Tom Geiger

Amen! Many folks think they'll just point a scanner at a 1:1 car and a model kit will pop out their 3D printer. Nope. 3D modeling in CAD is a profession and the charge into this technology is being done by guys who do this professionally, using their skills in the hobby. And as far as 'everyone' having a 3D printer, I think it will be more in the realm of the percentage of modelers who own a lathe today, another professional tool that has a long learning curve. I know people who bought lathes but didn't realize, nor want to invest the time, in the discipline. They pretty much spent their time making metal shavings and gave up. You can buy some low mile lathes today! I am an old CAD guy, starting out with Intergraph Interact and Auto-Trol GS100 back in the early 1980s. Back then we were doing 2D drafting in the petrochemical industry. I never did move forward into the 3D disciplines so I couldn't do the work here today, nor do I have a desire to invest the time in learning it for the hobby today, just as I avoided the lathe. If I had wanted to be a machinist, I would have gone into that trade. But that doesn't keep me from understand and admiring the level of skill demonstrated in this thread!

You mean this one? Back when Model King was working with AMT (who ever the owner then), I suggested running the 1980 Volare kit with these decals. Would've been cool!

Nice score on the early Daytona. The later version with the hide away headlights was recently reissued, but the older grill etc is gone forever! Don't pay a lot of the Omni, those are very common here at shows for little money. Then again you are in Australia so when you figure in postage..

Are you a Moebius insider? We will be seeing a whole bunch of releases based on their new Ford pickups. You know that they are on the right track when the second release comes with a six cylinder engine. Stay tuned and you will be happily surprised. This should show that the concept is viable and maybe we'll get the other missing pickups as a result. Irony is that there is a recently produced diecast of the Reliant, showing us that anything is possible today! And remember diecast cars are models just needing disassembly and modification! That's how our hobby got it's start... guys taking apart promo models in the 1950s!

I heard that more changed in the 20th century than in the previous 19 all together! God bless her!

I got curious so I went for a look. As I tried to navigate the user directory, it was clear that the majority of the listed users are inactive. In fact many, many signed up and never posted a single post at all! There should be a clean out of names that haven't accessed the site in a certain amount of time... up to the site owners to figure out just how long. But a user with a cool name taken out in 1996, who never posted a single post is a sin! I did look at "stangman" and found he signed up in August 2008 and last signed in Dec2013 so he's still interested.

After our Tri-State meeting on Saturday afternoon, some of us will hit the local hobby shop. Some of us also attend the Jersey Shore meeting the following Friday. Model King sells kits at that meeting, average new kit $16. There are guys who will buy new kits at the hobby shop at $25. I'll ask them if they remember that they'll see Model King on Friday... the response, "Yea but I want it now." as if they'll have it built by Friday! And it's good that there are these guys. We all want the local hobby shop to be there when we run out of glue or paint, but never take into consideration that they can't stay in business with the $1 profit on that occasional can of paint And I'm as guilty as anyone, the above is pretty much how I buy too. My new kits mostly come from Model King, my foreign kits come from online sources. I have yet to buy a kit at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. I attend all the shows here, and find kits in the $5-10 range that I don't even need but grab up (just in case, or as parts kits).

Bingo! Here's a winner with a real business case. There is no modern tool -- that's a tool to the quality and detail of the Revell '32s -- of a Model A. This is a no brainer for Revell, following along with their current practice of tooling up timeless kits that will sell for eternity. There are different variations, and the kit needs to be engineered so that the current Revell '32 chassis fits right under it, as that's how a lot of rods are built.

I've been watching this one for years and have a theory. I believe the '66 promo was produced in the same number / manner as the other year promos. What happened was that the model is wrong. Chrysler changed the rear roof line on the '66 but the promo still has a 1965 roof on it. There is also a problem with the rear edge of the trunk lid that isn't right. I believe that Chrysler rejected the run and ordered them destroyed, and the few that are out there were copies that were at Chrysler. The reason I believe they did a full run was that there are several different colors on this promo. I noted over the years that many of the cars offered for sale were sold as 'from a Chrysler employee's collection". So AMT wouldn't follow that up with a kit. So what happened to the tool? Remember back when the FIreball 500 was reissue announced? A lot of guys thought that since this body existed, that it must've been the last hurrah of the 1965-66 Barracuda tool. Note that the kit has the Barracuda annual chassis and drive train, so the theory worked at the time. Then AMT announced that they were releasing the Hemi Under Glass reissue... and people were scratching their heads that this body still existed. My theory? The Fireball 500 was tooled from the rejected 1966 Valiant promo tool. The Valiant essentially had the same body as the Barris car, so it's an obvious choice. Chrysler never followed up with a 1967 Valiant promo. The Signet hardtop was discontinued for '67, as Chrysler wanted to push the Barracuda coupe for those same sales, essentially the same car. So there is a '67 Barracuda fastback promo. Funny thing is that there was a '67 Valiant 2 door hardtop still sold in Mexico! But in the US the Valiant only came as a 2 door sedan in 1967. 66 Signet in red (Tom Carter photo) Burgundy, this is much darker than the red car above. Light Blue (Dean Milano photo) light blue gray. I own this car. Here's one in yellow. Note the incorrect Barracuda grill emblem. This is the only one I've seen like that.

I once had a Soto... I knew Manny Soto. Haven't called him in years, actually lost track of him so I guess I have De Soto-ed.

Looks good Chuck. Did you raise the top of the windshield or just paint the gasket black? Either way it looks right.

Ted likes water too... but he prefers to ride

I have a garden bed right next to my front door. It's behind a hedge like system of plants, so I thought I could plant nice things there and the deer wouldn't dare come that close to the house... maybe in the middle of the night... I didn't count on this... broad daylight... Yea, this shot tells you just how close they'll come in broad daylight... And this guy saw me and trotted up the front step for a handout. Some of the other stuff that shows up in my yard... Yea, this guy too. An escapee from a local farm.

I use the Micro Kristal Klear for most of my clear parts assembly including headlight lenses. Another thing we use it for is to create the glass over dash gauges. Just paint your gauge detail then put a blob of this over it. It looks like heck, a blob of white... but let it dry overnight and you will have a clear lens with some depth to it over your gauge! I discovered another use for it last week. I had a kit decal that I wanted to apply inside the side window of a car, with the print side facing outward (against the glass). So I soaked it long enough to remove the standard decal glue, then put it on a blotter to dry overnight. I then put Micro Kristal Klear on the face of it, and pressed it down onto the kit glass. I let it dry and it worked perfectly! That will come in handy with the decals that Revell put in the woody wagons (47 Ford and 49 Merc). Both come with surfing and travel decals that they tell you to put on the glass... but on the outside of the glass, when all the stickers like those I remember were applied on the inside of the glass. So now you can do it right!

Another method.... Tamiya acrylic flat black in the little jar. Do scribe your lines so that they are deep enough to accept paint. Paint your model as you normally would. Then take the flat black acrylic paint and whittle a toothpick down a bit to fit in the line. Dip the toothpick in the acrylic paint and drag in the line like you are writing with a quill ink pen. If a little paint gets outside the line onto the body edges, that's okay because it's acrylic. Once you have the line, just wipe the body area with a clean damp Q-TIp. Just don't let the paint dry on the body, even then you can polish a little bit or any haze off. This one was painted with Tamiya spray paint. Most of the time I work with Duplicolor automotive lacquers.

Nice work Brendan! We're near neighbors too!

A bit of mud colored acrylic paint.. Tires just rolled through some to get a random pattern on the side walls. For the splashes the paint was loaded onto an old toothbrush and just flicked at the body. It's acrylic so if you don't like it, just wipe it off with water and try again.

Hey Al, leave it to you to have a dog named Chuck! We have to get you up off the floor.... Black top.... Gravel..... One old box. One side painted black, the opposite side is white... both those photos were taken in the same position you see the box here, up on the bench on my back deck. The paints I used... a $10 investment. There are other brands as well. The box took about half a can per side. The box is my carrying case too. No reason to be squatting on the floor at all!

I can't grow anything here. Planting is just called "Feeding the deer". Those buggers even eat the deer resistant plants here!

Sounds like a conversation with a guy in India who has never seen a garage door before!

Many of the earlier posts in this thread won't make sense since when you change your avatar, it changes back in every post you every did! So I will comment on my current one. My aunt gave me some old photos and this one really caught my eye. That's my father when he was two in 1936. The wagon has art deco skirts on the wheels! And that's my grandfather's '32 Essex. And it fit perfectly in the avatar box!

I will buy one ticket for Powerball and Megamillions when I buy beer. My wife will buy one when she shops so that we get a ticket for each drawing. From my point of view, it's worth a buck just to dream about it! Every time I see the winners on TV and they're just Joe Average with a shocked look on their face, well they never thought they'd win either. I used to belong to a pool at work a few jobs ago. Back then I was driving my grandfather's old 1999 Crown Vic and the clear coat was peeling off the trunk lid. Someone asked me what I'd do if we won. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I think I'd get the Vic painted." Everyone laughed. But one of the ladies remarked that she would expect me to handle it like that. I don't get too excited about things, nor do I want for much. I've always been very good at holding onto money. I've always been a conservative spender, if we didn't have it, we didn't spend it. That meant that we didn't take big vacations, and always paid cash for used cars. But I did send two kids to college for cash. If I did win that lottery, not much would change with me. I still would have a hard time spending money and I wouldn't want a Ferrari if it was free. I would probably still work since I need a daily structure, enjoy interaction with people and need a project to keep my mind active. I'd say the biggest thing about winning the lottery for me would be just not worrying about money anymore. I read a book "I'm Feeling Lucky" which was the story of early Google by a guy in the first 50 hires. He said that when the IPO went through, they were all instantly millionaires. He said Ferraris instantly appeared in the parking lot, but he just took a step back like nothing had changed. He said it finally hit him when he was in the grocery store. He only bought his favorite ice cream when it was on sale. He looked and it wasn't on sale, but he reached in the case and got it anyway. And I identified with that guy!

My Ted is the same way. He's 14 and eats when he wants.

Yea, it's pretty much all our fault that hobby shops are dropping like flies. Me included.

Yes. I was planning on doing that conversion someday myself. Project number 2,034! Yea, I'll never get to it!