charlie8575

Actually, there are plenty of people in the U.S. who can and do, run injection molding equipment. My part of the country, for example, is still considered one of the leading areas of production for plastics of all production methods globally. About 25 miles northwest of me is Leominster, considered the birthplace of the modern plastics industry, which still has a very high concentration of machine shops, molding plants, suppliers, and other support businesses. Large plastics centers are throughout central and western Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Nationally, large plastics businesses are in Ohio, Illinois, California, Michigan (where Lindberg's molds are located,) and other points in the Midwest. UMASS-Lowell (about 35 miles north of me,) has the largest plastics engineering program, offering B.Sc. through Ph.D., in America and is one of the largest in the world. The threat of the Chinese seizing property not rightly theirs alone would be enough concern for me to relocate someplace. Slimmer profits are better than none at all, or the total loss of your business. When profit motive overrides common sense, then you have a problem. Charlie Larkin

Four-bars and whites. Nice bridge of modern and classic. Charlie Larkin

Ashley Madison, the Internet site that promotes extra-marital affairs, had its user database hacked about a week and a half ago. Lots of BIG people got embarrassed. They're based in Colorado. Charlie Larkin

Y'know, it took me a couple of reads to get this. Might be able to help with traffic, but I certainly would not trust them with security! Charlie Larkin

Hate mongers actively encouraging police execution has been what I've been reading quite a bit of lately. And it appears that some are acting on it. I find sickening, disgusting, and utterly barbaric that our police are under such purposeful, wanton attack. If ever there was a justification for execution, the purposeful killing of any public safety official is a pretty good one to my thinking. However, it also raises some questions in my mind and how much one feeds the other. On the other side, I see a lot of younger police officers acting just as thuggish and irresponsibly. The retired Lieutenant in Marlborough has become a friend of sorts, as we see each other in the hobby shop pretty regularly. It amazes him. Another retired local who went to work at the VA Police, and became friendly with my dad, called them "jack-boot skinheads." When I was collecting ballot signatures for myself, I heard a few people complain about out-and-out rudeness and borderline abuse from some of the younger guys on the force. As one elderly resident said, "I don't know which is worse, the police or the crooks." We know most of the causes of society going wrong, but what is causing the failing of so many of these young officers, who should realize their manner of treating others is just as important to survival as their service weapon, knight-stick (or flashlight,) and HTH fighting skills? I think that's something that should concern us all. Stress? Societal conditions being mirrored? Generational attitudes? I wonder what contributes, and in what proportion, they do contribute to these issues? I wonder what the best way to address it is? The forgoing may sound a bit disrespectful; it is not intended to be, but rather, I'm looking at it from the view of someone who, like all of us, cares about people who work in public safety, but also, wondering what they can actively do to make their jobs safer and possibly, their lives a bit easier. It does not excuse animalistic behavior by others, but I do wonder how much mishap has been triggered by people with badges acting inappropriately. I have friends on the job. If I thought I could pass the physical stuff and handle a gun, I would've tried it when I was a younger guy. After watching things degrade in the last ten years, I'm glad I didn't. It makes me all the more glad those that did, and that truly worthy, have done so. The clowns not withstanding, we owe a debt of gratitude to the ones that are true credits to their sworn duties. Dan and Wayne, thank you to you both in particular. You, from what I have seen, are credits to your profession, and we should be thankful men like you are engaged in it. Charlie Larkin

Your interior work is remarkable. Excellent. Charlie Larkin

I will say this in Moebius' defense. They do have super customer service. I would suggest blowing the $5, carefully wrapping the bodies and putting them in a 2-day mail to their offices in Florida with their requested $2.95 to cover postage. You'll get your new bodies, I would think. Or, simply send them some pictures to their customer service by e-Mail. I buy Moebius kits for a bunch of reasons. I like their subject matter, they make a real effort to make a better product, and even with some hiccups, most of which can be fixed with a few file swipes, they're doing state-of-the-art work. I will agree, however, that slightly larger box (say Galaxie-size,) might fix a lot of the problems. Even in the other kits, it's a pretty tight fit. Charlie Larkin

It probably requires intuitive design, something many of today's engineers are scrupulously taught to avoid, lest a lawsuit result. Remember, John Hanle (I think that's how his name is spelled,) was a machinist by trade, and a very good one, and (to my knowledge,) not an engineer by education. The people with the hands-on ability to do these type of products and tools can see these things that today's over-educated/under-intelligent/under-smart types cannot see. Charlie Larkin

With the acquisition of Lindberg and their U.S.-based molding (which, I believe reading elsewhere, does other contract work,) I wonder if we might see re-patriation of production and improved QA. Call me what you like, but it's become very apparent to me that the Chinese do not seem to full understand the concept of quality control. Nobody is perfect and small errors do occur, but a lot of what I've seen in foreign-produced AMT/MPC kits leaves a lot to be desired in terms of getting the job right. Charlie Larkin

I'm happy to report that the Squires manor (think Cub Scouts for DeMolay,) I help advise and their parents missed this memo. I did a build day with them last year- had a hoot, and we're doing another one with them this year, and this time, we're doing painting, foiling, and all the rest of the stuff. The boys are inhaling it- and I don't mean the glue fumes! Charlie Larkin

Very well done. Charlie Larkin

Nice mild custom. For foiling scripts and emblems, what I usually do is put the foil on the bare plastic, paint, and then as you sand/polish the paint, the foil comes up. Some guys have used white vinyl erasers for this, too, and that seems to work well. Charlie Larkin

Always liked the two-tone on the '59s. Nice job. Charlie Larkin

I could see the green. Looks nice. I've toyed off and on with a Beetle for a putt-putt around town- easy to fix, cheap to run, and they sound cool. Charlie Larkin

Very nice job on that. Charlie Larkin

Agreed. Completely, unreservedly agreed. Charlie Larkin

That's probably part of it, and the other part is Gary is trying to raise capital. Price aside, these kits are selling very well, and might end up with an extended-beyond-planned run to meet demand, even at the price. According to Model Roundup's newsletter that came this past week, Gary is actively considering doing the '41s so many of us (me included) have been clamoring for, and that will be a substantial investment in tooling, as a new front-end ensemble, chrome trees and interiors will be required. That said, that '41 Sport Coupe is a beautiful car, and I look forward to having a model of a car that I can use such an un-PC color as "Indian Suntan" on.... Charlie Larkin

Very nice. Charlie Larkin

So true on all counts. My dad went to B.U. in the 1960s for Aerospace engineering, and from what he said, he had to take basic machining by sophomore year, give or take. As well as drafting, and most of the math a math student would take in four years. One of the reasons I never became an engineer, anything after Algebra I for me is a lost cause. When I designed a new version of high school when I did my M.Ed. in 2012-13, when I was still considering at least staying in K-12 on a part-time basis, I horrified a lot of people by de-emphasizing a lot of technology and encouraging older methodologies in learning, my observation being that so many kids had become brain-dead because of the magic boxes, they could do little or nothing. So many teachers found it disturbing, yet did nothing to alleviate the problems, but pushed more computers on them, like drug dealers feeding an addict. And this fixes problems how? But I'm dumb and know nothing.... Gee, I wonder why I stopped teaching. Before Christmas, I'm hoping to have my own line of model products available for sale, and with the exception of perhaps a special-interest high school class for entrepreneurship or some college teaching, I ain't lookin' back. Charlie Larkin

Bill, I've been saying the same thing for years. I always get poo-pooed. To go with the experience you and Dan had today. I had to go grab a hammer to put together some RTA furniture for my office (that was my irk of the day.) And the hardware store down the street from where my office is (incidentally, the oldest, continually operating hardware store in America- opened in 1782,) had a problem with the register. No problem, the clerk grabbed a three-part invoice out of the printer, hand-wrote the sale, my credit card number and had me sign, they'll process it sometime tomorrow. Solved quickly and easily. Harry, dear God, I hope not.... Charlie Larkin

Nice color and detail. I agree with Harry, the black-wash would make good great. I like those wires on it, not a stock option, but they look very good on the car. Charlie Larkin

Wow, is that nice. The color looks good on it. Foiled bumpers? I'd have been very reluctant to try it, but you did a nice job on it. Hopefully you'll be at LIARS, Al, I'm toying with bringing my airbrush, compressor and Tamiya transparent blue. I need to learn that tinting technique. It's superlative. Either that, or, gee, maybe I'll have to stop into a TSMCC meeting some month. Only a few hours away.... Charlie Larkin

Yes, LT-1s are wonderful. When they're running right. Lot of great ideas and well-thought-out design marred by cheap parts. My '94 Roadmaster Wagon has been a nightmare mechanically because of that. Some of the least fun I've had with a car. Opti-Spark went south and it shorted the computer, among other things. I may finish it, I may see if I can find one that's in better shape, but they're getting harder to find and expensive. Charlie Larkin

Loved it. Wonder if I can get that Falcon here? That's a very cool kit. Must weigh close to 5 pounds when it's built, if not greater. Charlie Larkin

Nice job. What do you recommend for the chassis/running gear, the 1968-72 A-bodies? Charlie Larkin