charlie8575

Welcome, Cole. I used to teach high school in Wilmington and almost ended up at Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans. I've been through Georgia- pretty little town. I ended up staying in Massachusetts, although, at least for now, have moved on to other work besides teaching aside from a little substituting and an occasional tutoring job. If you can wrangle your folks into bringing you down, MassCar has its show on March 16 in Taunton, Ma. Figure you'll need about 3-3-1/2 hours. I'd recommend I-89->I-93->I-495, to exit 9. We'd love to have you come down this year if you can, or any year. Charlie Larkin

Welcome, Brian. I encourage you to check out either Classic Plastic in Lowell or MassCar, now meeting in Canton. Two great clubs. Also, MassCar's show will be March 16 in Taunton. See www.masscar.com for more information. Hobby Emporium should be getting flyers soon. Charlie Larkin

Right there with you, John. Charlie Larkin

Nice trucks, David. Nick, whose camper kit is that? Looks good. Charlie Larkin

Another nice one for your shelf, Dan. Charlie Larkin

Caddy engine or not, I'm sold. Charlie Larkin

I'd like to see the Pinto wagon back. Dad is just dying (ha-ha-ha) to build his '73. The one that had the front suspension break off on him while it was sitting in the driveway (at least that was lucky). As he tells it, he went out to change the oil, and looked at the car "sitting a little lower than I remember" and when he looked in the wheelwells, the welds that held the front suspension on had broken clean off. Oops; Ford must've had a bad QC day that day. Charlie Larkin

I've never seen the 1981-85, either. It would require some doing, but I'm wondering if you might be able to start with the MPC 1980, which at least has the quad lights and similar grille pattern? Charlie Larkin

The USPO may have its hiccups, but after last week, I'm more worried about UPS and Federal Express. Charlie Larkin

Some gorgeous stuff, Al. All of it, really. As it looks like I might actually have a positive turn-of-events for 2014, I'm hoping I can really get doing some heavy-duty building with some space and such. Charlie Larkin

Always a pleasure to see your work, Al. Charlie Larkin

Nice save, Tullio. The acetone-water trick is interesting; I'll have to try that on some scrap before putting anything of value in it, but if it'll be safe for the crummy plastic Revell's using now, it might well be for other material, too. Charlie Larkin

Nice work, Albie. Did you make it to Classic Plastic? I was hoping to meet up with you. If not, there's always MassCar March 16 in Taunton. Do be sure to say hello if you make it down. Charlie Larkin

That Cord is something else; with quality like this, we can work with two a year. Charlie Larkin

Very nice, Peter. No, you couldn't get a cove two-tone on the '62 Corvette, which I always thought was a bit odd; they look a bit unfinished without it. I suppose that's why there's "dealer two-tones." Charlie Larkin

VERY nice! I do wish someone would do this in 1/25. I'd buy one without giving it a second thought. One of the best-proportioned, well-designed cars to ever come out of this country. Charlie Larkin

Like all of your builds, Mike, a great-looking end result. I'll look for it in March at MassCar. Charlie Larkin

I really like this, Dan. The four-speed is an interesting touch. Charlie Larkin

Too bad I missed the pictures, but the raves are a good fill-in. I'll look forward to pictures as they re-appear. Charlie Larkin

If this job I'm interviewing for happens, Kevin will be getting a lot of business from me this year. Jeff and Don Holthaus, too. One way or the other, I'll be setting aside a little money for a travel fund to NNL, so hopefully I'll see you there. Charlie Larkin

Geez, now I need to add yet another '50 to the building budget! Very nice, Kevin. Charlie Larkin

That scheme was used, I'd say from the 1970s until maybe around the early '80s sometime. I vaguely remember a few mailtrucks like that when I was a little kid, so probably no later than around 1982-83 when they got the Grumman vans. Charlie Larkin

On the JBOT site...interesting about some of the California police cars. I remember reading somewhere that since the 1920s, California state law required police cars to be black-and-white, and there were a couple there that weren't. I also remember seeing San Francisco police cars in the mid-70s that were...strange. Anyone have additional knowledge about this? Charlie Larkin

You're almost funny. I got confirmation for a job interview this morning next Monday for a tenure-track teacher position that's roughly commutable, at least for the rest of this school year unless it gets really nasty in January and February, in which case, that's why they have motels. Charlie Larkin

One of my favorite songs this time of year. A bit sad, but still a beautiful piece of music. Charlie Larkin