Tom Geiger

What years does that Corolla represent? That grill doesn't look familiar.

I think it would be pretty easy to get a date with a $100 bill... if you went to certain areas! I do believe that the pork chop went out of fashion a long time ago!

The big part of organization is still ahead of you! You need to develop the skill of putting things back in the right place. I have set up a large rolling tool box, a tool carousel on my bench and lots of hooks over the bench where things are supposed to go. While building, all the tools wind up in a big pile on the bench and then I'm searching through it for things. So I've been making a conscious effort to put things back in their spot as I work.

Amen! People still remember the name Joe Cavorley even though he's been dead about 15 years at this point. He is remembered as one of the best light and heavy commercial modelers. Joe was a disabled man who lived on a limited fixed income. He'd turn out award winning, magazine cover models with no money. He'd usually start with broken old built ups he bought scrounging in junk boxes at shows. Guys would give Joe models and parts. You had to be careful with that since Joe was very proud and wouldn't take charity. He scratch built a lot of stuff. From small parts, to whole truck bodies. He'd do so with scrap plastic, old signs and the like. Occasionally he'd splurge for some Evergreen sheets or rod / shapes. He once told me he didn't have the money to buy after market parts.... he said if his truck needed a broom, he'd make it from a toothpick and some straw, rather than just paint up a resin one. And in the end his broom looked much better than any resin one could! When Joe died of his illness, the hobby ghouls were knocking on his door immediately and upset his wife greatly. They all thought he would have an extensive model collection. Nope! A mutual friend told me there was nothing more than a couple of parts boxes and other building supplies. Joe maximized with what he had, what he could afford. And he was known throughout the hobby for his work. Every time I hear some one complaining that they can't compete because they can't afford to buy a lathe or a big spray booth, I think of Joe.

I think that you've described the 90% of model builders. The people who make up the majority of the kit manufacturers market, the guys who buy an occasional kit at Michaels or Walmart and put it together on a rainy day. They never put it against research material, nor do they care if something is a quarter of a millimeter off. They've just got this 3D puzzle of a Mustang that they're going to attempt to put together. I once knew a guy named Dale, who lived in motels a lot for work. He just wanted some evening entertainment, so he'd find a model kit and a tube of glue. He had no paint, didn't care about mold lines or any other imperfections. He got about a week of evenings out of just assembling the kit. It made him happy. And those are the people who actually finance our hobby. As a group we need to realize that we are that odd 10% that take this hobby to an extreme. We are the lunatic fringe who participate in message boards, clubs and shows. If you want to run with this group, the game is a bit more serious, and better results are accepted as the norm. Note that the manufacturers recognize us for who we are. They take us with a grain of salt since our requests for new kits, and our criticism of their kits doesn't reflect that of 90% or more of their customer base! On the other hand... there was a guy in my club who was a sloppy builder. He did no clean up on parts. He'd brush paint parts on the trees, and spray his bodies with one coat of Walmart paint. He saw no purpose for primer. He wasn't all that careful with his glue either. He'd knock these out on a regular basis. If a kit took him more than a week or two, he lost interest. He once said that he wasn't happy if he spent an evening and didn't finish a major part of the kit. And that would be okay until... He complained about our little club contest we held every other month. He wasn't winning! I tried to coach and motivate him to put more effort into his models. Nope, not interested. Then he'd come up with contest suggestions that the models should be shown with the hoods shut, since others did a lot of detail and he couldn't be bothered to wire anything. He'd whine to anyone that would listen. He also suggested that the models be judged (popular vote) from 5 feet away to equalize them. He'd complain that the contest "wasn't fair" since others had more time to build since he worked for a living. Truth is, he probably spent more time building than the rest of us! He so wanted to win a contest, but wasn't willing to put in the effort to do so. We couldn't get through to him that effort = reward. And this was a man in his forties. Now the scary part.. he would put himself out there as a commission builder. Yea, occasionally some poor unsuspecting soul would hire him to build a model for them!

With all this nobody mentioned a famous TV vehicle... The Scooby Van! And it's a current release, I saw them in the hobby shop this week. I'd buy one but I'm not sure how accurate it is. I hear the roof may be off by a quarter of a milimeter....

We lived in our New Jersey town for over 30 years and never had a power outage for more than a few hours. We move to Pennsylvania and my daughters left back in that same NJ town have endured two evacuations for hurricanes, one with a one week power outage, the second with a two week outage. AND two summers ago they broke something at the reservoir that provided water to the entire area. Water did run from their tap, but there were warnings not to drink it. So I did what any good father would do, I took the seats out of the Caravan and filled it with bottled water here in PA and drove it there for them.

I voted for the 33-34 because lately I like them more than 32s... pretty much because those have become belly buttons. It's almost like there are more 32s around today than Henry ever made! And as said above there really isn't a decent kit. But that said, I'd also be pleased to see new tool Model As as well. Either side of their '32 series would be just fine with me, and would go with their theme of kits that can be issued in multiple body styles and will have a timeless forever appeal!

An old photo I had saved, probably since the 1980s... this was in an ad for some software solution that would save you time. The first photo showed the same guy, with the same time on the clock, sitting frustrated in his office. The second shot (above) shows him happily working on a ship model with his son... probably until his wife notices that they're working on the bare dining room table!

Funny thing, the hill was much bigger in my memory! Still, it was big enough to impress us pedestrians and probably the biggest their insurance would allow!

Nothing new.... yawn!

The '68 Impala is worth the entire amount you paid for all of them all by itself. Great score!

Yes you can. Just Google "Trabant" for images and all kinds of customs and stuff comes right up. There is a whole cult following of Trabbies and the supply must've increased dramatically when everyone in East Germany suddenly had access to western cars and dumped them all,. The car in your photos is a Borgward Isabella... still an unusually cool subject for street rod treatment!

I saw that.. a full selection of wood crosses in all kinds of sizes, all primer white.... like the ones people put on on the road.

Yea, garage sale buyers pretty much are just looking for cheap consumer goods. We had one recently here in PA and sold all our $1 items... old glassware, Beanie Babies, kids junk...

I generally leave my hoods off for a couple of reasons. I am not a fan of the oversized, toylike and incorrect hinges supplied with most kits. I'd rather fill in the large long hinge slots in the firewall so it looks like the 1:1 car. Second, if you've put a lot of detail under that hood you want people to be able to see and photograph it. Hoods open at varying degrees thwarts that. So I'd rather have my hood sitting there next to the car, and of course fit well during assembly so it sits nicely in place for closed hood shots!

I've had my Geo Tracker since 1991, and it is very capable in snow. Mine is a 4WD with a 5 speed. Something about the short wheel base and high clearance. I've tried to get it stuck, could never do it! I've aimed it at snow banks up to it's hood and with a bit of effort it plowed through. In fact when it snows deep here, the first thing I do is run the Tracker the length of the driveway, probably 200 feet to make it easier for my snow blower. This past year the snow was at least bumper height. and about Hummers... a bunch of years ago a buddy-0-mine and I went to a GM drive event. They had set up a dirt course to give demo rides in Hummers. You had one of their folks in the passenger seat next to you, but you did get to drive. The first section was a slope sideways to drive along. You were on an angle steep enough that you were sitting against the drivers door, but the truck did it with ease. The next section was a series of camel hump dunes. Way steep and tall. The instructor told you to go up the dune and not to hesitate, so I gunned it and I had never driven a vehicle up an incline like that before... all I could see out all the windows was air! When I crested, he told me to hit the gas to kick off, but then to just coast and steer. It went down this hill and up and over the second lesser one all by itself. Any other vehicle would have gotten stuck. At the end of this nerve wracking ride, the instructor asked me if I wanted one. I told him that if I lived in Alaska and had to travel over the tundra, this was the vehicle... but there was no way the should be selling these to soccer moms. I'd never need or want this to fight stop and go traffic on the Parkway! Shortly after that my rich sister in law was talking about getting a Hummer H2. I talked her out of it. I had talked to someone who did buy one for the wife... she traded it in after a year because it was a real pain in the tail to drive... to push kids up into and climb in and out in heels!

Bare Metal Foil is actually pretty simple. Everyone just over thinks it. I have no idea where you live, but if I spent a half your with you, you would be foiling with the best of them. Here's a few tips... and where people go wrong... and the last time I posted something like this certain people went nutz to contradict me. 1. Don't be stingy with the foil. You know how you order 120-150% of carpet or flooring to do a job and there's a ton of waste afterwards? BMF is like that. You will need to cut a piece about 3 times as wide as the part you are covering. 2. Place the foil down so the foil is centered over the part you are covering. Never try to line it up with an edge. You are better off cutting the foil off your edges. It will be cleaner in the end. 3. Place the foil down ONCE. Don't lift and reposition a bunch of times. That weakens the glue and puts wrinkles in your foil. 4. Never touch the glue side of the foil! Cut your piece longer than the item you are going to foil so that you cut off the edges you have touched. 5. Burnish it down with your fingers first. Then maybe with a square of old t-shirt. You can get into crevices with a de-sharpened tooth pick. Be careful not to punch through. 6. Use a new number 11 blade. Some folks paint the sides of the blade flat black so they can see the edge of it against the foil. This is a good idea because under bright lights, everything is shiny glare. 7. If you don't like the result, pull the foil off and try again. You get an infinite amount of do overs! Now here's the biggie. It takes ZERO force to cut through BMF. None at all. So when you go to cut the piece, just trace along the edge... as if you are sketching lightly with a pencil. Practice going as light as you can. There is no reason to press hard enough to scar your paint. It may not look like the foil is cut, but believe me it is. Think more like you want to score it than cut through. Now just take a dull toothpick and pull the excess away from the cut. Once you get a bit up, grab the edge with a tweezer and slowly, carefully pull it off. I've down demos at club meetings and had adults afraid to try, but 10 year old kids foiling in minutes.

Very pretty! I can't wait to see how the whole car comes together.

Imagine that as one big decal? :-)

I went to Hobby Lobby. The first thing I noticed was that all the parking spaces were reserved for Clergy, so I parked in the back of the lot and proceeded to the store. I was greeted at the door by a minister who made me denounce Satan and swear on a bible for admission..... It's a joke son!

The truth is that a stock 1964 Olds F-85 wouldn't sell a lot of units, but the funny car version would. Model King had trouble selling all the Craftsman series Comets, but he went back for a few pressings of the funny car Comets.

Back when I lived in Monmouth County NJ the county drug bust team, made up of officers from many different towns, used confiscated cars for undercover work. A kid in our neighborhood was under surveilance for selling weed and he got busted by guys in an old 1980s Dodge Daytona.

The PT Cruiser is more kin to the cloud cars (Breeze, Cirrus, Stratus) than the Neon. My two Breezes have the same 2.4 engine. And the PT Cruiser I experienced drove very much like the Breeze.

Drinks?? They didn't have any drinks? No beer, no Jack Daniels!