Dave Ambrose

This change took place too late for a lot of hobby shops. They can't stock everything, and online operations frequently beat them in terms of price, and selection. Getting into the hobby shop business is a big capital investment, with a slow rate of return. If you're looking to make money with money, then your best bets are elsewhere. Also, Florida has the same problem as San Diego. The weather is too good. People spend most of their time on outside activities. Indeed, that's a reason many people move to Florida in the first place. I can sympathize with you about the drive. My closest hobby shop is a good 30 minutes away too. That's a big difference from the 10 minute bike ride of my youth. Thank goodness for RC. If it weren't for that, most of the remaining hobby shops would be gone.

I started keeping a can of flat-fix in the car for just that reason. Our truck has a full-size spare, but I'm probably overdue for checking its air pressure. Thanks for the reminder.

I had my local hobby shop set two aside for me, and I picked them up yesterday. One of them is getting built as the Mooneyes dragster. The other is for parts. I loved parts packs as a kid and now I have what I need to do some serious kit-bashing.

I'm building the Dick Tracy Space Coupe. It's yellow. Y'all know just how many coats of paint that takes. Wipe off the hull, put down a coat. Set it aside to dry. I notice a cat hair on it. It's Shasta's. She's been gone 5 months, but here it is. I'd like to think she just wanted to say hello. Thankfully, the hair wasn't embedded in the paint.

We were out camping last weekend. There's no cell coverage where we were. Turned my phone off. The only thing I missed was the camera when we had a covey of quail wander into our camp site. Not that I don't love y'all to death, but sometimes, you just need a break.

PM Sent

Thank you. We now have a new stop on our way to LACMA and the Petersen. I wonder if they rent slotcars for some track time. Many many years ago, my daughter and I stopped at a slot car track while we were on vacation. (we got stuck with the laundry) It was a fun way to spend some time whilst the kids clothes were washing.

I’m finding the backup camera on my 2014 Frontier to be very useful. We got it so we could be sure we can see any small children who might be back there, and it’s super handy when I’m parked next to a van or RV. Drove my daughters SUV which has blind spot sensors. Didn’t find those terribly useful, but the surround parking cameras are nice for cozy parking spaces. I don’t have much problems at home, but San Diego allows parking spaces to be a few inches narrower. Grrrrr. . .

I gotta ask -- what is it with people and parking lots these days? Around here, they see someone pull out, and they keep going. Car in the parking space is next to the ever popular white work van, can't see what's coming, and backs out slowly. Car in the aisle could have stopped, but keeps going and hit's her. Barely puts on his brakes. Gets out and yells at her for backing out in front of him. I left my contact info with the poor lady and told her insurance company to call me.

Our server was breached some years ago. So far as we knew, they didn't trash the forum, but they could have.

I don't know of any reason for this to happen. How old were the threads?

We know this is a problem and we're working on a better distribution system for Canada.

Where do you live? I want to open a coffee house next door. ?

The new Dune is at the top of my list of movies to see.

We're happy to announce that issue 210 has been mailed. We hope you enjoy it.

You have my heartfelt condolences. We know it’s best for the cat and it still breaks our hearts.

Reminder -- We don't discuss politics here. Period. There are other, better forums for that kind of thing.

A couple of Revell parts pack engines and a baggie of hot rod cycle fenders followed me home from Spirit of Speed last weekend. Engines were the 421 Pontiac, and 354 Caddy. I'm sure these will find their way into a couple of hotrods. Not sure where the cycle fenders came from, but it's a design element I like so I'll find some way to use them. I picked up a Mercedes 300 SLR kit at the SoCal Open. That is likely to be my next car project. Going to do that in Fangio's number for the Mille Miglia race. I have to admit that I like shopping model car shows a lot better. It's not all armor and aircraft.

Yes. Copy the text you want to quote. Go to where you want to insert the quote. Click the double quotes on the editor toolbar, and paste the text. Kinda like this:

I just PM'ed you the address we have on file for you. It checks as valid with USPS.

I just checked your subscription. It starts with 210, which is the next issue.

All right. Let's just say I'm not very happy right now and leave it at that. Tim comes in to give us a preview of a new model. I very much appreciate that. He doesn't have to do this, and we get a nice look at the kit before we buy it. Rather than wait until the end, and discuss the kit reasonably, someone has to start a tirade about inaccuracies. While accuracy is an important part of a model, most models have to make some compromises in shape and form because injection molding can't really do the same thing as stamping steel with subsequent assembly. At the end of the day, the measure is whether it looks good when on the table. That first tirade sets off a flurry of comments and disagreements. Lots of fun for no one ever. At this point, I have lots of people to be annoyed with. You all know the standards of conduct around here, and "just this once" you decided to ignore them. The really annoying thing here is that there's almost no way to know about true shape and proportions because the camera shots are distorted in somewhat unpredictable and non-linear ways. This is especially true if it's a cell phone camera. It takes some difficult to accommodate geometry, the right optics, and careful measurements to derive anything reasonably precise from a photograph. We aren't doing that here. I've locked the thread and we'll figure out where to go from here. Update: I've unlocked the topic. Behave yourselves.

I was watching that game too. I grew up with the 49ers, but my dad’s from Wisconsin, so my loyalties are a bit torn when they play the Packers. It that was a great game, and both teams should hold their heads high. Now for an administrative note: I had to hide a couple of political comments. Please stay away from those subjects.

I checked your subscription and it all looks good. Your copy of 209 was mailed out with everyone else's. However, no telling if our dear USPS lost it.

I reworked the ads when we did the forum upgrade. They should be much better now.