Tom Geiger

The hood doesn't fit right Bill! You are correct that this is the tip of the iceberg. Printing equipment will get better, fine detail does exist in the medical device world, that technology just needs to come down in price to our level. There will always be skills involved, just like having the machining skills to operate a lathe. It won't be the "scan a photo and a detailed kit comes out the other end" that some folks simplify it to! Just like with machined parts, I will be pleased to give money to those who master the skills and invest in the equipment.

Cool work! I'll be watching. I haven't figured out how to do such intricate work myself! BTW, I had that same Chevy back in the day. Mine was triple gold, 350 engine, got like 10 mpg! It had a trunk you could put several bodies in! I sold it to a guy who had a floor buffing business because all his equipment fit in that trunk!

Chuckle of the week... I was up in Massachusetts on Thursday and decided since it wasn't snowing up there yet, I'd make a dash and see how far south I could get. I got two hours into my trip when the snow was falling hard in Connecticut, so I stopped in Vernon, CT and found a Days Inn that had rooms available. I bunkered in and by morning the roads were clear and I had a good trip home. The chuckle... hotel bathroom. What's wrong with this photo? I could barely get a finger down there to flush! What code inspector let this one slide? And I'm wonder if it was just my room or is the entire motel like this?

I bought my '56 Chevy 110 2 door sedan in 1978 from the original owner, another little ole lady. She was selling it because she could no longer do the manual steering. It had a six cylinder, power glide and manual steering and brakes and 58,000 miles on it. It had zero rust because it spent most of it's life in Florida. She had a thing about letting Uncle Earl paint it every few years so I spent a whole summer sanding it down to the original primer. Then I primed it gray and it stayed that way until I sold it.

That's me, Bob Paeth and Tom Daniel at GSL 2003. And the '57 Nomad box that Bob signed for me. One of my prized modeling possessions.

Hey! You take my "Bring Out Your Dead" thread and use it to run over my annual Christmas Amnesty Group Build! I have a few current projects on the bench... the '30 Ford Phaeton ROG car, the '63 Valiant stock car and a '57 Ford old custom restoration, that I need to get off before I can think straight. I have lots of potential victims. And I already have my Christmas Amnesty build picked.

Beyond words! Just when you think you've seen everything you could possibly do to a Tri-Five Chevy, something like this one pops up! Refreshing!

Victor Collins cast the resin that Model King was selling. He's still at it, I am PMing you his info.

Bill Barrett told me about the "Francis" letter in Scale Auto last week. I hadn't opened my copy yet, but have since read the letter. Obviously written by an outsider who knew nothing about Modelhaus, Don and Carol, and the long legacy of quality and service to this hobby. Like any other business, things do come to an end and they deserve to have a nice retirement. I understand the business was for sale. I heard a few different versions, and I respect Don enough that I won't go snooping or ask him for the details. The end result is that nobody stepped up to the plate with money. Although this was a world class operation in our small world, I don't believe it was a big money maker for the work involved. If it was like printing money, someone would have bought it. Note that the business of selling resin reproduction parts is not proprietary. Anyone who wants to create 1,000 molds of different parts and offer then for sale can do so. There would be the grand investment in time and materials of creating a mold for each and every small part in their inventory. Then I ask myself... how many 1968 Chevy hoods, or 1963 Valiant back bumpers does one sell in a year's time? Not many. It depends on someone out there needing that specific part. So there would be a slow to no return on the majority of the molds in inventory. Then we come to the why this business was successful.. the slogan for E.R. Squibb Company, was "The priceless ingredient in every product is the honor and integrity of its maker." Nothing holds truer in this case. The reputation of Modelhaus was earned with hard and sincere work over many, many years. That would be the tough act to follow!

Modelhaus had inventory. If you ever went to a show where they were vending, there was always a long line of guys with lists, and both Don and Carol filling those requests from cabinets.

I had that same problem a few years ago with Verizon. After dealing with the idiots on the phone, who read me the riot act that the problem was probably of my own doing, and if they sent out a technician and he revealed that, I would be charged a few million dollars for his inconvenience... well, turned out that it was their blade or node back at headquarters. They sent out a technician who said everything was fine, he could ping back to headquarters and I was receiving the correct signal. He called in a second tech, who left the meter on my system and watched when it dipped. He said he had seen this before and correctly diagnosed the issue!

I find decal fixative solution best for making the lines go away. It really makes the decals appear to be painted on! I use clears with caution. AMT enamel clears I used have yellowed with age. I'm not big on clear coats because many folks polish models way beyond a scale shine. The cars I build are more dull cote to semi gloss!

or I'll fart!

My favorite is my soft handle Exacto brand handle. As Jeff said, it's an old draftsmen's tip to put a tape wing on the handle, or as a draftsman we had those on all of our mechanical pencils, especially helpful when working on a tilted drafting board to keep the knife from rolling off the board and stabbing us in the Bobbit! I also purchased one of the Exacto brand handles with a light on it. My workbench is pretty well lit so aside from the novelty of it, I haven't found that one all that useful. I tend to change blades in a handle rather than have different handles. For instance I have number 11 blades with the tips cut off to varying lengths. Those are used in a drilled hole to hone the hole out larger. Those blades sit in a drawer compartment awaiting their next use.

I drove up to Devens Mass, yesterday to teach a class today. It hadn't started snowing up there yet, so I made a beeline for home. I got two hours south before it started snowing and hard! I limped off Route 84 into Vernon, CT where I found a Days Inn. There was a nice diner on the property so I had a proper dinner and am now digesting it in my room while using their wifi. I have two morning meetings I can do from the room, and hopefully the roads will get cleared before I leave.

Very cool Tim! That was the year I got back to modeling as an adult. I remember the article!

Johnny, my most sincere hopes for your family! I pray that you work through all of this. I feel fortunate that I have not had any addictions and my two daughters kept on the straight and narrow!

The opioid epidemic in our country is awful. The drugs are available everywhere and people are dying every day. I do not know anyone with this problem, thank God! I once had a friend I hadn't seen in a while because he had moved to Florida. He was back in NJ and we got together at another friend's house. I picked him up at his father's house and we stopped for beer on the way there. He bought a full quart of Jack Daniels. He was filling a 12 ounce glass with straight Jack and drinking it. By evening's end he had finished the bottle and was yelling at us. I had never seen an alcoholic in action before that time, never saw someone drink that much in one sitting. Back when I knew him he was an industrious guy who started his own painting business and was winning contracts to paint entire hotels. I don't know where he went wrong! I had never seen him that way before. He never did recover from that. He is dead now.

Carl, it has a flathead Ford. I don't believe it's a very good one sitting in a Tom Daniel custom. I just love that intake. I don't know if it would fit anything else, I haven't tried. Thanks for the congrats! I wasn't going to bring the Volare, when I went to pack up a few other cars, I saw it was still packed to travel from bringing it to a club meeting because a fellow club member wanted to see how the LIndberg '64 Dodge slant six fit in the Volare.

Twas the Monogram 1/12 scale '57 Chevy! A friend gave it to me for a birthday present, "Betcha can't build a big 'un!" as if we were assembling puzzles or something. I think I gave it away.

In locked bathroom

With everything I bought I think I only spent $80. And I had $200 mad money on me! I sold a surplus clothes dryer on Craig’s List

Hey, yesterday I went to the Liars Model Car Challenge on Long Island, NY This show has always been a good place to find cheap goodies, as several of the vendors are club members who annually thin their collections... Continuing my fixation with the Monogram 1930 Model A series.. I already have both of these but couldn't pass them up. $10 for the woodie, $25 for the Cabriolet. Nothing earth shattering here, just extra copies of old favorites. '57 Ford was $15 and the other two were 2/$25. I wanted an additional pie wagon so I could use my current one for parts. I want to put that flathead with the tri scoops into a rod. I'm thinking of building the Pie Wagon for the 24 Hour Build in January. These 4 added up to $23 and the vendor said "Just give me $20. The Ranchero and the '32 seem complete, but no worries, I have a few more of each. The '40 and '57 are actually parts boxes. The '40 has a complete unbuilt sedan delivery and a built up coupe in the box. The '57 has someone's unfinished wagon using the 60s Lincoln custom wagon roof. Most important to me is that it has the rear end and glass I need to finish up one of my old custom restoration projects. That $3 box made my day. I am easily amused! And the icing on the cake. My Volare took second place in Light Commercial. I don't focus on competing any more, but always bring my latest projects to show my friends. The Volare just happened to already be packed to travel, so I grabbed the box as well. Thank you Liars Model Car Club!

I have one of those too! It's a learned skill to get decent windows out of it! Last time I looked there was a company that was making the perforated sheets for Vac-u-form! I can check if you are interested.

You'd be surprised how many movies today are remakes, and most people don't even realize it! Here's the 1955 original. I have it on VHS