Tom Geiger

Jules... cop cars in the US are always automatics. Our culture went away from manual transmissions a long time ago. Many folks have never driven one. All rental cars are automatics. I know that seems odd from a European perspective. From a police cruiser perspective, it allow them to be on radio etc while driving, rather than shifting. And from a fleet perspective, automatics never need a clutch and often will last the life of the car. Even UPS went to automatics for that very reason. I don't think you could get a Crown Vic with a clutch at all. And yes, the rear door handles are removed from police cruisers in most cases.

Wow Rich, I hadn't realized you were in PA that long. Time does fly! And yes it does, hard to believe I've been here four years myself! And as as far as the island... last Friday afternoon.. it took me 4 HOURS to get from Staten Island to Smithtown!

And brand new curse words you've never heard before!

I've been married for 33 years this week. Part of the success is that my wife knew what she was getting into from the start. I wasn't building models then, but I've always collected things. She comes from a long line of TV watchers, so she really didn't understand it, but knew it was part of me. As far as models, she doesn't really 'get it' but understands that it's important to me, that it's my sanity and center of many of my friendships. She still can't figure out why modelers from other countries find me interesting enough to visit! She does tolerate that my newest finished build always sits in a place of honor next to the TV in our family room. It does look out of place between her two cabinets of figurine stuff, but I like to see it there. She does get upset when I introduce her as "my first wife". I cannot understand why.

I'm soooo pleased that the clear went on well. My recent adventures have left me with stuff lifting off under the clear, and a trip to the pond! That is amazing artwork. And, did Janice have a stock black interior? Too bad she didn't have an interior to match the exterior. Still, if Danbury Mint was still doing cars.. they could sell a ton of these!

Never got outta bed??

I carry very little cash. Why? Because when you put cash in your pocket you suddenly notice you don't have any and no clue where it went! So I use my debit card for nearly everything. That way I have a record of my transactions. Since I am consulting and have a home office, I can write off a lot of stuff for home and car expenses too. So I need records. As far as places that don't take cards in the 21st century... I go there exactly once. And when I find out they don't take cards I give them an earfull and let them know I'll never be back. I can't imagine being so business stupid. Idiots don't understand how much business they have lost over that 3% fee. They've lost much more! And I think some of the cash vs debit/credit is old school. And some of the folks that squawk the loudest that they'd never own a credit card... well, they aren't credit worthy. Recently the young guy at work, in his 30s asked me why George and I would spend cash in the cafeteria. It was beyond his understanding. Me? I was just spending off some cash I had left over from going to a model show!

Nice model! I still want one of those Chrysler convertibles! I keep my eye out for a nice low mile one at a reasonable price. Great summer cruiser.

Ha! They do that in PA too. There was one company that had a good gimmick. He drove by and tossed imprinted Frisbees on every driveway. I didn't hire him but I kept the Frisbee so his name is around. Ted the dog loves his Frisbee.

You don't see ambulances like that in the USA anymore, but whenever there's disaster coverage in Israel, all the ambulances seem to be US GM vans. Now that would be interesting markings to do decals for!

I agree with you Harry. I use the debit card for most purchases. I also have credit cards but pay the balances off every month. I don't carry any debt other than my mortgage. I like rewards. If I use my Lowes or Home Depot card, I get 5% back. The minute I get the bill, I schedule the payment on my on-line banking so they earn no interest from me. When I did my major renovations, I took advantage of the same store's no interest for 24 months deal, again I set up my on-line banking to pay it every month so it would be paid ahead of time. Might as well use their money. My credit card rewards just sent me a $50 restaurant gift card that we enjoyed. I do pay cash for some things... like college education for my two daughters. And cars. I refuse to buy new and have car loans. And I don't run balances on cards. Simply put, I don't buy things I cannot afford.

Just curious... I went to the Home Depot website. Chamberlain garage door openers start at $119. For $158 I can get one better than mine that includes the complete rail system, 2 remotes and an outdoor keypad. Doh! And I do have a coupon!

Like my recent foray into fixing my printer! The printer quality was poor and I wanted to print decals. First I followed friends directions on cleaning the head. No improvement. Then the print server told me I needed to replace the cartridges so I did ($40). No improvement. Then someone said if I had new cartridges, then I needed a new head. So I ordered one on eBay. ($40). The new head was worse than the one I had. So at that point I went to Staples and bought a whole new printer on sale using two different coupons ($60!) Yea, I'm hard headed.

I went to a business meeting at PJM Interconnection Company last summer. This is the company that runs the power grid for the Eastern Seaboard, going into about half way into the USA. There was an experimental electric Mini Cooper in the lobby and part of their presentation was that they are working on fueling electric vehicles via airwaves. No more wires. They said that way they can continuously fuel cars as they drive, solving the battery range issues. Now the bonus... as THE power company for half the US, they see all these vehicles as additional power storage devices. So you drive your electric car to work and as it sits there in the parking lot PJM may pull power back from it to solve peak demand, and then replace the power to you before you leave for home again. Very cool stuff. As far as litigation for accidents of driverless cars, there simply won't be any. There won't be any user error. The car never blinks or daydreams. There will be issues during the transition period, as human driven cars crash into these driverless cars. We have been using driverless technology for years in commercial applications. Maybe 10 years ago I was at the Haworth office furniture factory in Michigan. As we walked around the plant, there were driverless vehicles scurrying around the plant, delivering materials to work stations. If you walked in the path of one, it would instantly stop until you were out of the way. Also, the tram system at Newark Airport, that delivers travelers from parking lots to the terminals has been driverless for at least 15 years!

Too cool. I'm gonna be needing to get both the pickup and van versions! While not legal on US roads, there are a bunch of these small Japanese pickups in the USA. They are used on campuses and other large properties. The first time I saw them was at Disney in Florida. They were all over the property, a lot of them with the landscaping crews. The above one was on campus at Rowan University in NJ. And here's one I have, a Suzuki Carry. There is a whole series of these, some out of print and some current. So you should be able to get one if you want. I cut the van body off to make this small car hauler. I should finish it one of these days.

Exactly! I charge nearly everything since I'm a consultant and can expense a lot of my charges, so all my gas goes on the card. Also, with a fill up being $40-60, who wants to carry a lot of cash around? I did some further web investigating and found a Long Island News Day article that a bunch of stations in that area are pulling that $1 upcharge. There is a NY state law against upcharges, BUT there is no law against discounting a product for cash. The article says the state investigators cannot determine whether the stations are upcharging, or discounting, so they haven't been able to prosecute (DUH!). Governor Cuomo was quoted as saying about a third of gas stations on Long Island are involved in deceptive practices. Great place!

Yup, this was a Sunoco branded station in Smithtown, NY. Somebody needs to send Sunoco a letter. And if a station owner is so against taking credit cards, which are actually an easier transaction than cash, then he's up to no good tax wise. A call to the local IRS should get a severe audit on the boy! Okay, I just complained on the Sunoco company website and included a link to my photo. They say they respond within two business days. I gave them both my email and phone number. Let's see what they say.

No actually the Geo Tracker was purchased new in 1991 for $10,500 cash. Since then it's provided 245,000 miles of transportation with maintenance and minor repairs. It's a mountain goat in snow and I'll be riding in the open air all summer! And it qualifies for PA historic plates!

Wow! Glad to hear Harry is okay. I was worried that he had fallen and didn't have his Life Alert device with him. Sad to hear that he didn't fix the garage door opener since I currently own two of those buggers with gremlins in them. Like Harry, I bought the capacitor and that didn't help a bit on Unit A. I need to clear some junk out of the way to try same new piece on Unit B. So that leaves me without a successful mentor! When I went on eBay to look for parts, I noticed that most of the ones I saw were being sold by very small sellers. Probably guys just like us, who failed at fixing their opener and are now selling off the parts they bought!

It was a copy of a friend's '68 I was building, I ran into some issues that I couldn't figure out then (he had extra tail lights in the rear panel) which I now know what to do with the trim. So I do have to get back to it. I just dug it out and have taken a few photos for your reference. This project has been sitting so long it was before digital cameras! http://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/my_model_cars/primer_projects/buffy-the-clown-mustang/ I have about a roll of prints of the original car. My friend ran an entertainment business and this Mustang convertible was all done up as a clown car. He had the car done that way a long time, before it was considered valuable. He died a few years ago and his wife gave the car away. Hopefully it got restored. Three reference shots for you at the link above. I noticed that the '67 rear seat and side panels should work for a convertible. The seat is very narrow and the fastback had what could become convertible top bow pockets. You could ask on the board what kit's boot would work on this application. Heck, I could use that info too! Good luck Tom G

I prep and prime every piece. There isn't a piece on a model that doesn't need a seam removed or a sink mark filled. I use Duplicolor gray primer on nearly everything. It helps me spot further imperfections I didn't see in bare plastic. I don't brush paint anything. Everything gets sprayed with spray cans, AND off the trees with all the nubs sanded smooth. When I see build progress photos on the boards and I see trees with parts all brush painted in place I just cringe! For spray painting, I mount everything. Wheel backs and such get stuck to a tape loop. Spray the inside first, wait for dry and flip the parts over on fresh tape. Always paint the side you'll see last. Other parts get put on a tooth pick that is then stuck into large pieces of styrofoam. Sometimes I'll drill a small hole that won't be seen in the build into a piece so I can insert the tooth pick for painting. I mount most of my smaller parts with bits of straight pins, so I drill each piece out, and glue a full length straight pin in each. Then I either poke that into styrofoam or tape the pin end to something like a small bathroom cup for painting. I only cut the pin to the proper length right before I actually mount it on the model. Oh, I also paint things that some folks will leave bare plastic, like the top side of a chassis, outside of an interior bucket, inside of the body shell or the inside of a wheel... why? Because you can often see these areas through wheel wells or other spots where you can see up into a model body. There's nothing like seeing the back of wheels and seeing the white plastic popping through where the tire meets the wheel. So I paint everything to avoid those moments!

It's actually a pretty easy conversion. I cut the roof off, leaving the windshield surround.. then I cut the trunk lid off the fast back. Insert one trunk lid from the AMT '66 Mustang... works well. Make a boot.

Too Cool! The last concert I went to was STYX and Boston. Yea, both bands that would've filled Madison Square Garden for several shows in our day, now a double header that the PNC Arts Center on the Garden State Parkway. Still it was a kick ass concert!

This one irked me! We were on Long Island, NY for a funeral this weekend. Check the difference between cash and credit! At NJ stations you'll see a 5-10 cent a gallon difference, and I will only buy gas at those that charge the same price for cash or credit. I always put it on my card for record keeping. But a friggin dollar upcharge?? I paid cash and got the heck outta there. A station that goes so far to only collect cash must be playing games with the IRS. I asked the kid behind the counter how the heck...? He leaned forward and whispered, yea the owner is nuts. And he takes a lot of grief on his behalf!

The attraction? The usual collecting / greed fest frenzy! Attraction today? None. Back when they were the rage and my daughters were young, they both wanted them all. Of course they knew which ones were 'valuable' and wanted those. I explained to them how these collecting phases go and kept them buying Beanies $5 or less. We were at a flea market and one of the vendors had the Peace Bear. This was a psychedelic or tie dye bear with a peace sign on it's chest. It was some enormous amount over $50 and she was whining because I wouldn't buy it. She said I ruined her life! Years later I'm at a garage sale and I see a laundry basket full of Beanie Babies marked a dollar each. Guess who was sitting on top of the pile? Yup, our ole friend Peace Bear. So I try to buy him for a dollar. The lady offered me the whole basket for $5, but I said I just needed the bear for $1. I then walked down the street to the other garage sales, came back and the basket was sitting on the front seat of my Geo Tracker! Lady must've really wanted those outta there! At this point my daughter is grown and a teacher. That evening at dinner I had wrapped up Peace Bear and presented it to her with a note that I was sorry that I ruined her life and I needed to make amends! We all got a good laugh. And the basket of Beanies went to good use. She used them as classroom rewards, and gave them to her students.