Dave Ambrose

I think we're in violent agreement here. I have a different definition of serious. It's serious if it's life-critical. I also SCUBA dive. That's an activity where if you don't take it seriously, someone (possibly you) dies. So far as I know, there's nothing life-critical about car modeling. If there is, I'm sure someone will enlighten me.

My apologies. This didn't come out in quite the way I meant it. I meant that we need to realize that while there are a few people who take this hobby very seriously, most people build model cars for fun. The writing style doesn't need to draw straight from the Corporate Auditing Report style manual. On the other hand, we don't need to recreate Saturday Night Live or Firesign Theater either. Using the occasional Hawai'ian word is an example of personality. Mark, your other examples are just obnoxious.I wouldn't like them either.

I just realized something. The Economist has more personality than SAE. If you doubt me, look at their current cover. Sounds like KSJO in the late '60s. That's the difference, and that's what'll make this hobby fly. Not that I've met a large sample of car modelers, but there seems to be a big, wide, streak of twisted humour running through this hobby. We need to capture that in print. Cheers, Dave

Wow. I go away for a few days, and look what happens. I used to subscribe to both SA and MCM. Now, I just subscribe to MCM. One simple reason; it has personality. Kalmbach is a very professional publishing company, but their corporate writing style makes The Economist look downright edgy. I don't know about the other MCM readers, but I do read the magazine for fun. For more serious times, I read the Economist. Sadly, the future of print is not good. Production costs, and postage are rising, while advertising dollars are falling. That's one reason the page counts are dropping. It's happening across all publications and all fields. As of now, there aren't any known-good business models to help us along. The publications that will go first are the niche magazines like SA and MCM. So, which ever magazine you like, subscribe. That helps in a whole bunch of ways, not the least of which is a little cash in the bank to cover the future issues. Larger subscriber populations also helps boost their advertising rates. There's very little income from magazines in distribution. By the time you get through with wholesale discounts and returns, it's probably a loss, but you have to be there to get exposure and hopefully gain subscribers. Electronic distribution is a lot cheaper, but the economics are still dodgy there too. So, where does that leave us? Sooner or later, we'll get the economics figured out. In the meantime, we need more modelers. Talk up your friends. Did we mention that you get to be creative with these models? Expose your nieces and nephews to model cars. There aren't many activities that give you the kind of fun per hour that we get. Just to be perfectly clear, I don't speak for MCM or anyone else.

What an awesome concept. I'd buy at least several. So, maybe not AMT or Revell, but what about Moebius? They're a very cool model company.

OK, I see what's happening. We're not being hacked, but we are running up against some preset limits. It's transient. You should try it again until it works..

Can you tell me the time and date of when this happened? Thanks,

Peter, you have a very odd definition of less stressful build. I'd be totally freaking out here. It looks awesome. I think the top, headlights, and the way everything works together are going to make this a head-turning build. I don't suppose you'd like to come vacation in San Diego right about the time of the NNL?

I like it. I need to build one of these.

It's been an unusually frugal Christmas for us. But you know, I think that's OK. My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I couldn't think of anything I particularly needed. The things I really wanted were activities; being out in the surf break with my kids, going on hikes, going stargazing, fishing, and of course, building models. You know, stuff that doesn't cost a whole lot of money, but has me with my family doing something fun. We might be on to something good here. I have plenty of models in my stash; don't really "need" anything for a while. I guess a job would have made a nice present, but I did get some good leads just before the holiday. Despite the tough economic conditions, we still have plenty to be thankful for.

Three cheers for Moebius. This is a 21st Century business model. I have to believe that Moebius will prosper because of it. ...and I'll take three.

LOL -- I don't care who you is, that's funny.

Solvaset, the decal setting solution, will soften decals to the point where they can be rubbed off with a q-tip.

You don't have to wander very far in this forum to find something useful. I think we all have our own stylistic preference, but also have the wisdom to appreciate good quality craftsmanship. I just wish some of these lowrider guys would do tutorials on how they get those wicked paint jobs. I find John Teresi's work very inspirig. I wish I could do half that well. I know I'll probably not get there, but it's good to have a stretch goal.

I think the key point is to realize that we're all on a journey. I wouldn't call any of my builds great. They aren't. I know that and can point to any number of flaws. Is it my best build to date? Probably. I try to push my envelope on every build. There are so many ways to evaluate a model car. Craftsmanship is one dimension, design and artistic vision are another. Detailing is perhaps yet a third. Each of us will pick up on some aspect of a build that's good, and fixate on others that need improvement. So, I'll be honest, I come around looking for someone to appreciate my work, because most of the people around me just don't seem to care as much as I do. I daresay that most of us know where the flaws in our build are hiding. They're on the side we didn't post. If I comment at all, it's to commend a model's strengths. A few kind words will go a long way towards keeping people building. I think that matters a more than the imperfections in a build.

That's really cool; like skeleton for skateboarders. Any idea where they did it? In the meantime, I think I'll stick to skeleton.

Thank you for posting those. I'll have to muster the gas money for next year's show.

That's an excellent set of builds. Wish I was doing that well, but no matter. I'm having fun; both on my own, and with my daughter.

That's a really cool car. One of my favorite T-Birds. (It was my first car model). I especially like the exhaust system.

If it's the 4-cylinder from the Rover car, it would be a gasoline engine. IIRC, the distributor on the early engines was located at the end of the camshaft. If it's one of the later engines, it wouldn't have a distributor as it used something akin to a crankfire ignition system.

Wow. a lot of good advice here, no matter what your age. Given the state of the economy, I won't be retiring soon, but saving money is always in style. I'll second the suggestion to buy kits at a swapmeet or model car show. At the lower left coast NNL, I found a handful of kits that I wanted, and paid about $10/ea. That's a good price compared to new. Buying tools you'll use makes a lot of sense. When you do buy tools, buy good ones. There are few things more frustrating than a poor quality tool. Also, look at the used market. I still use tools I inherited from my grandfather, and I can tell you that their quality is often miles ahead of modern examples. I've taken to planning my purchases around projects rather than "oh, that's a cool kit" impulse buying. I keep a notebook (in my case, it's stored in Evernote) of projects that I want to build. When I get to the end of my current project, I go look in my notebook. I've managed not to accumulate a monster stash of kits, and I want to build almost everything I have. That leaves me more inspired than depressed when looking at my backlog. There's no point in accumulating kits. Let's face it. Most of the kits bought today will never get built by their original owners. As time goes on, there will be a healthy secondary market. Actually, a first glance indicates the secondary market is already pretty good. So, why saddle yourself with a pile of depreciating assets? There will be exceptions. But these principles seem to be working for me.

But it beats the he..heck out of the alternative. Remember, it's better to be over the hill than under the hill.

I'm using a 26 gal Sears compressor. It was quite a good deal when you figure in the air tools they throw in. But, it's really loud. On the plus side, it scares most of the cats out of the garage within 30 seconds and I really only need to run it once every couple of days.

I'm assuming you mean the abrasive cut-off wheel. Do you have any problems with the wheel loading up with plastic?

Welcome. I think you'll like it here. Everyone's been really good to me.