Danno

Nice!

Whoa! I have no words, either.

Kewl, Jason!

Okay, okay! Spoil sport! Ya got me. That was indeed a kit and it was indeed labeled as a 1903 Model A Ford. I'll concede the point. There WAS such a kit, even if it was BEFORE my time! (And, I don't get to say that very often!)

Good point, Harry! THERE's my "out!" Greg's thread is 'How many Model A Ford kits are there?' It wasn't 'How many Model A Ford models are there?' Whew!

Kudos to you, Kristofer. First-time events are often small and wobbly, but to have that kind of turn-out is great for a first-venue, first-time, untested event. Next year will be better and the year after than will be even better. That's the way it works in the real world. Saturday event vs Sunday event? Purely a carp-shoot. My experience with producing, promoting, or managing a LOT of model car events is that MORE people want to keep their Sundays for private, personal, family and quite often religious pursuits. Saturday events are very well attended, even if there are some people who don't prefer them. For years, I've run multi-day (Saturday & Sunday or Friday-Saturday-Sunday) events. Sundays are always less populated than Saturdays. Plus, there is no escaping the great fortune in aligning your event with such as large car-hobbyist-oriented event as Cruzin' Havana. It's a no-brainer. As the years tick by, more and more of the big-car enthusiasts will learn of your event and will go out of their way to look you up. Stick with it. Peoples' Choice balloting is not a curse or a scourge. I disagree with Michael on this point. It is a terrific way of engaging the spectators in your event. I've run a couple of model car shows for GoodGuys for double-digit years. We originally critically judged everything. But as the event grew and the entries soared (in QUALITY as well as quantity), it became increasingly difficult to accomplish everything and put on a great event for the spectators/customers. When GG started a Peoples' Choice award, I noticed the spectators who picked up the ballots spent more time examining all the models than those who didn't. I decided to mimic the 1:1 judging at GoodGuys by changing from category awards to a "Top Twelve" award system and changed to all-peoples' choice balloting. The spectators spend more time enjoying the models, the builders get more attention, our event is always packed and attracts a LOT more attention than ever before, and the GoodGuys and Revell people love it! We routinely have nearly 1500 ballots cast by the spectators and entrants. A note about that. We don't leave the ballots laying around for anyone to pick up randomly or for anyone to pick up a handful. Our team contacts everyone who comes by and personally invites them to participate. Surprisingly, more people are receptive and really plunge into the effort than you might expect. Because each ballot is personally delivered, there is no wholesale ballotbox stuffing. Even when a modeler implores four members of his family to vote for his model, the other 1496 ballots cast will even out the voting. Yes, Michael is right about ONE thing. There are some of what he calls 'clueless' ballots cast. You can always count on a Batmobile getting a lot of votes from young boys or a pink model getting a lot of votes from young girls. Even General Lees get a lot of juvenile votes regardless of build quality. But, again, the impact is really negligible. Besides, those youngsters get a real kick out of being engaged in the hobby, even in that manner. Some ballots get cast for less worthy models by what Michael would call the 'clueless,' simply because the voter had a 1:1, or always liked that type best, or what have you. But again, the quantity of ballots cast makes such individual ballots less likely to propel a poor model to the top. Remember, most of the spectators who cast ballots at our events are savvy 1:1 car guys and guyettes. They may not build model cars any more, but SO MANY once did. So many own a 1:1 rod or custom, and many built the 1:1 themselves. THEY ALL KNOW CARS. And the vast majority of them know WELL BUILT MODELS when they see them. You'd be surprised how many times we hear the comment, "Wow! I can't believe what these guys are doing with model kits!" Finally, here's what sold me. After years of busting butt to put on the event, attend to builders and spectators alike, and endeavoring to ensure a great experience for everyone, I found judging was just not fun any more. It became an ordeal to overcome. I noticed the Peoples' Choice selections were generally the same models I was picking for Best of Show. So, the 'clueless' really did have a clue. The first three events I experimented with all-peoples' choice balloting, I still critically judged all the entries as well. I found the balloting from the spectators tracked pretty closely with the critically judged results, save for the occasional pink Batmobile with General Lee stickers. I also found that the more we pushed the balloting concept on the spectators, the more they eagerly participated ~ and voluntarily took on the responsibility of doing a good job. The more ballots cast, the fewer anomalies we encountered in results. And here's the real 'Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner' to the concept. No more complaints. No 4th placers carping about not being 1st place. No also-rans bitching about not being best of show. No 'how do you figure that model was better than mine?' No more whining about biased judging or anything else. EVERYBODY LOVES IT! So, hang in there, Kristofer. I got a lot of 'Say what?' at first, too. But we now consistently have two of the largest, best-looking, and FUN events in Arizona every year. And, EVERYBODY LOVES IT!

Yeah, I remember that thread, but just didn't remember it being an early A Model.

There you go! Exactly what I would have guessed. Obviously fun to drive, huh, Mark?

I hear you, James! I was in the same boat in the corporate world. The go-to guy; the guy who's been around every block, been everywhere, bought every tee shirt, wore out all those tee shirts, and made it back to buy more tee shirts! The guy who was tapped to train the new kids and the 'rising star' political middle-management dudes/duds with no tradecraft skills or real-world experience. The guy all the clients went to because the guy up the food chain couldn't answer their questions or meet their needs. Then, when the bean-counters came along looking for pennies to pinch and corners to cut, I ~ with my merit increases and seniority ~ was the highest salary and bonus package in the unit and got RIF'd. (Until he maneuvered me to the 'recyclable' list, my boss had never been able to get past the fact the I earned as much or more than he did.) So I took an unexpectedly early retirement. The kids at the office called me a couple of times after that to ask how to do things or to solicit my help or more importantly my proven techniques and strategies or even more importantly, access to my contacts in the industry. The calls stopped after I patiently explained to each that the company erased my memory bank when they shredded my cardkey and ID. Gotta love the value big business places on experience and expertise. They go on, excitedly reinventing the same wheels over and over as though they are all unique and brand-new phenomena!

I wanted a Kammback in the worst way, too! I thought they were too kool! Figured it would be a kick to tool around in one. Shoulda got one and started a pizza delivery business in a college town!

Great analysis, Lanny. Spectacular build, John!!

Jeeeeeez. The longer it goes, the better it gets!

Just funnin' with ya. Yeah, I knew what you probably meant. But taken literally, it was self-contradictory.

And some of us got it but just smiled quietly to ourselves and didn't post about it.

Nice.

Excellent job, Tom. A model to be proud of. Just think how much better the next one will be!

Extraordinary!

Exceptional scooter, Charles! Great job! (And that's one wicked pothole you have there!)

Carl, how can you say you've never seen it if you saw this before? Neat pix.

Okay. Glad to know it's not just bare, neglected plastic. But, well, that doesn't work, IMHO. Really detracts from the very classy looking model.

Well, there you go!

Well, Harry, it actually is. But was it ever kitted? I don't think so, Tim.

I'll buy 'em when I'm in 'em.

It looks SO MUCH BETTER, Randy! Good job. And, congrats on the guts!! It paid off.

Yep. VERY common modification. The '32 grille/radiator shell (only one year, by the way . . . the '33 radiator shell was much different again) is generally considered to be better looking than the 28-28 or 30-31 shells. Ooops. I forgot to smile.