charlie8575

Interesting. I wonder if The Modelhaus' '62 interior is correct? Might add that to my order. Charlie Larkin

Thanks for the tip, Al. Do you brush it on or use a syringe bottle? And how long do you let it sit? Charlie Larkin

e-Mail sent. I have a couple of questions. Charlie Larkin

Well, that was the case. I was talking with one of our local appliance dealers a few weeks back poking for a new fridge. Turns out GE just sold its appliance division to Danby, the big Chinese company, and, at least from what Jeff Stausekelis was told, they're going to shutter all the American plants and move it all to China so they can take a big tax loss or something. This is all part of Jeff Imelt's (GE's Chairman) plan to turn the company away from consumer manufacturing altogether. Today, I just heard GE was removed from the "too big to fail" list because of all these divestitures. On the one hand, that exempts them from government artificial life support, which I'm okay with, but it also makes it possible for unscrupulous management to more easily screw investors and employees, which I'm not okay with. Right now, Frigidaire makes almost all its parts here, and that won't be changing. Speed Queen is the only all-American washer/dryer left. Whrilpool and its brands use a mix of American, Chinese, Canadian and Mexican parts, with most assembly done in America. Bosch's dishwashers are made entirely in America, all parts included, and that will soon include their ranges and laundry sets, too. Bosch has been happy enough that they're concentrating all white goods manufacturing for the planet in North Carolina. Charlie Larkin

Thank you, Mike! Case in point: it's gotten so bad with so many parts, that my mechanic will now only use used parts unless it's not practical or available. He's found so many of the new parts are so horrible, that it's tying up his shop with do-it-agains, and the parts stores aren't standing behind anything, either. Case in point: Took five starters to finally get a good one for my Buick. And the fifth one was a used one. That one held up just fine. Second case: Late June, early July, 2014, we had to replace the radiator in Mom's Lumina- OE radiator, got 16 years and the better part of 190,000 miles out of it. No complaints. Rarely makes sense to use a used radiator, so Gene went to one of his vendors, got a decent (by reputation) radiator (I think it was a Modine,) and put it in. As it happened, my car was in for a broken flexplate, and dad's was dead again, so the Lumina was the only operating car in the family. I had an interview out in Springfield the next morning- about an hour and 20-30 minutes. Dad and I grabbed the car at my mother's apartment while and we went so I could go grab a new shirt for my interview. We pulled into the parking lot, and smelled coolant, and thought it was the Windstar blowing its head-gaskets. Wrong. It was the one-week old radiator. We had the car towed back, went to my mom's apartment. She was staying with my grandmother, so Dad and I camped out there. We had no other car at the moment, so we grabbed dinner and went back. Ended up renting a car the next day, and I was lucky- I literally got the last car Enterprise had. Dad talked to Gene that afternoon. Didn't charge us for the radiator or materials (seeing it was all warranty,) and cut his labor rate in half to compensate for the trouble. These bad products- be it car pars, coffee pots, models, or anything else, really do cost us all more in money, time, inconvenience and anything else you can think of. Charlie Larkin

And right now, there is a trend- albeit a small one. Round 2 is producing most of the Lindberg stuff in the plant in Michigan JLLoyd had, which is thoroughly modern, cost-efficient, and has enough machinery available to lease out time, thus driving costs down more. I'm looking at doing exactly this, Bill. It's still a bit of a way off, but I am very seriously working towards it. I might have to do a little in-country outsourcing, at least initially, but I do agree with you, and this is after hundreds of hours of reading, talking with management at molding plants and machinists- we can do it. Sometime 'fore much longer, I'd like to swap phone numbers. As Tom said- you are a smart guy, and I'd like to discuss a few of my ideas with you. Charlie Larkin

They should be able to order it for you. If you have trouble, let me know, I'm managing a hobby shop right now, and I can probably arrange to get you something. I might actually get a can of that myself. It's very close to the Burnt Orange Met. Chrysler was offering. Charlie Larkin

While it might be a bit over-uniform, although I suppose it could depend on the soil, I'll actually go along with Tullio's weathering. Around here, everything turns to rust except the galvanized (or in a lot of newer cars, plastic,) gas tank, and the color does get pretty uniform underneath- all the undercarriage and floors end up dark reddish-brown rust, and the exhaust and gas tank are more dirty/speckled rust. Stuff in constant motion, like spindles, stay clean of rust, but will darken as great and heat affect the porosity and color of the metal. If the soil in Brazil is really sticky, I could see a good film of it underneath the car happening. I really like them, both. Charlie Larkin

Agreed. Now that I have a second kit to replace a very badly-buggered engine (because I didn't think ahead on a couple of things,) I would like to finish mine up this summer. This is a fantastic product and I highly endorse it. Charlie Larkin

That blows. Wasn't this a fairly new car, too? Charlie Larkin

I taught for most of about ten years. It takes someone very brave to enter education given the mess it's in now between insolent children and parents, the ineptocracy that's most school administrations and the stupidity of bubble sheets and mind/imagination-numbing regulations. I really, really hope you enjoy it, Scott. Because for all the problems, it was still one of the best jobs I ever had. Charlie Larkin

Instead of posting the direct pictures themselves, I, for one, am okay with links from the browser address bar. Beats nothing. Charlie Larkin

You've done a good job at represnting a car that's a few years old with the darker framing timbers. I might suggest using light umber for the lighter wood, and possibly lighten the dark umber a shade or two, and maybe add a little red to make it look more like mahogany, but I really like the overall technique you've illustrated. Charlie Larkin

The under-hood looks great, Steve. The work is paying off. Charlie Larkin

Or he's a genius by playing on the beliefs of others... Disquieting either way. Charlie Larkin

That'll be pure joy for someone like me where GM has discontinued almost everything and the tires for my cars are now almost extinct, leaving me few options. Roadmaster: General Ameri-Tech STs were stock. Discontinued years ago. I'm actually lucky I can get anything at all for my car. Lumina: I can still get BFG Touring T/As, and I think they were one of the OE tires. If not, they're the closest thing available, but I like whitewalls, and I'm running those, so that's an even greater infringement on my choice as a consumer. Any moron that would vote for a law that over-reaching is deserving of a recall election, and if it's some bunch of stuffed-shirts who aren't elected that did it, I suspect every junkyard, car dealer, garage and whoever else makes a living off of older-model cars with no factory support would be screaming for heads, along with hobbyists and other parts manufacturers, such as Honeywell (Fram, Autolite, and a few other aftermarket labels,) NAPA and a host of others. I signed onto support of the RPM law a few months back. Remind your Congress-Critter that they work for you, and not a special interest, and most certainly not some idiot paper-pusher in a bureaucratic morass. I will agree with Bill on other subject: when the government tries to seize my personal vehicles because it doesn't comply with some greenie-goblin, PC nonsense, and they attempt that with a lot of other people- can you say "revolution?" If they take cars, what's next? I don't want to find out. Charlie Larkin

Thanks for the heads-up. I get a couple of freebie subscriptions like that, as well. Thievery never knows any bounds... Charlie Larkin

I'm thinking about what you've written, Wayne... And I have come to this conclusion after about five minutes of reflection and considering the story as I saw it covered... 1. Parents like this are one of the reasons I stopped teaching- completely uninvolved and unaware. 2. From other news coverage, the fence was inadequare- evidenced by the zoo's decision to replace it with taller fence. 3. The zoo staff did an equally abysmal job of being human as the mother of this kid. Charlie Larkin

So much for heavy-duty, or was that the old one? Charlie Larkin

In my continuing quest for some money to keep solvent, I've ended up being manager at my main hobby shop 2-3 days a week. Spare Time Shop, Marlborough, Ma., if anyone's in the area. I'll be there Wednesdays, Thursdays and some Sundays. Charlie Larkin

Our Registry of Motor Vehicles is looking for ways to save money. Moving a Registry clerk or two to the city/town halls (or training the town clerks to do it.) would be a great way to cut down on costs wait times, and then move the driver's ed exams to the State Police barracks. I put my Roadmaster back on the road last year- the registry line was nearly three hours. When I got my new Roadmaster, the Registry had started a new system, and the wait was down considerably- about 30 minutes, and then when I went to put it on the road a couple of weeks later after the transmission was done, I was in and out in less than twenty minutes. Charlie Larkin

Based on the experience of a few friends, it might be worth a try at obedience school. If he's still incorrigible, see if the school can help you adopt him out to a family suited to his behaviors. I like Bill's idea, too. Charlie Larkin

Colby, I think you're absolutely correct. If it were my company, and something like this happened, this is what I would have done. Dear valued customer, Due to unexpected complications in the production of our product that you have pre-ordered, we need to announce the following changes. The product XYZ, originally scheduled to be produced in cyan, canary, magenta and black, will only be produced in canary due to issues with achieving proper distribution of color in the plastic. According to our records, you ordered an XYZ in one of now non-scheduled colors. We sincerely apologize for this and hope we can retain your business, or at least your confidence to do business with us again. Therefore, we would like to offer you the following adjustment choices. 1. If you wish, you will be issued a full refund of all money paid within fourteen (14) business days. You will be refunded either by electronic funds transfer or company cheque, depending on the method used to pay originally, thus cancelling your order. Or, 2. We will give you a 25% adjustment on the original price, with a refund cheque to be issued within ten (10) business days of shipping the merchandise. We thank your for your patronage and look forward to the opportunity to do business with you again. Not real tough, eh? Charlie Larkin

Might grab one of these for the widgets and the correct chassis for one of MCW's 2+2s or Catalina 2-door sedans. Blackwalls, dog-dishes and subdued paint scheme, add back a regular 4-bbl. intake and a THM, instant budget stripper. Charlie Larkin

This has become my absolute first choice- not too thin, not too thick. The only thing I don't care for is the needle can pull out of the bottle easily, but it can usually get re-inserted without too much trouble. I also like Testors clear parts cement for a lot of stuff like fine details, tiny plated parts that you can't get the plating off of conveniently, and it does work pretty well for making gauge faces. Charlie Larkin