Tom Geiger

I was in San Juan a few weeks ago. I went into Walgreens to get a few things and wound up asking a very nice young woman about which brand of Puerto Rican coffee to buy to bring home. Then I got some candy and stuff to eat on the plane ride. I was on line right behind her, and the clerk spoke to her in Spanish. The clerk took one look at me and said "hello" and addressed me in English. Man, do I look that American? Spur of the moment, I acted like I didn't understand her and spoke to her in German. So she did her best to help me and I finished the transaction in German. I guess that taught her not to prejudge! Ha! The woman I was speaking to earlier walked out the same time as me and we both started laughing. She thought it was pretty funny. I was in San Juan a few weeks ago. I went into Walgreens to get a few things and wound up asking a very nice young woman about which brand of Puerto Rican coffee to buy to bring home. Then I got some candy and stuff to eat on the plane ride. I was on line right behind her, and the clerk spoke to her in Spanish. The clerk took one look at me and said "hello" and addressed me in English. Man, do I look that American? Spur of the moment, I acted like I didn't understand her and spoke to her in German. So she did her best to help me and I finished the transaction in German. I guess that taught her not to prejudge! Ha! The woman I was speaking to earlier walked out the same time as me and we both started laughing. She thought it was pretty funny.

It's all relative... in 1976 I sold my 1970 Chevy 350 coupe because I couldn't afford to put gas in it... and gas was 50 cents a gallon then! The Buick I just bought should get the same range as your Sebring.

Come on Ron! You can do it!

Wow! I had been driving my 1991 Geo Tracker to work (PA to NJ) the past two weeks. 60 miles each way, 10 gallon tank... filling it up every two days... about 8-9 gallons. And making sure I was filling up in NJ where gas is cheaper and this nice guy fills it up for me while I check my email. Gave my wife the new Buick LaCrosse so I have been taking the Breeze to work this week. Much more comfortable than the Tracker soft top on the Turnpike... same gas mileage!

And with all that history, there is no way I can toss them into the parts box. They will get redone just out of respect that they survived all these years. The more I look, the more they'll be restored to what they were rather than today's rat rods!

That is pretty cool. Back when I was in high school, maybe 1975 or so, we did stop frame animation in class. It took us about a week to do a 15-30 second scene where my 1/25 Mini Cooper is driven by a clay man. The Mini is a diecast that has opening doors, bonnet and boot, so the clay guy drove up, got out of the car and ran around it opening and shutting all the opening panels. Then he got back in and drove away. We thought we were so cool! That film is no doubt long lost... although I still have the Mini!

Thanks Bill... guess that means they are worth saving... Carl... yes, I have a whole collection of the old custom builds... http://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/old_customs/

I got these at the Liars show last weekend. All three in the bag for a big $4. I was originally drawn to this one. Something about it made me think I could use it as a basis for one of my rusty rat projects... Then I pulled this from the bag. The roof wasn't on it so it didn't stand out until I got it all out of the bag. Now this is a cool chop. The kid who did it never went any further. A piece like this deserves to get finished. And the last one is the only intact model from the bag. It even rolls. So it can sit on a shelf for now. Can anyone name the kits these came from? Note the chopped coupe is dark green plastic. Can't beat them for $1.33 each!

R&R did a resin 4 door sedan. I believe it was a direct pop off an old resin. Quality was iffy, I have one somewhere in my mess. Ray died a while ago and nobody has picked up his business. His stuff is found being resold at shows and on eBay.

I saw an odd one... Yesterday in the rain, right as it was getting light out in the morning I spotted something black and not well lit up in the slow lane on the turnpike. It was a 60s Saab 96 with big white lettering on the sides declaring that it was an all electric vehicle.

So far most of them are still preserved for the future. I have given boxes to guys who wanted the original box for their kit or built model. I have boxes going back 30 years I've been saving. I used to use them to transport kits to shows, a model to a box surrounded by styrofoam peanuts. I stopped doing that because guys who see the box and pick it up (always tilting it of course) to see the box lid. No doubt thinking it was a kit I just bought at the show.

That goes for any hobby that you turn into a business. I was a big stamp collector when I was young. I turned that into a business, buying collections and selling off pieces. I even did artwork for first day covers and album pages. At the end of the day I didn't have any time or ambition left for my own passions of collecting. Pretty much burned out on it and didn't touch my pet collection for many years. I learned my lesson there, so I'll never mix models and money!

I don't think it was a TV show or movie... I think I was born with cars on the brain. My grandmother gave me this little drawing I did when I was 2 or 3. She saved it for me all those years!

Scott, we have a visitor from France at work this week. I know him from working over the phone and in Live meetings over the past year, and I spent a week with him in Puerto Rico last month so we are friendly. Today we arrived the same time and he pulled in right next to me. He gets out of the Kia rental car, smiles and says, "I come all the way from France and they couldn't give me an American car?" I kinda sighed and said, "That IS an American car. It's made here." So I asked him what he drove back home... Citroen? Renault? "No, he says, Toyota." Yea it's the same all over.

Since we're talking about winter builds, I should mention my annual Christmas Holiday Amnesty Build. I've been doing this for better than 15 years and a bunch of guys from the udder board have joined in or at least cheered me on! The premise is that every year the US President grants Thanksgiving Amnesty to a turkey, giving him the gift of life. So I figured I would do the same for a long abandoned model car project, but over the Christmas holidays. I have had the week between Christmas and New Years off most years, so I'd find some promising project and finish it that week. I have a bunch of models that are at that 80% completion mark, that a week of concentration will get them out of a box and onto my shelf. And there are years that the project goes a bit longer, but it counts as long as I continue working until I'm finished. I'm not about to rush anything and make a mess. I do need to look at all the unfinished projects on the shelves over my work bench and decide what I want to do this season. Front runners are the Volare Messenger Car and the 1960 Plymouth stretch wagon. We will see...

Agreed! I love odd Deora custom builds.

If you have limited space but want to save boxes, remember that they fold up. I have a model case (AMT 12 model case) that I keep those in. I fold up both the top and bottom and put them in the case sideways. Once you get near a full box, just squeeze them in to fit more.

Exactly. Garage kept one owner car with 32,000 miles. Leather interior is perfect. Exterior has a few minor scratches, to be expected. My wife will drive it 5 miles to work, and we'll use it as the family car for when we go places together. For us, it's every bit as nice as a new $40,000 one, but without the cash outlay.

Went to the hobby shop today in my new car... Yup, I finally got down to business and bought a car. With all of our cars over 150,000 miles, we needed to have one clean family car that we're not afraid to take on a long trip. Those who know me know that I prefer to buy a low mile, clean used car and pay cash instead of being a slave to car payments. After a long Internet search I bought this 2005 Buick LaCrosse CXL with 32,000 miles on it for $8000 cash. It was on the lot at a New Jersey Acura dealer. It's a one owner estate car, the son of the original owner inherited it from his father and traded it in on a new Acura SUV. it's got leather and everything else we need. CarFax is complete and clean, got all the service records and window sticker with it. Dealer originally had $12,999 on it, so I think I did well. Yea, you can find a cheaper LaCrosse, but not this nice. And we plan on keeping it a long time.

Congrats! I am also out numbered with a wife and two daughters. It was quite an experience raising them and fending off the boys!

it just has to be Nektar Recycled.... back around 1974 maybe, I was laying in bed with a college radio station on... and they played this. I immediately bought the album the very next day. And it's always been one of my favorite works. The entire first side flows like a rock opera. I believe this clip is all of it.... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iLlvkXCQ8AE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I give up. The same code that works here all the time just gives us what you see above! Click on this, it works: //www.youtube.com/embed/iLlvkXCQ8AE

Yes! I must have a dozen different gray spray cans as well as metalizers and blacks just for this reason. Add in clear gloss, semi-gloss and dullcote and you have an infinite amount of shades to make it all stand out

For those of you talking about kit storage... I know a guy who would take every model he got, immediately clip all the parts off the trees, put the parts in a plastic bag and ditch the box. He'd sometimes fit 2-3 kits in a single box. He thought he was being rather efficient... until he had financial difficulties. He thought he could liquidate some of his collection and pay some of his bills. Nope. He had made the kits virtually sale proof. People will never trust that all the parts are in that bag, and most want the box etc. even if they're planning on building the kit. For storage, I've begged my share of manufacturers dozen kit cases from dealers over the years. My model warehouse is several aisles of these, stacked up to maybe six boxes high. I have categorized what is in each case on the side panel on a white sticker. If it changes I can always rip off the sticker or just put another one over it. I have my cases by car make, and when I have a lot, I can further break them down such as "1950s Chevy" and even "1950s Chevy pickups"... What also works decently are Home Depot moving boxes. Their large box is about $2 and is plenty sturdy for kits. I have all my odd size boxes like Japanese kits in those.

The most unrealistic part of any model??? Our collective expectations! Seriously. A company could produce a 250 part kit, dead nutz down to the last wire, with 10 sheets of photo etch, 3 different engines, 4 sets of wheels and tires and offer it for $10 and still our silly herd would find fault with it! And for every one posting on this thread that they'd pay for quality, there's 100 guys printing that Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon.

I have a bunch of things that have been sitting on the edge of the bench for awhile that need to get finished before I can think of anything new... or anything that's still unfinished but requires a lot more work.... First up is my Trabant postal van. It's currently stalled because I ran out of the Tamiya RC color I am painting it. I may just take a drive to a distant hobby shop where I got the first can this afternoon The Dodge Van camper.. it's much further along than I have photos. Interior is completed, even the body is done including travel decals all on the left side. I don't even know why I haven't finished it! These! Again, much further along than in the photos. My hang up is the headlights. The kit ones have that goofy peg in the back of the m that make them look like WWII battle headlights. I sanded the backs flat and that warped the pieces so they won't fit at all. Now I'm thinking of pulling out the Vacuform, but have been putting that one off! Then once those are finished.... Yea, I want to get this one done. I'm second guessing some of my original fabrication that's not exactly square. If I had a spare junker body, I'd cut the sides out and straighten it all out... The Volare Messenger Car... folks actually inquire about this 20 year project... so I should just finish it up And maybe after that I can start something new???? And I have a ton of leaves to rake before I can actually think about hitting the bench!