bobss396

As a kid, me and my brothers had a communal parts stash. Mom worked for a big department store and would bring us boxes when we needed them. One being a large coat box with a lid. If I had no money, I could often root through it and do an entire build out of it.

On my mom's side of the family, heart issues run rampant. I lost one uncle around 1978, he was only 49. Grandpa went while working, age 59 back in 1945. No warning. Grandma went in 1956 at age 61, but she lived a tough farm life. My youngest brother had a HA at age 41 and had a stent put in. He did well until last year, he needed 3 more at age 66. I had my triple bypass in 2016 and a stent 4 months ago. I'm in a cardiac rehab, only 32 more sessions to go. I had thought I was in good shape. My dad's side, they live long. He went at age 96, a heart issue that caught up with him finally. He had a 4 way bypass at age 74 and recovered well. In my rehab class, we have one lady that is past 80. My heart doctor said that older folk sometimes never make good recoveries. She seems to be doing well. I stay busy with the 1:1 cars too. At age 69 I have done some very heavy work on my "new" Belair. Brake, front end work and an alignment 2 months after my stent. My cardiac rehab will be the best thing for me right now. I go in the afternoon. Pain wise with other injuries, this is where I peak for the day.

On top of any MRP system, the master-scheduler had them tracking WIP with Excel. I had to look at it now and then, but it was a living hell for the planners who lived with it on a daily basis...they were micro-managed to death. Any changes to the master routers had a hundred-fold impact. Set up and run times, heaven forbid a new sequence was added.

Older cars needed attention once they passed 60k or so miles. Things broke on them. A tune up with points was good for 10-12k miles. Sometimes new points/condensers failed early. Fuel pumps died. Shocks were good for 30k miles. Alignments were needed every few years. Bias ply tires didn't last too long. I had a '65 Belair I drove all over despite issues. I followed DIRT racing and was out on disability from work for 26 months total. Upstate NY, NJ, PA... I put miles on it. On the road, I had a balky starter so I parked on grades in case it refused to start. I had to be ultra careful leaving it in gear on anything angled. It would get stuck in 2 gears at once and it was a battle to free it up. My buddy at the time, he bought any old car he found. We worked on a nice '55 Chevy 4 door that had a 6 and an automatic in it. He was known for, and still is, for going on extensive road trips. He had 3 old Mustangs, a '51 Plymouth, a '53 Ford truck, etc. He was with his family, around 1985, with the '55 down in the Carolinas and the oil pump went. That was a 2 day repair by a garage in the sticks. He got another 50 miles before it seized up. At that point, the trip was done. He sold the car cheap to another shop and went home in a rental.

Another old kit that has stood the test of time. This and the '56 Ford and '58 Chevy were always fun builds.

I like it. I have one started (BACK IN THE BOX..) and was using the kit engine and headers The headers hung way down, too low. I had to remove them (all painted if course) and remove some vertical material. I dropped mine down too.

I have to dig out some old pictures. I was small but 1960 was a snowy year, 1964 too. We had snow forts all over. My dad had a bad back, so the driveway had to be 100% clean by the time he got home. 1969 was another wild winter. In more recent years the President's Day storm of 1996 dumped 30" on us. That season we had over 100" of snow.

I keep small clean styrene and metal parts in pill vials. Bigger stock in bigger containers. Leftover parts I have in 2 model boxes, general use and stock car. I just started a box for modified stock car pieces.

Look to see what VCG Resins and Iceman Collections have. They both make Bronco stuff.

Oh that bad boy stays... I picked up a nice bag of custom 'wheels at a show.

We got an older cat that needed to be rehomed. My son asked if there was anything we should know about her.. the answer was, she liked belly rubs. Any time she wanted one, she simply flopped over on her side.

I worked at one facility for close to 20 years. This was around 1990,I was talking to someone at a party that was an EMT for an ambulance service. I told him where I worked. He said you mean "heart attack alley". At that time I was back at that facility for only a few years, but I did know some fat cats that worked there had cardiac events. The stress level at that time was considerable. Contracts running out, layoffs, furlough, we had it all. One lady in another department was known as The Black Widow. She lost one husband to a HA, married another guy from work, he also died of a HA. She was dating yet another after that.. I was there when the ambulance came for him. He survived but broke up with the lady. I cannot say how much of a killer that stress is. Watch for the signs, always have an exit plan.

I have 3 I did in more recent years. A black box stock I did for a contest. I may take that apart one day and upgrade it. Then my blue gasser that made the magazine in 2022. The last was my purple custom that has a glaring issue with the rear window fit, which also fogged with CA glue. I see them as a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless with them.

Cats that show the belly feel safe. Our Mr. Ivan will do that at times. He still has some of the feral in him.

One guy in the model club buys up collections. Some built ups, some kits inbuilt. They come from estate sales, word of mouth from families of guys who are in nursing homes... or worse. Some are very nice builds. I think that some are built.. go back in the box and are never displayed. Sounds familiar..

Life is short, I recommend retirement as early as possible. After my wife passed. I was 59 and we had a big mortgage. I was in fear of having to sell, but I'm doing okay with it. We believed in life insurance. We both had retirement savings accounts, I had 2 pensions. I see retired couples out in stores, the guys are neatly dressed and sometimes look a tad lost. Like they need something to do. My FIL retired when they were still in NY. His first day off... he announces that he was going to make the kitchen more efficient for my MIL. Keep in mind that this dolt didn't even know how to use a can opener. My MIL threatened to kill him in his sleep. He was one of those guys who needed to force himself to keep busy. I know of others that sat in front of the TV and were soon dead. My dad worked with a guy at Grumman. He retired, bought a new Olds 442 and keeled over 6 weeks later. The one big machine shop I worked for, there were too many that worked all the OT they could get, they looked awful, gray complexions. If they had a Saturday off, they wandered around the house. A few were dead within a year, some were smokers and big drinkers. I had always said that I was saving my liver for my golden years. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm on a roll with doctor appointments. The ENT for sinus problems, the allergist, heart doctor (3 month check up), now I'm in a cardiac rehab for 36 sessions. Which is a good thing, with my back injury I haven't been as active as I need to be. Oh yeah, pain management once a month. I have a root canal later this morning coming up. Starting late in 2023, I had 2 implants that were a 9 month ordeal. But, keeping up with your health is very important.

Your dad seemed like a good builder. My dad had an AMT '36 Ford in the box above the kitchen cabinets that he never completed. I have no idea what happened to it.

IIRC a couple MPC kits with trailers had them, the Coronet and '68 Impala. Just as easy to conjure one up from styrene stock.

I have a pretty set morning routine. Feed the cat, put out bird food, make coffee and check a few web sites. I use my phone since my computer took a dump recently. Then onto something to eat, then attempt to put dishes in the dishwasher. I usually have something planned for each day. Too many doctor appointments lately, but those will be less in time. Cooking for 1 person is tough, I do go out with the girlfriend a couple times a week. I have never considered going back to work seriously. The corporate idiocy and their DEI policies were too much for me to accept.

I left work in 3020 at 65 during the Plandemic. We had just gotten back from Florida and things were getting crazy even there. I pushed up my planned exit date and out I went. We had a new MRP system at work that doubled my work load. Just in emails alone...not worth it. The stress level was unhealthy. I collected my late wife's SS until I turned 66.3 years old. I had Medicare and kept my old medical plans under COBRA. A mistake... nobody wanted to pay anything. I finally got that sorted and got a BCBS supplement plan. Plus a prescription plan. Money wise I should be okay. I have a good 401k and 2 pensions. Since I have no spouse, I took a lump sum with one of them. I was always busy with the house, yard and gardens. I had things done to the house like a roof and new fence. One trap to avoid is daytime TV. I have a pretty well set morning routine. I'm up every day before 7, because the cat says so. I have my doctor appointments, I'm in a rash of them lately. Modeling... I've ramped it up the past couple of years. I got into buying 3D printed parts that take things to another level. I really have no set model area, so I use my dining room... it got out of hand. It was a chore to put everything away last Xmas. Now I have Thanksgiving in a few days and I'm hosting. Most model stuff is put away and I need my large kitchen counter back to use. I will get there. From there I plan to do some model work before Xmas. Then clean up for that. So, rather than do boring housework...I'd rather have my 2nd childhood and keep modeling. All in all, I'm doing okay in retirement, you'll have an epiphany when the time comes.

The shock mounts are simple yet look very correct. This is where I get stuck with a couple of rod builds... BACK IN THE BOX...

The school library had most of them. Others were at the public library.

I was probably 9 or 10 when I built my 1st one. The drag version. I had discovered that Testors made metallic paint in those little jars. I used the blue, streaky as heck but I thought it looked good.

I likely have 3 of other things in yhe queue too. Planning on spending 2025 catching up on stalled projects.

She looks like our Chloe who we lost 2 years ago. That was a 1 in a million cat.