bobss396

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.

Considering this kit originated around 1963, they still build up very well.

These were cool cars. My dad bought one right after WWII. Used cars and even tires were hard to come by.

I like the tire packs. I use them on lots of my builds, plug and play.

There were some horrid shows like Gas Monkey and Kounts Kustoms, also the rat rod shows and that Chad guy. The motorcycle build off shows were good, I'm not an OCC fan at all.

Yes, I really remember that '57 kit. Now I think this is a 440 from a Charger. I've had this so long, I forgot where the body is from. The chop is nice. I have notes with it about the windshield fit. I will be gluing the trunk lid on this one. In total, I have 3 Mercs in the works.

I was given this by a club member last night. This is a built up OG AMT 1st issue kit. It was never painted, just polished out. I might paint it. The interior, engine and underside is quite nice. The kit has a complete chrome tree including the Caddy sombrero caps. Tires seem to be aftermarket. Outside of paint and completing it, I'm out to be preserving the good quality of the build. The box shows wear and tear. But is intact. The price tag is $1.29 from Bamburgers. IIRC they were a Macy's NY retail affliiate.

I dug this out, determined to finish up some stalled projects. This is from around 2009. Resin body. I forget who made it. Most of kit is the AMT '49 Mercury. Interior tub and hood scoop are from a '66 T-Bird. I'm not 100% sure where the engine is from. I made up a dummy floor pan from the Mercury kit since the T-Bird tub is so shallow. Wheels are from the kit, tires from Modelhaus. Trim rings I machined from aluminum rod. Firewall is aluminum sheet, actually chimney flashing. Taillights were made from a piece of red plastic from the '37 Chevy. Grille is from Norm Veber. Trunk lid is sunken for the license plate. I have a load of small parts bagged up, I'll add more from my 3D printed stash.

Most iconic dealers by me are gone. The one I got my Mustang from has been around for a long time. The long standing Babylon Ford that was established in 1953 was razed about 10 years ago. The lot is just weeds. My dad bought a few cars there. We would ride up there on our bikes and get new car brochures when they came out.

A bunch of other shows are impacted as well like the Kindig one. And the one from Texas, Iron Resurrection. Maybe some other channel will pick them up.

AMT parts pack?

I had a chance to buy one 2 years ago at a car show. $65K and no drive train. My buddies were trying to goad me into buying it.

I knew a guy like Merle Connor. He was my stock car racing partner for a long time. Amazing welder, he could make anything. One of the best self-trained mechanics I have ever known. He did have some tech school under his belt. Towards the end, he couldn't decide if he wanted to be a racer or a junkie. I had to cut him loose.