Tom Geiger

Hosted on Fotki Oh, I just posted an image!

Don't get me started on EZPass. Count up all of the people in your state who are using it, figure each has $25 or so on account at any given time...then arrive at whatever that works out to...a rolling, ongoing, permanent, interest-free loan to the state. Slip up though, buddy, and they'll nail you to the wall for all sorts of service charges. Yea, EZPass is something else! The accounts are held by the vendor, not the state, so the vendor is profiting from all that cash on account. They charge fees up front, into your account and subtract the tolls out of there. You are underestimating a bit, the bite they take from my checking account each time is $135. We use over $100 a month in tolls! And any time they decide you have a violation, they subtract the "fine" from your account and you have to plead your case to get it back!

Here's a pair of metal Explorers we never got in plastic... I believe these were Maisto. The Ironsides Ford van.. only NOT in 1/20 scale. These appeared at Walmart for a blink of the eye! And a pair of Jeeps! I bid low on two at the same time and got lucky. I reasoned that I'd resell one... then I got them and loved the colors! And while on the subject of Jeep... a decent starting point for any Jeep model. I believe this one is Ertl. While not light commercial, I liked this one a whole lot. I believe it's Maisto. And for $10 I had to have it. If car companies were doing promotional models today, they'd look like this! Highly detailed diecast, it's the available technology. And since we have driven this train off track from light commercial, I'll share this trio. It's a Pontiac Solstace, Saturn Sky and Opel GT, the version GM sold in Europe. Yup, the only Opel ever made in the USA and shipped off to Europe!

I built the towncar WAY BACK in Early 70's!! looked good for a few days, then sat in the back window of our 70 Impala on a trip from Pittsburgh, Pa all the way to Bryson City, NC!! Needless to say, It Deformed badly!!!!! Ya know something... we have all done that at one time. Learned the hard way. And it's not our fault! Those pesky model companies CONSPIRED against us to melt our models, so they could sell us more models! There should've been a warning printed on the box! Like when you get your suit back from the cleaners and the clear plastic bag has a warning "Do Not Place Bag Over Your Head!" I feel a class action suit coming on!

I love your vistas Ed! This is about as far as I can see out my back windows.... Hosted on Fotki

How do I edit the title? Go to your first post and hit "edit". That will turn the title into a line of text you can modify

But... but, can they be built stock? I don't get that lucky that my promos warped into an aggressive stance. MIne all look like they rolled down a mountain side!

It's the same in New Jersey. The original Garden State Parkway was paid for many years ago. The day to day maintenance of the road, as well as major improvements all come from the federal government. The toll was a quarter back then... and they needed a raise. Why? It pretty much came out to be toll collectors salaries and benefits.. so essentially they told us that it cost more than a quarter to collect a quarter. So it became 35 cents, then 50 cents and double that today. When there was pressure to change something, the bought into the Ezpass toll collection system. The mortgaged installation of this system was more than the cost of the original roadway. And the term of the bonds guaranteed that the'd need to collect tolls for a very long time! Shortly after that they decided to merge the three toll road authorities into one to save money. So the Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway all became one entity. Sounded fair. But then the Turnpike went on a major expansion, which in all fairness they did a remarkable job in a decent time frame. So that will guarantee tolls to be collected on all three roads for eternity.

I've always said that diecast vehicles are nothing more than a starting point for a model I want to build. So whenever I see a decent diecast truck that isn't available in plastic, I grab it up. It can be displayed as-is for now, but is always available to me as something to be stripped down and done as a truck I want for my shelf! Many of these are currently in storage, so I may have the manufacturers wrong, so feel free to correct me! I believe this is a Jada. I have two of this original issue, that has all the stock parts. I've taken a blue one apart for parts, the entire bed assembly is plastic and will appear on a model. I had sent off the factory correct wheels / tires to Al Raab for casting. 1941 Plymouth Pickup - This one has appeared under a couple of different company names, most recently as a Motormax Walmart special along with a plastic camper shell that looks totally wrong on this truck. This no doubt was copied from the Danbury Mint vehicle. 1941 Dodge panel van - Johnny Lightning Release, I believe our friend Art had a hand in this one. Look twice on the above two photos... they are not the same vehicle. We didn't get the second generation Chrysler minivans in plastic, but we did get them in scale! One is a Dodge Caravan and the other is a Plymouth Voyager. 1950 Ford Step Van.... was produced with many different company colors. The year of this van can be changed by simply changing the grill. I'm planning on one of these becoming a 1953 model. Modern cars really didn't get kitted often, so here's a pair of diecast Pontiac Vibes by Road Signature. I got the blue one at Good Will for $2 And would you believe that two different companies went after the mid 50s Internationals? The van is a FIrst Gear, which also did a window van, while the pickup was done by Liberty Classics. I can just hear the, "No thanks! I'll wait for plastic!" Yea, that'll be some wait. And here's the pair First Gear did for NAPA, an International Metro van! Just a few of the many diecast in my collection that we probably will never see as a plastic kit. So why not buy them, either display them or pry them apart as the basis for your next model project. Note that the entire model car hobby got started by a few guys who were prying open 1950s promotional models, so the hobby has come full circle!

I don't know about this situation but maybe they had issues getting approvals to run actual police car logs? I know that Revell / Monogram / Model King had issues getting approvals for the cities on their original proposal of the decal sheet in the '57 Ford police car. So maybe they are using generic security firm decals because there's no approvals and it's free? Personally, as a light commercial builder, I like the idea of security decals, as you can see below! Hosted on Fotki

That's a nice build incorporating the Motormax camper shell. The shell itself is a curbside effort, you can see that the windows are all blacked out. The other thing I'd change is the "legs", they are way too thick. Easy enough to replace with some aluminum tube. It is screwed together so it does unscrew easily. Once done, the inside is full of strengthening bars and screw posts. Pretty hard to convert to a full detail camper. Hosted on Fotki I wanted to go the full detail route but you can see the complexity in this photo. There is really no way to separate the roof for viewing without messing the whole thing up!

A little birdie told me he received a test shot of the Comet today....

Your Connies are great, and I love the view of your neighborhood and the mission style homes across the street! It's interesting to see the variety in architecture in different parts of the country.

"Around here, we had a "temporary" 1% sales tax that lasted over 20 years." The Garden State Parkway! When it was built in the early 1950s they said the toll would only last until the roadway was paid for! They forgot all about that promise!

A nice pair for sure! Back in the day my daily driver was a 1973 Barracuda, pretty much the Challenger twin. A few years ago I went to Canada on business and the rental car company decided to give me a new Challenger. I slid behind the seat and instantly I was taken back to my days with the Barracuda. The look and feel were really captured! The car I rented was bright red with black stripes. In the three days I had it, several people complimented me on the car. So a pretty Challenger does get noticed.

I had lunch today with my favorite aunt and uncle... the one with the red Tesla. I learned that my cousin, the one with the silver Tesla has ordered another one. The newest one that will do zero to sixty in something like two seconds.. So in September we will have THREE Teslas in the family, none of them mine!

I wasn't so lucky. Last week I got dragged to see Train Wreck. My advice? DON'T!

Town gets ippity about that. Their rule is that you cannot put the pile out more than 24 hrs prior to pickup. And it would be my luck that they're watching us because I'm in a bit of a dispute with them right now. The town enacted a law that they bill all rental units a $500 annual license. No doubt passed when no one was looking. So because the tax bill comes to my primary residence in PA, they've assumed that my house in that NJ town is rented out. And they want me to send them $500 because they have to "police" rental units. It's all bull because it's a town of single family homes, not an absentee landlord area of multi-family slum or anything. I've told them twice in writing that the home is my second home and occupied by my family. I collect no rents and all the utilities are in my name. In fact I was there all weekend. They're wrong, but not going away easy. And they are childish enough to strike back at me with a branch pile violation.

"yes, a mid 70s high school 67 charger may be a neat group build idea..." Funny thing is that early Chargers were never plentiful. I graduated in 1976 and don't remember a single one at my school. Back then Mopars hadn't come of age yet. I had two 1966 Valiants, one a slant six V100 2 door sedan and the other was a Signet 2 door hardtop with a 273 that went like stink! Even when I added a '65 Barracuda to the stable, they really got no respect back then! But the good part was that when you could find parts, they were cheap!

My rant of the weekend... I went up to our house in NJ on Friday and needed to do some yard work. My two daughters live in the house full time and are responsible for maintaining it. They have the lawn mowed, but the gardens had gotten overgrown. So I ask eldest daughter when the town is due to pick up branches and leaf bags next... she tells me that she thinks it's this coming week. She can't check right now because she has the schedule in her phone, and dropped her phone in the ocean, as in no phone. I check the town website, and they still have the 2013 schedule posted. So I spend all day Saturday clearing out gardens and cutting back trees etc. I make a pile out front bigger than my mini van. I'm pretty pleased with the results. A good day's work. Daughter goes and gets a new phone... first thing she notices... town isn't going to pick up until late September! So now I have to go back up there (2 hr ride) next Friday or Saturday and see how many van loads of debris I have. I will have to tote it all to the town yard. And if I knew September, I would've left all the branches up in the trees until then! Argh! Twice the work I signed up for!

It was rumored that when Okie bought the remnants of Johan at auction, one of the tools he bought was one of the Cadillacs. In the original brochure he did, he showed a 'rat rod' version of this car. No telling what happened between then and now.. or if he later discovered he had an incomplete tool.

Great work Don! I have this kit and it's on the bench when I finish my Trabant ! Whenever that is!

Too many black or white Connies already... If it was mine I'd be going with a dark burgundy... Or even a dark blue or green. Gotta stand out

Great work Dan! That really looks super! And yes, there were '65 crew cabs. I'm not sure if they were factory or through a factory contractor. There were requirements in government contracts for them! I remember the US Army and Air Force having them back when I was an army brat in the 1960s.

My irk of the day? I made the mistake of looking at the Jeep website and now I have little Jeep ads following me everywhere I go on the Internet! And what irks me about it? They are all trying to sell leases.... Cherokee LTD 4x4 only $159 a month for 24 months. With a $4995 down payment. Um, isn't that a $367 a month lease, only you are paying more than half of it in cash up front? And now that they have a moron on the hook, they only give him 10,000 miles a year, so you know there's going to be a big fee for extra miles at the end! Stupid people fall for this stuff!