Tom Geiger

Every week! I think I've bought one kit at Michaels. But I still print out that friggin coupon and go look. Some weeks I buy a single can of Testors paint (I use an extraordinary amount of Dullcote and flat black) or a bottle of Zap-a-gap. When I'm fully stocked and I don't need the coupon I look around for some nice person with a big item in their cart.

He was wrong. The urine content is 35%! When I was in high school a buddy-o-mine hated Schaffer beer. He described the process as a room full of men standing at long troughs being intravenously fed orange juice.

Mike, you haven't see "gaudy" yet! LOL You should see some of the stuff in my collection!

Gotta love the way that rear is just welded onto the chassis ends. That must be some heck of a ride!

Not really. The question is "What do you think is the best 1/24-1/25 scale kit?" and NOT "What is your favorite kit?" It's not subjective at all, what kit is the best engineered? ... doesn't matter if it's your building style, or your make of car. If you were going to commission a kit today what kit would you like the engineering to emulate? What's coming through.. Johan Turbine Car - just amazing engineering. Best manufactured kit produced to date when it was new and still holds up today. Galaxie Chevys - A kit literally commissioned and designed by real model car guys with the aim of producing the best kits ever. And I'll throw another one out there... Polar Lights Herbie VW. The designers tried to create a whole new kit concept. A snap kit molded in color that the newest novice could assemble without issues and get pleasing results. And at the same time, a kit with enough detail to satisify serious builders who could modify it to their heart's content. Score!

It was all fun and games until the flying monkeys arrived! The van was pretty much done. Decals in place, all the detail painting done and pretty darn good I might add! Someone suggested I clear coat it with Testors Wet Look Clear. Bad move! That paint brought the red plastic to the surface and melted all the Sharpie lines in panel seams. I don't understand how it brought the red to the surface to discolor the paint, especially since it was under several coats of Duplicolor gray, many coats of Duplicolor blue and even a coat of Future. See the difference between the blue in the side panel glass area and under the decals on the front doors. That was the original color. The side panels were clear plastic. Everywhere where there was red plastic, the blue got a tone darker. I would've lived with that, but the Sharpie bled in all the door seams. See the front of the front door. It just floated to the top. I tried to sand some of it down, reasoning that the black mess was in the clear coat, but I made a mess of it. And to add insult to injury the paint touch up repairs didn't tone down like the rest of the paint. So into the drink it went!

Here's a few photos of a built model, done from the most recent release. I didn't build it, bought it this way at a show years ago! And above is test fitting of other bodies on the Green Hornet chassis. I bought a few of these to do some neat conversions.

Very nice work! I love a great light commercial body. Great work on the stretch and high top. Do you have any photos of the high top creation?

Tell me about it! Into the pond!

Amazing that the glove box door was an option. What does one really cost? And what use is the glove box without one?

Yes, the car is brush painted. Not the greatest, but I wouldn't change a thing! It's so typical of the period. There were instructions back then to brush paint cars thick, then use Colgate toothpaste to rub it out. I have a few that were done that way and were rubbed nice and smooth. But not this one!

I do own one of the Revell '48 Ford woody kits that someone opened from the side, as Mr Duff mentions. It opened just like a box of cereal and indeed the flaps don't shut again. It's actually more sturdy than opening it the right way! I think I got it cheap at a show or club meeting. Oh, by the way, the later Johan kits like the '62 Studebaker convertible and '62 Rambler taxi opened from side flaps.

I'm always behind the guy who seems to be applying for a mortgage or something! One time at a walk up ATM there was one person ahead of me. A young girl and her boyfriend. The ATM told them they had no money in the account. The guy kept telling her to try again. It's not like on the 3rd or 4th try you'll fool the darn machine!

It's good that you are rescribing the fin trim. It's very faint on both the '59 and '60. While you're in there, look at the underside of the fin for the trim edge. That one is nearly non-existent. Note that on the real car the trim at the edge of the fin is the finish. Take it off and there's just an unfinished pinch weld between the two pieces that make up the top and bottom of the fin. I had a 1:1 1960 Electra.

I had pulled this beauty down off the shelf to take a few shots of it along with the recent '62 Chevy custom I had acquired. That's when I noticed it was missing a few little things and decided to spend a pleasant hour bringing her back to her former glory. Up front I noticed two glue spots next to the headlights where a former light must've been. Scrounging through the parts box, I found two little period chrome bullets that fit right into the original builder's intent. The car was also missing the fender top chrome and I was waiting to do a Modelhaus order. Then it hit me, this is a custom, I don't need the real kit parts! So the ones you see here are from the AMT '58 Belvidere kit. I just happened to have one exploded for parts. And they fit right into the build. The other item that was missing were the dual antennas. I'm pretty sure that's what was where the glue spots on the trunk lid are. So I added a pair from the Monogram '59 Chevy. And yes, the kit's custom instructions do tell the builder to install the stock tail lights OUTSIDE the body for custom tail lights! And just a shot to show off the new antenna. And a side view of the car prior to my recent fixes. It is a swoopy kinda thing. So that's another installment from the Olde Kustom Kollection where we restore and preserve the folk art of our youth. The rules are simple, we'll restore the cars back to the original owner's vision, and never ever improve them past the standards of the day. Hope you like this one!

Model Trades Wanted! Let me know what you are looking for and what you have to trade!

My spoiled friend Henry got a new Cox airplane for a present. I think it lasted 1/2 hour before he crashed it well enough to destroy it. So he decided to use the remaining fuel in the can to set the airplane on fire. He set the plane up on the edge of a block wall, filled the entire fuselage with the fuel and dropped a match in. Nothing. So he decides to take a closer look. Boom! Fireball! Henry does a back flip. It took him all summer to grow new eyebrows!

The above incident was over the summer. They wanted to replace my water meter since it was 20 years old. So they did. Yesterday I get a notice from them that they want to replace my water meter because it's 20 years old! I can't wait to call them in the morning. I'll bet they still want to come out.

Try playing "Got Your Nose!' with them and see if they suffocate Which reminds me of a story. Many years ago we went to an amusement park with my wife's friend and her kids. We were on a cable car ride with a Chinese family, parents and a little boy maybe three. The father was obviously playing the above game with the little boy, pretending to grab his nose and saying something like "Ah say tong!" each time. The little boy thought it was hilarious and was laughing. We got off the ride and I turned to her and said, "Wasn't that neat that he was playing "Got Your Nose" ?" She turned to me and said, "Wow! You understand Chinese?"

AMT 1941 Plymouth kit for the flathead six! Lindberg 1964 Plymouth and Dodge for the slant six. This one has to be the best slant ever done. Prior to that I hoarded Deoras for the 6. AMT '71 Duster for the small block

I love to go to shows, more for the camaraderie than the contest aspects. I haven't missed NNL East since I went to show number three! I haven't missed the LIARS Challenge in a dozen years. I go to the Mama's MidAtlantic NNL each year too. I have been to Masscar, NNL Nationals in Ohio GSL in Salt Lake, but not recently. I did the contest thing back in the early 1990s and did well in the light commercial category. Now I just build what the voices in my head tell me. I do display my stuff, but not with the thought of winning awards.

I used to fly to Evansville, Indiana via Chicago where I'd get in a small plane to Evansville. Can't tell you how many times I got stuck in Chicago due to weather conditions grounding the puddle jumpers!

It was nice meeting you at LIARS Charlie! I saw a guy sitting at a table loading real film into a camera. I said to myself, "That has to be Charlie!" and introduced myself!

Wiki says she acted in films all the way up to 1986. And sorry guys, she's 71! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Tiffin

The roof shingles look great. The curling and such are exactly the way these dry out and start breaking. I would add some flat black around the chimney, and drip it down a little. That would have been sealed with black tar, and a bad repair or two would make it look real.