Ramcharger

Interesting topic. I go to contests because it forces you to get better. That's what competition does, it makes you better. It is hard to put all of your hard work on display and have it get a less than stellar reception and you think it's the greatest. You can learn from the experience or die from it. It also seems like it takes time to "break in" to the contest crowd and start winning. While you are getting to know the ropes and the people, your modeling skills are improving, this leads to winning. Seeing others work makes you better. It's hard to judge your own stuff, you have an incredible bias. After all, it is your best work. If you learn to be critical of your own work you will get better and win, a lot. This is not to say there aren't unfair contests, but take them for what they are. If that's what it takes for people to win a contest, so be it. Show up, socialize, and check out other people's cars, that is what the real contest is. A sharing of ideas. If you truly build for the joy of building it really won't matter if you win (although it's great when you do). Find joy in the true winners and ignore the fakes and people who just want to whine. Surround yourself with winners and you will become one, surround yourself with Bozos and you become a clown. That is my zen thought for the day!

Thursday night we had our annual Christmas party at Dave Taylor's house. What a great place to have a model car meeting! He opened his home to us and had chili ready, the rest of us brought pot luck. We hung out in Dave's finished basement with it's "car guy" decor and had a blast. In addition to the usual monthly contestant models, the Model of the Year was up for grabs and the Kit of the Year Chrysler 300C build off. Members get one year to build a kit chosen by the President. We had some great builds there! Model of the year is open to any car that has won a monthly build over thew last year. There was some tough competition for this year's winner. Dave also collects valve covers and has a wall of them, all shapes and sizes. So being car guys we have a contest to see who can properly identify them all, Tim Fox was the winner with a perfect score. He received a Competition Parts Pack from AMT as his prize. Slot car racing was also available for those who wanted to race. Here's the winners cars: Kit of the Year- Mark Harmon Model of the Year- Mike Lomaka, Jr More Pics of the Fun at Christmas Party 08

I have one, I just haven't built it yet. It's on the big, huge pile of "I'm gonna git tuit".

Nice, you've got me droolin' for the reissue.

WOW! Cool stuff, let's see more!

You're right, it was a quickie build and I didn't have any on hand. I also should have lowered it, too. George, it's always fun to tease sisters, I'm glad I provided you with the opportunity! Thanks for the compliments from everyone!

Here it is done. See the WIP for better pics of the paint and a better description. Let me know what you think!

Real!!!

Good lookin' flames, nice color and layout. Keep it up. Now is a tough time to start a custom paint business with the economy down, so good luck! You've got the talent thing down.

I'll have it done by next Thursday! I'll probably wrap it up on Friday. Thanks for the Compliments, Clay.

Here's some pics of the 300C I'm doing for the BSAC club build. It's candy orange over gold pearl with a white base. There's also some pearl white goodies in the paint. Other than that it's box stock without a motor. No sense wasting a new hemi when I can use it in a pro tourer or something. Comments welcome!

Here in the midwest 40 is like beach weather! (If we had a beach!) It's the 35 degrees and freezing rain that makes living here fun. That's why so many people live here, the great weather!

More photos! Great show, we had a ball. Here's the Best of the Show: More at: Detroit NNL Photos

I enjoy the stress of taking a beautifully manufactured piece of plastic, mauling it, slobbering glue all over it, tossing paint at it, hurling profanity at it repeatedly, throwing it, kicking it, then placing it on a contest table. All so that I can say, "I built that!" Actually I just like cars, and when I was a kid, that's what kids that liked cars did. Now that I'm cleverly disguised as a grown up, I can do what I want. Model cars it what I want to do!

Art, thanks for your insight. Living in the state where Youngstown, Cleveland (steel), and Akron (the former heart of the rubber industry) are does color one's view of the world. You also need to factor in the supporting businesses that would suffer along with the Big Three. Quite an economic mess if they failed. I would agree that it is not a catastrophe we would never recover from. Again, your insight does make it seem less bleak. But I will say the auto industry needs to make significant changes before they ask for money.

Neato! I really like the style!

We have an unwritten rile in motorcycling, Touching a guy's bike is like kissing his wife, you just don't. (actually it's a little more explicit, but basically the same). Model cars are the same. As far as contests - don't touch and don't ask to. You won't like my reaction if you do. People need to control themselves and their children around other people's work. Luckily, I have never had anyone touch my cars at a contest, but like most things, if you do them long enough things will happen.

I would say yes, no credit was given and the watermark implies the forum owner is claiming credit for the work. Whether or not the creator does anything is another story. But artists are funny about people swiping their stuff.

Right. It would have a staggering impact on our economy. While I'm not happy about loaning them money (good money after bad), they need to make serious cuts before asking for help. If they want to be an independent company, act like one. If you need help, make sure you've done all you can to pull yourself out of trouble first, hence the pay cuts for all employees. As for your Chrysler example, aren't they in the same boat as GM as far as being close to extinction? Seems the loans didn't work. Harley is not a good example for this scenario, the circumstances, time line, and solution were for a different problem (let's not debate it here). I will agree the wringing of hands and discussion of "let the bums suffer" has no merit. We based our economy on the auto industry and its in trouble. We need to save it or the impact will be beyond imagination on the scale of the Great Depression. Again, my 2 cents, take it or leave it.

Generally financial gain is the sticking point. The other is passing off another's work as your own. If you use an image without crediting the original creator you can have problems. Most people will not prosecute or enforce copyright law, it's too expensive. To be polite, always cite the creator to avoid problems down the road. If you are contacted to remove an image by the creator, do it quickly and send an apology and usually this will solve the problem. The best way to avoid problems is to ask permission before using. Generally speaking, follow the golden rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

Before they decide to bailout these companies at my (our) expense, all employees should be forced to take a 50% pay cut. UAW members especially. If you are going to take money from people that make less than you, you should make some sacrifices. Just my 2 cents, take it or leave it.

So let me get this straight, the dad is such a poor builder he can only win if he competes against children? Then when confronted he behaved like a child? I think the problem is pretty clear, children raising children. If you cheat, you misunderstand the reason for competition. Too bad this kid will grow up to value a plastic trophy more than what it stands for. I would not waste another thought on this matter, you did the right thing. His reaction to getting caught is his problem, you are better off without him around. As long as their are competitions you will have people who will try to cheat, when caught they will react this way. It's best not to get sucked into their foolishness. I was with you until the comment about school encouraging cheating. I think it would be best if you limited your comments to your experience at your school district. Some of us are teachers and don't appreciate the generalization.

Sorry guys, I didn't make it out there. Life got in the way. Maybe next year!

I'm thinking about showing up. I don't know anybody, but I'll be wearing a rat fink hat! I'll also have my pretty wife with me.

Evenings and sometimes on the weekends.