Tom Geiger

I tried something new tonight. I had discovered that there was a stamp club in NJ near my work, so I made plans to attend a meeting tonight. I hadn't been to a stamp club since the 1980s. My observation? More gray hair than at a model club meeting! Some of these guys were seriously old. I was probably the youngest person there. Part of my mission is to learn more about postal history from 1903-8 so I guess I need old guys! They had a formal PowerPoint presentation by a guy named Milton who had a collection of postmarks from the 1800s to date from towns named Milton. He was a good speaker who made it fun. They did go out of their way to welcome me and invited me back. It wasn't far out of my way so I may just do that.

and the OOPS! protection plan. My younger daughter had her 1 month old iPhone stolen... hint- do not leave your phone on the bar! I wound up using my new phone credit to replace it. With that episode fresh in our minds, they sold us phone replacement insurance. Of course that was 4 years ago and she hasn't lost or destroyed the insured phone.

Hmmm... I am in the market for a new grill. Is that the Brinkman Dual Sear 5 burner model # 810-6630-S ? The funny thing is that I have the Home Depot page open to that one right now. I hadn't really thought about getting a real gas unit, but I have a gas line on the wall on the back of my house that goes to my gas fireplace. And I need to have a plumber come for some other minor work, I think we have a plan! I can run it on propane until I drain the tank I currently have. Let me know how you like it. I may go grab one before the weekend.

That's how far up they had to go to find solid metal! Every '59 Plymouth I ever knew in 1:1 was rusty, rusty!

Great resto Ron! I missed talking with you at MidAtlantic NNL... I had a family thing to go to that day!

Great work Steve! Hats off to you for all that masking work in an interior tub!

RM has been on a mission to create new tools of the timeless classics that we have historically built over and over, kits that should sell well for all eternity. It made perfect sense to start with the '32 since there are probably more Deuces in existence now than Henry ever built. The several versions of the '32 are very cool and provide the makings of a '32 in popular body styles for any era. The body styles of four door sedan and A400s, although cool, are a bit out of the mainstream and are available in resin. I believe the new Model As are on the '32 chassis, so RM still needs to do a complete line of As and hopefully back to Model Ts as time and funding allow. These are the iconic cars that everyone remembers. I would also welcome a '33 and '34 since these could be built off the '32 kit with some modifications. The later 1930s Fords aren't as popular with the general public (aka - the majority of model buyers). And that goes for any other make of the 1930s, not enough folks could even identify them, no matter how cool we think they are. Of course I'll be happy to proven wrong, and who knows as interesting stuff pops up all the time these days!

I was always a Tom Daniel fan back when I was a kid. I had his kits, Pie Wagon, Beer Wagon, TJ Taxi, T'rantula and wanted the rest of the series. Little did I know I'd meet him one day. GSL 2003, I was fortunate enough to not only meet him, I got to have a beer with TD. That's me (back when I had hair), Bob Paeth and Tom Daniel. I call this photo, "The Day My Planets Were In Perfect Alignment". I not only was into TD kits as a kid, but my nemesis kit was the Revell '57 Nomad. Bob Paeth was responsible for that kit, and spent some time telling me all about the development of it. So here I am with the two guys who influenced my modeling as a kid... and the funny part was that they had never met before this photo

Friday in PA, nice and sunny, warm and it must've been VW day. I saw a restored Karman Ghia and and early 1960s VW van.

Yea, age changes everything! At 56.5 years old, I have slowed down a bit. My neck doesn't like it when I look "up", so I don't work under cars anymore. I take my cars to a cool shop that specializes in air cooled VWs and the proprietor is a Harley guy with a ZZ Top beard. He's honest and knows I could do the work myself so he talks to me like I know something. He knows when I bring in a car and tell him what is wrong, I'm usually right. My body is screaming after a full day of yard work and a hot shower, so I'm going to watch what I take on! In my day I have done my own work on cars, built a few and even did that "take it apart and get distracted" bit. I would like to have a 1930s roadster pickup. And when the right combination of vehicle and available funds appear at the same time, I will own one. Only this time around I will buy a finished truck to enjoy. I don't have a few years to spend in the garage anymore.

Great job Ray! I was watching the build thread and saw it was finished so I popped over here. I'd be pleased with the results. It's not how we screwed it up, it's how we recover that matters! It's a nice model.

Greetings from Exton, PA. We're about an hour apart.

Avery labels. I used Avery name tags to do the masks for my Dodge Grand Caravans. I created a master since I needed to do two and wanted the option to do more in the future. The windshield already had a mask line engraved in it. So I used Tamiya tape to match that and carefully cut the curves. Above are the rear glass and the side glass. I had to draw these on paper and cut until I got what I thought looked right. Then I created a drawing, that I then printed onto the Avery labels. Note the rear glass mask was created folded over, since both sides should be symmetrical. I drew the side glass once, since it's just a reverse for the other side. Here's the Avery labels in place on the clear glass shot. Note that I had done the windshield earlier, so I just had it taped off. I taped off the exterior of the glass, and then shot the inside of the glass with Testors flat black. The Avery labels gave a very clean line. And here's the glass all painted with Testors flat black. I had used a Sharpie for the windshield and wasn't at all happy with the results. The black Sharpie actually show light through in a dark purple. Not at all happy with those results, so I went with Testors for the rest of the glass. And the results. I had a good reference, I have a 1996 Grand Caravan out in the driveway! Hope this helps!

I actually live in a big house on an acre. Most of the newer developments here in Eastern PA have HOAs originally set up by the builders. And it depends on who is running yours. When we first got here, the HOA president's wife would drive around and leave 'violations' in everyone's mail box. I got one that said, "Mulch your gardens" The next week I got "Remove the mulch pile". My neighbor told me to ignore them, so I did. They are gone now, actually sold their house and left, and the new board is much better. No issues, they negotiate good rates with service companies, maintain the common grounds and hold a nice Holiday party. So I get my acre mowed by their vendor for $30, and I did buy their approved mail box, materials and installation cheaper than I could have bought it at Home Depot.

When I was working on this '32 Vicky I wanted to have interior window frames (see the inside of the door). So I cut up a second body and turned those parts inside out to be window frames. When I mated up the parts from the opposite sides, they weren't even close! Yea, the windows on either side are different sizes.

Agreed. I cringe at some of the cheap dollar store like supplies guys mention on the boards... whether it's using the right primer and paints, real Bare Metal Foil, Tamiya tapes, glues or other supplies... you are just cheating yourself out of professional looking results. All in all, for the time you spend on building a model, the correct supplies really aren't costly at all... especially once you've spread them across several model builds. I know that I don't want to get 3/4 the way through a 50 hour build to find that the cheapo primer and paint I used has crazed because I saved $5. The right stuff makes building more pleasurable and the results much more professional.

Here's the spare that comes with the AMT '34 sedan kit. It is obviously a hard cover. It comes in 3 pieces. The outer ring, the front piece that snaps right into it, and a back panel that is a tire on rim sitting in it. On this one, I chose to cut down a real vinyl kit tire for the inside piece. I also chose to finish the cap in white with a decal I'd been itching to use for a long time. Then I decided to leave the ring in primer since this is a traditional rod / rat rod. I think any way you choose to go is right for a car of this era. I've seen bare tires on the back of these, I've seen soft covers and here's the hard cover.

Are you near an Ollies? It's a closeout store chain. I recently bought Plastikote auto primer spray cans for $1.50 a can. I use Plastikote or Duplicolor primers exclusively on my models. I bought all they had, so I spent $25., the equivalent of buying 3 cans in the real world. This should last me a few years!

I don't think anyone understood your question... Try again. Let us know what kit you are working with and what you hope to achieve. If you are narrowing fenders, is this on a modern kit or a Model T era car. Quite different.

Amen. I brush paint very little. Mainly to add a second color to a small part or to touch up a part previously sprayed. I don't paint any parts still on trees. Every part has mold lines that should be cleaned up, as well as the point where it was separated from the tree. I go over each part, take care of those small imperfections prior to painting. I spray everything. As Jantrix said, there are cheap paints available. I've also used the Walmart flat black for small parts. In fact I buy every cheap brand flat black, gray primer etc since they all have different tones to them that will add interest to my model. I think I have at least a dozen grays that I use for detailing, interiors etc. To paint these loose parts you can tape them to styrofoam blocks, the ones you get as packing material in electronics etc. Just spread a piece of masking tape, face up across a styro block and fold over the edges like a loop to tape it to the block. Then just place your parts across the tape. Once dry, you may need to do the same for the other side. Easy. I also mount small parts on tooth picks and then stick them in to the styrofoam blocks. I have even drilled small holes into my parts where they won't be seen on final assembly, then stick that on a tooth pick for painting. Spray painting these small parts will make your model look much nicer. Brush painting puts on a much thicker coat of paint, with brush marks.

the packing part... I have stored a lot of my annual kits a specific way to avoid warping. I put the glass shot in, interior in place and then install the chassis. I figure that storing it in the way it would be built will keep it from warping... and I make sure when repacking the kit that all the trees and other parts are under this assembly, so nothing is smushing it.

Rudy since this is your first resin and you didn't mention what car or resin caster, here's a bit of advise. Resin bodies are often thicker than regular styrene bodies and sometimes the insides have imperfections. Clean the resin well BEFORE you do any body work or cleanup. Otherwise you may be embedding the mold release into the resin. Some folks will dunk the body in Wesleys White Wall Cleaner over night and then scrub it with a tooth brush and Dawn dish wash soap. When scrubbing it, you want to get into all the panel lines and things like air vents to make sure you have all the mold release. Second, prior to doing any paint or committing anything to assembly, check to make sure that everything fits! Make sure that the interior tub fits the way it would a kit body. Otherwise do the work needed to make it fit. Most important is how the glass fits into the body as this is where I've had the most fit issues with resin. Check out how the resin body fits into the chassis, do the full stack of interior, chassis etc to find any fit issues. I've had resin interior tubs that needed to have the bottoms sanded to fit against the chassis. And try out hood fit, bumpers any trim etc. You want to be sure there are no surprises when you go for final assembly!

I have several packs of the Replicas & Miniatures distributors. They are very nice, amazing that Norm as the casting of these down to a fine art. Just look at those holes. One thing to mention is that the holes are set up for the newer Detail Master thin ignition wire. I have a lot of ignition wire purchased over the years that's fatter and won't fit into these holes.

Oooh! I need that one!

he'll spend every dime he earns in the store!