Tom Geiger

Man! Sometimes the simplest things cause you the most havoc! I went to put the windshield / frame and dash unit onto the car. That's when I noticed that the windshield had a noticeable scratch on it. Instead of just piling forward, I decided to replace it. It's cut from Evergreen clear stock anyway. Easy right? Well, I got a new windshield cut and in the frame with canopy cement. I waited for it to dry. Then I went to put some cement on the mating parts to glue it to the body and I literally watched CA glue get grabbed by static electricity and string right across the glass! Argh! Remove, cut new windshield and do the canopy cement thing. Waited for it to dry. I pick it up and notice it's short on the top. Remove, pick off all the canopy cement and cut another one. This time I get ready to cement the frame to the body and I notice that in a previous attempt I must've gotten some glue on the cowl. Friggin Argh! I sanded it out and taped off the entire car other than the cowl and gave it a quick respray with the Testors Lacquer blue. That's drying now. I cannot win today!

Here's mine from last year. I did finish on time. I started out with the Monogram Model A Woody Wagon. My modifications were planned ahead of time and executed in the first hour. I simply cut the roof off, and added half round for the bed sides. A tail gate from another kit made the back of the cab. I used a prewired distributor and added the custom wheel covers from the AMT '41 Plymouth. Bucket seats are the custom ones from the '49 Ford, I just knew they came from my parts box, someone told me later on! Paint is Duplicolor fast drying lacquer! Like Terry said, as long as you stick to your plan and don't go crazy with modifications, it is possible to build a decent model in 24 Hours!

I'm looking to do the Falcon for the 24 Hour Build. I'm not a fan of that mesh back panel and am looking for a way to get rid of it.

I got the radiator / shell glued onto the Blue Beetle Model A pickup last night. I set it up to dry over night. I should be able to finish it later today!

Just for the record... avoid brake fluid on old promos. It will destroy them!

Ah! The things we do for our kids. I had a 1960 Buick Electra two door hardtop that I hadn't restored in my years of owning it. I sold it with the intentions of using the funds to finally restore my 1965 Barracuda. A college tuition payment for my daughter came due, guess where the money went?

I think we've all thought of things like this! I have every full size Chevy, some of them assembled restorable models. And I've envisioned them all sitting side by side on my shelf. Of course I've done NONE of them! ?

Great! I had a busy year end. Someone bought my NJ house so I had a bit of work to do for inspections and such. Which led to tearing up my left thumb, effectively putting me out of commission. Also, it's coming out well and I didn't want to slam it together just for a deadline.

And as Gary and I have related, there is no shame in not finishing! It's a personal challenge to see how far you can go. And it's fun knowing as you work in the middle of the night, that there are nearly 100 others doing the same! And posting your progress on the Facebook page at 3am and instantly getting three "likes".

agreeing with Roger! BMF properly applied will adhere well and doesn't need to be sealed in. BMF has it's own level of shine, and clearing over it takes that away. The different levels of shine are what make a model look real.

Do I get another round with the Trabbie? It's nearing completion.

A bit o' progress! And of course for every step I have to fix some screw up! The two tone on the seats are not perfect but as good as they are gonna get! At this point, the body is ready to be glued to the chassis. Once that's dry I can get the radiator shell onto the car. The way I do it is to have the body mounted, then tape the hood to the body. I position the radiator shell to the front of the hood, then tape it to hold while the glue dries. Another day or so!

Yes. You can plan out your work ahead of time and glue 4 pieces to the body ahead of time, but the model needs to be built in a straight 24 hours. It’s for fun. Pick a fairly easy kit that you are familiar with, best to have two copies. Don’t sweat details, just build like you did as a kid! You will learn to build more systematic and quicker. And the funny thing is that the quick build doesn’t look all that bad sitting next to models you spent a lot more time on!

Very cool! I like this one a whole lot!

This will be my 8th year participating in the 24 Hour Build and I'm looking forward to it! Everyone needs to do this at least once!

Kurt, my laptop doesn't either. It must be part of the mobile view. I think people read them without looking at the dates.

Congrats Rob! We went from no grandchildren to three in two years. Cannot beat it! They just make ya smile!

I did a good one on Christmas week... not modeling but cutting wood with a jig saw. Cut right down into the nail. Kept me off the bench for a week. You don’t realize how much you use your left thumb until it’s bandaged! Pretty much healed in the photo

I was looking at the board on my iPhone this morning. At the bottom of the page are a bunch of ads and links. Some of those links, including a photo, are to threads on this board. I clicked on one about a 1965 Chevy Biscayne and saw that it was from 2014, and the last post on it was from 2014! So I imaging folks are doing the same, not noticing how old these threads are (with their broken photo links!) and are commenting. That brings the post back to the top of the board.

I'm disappointed too. ICM produces outstanding kits, with a focus on providing kits to the rest of the world. We are just lucky they are sold here. American car modelers are a very small percentage of potential sales overall, and some guys just don't get it. Facebook has Europeans and Japanese modelers posting their work in the modeling groups. Jaw dropping outstanding work!

Over the weekend I got the interior buttoned up on my Blue Beetle. I also made license plates for it. It's at that point where you glue on one part and walk away to wait for it to dry. I'm hoping to finish it this week. The Trabant panel is also on the bench. I noticed the decals I made took on a purplish tint, yes your inkjet uses color ink even to print black. So I reprinted them using the black setting on the printer. Much better result.

Put the paint on Craig's List. Someone will buy it all! I wouldn't try to sell on-line as you it only can be shipped ground freight.

Very nice model, I like that you used the six cylinder engine! And terrific photos, your roadway works very well to make your truck look real!

I was interviewed about NNL East but didn't make it into the article. Nice article but we could've done without the reference to "whack jobs".

Thanks for the kudos Pete! I went back and read my comments in the previous thread. I stand by them and don't wish to retype it all here, so if you are interested in how it really works, go and read the thread Pete suggests! As I had said, more and more is being automated. Humans touch an extremely small amount of the mail. It's all sorted and coded by high speed equipment. And that equipment actually scans all your mail. You can go online and look at the mail you are going to receive before it hits your mailbox! And as they automate, they have been consolidating sorting centers and cutting headcounts, which is cost savings. Here's a chart showing the total number of USPS employees year by year: If you look at that high in year 2000 of 787,538 down to the 2018 total of 497,157 which is like 63% of the 2000 high working in the system today. That's impressive! Things do go wrong. The address readers can misread bad handwriting. A sender can put in an incorrect zip code. The mail moving automation routes mail by the bar code across the bottom of your envelope. That code has your address right down to route order and house number! And most mail shows up at the final post office already sorted in that order.