in this part of the Pacific. There have been a few imported over the years but not many. especially now with the Au$ being as low as it is against the US$. It was down under 70c yesterday so we're not importing too many luxury caravans. Regards, RHB.

Hi Adam. I can now see what you meant and I think you're right. When the announcement was made that Holden and then Toyota would pull out and become import and sales only companies the comment was made by a senior cabinet minister that "only 10,000 jobs would be lost." Hullooooooo. One job lost is one too many. He was only counting the direct jobs and ignoring the 250,000 indirect jobs like your own. Now those poor component companies, many of whom are small businesses are scrambling to try to find markets overseas. How do you do that with only a few years notice. It's also a loss to the government. GM-H gives them in one year in payroll tax alone the equivalent of the subsidy to the entire motor industry. Then there are other taxes that the industry gives to the government each and every year. Well over a billion dollars worth of taxes. I don't think GM nuked Holden, the Federal Government nuked the whole industry. I believe that the car industry here is a good corporate citizen, one who pays the tax they should pay and gave a lot of locals and immigrants with no skills a chance of a good dignified living. It's not just the car industry that's suffering from these short sighted policies. I got talking to a man yesterday who had just been made redundant from his job in the defence shipbuilding industry. He's 65 next January and has decided to sell up here and move to a house he and his wife own in Queensland and go on the pension. And why not. He, like many others has paid his taxes for 40 odd years, maybe 50 years and now because of a silly policy he can't even retire with the usual diginity (hand shake and gold watch from the GM of the company in the company of his workmates). That particular company isn't a huge one on the size scale either. They have for 30 odd years been doing excellent work in the naval construction game. Now they have to look for work in the luxury yacht field, a market that is already saturated. On another note it's good to see you supported GM-H from afar. The Pontiac G8 is a great car. Could you put a pic or two of it in the 1:1 section? I own a 2006 Adventra which is an AWD wagon as well as the bespoke Niva. When my cousin's daughter heard I'd bought a Niva she went on the net and found a Russian 1/43 scale Niva, bought it and gave it to me as a birthday present. So now I have 2 Nivas!! Both of them are white! Anyway Adam, I should be doing some work to a Czech Model of a Czech aeroplane. It's a 1/72 Eduard L39 in the colours of the Slovakian Air Force aero team the White Albatrosses. I'm having a few problems fitting the canopies in the open position. Good to talk to you over here as well. Regards, RHB.

Well I'm going to put my foot in it here on two fronts. First that Lada has Militsia on the side of it. Police. So it's actually a cop car not a taxi although why it's yellow I have no idea. In reality cop cars are all white in Russia. Second, I happen to own a 1997 Lada Niva 4X4 with the GM single point injection and GM direct Fire ignition. I've had it since 2002 and nothing major has gone wrong with it. Before I bought it when people heard I was thinking of buying one they all laughed and told me I'd have a POS, worse than a Jaguar they said. It'd always be in the workshop and bits would always be falling off it. None of that has happened and she's still my daily driver for around town driving as she's somewhat more economical than my Holden Adventra which I use for longer trips and long distance travelling. The Niva is a bit noisey and it does have a vibration at certain speeds but there are cures for those issues. We don't put salt on our roads here, even in winter so she's pretty rust free. I'll take some good photos of her and put them up in the 1:1 section. I use her sometimes to go bush and get photos of places that are inaccessible to 2WD cars although the Adventra is AWD it's a lot heavier and heavier on fuel in those situations. I can get any part I want from a fellow in Ukraine. There is a parts importer here but he charges like a wounded bull and his range is decreasing all the time. I can get most parts from Ukraine at about 1/10 the Australian cost and that includes shipping. Do I think Ladas are losers? Only in some peoples' minds they are. A Niva will go anywhere any other 4WD will and some places some of the others won't. Other than the Niva we only had the Samara here in 2 and 4 door forms. We didn't get the RWD sedans or wagons but I believe New Zealand did get some of the RWD wagons and called them Cygnets. Most dead Nivas got that way becasue young people could afford to buy them but then couldn't afford to maintain them. There is a fellow a couple of suburbs away from me who has about 6 of them including a very rare (for Australia) utility. He swears by them, not at them. As to a country's motor industry setting the tone for the country I don't believe that. Here we are about to lose our motor industry because the current Government will no longer support it. Ther are many reasons for this which I won't go into here. There are 13 motor manufacturing countries in this world and they all to one extent or another support their motor industries. Come to think of it this Government has thrown the baby out with the bath water as far as manufacturing is concerned. a very short sighted policy IMHO. Try getting Holdens into Japan and see how you go. I wonder if any of you have seen the latest Ladas. Even the new Niva? And I'm not talking about the Chevrolet Niva. They're pretty good cars these days and the old 2101-2107 are no longer made. The only car they make that isn't FWD is the Niva and they all now have Bosch multipoint injection and some form of direct fire ignition so they've come a long way in the last 20 years. It's pretty obvious that I'm a fan of Ladas and I think they are a much maligned brand. My apologies for the rant. I'll keep my Niva as long as I can because I think it does a great job and doesn't cost me much to run and register/insure it. As to being ugly the 2101 were a Russian built version of the Fiat 124 and later versions (2107) were the Russian 125. Were they ugly cars? The Niva has been called the Range Rover of the Russians. Nowadays many Russian drivers are going back to Russian cars because they can't afford the imported parts to keep their American/Japanese/Euro luxo bins going. So perhaps they know better than others what are the right cars for them. Regards, RHB.

Your trailers are very nice Gary. I especially like the teardrops. I have a soft spot for these little caravans as we also call them in Australia. Your Chev tow vehicle reminds me of our 60-62 Holden station wagons, only ours were all 4 doors except for specially built ambulances. Regards, RHB.

Here is my latest finished model. It's the Special Hobby 1/72 kit of one of the P-40s flown by Sqn Ldr Bobby Gibbes in the Western desert when he was CO of 3 Sqn RAAF. Regards, RHB.

Yes, it sure is a beauty. Toi survive so long in mostly its original paint is a cred it to those that have owned her. Regards, RHB.

Thank you Speedfreak,disabled modeler and Ace-Garageguy. Speedfreak, the wheels are 16x6 steel. Regards, RHB.

Thank you Speedfreak. Regards, RHB.

I remember watching this movie with a female friend and fellow RAAF ground crew member back in the 80s. We laughed ourselves silly (and there was no alcohol involved) it was just so funny and yet Number 5 had a tender human touch that touched our hearts and made us giggle as well. I liked stephanie's comment about the boyfriend 's "big red dorkmobile" and Number 5's overnight reaction to that. And then the now ex-boyfriend's reaction to what Number 5 had done to his pride and joy. A great movie that gave the two of us a lot of laughs. That's a fantastic truck model and Number 5 is also great Walter. Thanks for sharing this with us as for me particularly it takes me back to a quieter, simpler, more easy going time of life and I was soem thirty years younger then. Regards, RHB.

I used to drive a Toyota Coaster bus for a day care centre back in the late 1990s and it had an extra mirror under the LHS external mirror so you could see the front of the vehicle (front bumper) when in tight situations. Regards, RHB.

A good start there Paul. Keep us in the loop as they get finished or even some WIP posts. Regards, RHB.

There's an old saying in the aviation community. "If it looks right it'll fly right." If that 4 door Corvette was an aeroplane I'd shudder to think what the flight characteristics might be like. I wouldn't want to be the test pilot taking it up for the first time. That 2 door 4 seater on the other hand I feel would be a delight to fly if it were an aeroplane. It just looks right and beautifully proportioned with everthing just as it should be. That car would have been very popular I think, especially here in Australia if they'd gone ahead with it. What a pity they didn't. Regards, RHB.

Thank you for the warm welcome fellows. I might just have to buy a car model, a Chev Sedan Delivery if I can find one to build as a standard model to get some experience at car modelling. Regards, RHB.

Hello Tom. Are you a Pontiac enthusiast? Yes that body style was only produced in Australia. It was made by GM-Holdens, GM's Aussie arm. the Sloper bodies were made here from 1935 to 1941 in 2 distinct styles, 1935-37 and 1937-41. Whatever the car was in North America for that year the front clip was the same in Australia. The Slopers were available in Chev, Vauxhall (very few), Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick styles with the body from the firewall back being pressed here. Over the 6 years of production GM-H produced only about 7,200 of these bodies. There were 85 Pontiac Slopers built in 1939, all 6 cylinder cars with only 3 left now. She's in very good shape for a 76 year old car and had no body damage when I purchased her from a fellow in Townsville Nth Queensland in October 2012. Unfortunately, some unco person dropped something heavy on her roof just above the left hand door somewhere in transit from Townsville to Newcastle. The original owners, two spinster sisters in Brisbane who bought her new drove her around for 50 years without putting a mark on her and some hamfisted clown puts a dent in her on the two week trip down the east coast. I could have cried when I saw that dent Oh well, that's life I guess. Regards, RHB.