Danno

* When, where, you say? DESERT SCALE CLASSIC Saturday, April 25, 2009 9am to 3:30pm Postal Workers Social Hall 3720 W. Greenway Road Phoenix, AZ 85053 Admission Free Entry: 1-5 models, $12 Each additional, $1 More info: Email: moonmodler@aol.com Phone: 602-485-5822

* When, where, you say? DESERT SCALE CLASSIC Saturday, April 25, 2009 9am to 3:30pm Postal Workers Social Hall 3720 W. Greenway Road Phoenix, AZ 85053 Admission Free Entry: 1-5 models, $12 Each additional, $1 More info: Email: moonmodler@aol.com Phone: 602-485-5822

Come one, come all to beautiful, sunny (but mild ... it's Springtime) Phoenix for the Desert Scale Classic 5 ! Presented by Cactus Car Modelers Club of Phoenix. Sponsored by Moonlight Modelers Club of Phoenix, Tucson Miniature Auto Club, Hobby Depot (LHS), and Torco Racing Lubricants. See in person, for the first time publicly displayed anywhere, Hollywood Jim's spectacular "Bad Penny" 1949 Mercury! Judged contest with Best through Third awarded in 26 Classes plus Juniors and 5 Master Awards. Separate "Peoples Choice" awards for entries by Cactus Car Modeler members (club members are not eligible for judging in the regular competition). National magazine coverage. Free Make-N-Take event for kids. Vendorific Swap Meet full of goodies. Seminars on Scratchbuilding by Hollywood Jim Fernandez and Alclad by Bruce Biggs. Raffles throughout the day. Food concession on site. Desert Scale Classic! Critically judged, critically acclaimed! A great time for all in the Valley of the Sun.

Come one, come all to beautiful, sunny (but mild ... it's Springtime) Phoenix for the Desert Scale Classic 5 ! Presented by Cactus Car Modelers Club of Phoenix. Sponsored by Moonlight Modelers Club of Phoenix, Tucson Miniature Auto Club, Hobby Depot (LHS), and Torco Racing Lubricants. See in person, for the first time publicly displayed anywhere, Hollywood Jim's spectacular "Bad Penny" 1949 Mercury! Judged contest with Best through Third awarded in 26 Classes plus Juniors and 5 Master Awards. Separate "Peoples Choice" awards for entries by Cactus Car Modeler members (club members are not eligible for judging in the regular competition). National magazine coverage. Free Make-N-Take event for kids. Vendorific Swap Meet full of goodies. Seminars on Scratchbuilding by Hollywood Jim Fernandez and Alclad by Bruce Biggs. Raffles throughout the day. Food concession on site. Desert Scale Classic! Critically judged, critically acclaimed! A great time for all in the Valley of the Sun.

Wow! Karl's still there? Amazing! I left CSprings 12-1/2 years ago and Karl had been holding court at the Compleat counter for years ... then. Glad to hear some things never change!! PS: I was a regular all the way back to when Compleat opened in the Southgate Shopping Center years before its move downtown.

I also saw the HOT ROD TV episode today. WOW! They featured a story of the construction of a 1:1 street rod that duplicated the 1960 Monogram Black Widow T Street Rod model kit! They spent a lot of time talking about model car building, showed kids in a hobby shop, someone's huge stash of unbuilt kits, and "outed" many adults as car modelers ... including the owner who commissioned Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods to build the 1:1 car for the Grand National Roadster show. The owner insisted they build the 1:1 JUST LIKE the model kit. So, they used one of his built-ups, an unbuilt kit, and the kit's instruction sheet! They reverse-engineered the full size street rod from the kit's parts and replicated every detail, even down to the pinstriping and the six-legged spider on the door decal! The show was awesome, and included footage of the model car show with our friends Dwayne Jones, John Teresi, John Scudder, Mike Flynn and a couple of others. After the build-up of the 1:1 car was covered, they showed it on display at the show. The Hollywood Hot Rods gang and the owner displayed it in a display that replicated the original kit's Monogram store display .... 24 times bigger! And, they showed all the adults who came up, lit up like kids, and talked about how they built the model when it was new ... how excited they were about seeing someone build a 1:1 replica of the kit ... 39 years later! It was a great TV show and it was fabulous exposure for the hobby as well. Thanks, DJ for interjecting because the interviews with you and the guys really added to the show and no doubt caused them to ramp up the modelling angle. Good job!! Hope the rest of you guys didn't miss it! PS: Gregg will be thrilled to see that one of his camera-shoot cards was clearly shown in a table shot of the contest.

Happy Birthday, Gregg! May you enjoy many, many more. (Why don't you come see the old Moonlight gang at Desert Scale Classic? You know, this year is the club's 30th birthday! Moonlight Modelers, 30 years young in 2009.) Best regards, Dan

Everyone's gonna starve, then, Ed. Virtually all -- if not ALL -- Bennigan's have disappeared from the Valley. But the traffic gridlock on the Black Canyon hasn't! LOL.

Yo, mon! It be true. Thar be tropical beverages to be had at Desert Scale Classic 5! Tha mixmaster Jim be bringin' his mobile potion wagon fer shur! Don' be missin' it, ya know.

Mike, Chris, Hobby shops in Phoenix. Well! They don't call this a desert for nothing. Hobby shops are a dying breed around here. The best ones have shut down over the past few years. There are still a couple of hold-outs and I'll try to cover them; I'm reporting from the perspective of a car modeler. Best bet for car guys and guyettes: Hobbytown USA in Gilbert (suburb), located at Baseline and Gilbert Road. Has an excellent selection of car kits, excellent selection of the best hobby paints and glues, carries Model Cars Magazine. Carries very limited aftermarket line. BMF available. This shop employs the cutting-edge services of Bob Peeples to stock and run its car kit section, so it's a real enthusiast's store! Bob is a Moonlight Modeler and outstanding craftsman of scratch-built Cobra treasures. Second best: Hobby Depot in Tempe (another suburb), located at Southern just west of Mill Ave. Has a good selection of car kits, broad selection of paints, heavier emphasis on armor and military models. Carries very limited aftermarket line. BMF available. The others: Hobby Bench, two locations in Phoenix: Bell Road at 43rd Ave, 19th Ave at Northern. The Bell store has a good selection of kits and supplies, but always slower than average to receive inventory, so kits are 'out' a long time before they show up here. The 19th Ave store has old stock - not good stuff, just old stock ... they don't seem to sell much and as a result they don't restock very often. So, if you're looking for a kit that came out 3-5 years ago and wasn't popular enough to sell well, they may still have a couple on the shelf. It's strange. Both have heavier emphasis on R/C. Bell has some train stuff. Bell carries Model Car Magazine (19th Ave has never heard of model car magazines at all). Andy's Hobby Headquarters, Glendale (yet another suburb), located at 59th Ave just south of Greenway Road. Has a fair selection of car kits, good selection of paints, also heavier emphasis on armor and military models. Hobby Lobby, big chain, general hobbies, several locations in suburbs. Good selections of kits. Michael's, big chain, general hobbies, several locations around the Valley. Good selections of kits. Bottom line is this: You won't find any old, traditional model car hobby stores in the Valley any more. You won't find prices below MSRP unless you clip the big chain store %-off coupons. You won't find any stores that stock old kits or collector kits. It's all very mainstream commercial. Better, however, is the swap meet market! Three times per year there's a large swap meet at the Postal Worker's Hall, 37th Ave. & Greenway Road. Next one is 03-28-09. Great selection of everything with refreshments! Also, there is a swap meet held in conjunction with the Desert Scale Classic on 04-25-09, same Postal Worker's Hall. Great selection of everything with refreshments! Hope this helps. PS: There are two active car modeling clubs in the Valley. Let me know if you or your friends are interested in checking them out.

That's the REAL McCoy!

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Thankfully, MCM publishes a variety of material so that there's usually more pages of interesting/inspiring value than pages of not. While I'm not big on 1/43 diecast, I don't complain about those pages because I know other people are (big on 1/43 diecast) and it makes them happy. I figure they suffer through the pages of police car/fire truck/ambulance models and bubble-topped customs that I love. Fair trade until the market grows big enough to support niche magazines for car modelers. And, I've always enjoyed the occasional Bill Borgen saga. I had just thought to myself recently that it had been a long time since we've had the treat of one of his treatises! Thank you Bill for presenting your splendid model in such an entertaining manner! And thank you, Gregg, for publishing it! Thanks, also, for such a broad-based and "open" forum! Just try to criticize the other one on its forum! Can you spell "banished" and "locked/deleted thread?" Model compadres!

Unfortunately, the Futurista was destroyed when it was dropped from a transporter while Monogram was touring it around the country. Starbird bought the salvage from the insurance company but never rebuilt it. Eventually, he used portions of the salvage to build the "Star Trek Coupe," a strange-looking 70's-ish psychedelic thing that was nowhere nearly as beautiful or graceful as the Futurista. Regarding the Lil Coffin, it was originally owned and built in 1954 by Dave Stuckey, an employee of Starbird's Star Kustom Shop in Wichita. Starbird collaborated with Stuckey on a rebuild of the car that was finished in 1956; that's when the iconic rear was formed from two '53 Studebaker rear pans. Next, Starbird built a custom nose for the car with dual vertical quad headlamps, similar in appearance to the Ala Kart's nose. Then, in 1960, Stuckey started his own shop in Wichita. Larry Farber bought the Coffin from Stuckey and had him craft the Coffin's trademark cantilever roof. Farber toured it on the show circuit for a couple of years. In 1962, Starbird was Monogram's model car styling consultant and persuaded Monogram to buy the Lil Coffin from Farber and release the 1/24 scale kit. Starbird later bought the car from Monogram, and many years later restyled it several times. One version had a sedan delivery body grafted to the rear of the famous cantilever roof and was called the "Monkey Ward Delivery." Later, Starbird whacked off the roof entirely and restyled the car into the "Fabulous Phaeton." It was this version that caught fire and burned. After the fire, Starbird rebuilt it with a new metal roof and a very un-Coffin-like design (1993). Starbird has recently rebuilt the car in its most famous "Lil Coffin" style, although the new cantilever roof looks slightly thicker and bulkier than the original.

I'm sure you didn't mean that, Dave. Because regardless of what motivates someone to do that, it's still Arson (a Felony), Insurance Fraud (another Felony), Defrauding a Secured Creditor (still another Felony), and False Reporting (usually a Misdemeanor). It contributes a large percentage to the approximately $350-400 per year EACH insurance consumer (that's YOU and me) has to pay in premiums just to cover the costs of insurance fraud. It contributes to the expense to taxpayers who pay the costs of law enforcement and fire service personnel and equipment. And, as Capt. Bondo said in his initial post, it sometimes endangers innocent people, if not the firefighters who respond. And it's not such a bright idea. More than 85% of the cars that are dumped and burned are insured for theft. (Are common car thieves really THAT good at picking out only insured cars?) Most vehicles with comprehensive (theft, fire) insurance are new enough to be financed. Most new vehicles have serious factory-installed anti-theft systems, transponder immobilizer systems. Many owners go further and install aftermaket immobilizer systems or tracking systems (LoJack!). Auto theft investigators can determine if a vehicle has been legitimately stolen or not, and even burning the vehicle usually does not destroy much of the critical evidence. Even if police can't develop enough evidence to file criminal charges, the insurance company can often find enough evidence to deny the claim. If the claim is denied (for owner-involved arson, fraud, or misrepresentation), the owner's insurance can be cancelled, too. Just try to get insurance again after you've had a claim denied for arson or fraud and your policy cancelled for fraud. And, if the primary claim is denied, GAP insurance does not have to pay. But the bank's not going to forget about the loan just because the vehicle's been destroyed. So, the clever person is stuck with a burned-out hulk (many insurers deliver them back to the "owner") that he still has to make payments on (unless the bank calls the loan since the collateral has been destroyed, then it'll be one BIG payment NOW), and the prospect of not having insurance or being able to get insurance, even if he's not prosecuted by the police. Those who decide it's a pretty good idea to get out from under their self-imposed financial stresses by dumping and burning their vehicles often prove themselves to be dumb and dumber.

Nice looking units, Marty! Wow! I have a hard enough time seeing 1/25 scale. Keep us posted (pardon the pun) on your TJet racing. I don't know anything about the slot racing activity here in Phoenix, so I can't help you hook up with anyone, but I'll be interested in seeing what you find. Good luck! PS: See my post in response to your question about Phoenix model clubs! Come check us out!

There are two active clubs in the Valley of the Sun, AKA Phoenix Metro area. MOONLIGHT MODELERS - Club will be 30 years old next month; usually meets on the third Saturday of every month (December is an exception this year) at 7pm at the home of a club member; hosting rotates. Each meeting features a primer project table for members to display their works in progress, and a monthly theme contest with a plaque awarded to the member's car picked as the best entry (popular vote by members). Occasional sub-themes or special themes in addition to the monthly theme. This month, the meeting is being held on Saturday 12-13-08, in North Phoenix (Dove Valley area); email GoodAZGuy@cox.net for address info. The monthly theme is "Big BOP'ers." The contest is open to all large-body GM cars; Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, even Cadillacs and big Chevies such as Caprice, Impala. No intermediates (Skylarks, Cutlasses, Lemans/GTOs, etc.) December is always the month for the "Lights and Sirens Challenge" which is a separate contest for police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances; separate award. And, December is the month for Moonlight's annual fun-raising auction; lots of kits, tools, books, accessories, etc., auctioned to help the club. CACTUS CAR MODELERS - Like Moonlight, club meetings are rotated each month among members on a voluntary basis (some members just don't have facilities to support hosting a meeting); meets on the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm at the home of a club member. Each meeting features a primer project table and a theme contest with plaque awarded to the popular vote winner. Every August, the preceeding 12 winners gather for a Championship contest, with the winning model being named the year's best. Meetings feature how-to demonstrations or mini-clinics on modeling techniques. This month's meeting was last Wednesday; sorry I didn't see your post before then. Next month's meeting is January 14, 2009 in Queen Creek. Again, email GoodAZGuy@cox.net for info. Both clubs welcome visitors. Both clubs have pot-luck refreshments at the meetings. Both clubs participate in presenting the Desert Scale Classic model car contest in April, and both clubs help Dan Baker put on the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association's Southwest Nationals Model Car and Pedal Car Show/Contest in November. There are three really great plastic model swap meets every year in Phoenix at the Postal Workers Union Hall, 37th Ave and Greenway. The next one is coming up in March 2009. By the way, Desert Scale Classic 2009 is coming up April 25, 2009 at 8am; also at the Postal Workers Union Hall. Also, there's a Phoenix Area Model Car Forum at http://smcbofphx.proboards104.com/index.cg...&thread=418 Check us out! There's a lot going on, and newbies are always welcome!

NOTE: My post was intended to attach to the last post by Novadose. Oops!

No need for a refund here, either. I thought it was pathetically funny, another reminder of what a great bargain MCM is, and just another stimulus to re-subscribe. I'm good. (Well, I'm great, they say, but you know how girls can lie!)

I encountered the same problem, Novadose, but with a twist. The only shop within 50 miles of me that carries MCM is more into RC and trains. When I tried to buy the "priceless" issue, they were confounded. Then they decided I should pay the same price for MCM as they charge for that other model car magazine, the high-priced spread. I argued, 'no, MCM is $4.50.' They said it couldn't be since it's twice as thick as SAnoE and that one is $5.95. I lost. So I paid a premium (otherwise no MCM for me). So, screw'em. I'm breaking out the checkbook and the subscription form.

Jerry, Way too cool! Are more available? Who is casting them? 'Studieous' minds want to know!!

Hard to believe it's almost here!! Come one, come all to beautiful, sunny (but mild ... it's Springtime) Phoenix for the Desert Scale Classic 4 ! Presented by Cactus Car Modelers Club of Phoenix. Sponsored by Moonlight Modelers Club of Phoenix, Tucson Miniature Auto Club, Hobby Depot (LHS), Torco Racing Lubricants, and Speedworld Dragstrip. Judged contest with Best through Third awarded in 29 Classes plus Juniors and 5 Master Awards. Separate "Peoples Choice" award for entries by Cactus Car Modeler members (club members are not eligible for judging in the regular competition). National magazine coverage. Free Make-N-Take event for kids. Vendorific Swap Meet full of goodies. Seminars in Resin Casting, Super-Detailing, and Painting. Raffles throughout the day. Food concession on site. Put it on your calendar, load up your models, point your wheels to Phoenix, and join us for the best model car event in the Valley of the Sun!

If you live West of the Mississippi River ... or if you live East of the Mississippi River, or if you live anywhere! Please take a moment to check out our new post in the Contests and Shows category below. Thank you all, and have a great weekend with lots of plastic, glue and paint slinging! Desert Scale Classic 2008 Info

April 26 will be here before we know it! Come one, come all to beautiful, sunny (but mild ... it's Springtime) Phoenix for the Desert Scale Classic!! Presented by Cactus Car Modelers Club of Phoenix. Sponsored by Moonlight Modelers Club of Phoenix, Tucson Miniature Auto Club, Hobby Depot (LHS), Torco Racing Lubricants, and Speedworld Dragstrip. Judged contest with Best through Third awarded in 29 Classes plus Juniors and 5 Master Awards. Separate "Peoples Choice" award for entries by Cactus Car Modeler members (club members are not eligible for judging in the regular competition). Free Make-N-Take event for kids. Vendorific Swap Meet full of goodies. Seminars in Resin Casting, Super Detailing, and Painting. Raffles throughout the day. Food concession on site. Put it on your calendar, load up your models, point your wheels to Phoenix, and join us for the best model car event in the Valley of the Sun! Desert Scale Classic 2008 Info

Hey, Ranchwagon! I spent my grade school and pre-school years in Hoisington; swimming at Lake Barton, fishing at Cheyenne Bottoms, "big city shopping" in GB, and many pleasurable visits to the zoo! I can still "see" some of it in my mind's eye, and that's been way longer ago than I care to think! Don't know if you ever sipped any A&W Suds at Chet's in Hoisington, but that was big time for a youngster! My family and l left Barton County and moved to Wichita in our brand new '58 Chevy (if that ain't a hint as to how long ago that was). Just seeing the name "Great Bend" triggered a rush of long-ago, far-away memories! Thanks. And God Bless!

Wow! One of my models is in the avatar gallery. I'm published!! Seriously, I don't know what to think. I think I'm flattered. I think.