Tom Geiger

We have an email chain within our town and someone started a thread about bad Amazon deliveries. They use their own contractors to deliver and they are worse than UPS, USPS and FedEx combined. The stories about packages being tossed from moving vehicles etc, and I see them at the curb, off the curb etc all the time. Our houses sit way back on the properties so those packages are just perfect theft bait. I got home one evening last week and there's a wet Amazon Prime package sitting in the bushes near my curbside mail box in the rain. Then I found out that my daughter had sent us the package. We let her know it arrived damage. She checks the shipping info and it says "Delivered - Handed package to resident". Now Amazon is arguing with my daughter that their vendor hand delivered it.. yeesh!

I saw this on my way home from Syracuse NY on Friday. It was sitting in a rest stop.

Wow Tyler! Your rust technique is just fantastic. Especially the thinning on the edges of the front fenders, rust texture and color. A plus! The one suggestion I could make is that the wipers are almost non-existent on this kit. At first I thought there were no wipers, then I blew up one of your photos and saw them there. I actually ran up to the model room and pulled out an unbuilt kit. AMT really made those faint! I would suggest you add some wipers, especially since you went to the trouble of putting wiper marks on the glass. I'd mount them slightly askew as they usually were in 1:1 too. That would make the model absolutely perfect!

Here's a picture of my work bench. Note the shelves over it hold most of my unfinished projects. I keep them here so I have to look at and acknowledge them, not packed away and forgotten. These are the ones I hope to finish someday. They've been beached for all the reasons in this thread.. lost interest, lack of skill and couldn't figure out the next step. Add "it was coming out so good I was afraid I'd screw it up!" to that list. Each year I take the week between Christmas and New Years off from work. I found it was too short a span to build a complete model, but an ideal amount of time to finish some old relic that's maybe 50%, 75% and even 90% finished already. So I do my annual Christmas Model Car Amnesty Project every year. Started in the early 1990s... Finished 2015 Started 2007 Dragging it over the finish line in time for NNL East 2018

Very nice work! I remember when this car came out in late 1969. I couldn't believe the radical design after the very pleasing 1968 and 1969 models. I saw one on the road recently and yes, it still looks like a space ship to me!

Here's everything this seller has sold on eBay as far back as I can search: In business I've met a lot of high earners. People in the top of their field and have worked hard to get there. And they have money to spend. It goes like this.. Most of us can spend $26.07 on a model without thinking about it. Some of us can spend $260.70 on a model without hurting our monthly finances. And some people can write a check for $2607.07 and it doesn't matter. For that guy, $2607.07 is like $26.07 to you and I. And admire the people who build and sell these models. They've worked hard to achieve that status and following.

A great project. I'll enjoy watching. A few tips that I learned while I was building the slant 6 Volare- I believe you are using the engine from the Lindberg '64 Plymouth kit? That is the absolutely best detailed slant 6 ever! The transmission will collide with the bottom of the interior bucket. I took material off both. There are no pedals. I found some in the AMT '71 Duster kit. The interior door panels are weak. I cut an arm rest out of a wood toothpick, used a resin window crank and added detail with Evergreen strips. I used the front bench from the Revell '66 Chevelle wagon. I cut the split in the seat back and added headrests from my parts box. Engine bay- The top of the firewall is absolutely blank. I added screen detail there, but have since seen the exact parts in, if I remember right, the latest Monogram / Revell Barracuda. The stiffener bars are missing. Easy to make from plastic rod or wire. There is no detail in front of the front header, and behind the grill. I added the piece that was in the same '71 Duster kit I used for the pedals. Exhaust system - Same 71 Duster! I took the dual exhausts and there were enough parts to create a single slant six exhaust. Use the cat converter from the Volare. Cut the exhaust apart into the same parts as a real one. Then drill out the matching ends and pin it all together. There will be a few pipes you will have to piece together as well. Do not glue until you pin in place under the chassis. That will allow you to adjust parts on just the pins, glue once satisfied. Here's my album, there's some good reference shots: https://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/my_model_cars/primer_projects/volare-messenger-car/

The wheels on this are the coolest Johan custom wheels ever! Do they have the red inserts? If you don't want them, PM me!

The common theme here seems to be "saving it for someday". At the recent Philadelphia NNL, a group of us were talking about this. I have tons of those parts I've squirreled away for that mega build someday. And as I get older my view has changed... what the heck am I waiting for? So I've been digging into that hoard and using those parts on my builds today. It may be now or never!

and here's how this goes... There is a training program within a large international company. The USA locations often complain when assigned the training, stating that it's difficult and nobody below the level of manager should need to be involved. In Europe, the same thing, plus they want the entire program translated into their host languages. In China about 20% of the workforce is actively learning in the program. Three completions of the on-line training today alone. IN ENGLISH. By people who have never been outside of China. Level? These are equipment mechanics and shop floor operators. Be afraid.

Great Model! I built the Foose Ford and thought the chassis was pretty nice. So I recently bought another kit with the thoughts of using the chassis under another body, and I do have my '55-57 Chevy pickup box on my work bench! So thanks for showing how it fits.

Hmmm, and somebody has been collecting old model companies

That would be debt that Hobbico as a major distributor would owe say... Moebius, Round 2, BMF Co. and (maybe even Revell as an intercompany transfer) others we enjoy and rely on? And would those unpaid debts be enough to cause serious harm to these companies?

Ah, from Perth! You must be a friend of AB!

Is there any accounting as to what Hobbico owes to some of our favorite companies? If that debt goes unpaid or settled for pennies on the dollar, how will that affect the hobby market as a whole? Considering they were probably net 90 to begin with, and those accounts are probably in arrears...

And here's my 1991 Geo Tracker sitting in my driveway a few summers ago. Since I'm in Pennsylvania, we don't have a front plate so that's a USVI St John's plate on the front. After many trouble free years as my daily driver, it has become my fair weather friend. I bought a new top a few years ago and haven't put it on yet. This year I'm going to put a Pennsylvania Historic tag on it. You know you are old when a car you bought new qualifies! But it's still the best $11,500 I ever spent on a car. I do need to take one of my Suzuki kits and convert it into my car. I already bought the paint!

Cool old Suzuki! Back in the day I rented one while in Aruba. It was fun tooling around the island. When I got back to the states I went to a dealer and test drove one.. that's when I realized I couldn't drive one in New Jersey traffic. Instead I went up one and bought a new 1991 Geo Tracker. I still have it. My daughter built Samurai back then, to match my Tracker color wise. It's still in my display case and today she's 34!

Working from home this week! That saves me 3 hrs a day of commuting and about $100 in gas and tolls.

six cylinder engines. I probably have a few dozen set aside. Last time that Spotlight Hobbies had the Lindberg '64 Plymouth on sale I bought another half dozen for the slant sixs. I also hoard the flathead six from the '41 Plymouth kit

And the funny thing is, that when you see two guys duking it out a dollar at a time, do a search for that model in the same category. Often you will find a "Buy It Now" for less than their current bid! I use eSnipe.com for my proxy bids. I place my bids when ever I want and esnipe delivers them six seconds (my choice of timing) before the end time. That way I bid once, nobody can see my intent to bid against me, and if someone bids higher in the meantime, oh well there will be another one. I'm never pushed into auction fever! And another good point about esnipe is that my bids have not been placed on eBay. If I see that "Buy It Now" cheaper, I can take advantage of it and cancel my bids anytime up to an hour before completion.

Those same guys will tell you that sniping is unethical and they have morals...

They are registered for NNL East and will have everything on clearance sale. Matthew was at the Philadelphia NNL yesterday and did a very brisk business at clearance prices. He told me that he may do an IPMS show after NNL East if he still has merchandise.

Hobby Lobby is like Stepford! I have three of them within my travels and all three stores are carbon copies down to the aisles and the hook something is located on! Same thing in the stamp and coin supplies. I like to buy a specific stamp album / stock book. It's less than $10 with the 40% off coupon. And they only stock one at a time.

Bingo! The fast buck recasters may very well have robbed the Holthauses of their retirement fund. I know of two people who are sitting on scratch built masters of very nice products we'd all enjoy. Their absolute fear is that the minute they offer their quality products for sale, poor copies will pop up on eBay for a few dollars less, robbing them of the chance to make back their investments. It's something that will really bite this hobby hard!

I had a nail biter last week. Not a model car transaction, but for my stamp collection. I found a 1908 postcard with a rare 1908 American Samoa cancellation. Postcards were the Nascar collectibles of the early 20th century so there are lots of unused cards around, but one with a legit postmark is a $100-200 item. I had a feeling the seller was unaware. I won it for the $6.99 opening bid and held my breath. I watched for a week as it was still marked as "not shipped". I was just about to ask a question and it simply showed up in my mailbox. Hurrah! Sometimes they don't change the status, and don't look at their messages, but ship the product. Keep the faith!