Mercman

Andy Warhol the artist said that everyone should have 15 min's. fo fame. Well today my daughter got her second 15. She made the front page of our local paper because of her birthday. Been around for 24 years, but only turned 6 today. The first 15 came the day she was born. The TV station interviewed us for the news. She is also a builder, here is a couple of pics of her trophy winners.

I'm 59 years old and been building since I was 6, and I'm still learning. This board along with a couple of others are great assets to me.

Ever wonder wnt the Doc looked like as a little Cranky. For those that don't know he does have a nice bike.

Tried it once this was the result.

You both make good points. As for me though I have always gotten good comments from all 3 of the store, my LHS, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby. However HL no longer carries half of the stuff they did in the area I work in, but I do like the other sections of the store. I am all over the place, bead aisles, paint art supplies, never know what interesting things you'll locate that may work.

I use my wife as a guide for my builds. She'll let me know in no uncertain terms what looks good or doesn't. I post what I build looking for critiques both good and bad. Like it was mentioned it is a ongoing learning experience. I only got into HO scale a few years back being inspired by Ken H. I look at his work along with others who work in this scale, and try to do what they do. It has made me a better modeler in my opinion. If I see something I don't care for, a particular build I wont comment on it. When I see something taht I like I'll post a comment. Recently I pointed out a small oversight on a great builders project he finised. He thanked me for pointing it out. Like he stated he thought he was done, but missed one little componet of the build. Basically I build for myself when it comes to cars. The quality of the work now for a killer contest model is beyond my comfort zone. The stakes have risen so high that I choose to not to do them anymore. Yeah I know I probably could but then I would have more unfinished projects. I welcome comments on all of my builds good or bad. If asked for comments I will post them, but I wont get NASTY, or Snide.

Lately I've been all over the place as to builds. Mainly diorama's in 1/87th. Been adding a few plane kits to the stash, along with a few cars, and figure kits. When I was into cars full time I did mainly traditional rods, and customs.

I would be curious to know what kind of a mark up the stores make in order to stay afloat. Doc when I run one back in the 80's it was 60/40. So if you figure a $5.00 kit i had to pay $3.00 to the supplier.

I've been off for a few days now also. Seems my Liver is acting up, enzyme levels are off the charts. Couple more days of rest, than back to the grind. I remember when I did my bypass surgery, I had to have the wife, and daughter bring up kits tools, and supplies from the basement for me.

We used to have a Hobby Town here in Fargo, but it closed. Also had acouple of others, but the one went to Fantasy Gaming. They are history now also. Currently we have 3 shops. The one is RC planes, the other RC planes, and Cars. But the best one is still here. Hobby Hut. The mgr. used to be with another national chain many years ago. He has stock of all sorts for everything. Also the nice thing is if you need something special, and he doesn't have it, order on Mon. and its in Fri. Great service. In fact I was just there 2 hours ago, and picked my order from last week.

Here's a WIP. First up the shop. Next up is the storage garage.

With out using figures in this one, be fairly boring. Imagine a race track with no one in the grandstand. BTW these are all 1/87th scale.

I would have to choose between one of these.

Jim there is no help for me. I will admit though that I did not make this one. Someone else is even more twisted than I am. :D

They are a tad too large. However you could add a wire to them, and make a RC car from them. Closer to scale would be a N or Z gauge vehicle. Check your LHS train dept. for these.

MPC had a Chevette kit that had 2 figures, and a tent. Also the old Pickup kits from AMT had trailers, and cas, and oil cans, along with lots of other goodies. Mpc also had a Chevy lit with a custom Honda Chopper, and trailer. The guy kneeling is from the Chevette kit, and the bike from the other. Also the Ford Stake truck has Barrels, and broom. Some of the old Revell van kits had detailed interior stuff for medical supplies.

Yeah and I don't even have a train set. :D

It's Ho scale 1/87th for scale, and I scratch built it. Used tubing beads, and sequins.

Okay started on building #2 for this area. I was going to do it as a art gallery, but decided to do a Music store instead. I started with this kit. Then got the floor, and the interior walls done. Also have hole drilled for lights in the second floor to show case the merchandise.

Yes id did, also a utility rack to make a stock Telephone service truck. The LRW also had a engine crate. The Amt 49 Merc had a chrome crank also along with tools. There were all sorts of animals included in the older kits. Also tapedecks tv's, helmets, tools, surfboards, water toys like ski's, scuba tanks, fins, all sorts of trophies. The Outlaw by Revel had the biggest trophy I remember,having 3-4 tiers, with all sorts of little ornaments. Also the gangster series from MPC had guns of all sorts.

If you cant find stuff for it why not build your own. Here are some pieces I made for a shop dio I'm working on. Tool boxes and cabinets. Acetylene torch cart. Engine hoist, and stand. Here they are painted. Heck that is half the fun. Just measure the full size piece you want, and scale it down. One more pic for ya. A overall shot. BTW this is 1/87th scale.

Currently I'm into 1/87th scale building. However when I do a 1/25th I go back to my favorites of older traditional rods, and customs. Mid 60's and earlier. Also like the older dirt track cars.

keep your eyes open. A few years back I bought a box like that with 150 bottles of paint for $6.00. Lots of military colors, but usable in diorama building. Sold a load of them for 25 cents each.

Most of my time is weekends. I leave the house Mon morn, at 6:30, and get done sometime Fri. I put in 55-70 hours a week depending on how busy we are. Nice thing now though is I'm home every night, but have a routine that's hard to break. so mainly Sat-Sun building for me. When this summer hits, I move projects down to the lake place, and put in 5-8 hours a day on Sat, and Sun maybe a couple more.