Tom Geiger

I love those old Mercedes. The Euro models look so much cleaner than the USA versions with round headlights and big black bumpers!

Rich and I had emailed earlier on the subject. I think we both got the right set. Thank you Steve!

Thank you everyone. I just ordered the set that Steve recommended on eBay

Amen, Thank you! This is project management just like it would be in any other business. Things the average consumer would never think about. I worked in facility management at Nabisco headquarters many moons ago. Things like the mix of mixed nuts in the Planters can are adjusted every week to what company buyers can buy on the world market and which type of nuts are down in cost that week. Surplus of Brazil nuts? There will be more of them in the cans on that week. If you are in the 1% of people who don't like Brazil nuts, oh well. The company caters to the majority of their market. As an average consumer you will never notice. But figuring that savings across millions of cans of nuts is big dollars. That's how business works. The model companies are a microscopic bit to what big business of consumer goods are today. In fact they are a small part of what the model car market once was. The "teams" are often one person, such as Dave Metzner dealing with a contractor on the other side of the globe. I had dinner with Dave last year after NNL East and he described these transactions. I identified with this since i have several late night meetings with China and Japan every week in the pharmaceutical company I now consult with on manufacturing reliability issues. I'm dealing with great people I have met in person who are smart and really want to do the right thing. But we have cultural and language issues that we deal with. Never mind that my Chinese counterpart and I both drive Buicks, we are pleased as punch when we get across 90% of our needs. And this is in heavily regulated industry. So I know first hand what the model car industry is up against, having Chinese subcontractors create models of cars they've never seen in person. When you consider the road blocks, the results are actually quite outstanding!

Thanks a million guys! That's exactly the answer I was looking for. Steve, where did you get that big Hampton Art sleeve? Mike- That Recollections brand big black balls is the one I was referring to. Thanks for letting me know not to buy it. Bill G- Hoping to see you at NNL East.

I just spent a half hour searching these sections for help with embossing powder. Older threads are useless because the photos are all long gone... so here's my question. I was at Michael's the other day and wanted to by some embossing powder. I got confused because there are different types and colors. The small bottles aren't sealed so I could twist off the caps to check out the texture. There are some that are finer than sand, more like silt. And then there are ones in little balls, almost like micro balloons. Past the recommendation of the texture to use, I'd also like to know what color to buy, or if that's important at all since we're painting over it anyway... I mean like, are there any colors to avoid? Like the ones with metal flake like bits? It would be great if someone could post a photo of the one they use. Thanks!

Aside from the styrofoam blocks that I use like everyone else does, (either stick toothpicks into the styro or stick parts into a tape strip), I extensively use these small bathroom cups in the model room. I never spray paint into a can cap, I use these small cups. Once they are used as paint cups, I let them dry and turn them over as paint stands. I spray nearly everything so I'm used to mounting small parts. I never paint parts still on the sprue since it's impossible to clean them up properly, sand the mold line etc. I like to use toothpicks for mounting in most applications. Since I drill and pin a lot of my parts, I will drill a quick hole somewhere either where I will use it later for mounting on the model, or where it won't be seen on the finished model. Then I impale it on the tooth pick. There are times that I'll wrap some tape around the end of the tooth pick, and then just stick that into a parts cavity (see the white washer bottle in above photo). Also look at the cup in the front, you'll see a door handle that has a straight pin sticking out of it. That was drilled and the pin permanently mounted to mount the door handle to the model body. I'll leave the entire pin on it for handling purposes until I'm ready to use the part. With the pin on it, tiny parts don't roll off the bench and get lost. And as you see, I just tape the pins to the cups. Here's interior door handles being painted on top of a cup. I just poke out the holes I needed and go for it. My cups do a lot of paint duty before they get tossed. They are easy to use since you can move them in and out of your paint area quickly. I'll often leave the parts on the cup until I'm ready to use them. I haven't painted in a week and all these parts are sitting on the bench like this waiting assembly. The cups are perfect for modeling since they are cheap and disposable. I used to retrieve them from the bathroom trash where my daughters just took a sip of water and tossed the cup. Then I realized that a box of them was just a few dollars, so I bought a box for the model room. I still have cups after 2 years so it's a cheap investment. When buying, make sure the cup you are selecting doesn't have any wax coating on it, and important to note, you want a flat bottom. Some of them have a raised edge. Those are useless. Happy painting!

When we do discover a kit that's missing parts, especially one we bought used a while back or one we may have 'borrowed' a part from sometime in the past and forgot, we have the option of putting "Wanted" posts on forums such as this one. There are others and your wanted posts are better accepted on boards where you have a presence... hint, your first post on a forum shouldn't be one asking for something! Many of us have extensive collections of parts kits and are happy to provide a part that will allow a project to get off the bench!

Maybe a Mexican modeler who made a kit run to his nearest hobby shop? It's interesting to see the Mexican market cars, some makes and models not imported or sold in the US, plus local variations of US cars. For instance, they used the model designation "Dart" on Kcars, as well as their Chrysler LeBarons were "Phantoms", no doubt because the name was already owned by some other company in the US. Also things like in the US they didn't produce a Valiant hardtop, but Mexico did, as well as some interesting Mustang / Capri mash ups.

Thanks for saving me the typing. Again we are dealing with TOYS. Nothing life threatening. And believe me I know the difference, I've worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 35 years. Totally different animal. Bill, the issue really is that guys who get all worked up over this kind of accuracy are less than 1% of the overall kit consumers. Most of the kits sold go out to casual builders, some of which don't even paint the parts, who think the kit is just spectacular. In business, you aim to please the majority of your potential consumers, and not the less than 1%, many of which you will never please. I do agree that the kit manufacturers should do their very best. And I know many of the folks internal to these companies and they really try. Budgets and deadlines, as well as the expectations of their AVERAGE consumer dictates when enough is enough. When judged that the majority of customers will be tickled pink, VS going back though one more revision cycle at say $50,000. they just can't do it. Which leads us to the "I will pay more for a better kit" group, who once again represent a microscopic percentage of the consumer base. The guys who rant that they won't buy a '57 Ford until all these things are fixed are just missing out. It is what it is and those issues will never be addressed. And you're turning the hobby into an obsession that only upsets yourself, and takes from the pleasure the majority of kit consumers experience. And that kind of passion is what defines this group of kit consumers. Bill, may I ask how many new kits you bought in the past year? Since you haven't been building much I suspect it wasn't many, if any. This falls into the same category that Chrysler doesn't give a hoot what I think about their cars because I am not a new car buyer. Since I buy used cars, I don't even register on their survey. And of course we will never agree on the subject.

They all do now a days! I was getting frustrated fitting all the plumbing I wanted to include under the hood of my Volare project in 1/25 scale. The next day I was working under the hood of my Dodge Caravan and had one of those laugh out loud moments.. of course I was having issues with the model, when I couldn't even get my hands into places under the hood of a 1:1 ! VW looks nice, I wouldn't mind having one of those New Beetle convertibles.

Very cool! This is looking really good!

Ya know... I'm in the camp that good enuf is good enuf! I'm no modeling goob, I've built my share of show winning models and I can identify most world cars from a photo. But unless I'm forced to put the model against dimensioned photographs of a 1:1, the minute details go right past me. If the model is on my shelf and viewers immediately identify it as a 1949 Mercury wagon, so be it. It's a friggin hobby and I'm not sweating it. Going crazy ranting about models isn't all that pleasurable for me, so I choose not to waste my hobby time. We aren't dealing with artificial hearts or nuclear reactors here. For instance, when I got my '58 Plymouth kit, I thought it looked just fine, and it is a pretty detailed kit. I only saw the 'issue' when someone posted a photo on a board with the correct chrome line drawn in. And once I saw it, I just said "Oh" and went on with my life. I was privy to a conversation with insiders involved with the development and production of that kit. They saw that issue, but there was a hard deadline for those kits to be on Wallys shelf. And you don't miss their deadlines ever. So the decision was to go to production since they didn't have the time for one more round of design improvements. And i understand that. Those of us who work professionally, have all come against that issue of deadline and budget. How many times have I rushed a presentation I would've liked to improve to print, because we were presenting it on Friday. In business if I come out of a review with 80% of my concept intact, I've done well. Been there, done that! There aren't many new kits from the past ten years that I would find flaws with so bad that I wouldn't own one. I get a kick out of guys on these boards who take a kit that looks good to 95% of the customers, and somehow find a flaw so bad that they say they are waiting for one that's so much better. Be a '57 Ford or '49 Merc, you can wait until the cows come home, but there won't be another!

Have you found any problems? I wouldn't think so with Japanese quality. But even if you found a problem, shipping costs would be an issue for a kit return.

Funny thing. In Red Bank, NJ there is a funeral home called "Child's Funeral Home" which no doubt "Child" was the last name of the founder. An idiot friend of mine thought they only did funerals for children. If so maybe they could use this wagon.... or a hearse for Goth midgets?

Sorry to hear. Thank you for doing the thankless job. My only view is watching Locked Up on MSNBC and it's a whole 'nuther world. I wouldn't be able to deal with that.

Look through your junk box for car back seats, I've even cut them out of tubs. I have had good luck adding plastic for sides and a back for pickup bench seats.

I love the work you have into this project. Seat wise, I'd suggest a bench seat with an arm rest? That would be cool since being a pickup instead of a Beetle, there's no need for the seat to fold to let passengers in the back. I used the back seat from the AMT '53 Studebaker as a pickup bench seat once, after making sides and a back for it.

Oh come on! Tom Carter is an accomplished professional photographer aside from operating the model car business. The girls in his ads were college age when they were photographed like ten years ago. They needed some professional work photos for their modeling portfolios. They are all modestly dressed, nothing wrong going on there. The little girl in the ads is his granddaughter.

I just had a funny thought.... with this announcement they are going to get an enormous onslaught of orders! Maybe more work than they can get done in two years!

I was thinking about this project and the chance I can get it finished for the few upcoming shows I will attend. The left side had been rather bare and uninteresting so I had been saving travel sticker images from eBay and had planned on printing them out. Then I got the Revell 49 Mercury woody wagon and the decals I needed were there! Score again for procrastination! Overall the decals came from the '49 Merc Woody, and I believe some of the surfing ones came from the '46 Ford woody. The small bumper sticker strips are actually the headers from license plate decals (Ski Utah). The scotty was on the '37 Ford pickup sheet. I did this work a while ago and just saw I hadn't posted it. So here it is. And I do need to get this one finished. Part of my hesitation is that once I mate the body and chassis, much of the interior work will only be visible through the grimy windows and if I leave the roof dog house as removable.

The Zimmer website says that their cars are based on a brand new Ford Mustang or Lincoln 4 door sedan. The website doesn't appear to be updated since 2013, and their used Zimmer price guide stops in the late 1980s, as if they have been out of production. Irony is that the mailing address is a residence and they make mention that the pricing is FOB Syracuse, NY. Their ordering information is a bit simple... send us a check for 60% and wait six months for delivery. The new 2015 ZIMMERS are now available. The 2-door model is based on a new 2015 Mustang GT, fully loaded. The 2015 Zimmer pricing* will be: MODELMSRP 2-Door Coupe$218,700 2-Door Convert$238,700

It's interesting that RM would put damaged and incomplete kits out in the marketplace, since buyers are apt to call their parts line for replacement parts. That would cost them more than the few dollars they get for a damaged kit. and yea, that '56 Ford pickup is a turd of a kit!

Best wishes to Don and Carol! At least they gave us some notice! I had heard that they had adult children involved in the business, so I was hoping it would continue within the family.