Tom Geiger

Agreed. Many moons ago most of my friends in my club ignored snap kits. Then we got involved with a local youth group and ordered several cases of assorted snappers from one of our friendly dealers. We got into it as much as the kids! And all noticed just how cool the kits were, and how easy they went together. We agreed that day was the most models our clan had built all year! To date, I've done projects based on some of these snap kits. Sometimes it's fun to concentrate on body mods, paint and detailing out an interior rather than working for months on a full detail monster!

Just thought I'd post these two shots so you can see what the Miss Deal chassis looks like completed. It's not that detailed a set up, but a lot of guys use this chassis under a lot of different bodies. You may have to move some wheel wells on the bodies, but it will be cool! I used this one for the kit Studebaker body, but I have a few extras to play with!

Yes! While I haven't been following, I've always been a soccer fan. We just had dinner at Applebees and the USA / Portugal game was on. I couldn't help but watch and when there was a goal, there'd be a big cheer from the kitchen. The manager explained that the Spanish speaking kitchen staff was watching and very enthusiastic! I grew up in Europe, coming back to the USA in 1972. I had played soccer most of my life and had very little connection to US football. I was surprised that there was no soccer at all! In high school they just played in gym class. I was up against all those big guys who aced every American sport, and I was this little 80 pound guy who could outplay them. They weren't used to this at all and took to tripping or otherwise assaulting me! So the coach took me out and told me to ref. And that was the end of my soccer playing!

Yes, it's a good thing. Above is a photo of the assembled one that Ed Sexton sent to us as a raffle give away car for NNL East. It's signed by everyone on the team that created it. One of a kind!

Agreed. When I used to drive to work on the Garden State Parkway in NJ, which is a stop and go parking lot, I'd often see the same red Ferrari in traffic... inching along with us commoners. And noting that my well worn Plymouth Breeze was doing the same exact job!

There is no overall sanctioning body that sets rules for the demo derby in the USA. You'll find as many sets of rules as you have tracks in some cases! I used to drive in the derby at Wall Stadium in New Jersey back in the 1980s. I'd want to have a hood for the mentioned reason of keeping spewing fluids contained, but mostly to help the front end maintain integrity in crashes. You want as much armor as you can get!

That has to be the prettiest Tata to ever come out of Mumbai! Strange era we live in! So I'll do what I did the last time I liked a Jaguar design... I'll wait 10 years and get one for 1/5 of the price of a new one!

Tom- Check private messages, I just sent you Rick's current email address.

I saw my aunt today and she said that my cousin David had gotten an electric car. I told her that I knew he had gotten a Nissan Leaf last summer, in fact I have driven it. She replied, "No he just got the expensive one.. a Tess something..." Hmmm... I'm hoping I get to drive a new Tesla! Maybe I need to invite him over for a swim!

Love the progress so far Blair! It looks great especially that interior looks alive! Are those interior colors Valspar as well?

Carl, I have seen them with a small chrome mirror. I was working with the 1976 Chevette brochure and the body color sport mirror was on most of the cars, with the chrome one on the cheapest Scooter model. I also see a lot of chrome mirrors on later model ones, especially on the 4 door sedans. The car I've replicated looks a lot like the top one above.

And speaking of Crown Vics... I believe they made them through 2011, but they are still everywhere. I've been watching as they're replaced with those new Ford Taurus based Crusiers and SUVs. So they will slowly disappear from police use, but I wonder how long they'll still be in service. We know they last forever. My bro-in-law drives for a limo service on weekends and tells me the Vics and Town Cars they have all have 300,000 miles on them and still feel good. So it's safe to say we'll see them in taxi use for the next ten years, especially in smaller markets.

A modern taxi meter. There is no more flag to push down. It's all electronic. I got this photo from eBay, yea you can buy taxi meters there. One ad even gave the measurements. And here it is on the dashboard of my Dodge Caravan taxi. Nothing more than a piece of Evergreen, painted black, with that photo above scaled down and glued to it. It's mounted on a short piece of wire on the back so that it floats above the dash as if on a mount.

I used to use Plastikote primer but cannot get it locally anymore. So I switched over to Duplicolor primer.

The Chevette is finally done! Yea, it is a curbside and should've been a been a quick build, but you know the story. This is my sister in law's car that she drove to college. And it's the spittin' image. I am pleased with the results and I"m sure she'll get a big kick out of seeing it in scale. I got the details down, from her fake fur seat covers to the Ying and Yang sticker she had on that side window. These are the customary shots I take at the end of a project to look for things I can fix. I spot a few so it will get a short trip to the bench for a little of this and that. Lessons learned? Yea. Notice the slots in the body for the bumpers. The actual bumpers go no where near them, so I will fill them in on my next Chevette build. The outside mirror (yea Harry it does have both an outside mirror and a rear view one inside!) has no mounting point at all. The Chevette rebuildable models I've bought have huge messes of glue on the upper doors. So I did my usual pin mount. I did assume that the mirror was the right shape... wrong. Next time I will break apart the mirror from the stalk so that I can position the two pieces on the car. I did wind up doing about that in place with the painted parts. There was a bit of white putty added and a dab of green paint to make it look acceptable. Front view... I had to make the 1977 grills from the later style and I can see my own work. I now own a 1977 kit with the correct grills and these are just pressed in place so I can change them later if I want. The interior came out well, I even added a headliner, sun visors and a rear view mirror. Yea, you hardly see them but I know they are there! And I already have a headliner pattern for the next one! Rear view.. I wanted to do something else to add interest so I found a bowling bag in the old Johan luggage set. I thought I could disguise it as a book bag, but everyone who sees it correctly IDs it as a bowling bag, so be it! I did make the Ramapo State College decal in two sizes, one on the bag and there is a school decal on the rear window. I did the bag trim in school colors. All in all I had fun with this one. I'm guilty of my usual vice of over complicating any project. I finished the headliner and finally cried uncle on adding seat belts and more detail. Enough is enough! It was built from the promo version, so it's curbside and screws together. The glass and headliner are glued in place, but the interior, bumpers and chassis would all come off if needed. It's great to have an old family memory on the shelf. I did buy the paint to do my wife's old 1974 Mustang II to sit next to it... onward!

Then braged about it on the Internet. The cops already have seen the post!

I think there was a fleet option that either deleted the moldings from the front doors, or included them in the trunk. There are a lot of cars like this one, where police graphics took up the entire door so there is no molding. The other thing you'll see are cars that have the molding, but a section of it was cut out to allow for a long shield. When these make it to their second life as taxi cabs, they look funny with the shield cut out in the molding, but no graphics any where near it!

Nice photos Al! I was hoping you'd post some after our phone conversation the other night. I didn't get out to the Jersey Shore meeting tonight, it's a long ride from PA and I'm going back to NJ tomorrow for a family party so enough driving!

Very cool build. That looks like a light duty truck you'd find picking up trash at the local park....

I bought this one built as you see it. I loved this blue and thought it was a nice build. Me? Since we had a red VW of this era that's the first thing that pops into my head when asked about color.

From your earlier post it sounds like you did the right thing and filed a Paypal dispute. So you should be made whole.

You guys crack me up! I bought from rdsxfan2 and got my Opel Kadette body and '67 Dodge Dart conversion set in a reasonable turn around. The quandary of the aftermarket is that they can sell much more product, faster than they can produce it. Enter the numpties who think they should get 24 hour service and it's all downhill from there. Wonder why Ma's Resin is no more? Al was doing interesting wheels and tires at the cost of the resin materials because he was having fun and thought he was doing a service to an appreciative public. Suddenly he was besieged by idiots who were ordering 20 sets of wheels and tires at a time (note that his pressure pot allowed 6 units per evening.. as in 1.5 sets a day), and then trashing him on the boards when they didn't get them in a week. End of story.

Major league cool!

Wanted - mint condition old 1960s annuals. Have a hand full of paper clips to trade! Blame Modelhaus for that one!

and I'd be complaining about Obamacare....