Tom Geiger

Rob, the news of this event has just reached the rock I live under! Very cool, I actually saw your car's progress on Facebook and came back to this board for more information. Please enlist me as number 61, 1953 Ford 4 door sedan, if I may!

The big question is... what exactly did Okey buy? It's been said that he bought Johan-- lock stock and barrel. I spoke with a person who was at the Seville bankruptcy auction, who said all he purchased was a lot that included misc tooling, and a lot of parts. It's never been fully explored exactly what tooling he had. We know he had the '59 Rambler wagon and the simple version of the Chrysler Turbine car since he released these as kits. It's been said both ways, that he had the tooling for the '68 Plymouth police car since he released this as a kit. Some people said he was selling kits he assembled from the parts inventory. I'd surmise that he may have had the tooling since both the Rambler and the police car had that greenish tinted glass. After that, Okey sent a fund raising email to a lot of people in the hobby, stating that an entity had his tooling and he needed to raise money to get it back. I can only figure that whoever did the contract run of kits for him was holding the tooling on a workman's lien because they hadn't been paid. Same tooling was later shopped on the market. Samples of the Rambler wagon and Turbine car were seen in a Moebius display at a trade show. Dave Burket, Model King, talked about doing a run of the Rambler wagon a few years ago but never produced them. Today, Okey goes to a number of shows as Johan, and mainly is selling a wide variety of parts from that hoard.

I learned about recycling back in 1970 in 6th grade.. remember the Ecology flag? We kids collected cans and bottles at the school, amassing a grand amount of them. Then we found there was no place to recycle them so they wound up going into the landfill. Time marched on and now in the USA we turn in more recyclable materials than the market can bear. As far as recyclables from India, China and other developing nations, you cannot tell me they aren't recycling commodities like glass, aluminum and plastics. They are doing so because they are importing same from the USA. There is a use for the materials. In fact, one of the US exports to China is "Fluff". That's what's left after cars are ground up in auto recycling, once the magnets have pulled all of the metals out of it. What's left are tiny bits of non- ferrous metals. This includes aluminum, copper, lead, zinc and tin, as well as precious metals like gold and silver. Retrieving these becomes a hand sort, which isn't financially feasible in the USA. But the labor rate in China is so low, it's profitable there. So we sell them Fluff by the container load. So rest assure that anything of value is recycled. What we are concerned about is those same countries lack of controls on pollution, in the air, water and land. They will eventually discover that they need to address this on their own as they continue to poo in their own box. If not, the global community will act. First an entity like the UN will enact global pollution standards. Then the final action will be when major markets like USA and EU band together and refuse to accept imports from countries until they work to certain standards. It will happen in time, especially as their polution affects the rest of the planet.

only in Arizona

no, they send those out at 10,700 posts

Rebooting this thread... Revell has done some very credible snap kits in the past. I'm thinking the '73 Monte Carlo and the '70 Chevelle. In fact when I saw the new '68 Chevelle, my first thought was "I wonder how that would work under the '70 snapper." My club used these and other snap kits for youth events, where we invited youth groups for a build, to introduce youngsters to model car building. The kids were enthusiastic and our members were impressed with kits we had overlooked. Add in the ability to easily convert these new snap kits into slot cars, and I think you'd have a product! Sales ability? I don't know how to gauge that today. First, note that the guys who frequent model car boards and shows are maybe the top 1% of the hobby. No company could survive on the sales from us guys. It's the remaining 99% of the market, the casual builders who wouldn't do a kit bash like this, but may enjoy the simple snap kit of a cool car. My own thought is that Playing Mantis was onto something back before they sold the company with simple kits like the Herbie VW Beetle. It was a full detail snap kit. It was molded in color and was quite easy to build and be able to put a nice replica on your shelf. I gave one to my 12 year old nephew when the kit was first out, he assembled it in about an hour and was very happy with his results. Same kit was designed so that the serious modelers could use it as the basis for a more detailed kit. I think this happy medium may be more the way of the future.

A great year! Especially love the beach racer!

Had a nice quiet New Years eve at my daughter's house, with my one year old granddaughter crawling all over me. We learned that my daughter was pregnant right after Thanksgiving... and discovered that she's pregnant with TWINS the day after Christmas! I'm only allowed to announce it today! Man, our New Year will be a busy one!

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone! Let's step up our building in the new year!

Try refreshing... I just reloaded the photos

I actually got a fair amount of work done this year... My first build was for the 24 Hour Build in January. I built this Foose Ford Pickup, as inspired by a weathered one sitting in my neighborhood. I cannot believe I still don't have decent photos of this one! Build number two was this chopped Model A. This one started with a trashed body found in a bag of parts I bought at a show. There was something about it, so I did a whole build around it. My next build was a restoration of an old custom original from the early 1960s. This one was pretty much totalled, it had no suspension or roof. Still I decided to restore it. And I'm pleased the way it came out and how it looks on my shelf sitting next to the blue '57 custom, another one I restored a while back. And the '57 resto felt so good I went for this '58 Chevy custom that has been sitting in the corner of my bench. I took it all apart and redid a lot of details. Another old custom on the shelf! And my '63 Valiant stock car came off the bench, a project started maybe a decade ago. It was my Christmas Amnesty car last year, but it was too ambitious for that short period so I didn't get 'er done. Plus I had a new granddaughter and spent most of Christmas week in New Jersey! I worked on it on and off throughout the year, but kept getting frustrated on small details and putting it aside. So I finally bit down hard and got it off the bench! Notice there is an ironic theme with this year's production... most of them started out as junkers or restorations. Amazing! I own all kinds of great kits and resin and what do I work on? I'm like the kid you buy a toy for and he plays with the box! And unveiling the bonus build. Just finished up this morning, and still drying on the bench! This one started as the original release of the Monogram kit, inspired by the recent publicity of the Race of Gentlemen. You may recognize it as being in the background of the blue chopped coupe build photos, since both of them were on the bench at the same time. The fenders and toneau cover were only in the early release(s) so I wanted to use those parts. I finished it up this morning, and it's still sitting there drying on the work bench. Finished right under the wire! Consider this one my 2018 Christmas Amnesty Build.

pass gas instead

Another vote for Bare Metal Foil. I use it on every model. As others said, there are techniques and practice involved. The results are worth it. Molotow pen is another tool but it's not a replacement for Bare Metal Foil. It's good for small items like picking out interior door handles on door panels, and especially filling in where sprue was attached to your chrome part. I just used it for that this morning! Also, if you are using BMF for things like vent windows, you can use the Molotow pen for the tiny little gaps in corners and such. I'll agree with Bill. I love Testors Metalizers. There are several different tones of silver and I use these tones to bring life to chassis components. I have found that not every store stocks them, for instance Hobby Lobby does not. And I was to a hobby shop in NJ this past weekend that didn't have them.

You can spend a lot of money if you choose, but you can participate on a budget. Your first model or two will be a bit expensive as you need to buy a lot of supplies. Fortunately these supplies will last through many more models, bringing the cost per model down. You don't need expensive tools like an airbrush or spray booth. Some hand tools and spray cans (I prefer Tamiya) will work just fine. I do own a lot of expensive models but I find I enjoy working on cheap ones, especially restoring old built ups. Over time you will acquire more tools and supplies, your parts box will fill with left overs from other projects. Work at your own pace, this is not a job, it's for your relaxation and enjoyment.

Yes, lived on the US Army Post in Pirmasens. My father was an army officer. I belong to a couple of Facebook groups for Pirmasens that has connected me to people I knew back then. And one group run by a German lady who keeps us abreast of what's going on there now.

Can I vote for the Maverick too? I was 11 when those came out in 1969 as 1970 models. My aunt got a brand new red one that I thought was cool. Then she handed me a promo that the dealer gave her with the car! I was over the moon! Funny thing, I have no idea what ever happened to that promo.

Gotta love a Gullwing! I'll have to go see if I can procure one at my local store! Welly does put out a credible product. While these are iconic today, they weren't well received when new. I remember reading a review in an ancient magazine by Tom Cahill stating that they were poorly ventilated and you'd roast inside one. For years they sold cheap.

I'm sure you meant Moscow, Idaho! Every time my friends and I went to the Greater Salt Lake Championship, right after the awards ceremony on Sunday we'd point the rental car in a direction and just drive to see what we could find. One year we wound up in Paris, Idaho on the banks of Bear Lake. Great country! We had fun just roaming around. We found a little general store and got into a conversation with the owner... who was a from Long Island, NY. Joke of the day was that we couldn't find the Paris Hilton!

Fantastic work! What parts did you use in the 4 door conversion? How did you make the rear window and raise the roof?

My favorite source for detail photos is eBay Motors. Sellers will post tons of photos of every detail of the car for sale. Sometimes I just browse and save photos for future reference. And if you don't find what you are looking for today, check back in a week, it's a rolling inventory!

You do realize there is a book in your experiences!

Looks great Bill! Don't know why but I hadn't seen this thread before. So I read every entry this morning with my coffee. What a great read! And think about the irony of destiny... that this mere average model would somehow fall into the hands of Bill Geary who would transform it into the Cinderella of model cars!

Great work for 2018! I especially like to see the subject matter chosen by board members from different parts of the planet. I am especially partial to an Opel GT. I've always wanted one of those!

Very nice annual fleet! That's nine models, a lot more than most of the guys on this board!

Thomas I agree! It's great that we all pause to look back on the year's work. It's fun to see how many models some of us have achieved, and the variety of the builds. I will post mine the end of this week, as I am not working this week and resolved to finish some of my 90%ers before the new year. I like your models! Very nicely built and great subject matter! Where in Germany are you? I lived in Pirmasens from 1969-72.