Tom Geiger

Wow! That did come out nice, great work!

Corey, I never said it was stealing. But it is an abuse of what the store wants for the program. I'm sure they factor in the number of people who don't buy anything but one item with the coupon. But if that number slides too far, they'll cancel or modify the program. So enjoy it while it lasts. A kit at 50% of their retail is about their break even point as a full case direct customer of the manufacturer.

Ken I believe you have the junkyard name right. GM had contracted with them to destroy the dream cars, but they just stacked them at the back of the yard instead. Probably couldn't figure out how to get rid of fiberglass. I first saw a photo of these cars in Old Cars Weekly, maybe 20 years ago. Someone shot a photo and was asking what these cars were. Next thing you know they were pulled out. I remember at least one car didn't have a chassis, only the body. Then Joe Bortz of the Blue Suede Shoes collection got involved, bought the cars and was restoring them. Not too long ago someone on one of the boards saw several of the cars at a show and posted some nice photos.

back in the days of film I remember people making tubs from film canisters

Charlie is there a modern full detail chassis that would fit under this Buick??

It's interesting to see how far people will go to get a discount! It's obvious that Michael's puts out that 40% - 50% off coupon as a loss leader to get people into the store. No doubt they are hoping that someone who uses that coupon also will buy a bunch of other things at retail. When I go into the store and use the coupon on a single cheap item, like Zap-a-gap glue or a can of Testors spray paint, no doubt they didn't make any money on that transaction. But guys who go in with a wife and two kids, each on line buying one item with the coupon, is pretty much abusing the program. Yea, it's 'legal' and the store allows it, but if everyone did that, the program would be cancelled. And that's probably why model kits sell for pretty much hobby shop list price at Michaels. I'll bet if they did away with that coupon, kits could be sold cheaper.

Interesting model we won't see every day. Nor do we see donks here on the East Coast on a regular basis. I was in downtown Philadelphia a few weeks ago and saw a purple Caprice up on 20s sitting at a light. It really stood out among all the taxis and normal type traffic.

Since nobody has answered just yet.... I believe I remember it being said that 90% alcohol would do the trick. Not the typical 70% alcohol you find in Walmart, but look at a drug store for the 90%. Again, here say, not from my own experience...

The only other method goes back to our youth.... FIRE CRACKERS!

When those Vegas were new, a local pizza place, Tony's Pizza, in Hazlet, NJ bought a few. They were red panel truck versions and lettered for the shop. They didn't last long, between the Vega's ability to disintegrate and being driven by over enthusiastic youngsters!

Never assumed you were blaming the shipper, It's obvious from your photos that they delivered an intact package to UPS. Hopefully they'll pay the damages. I had issues with USPS with another eBay purchase that they destroyed. To file claim I had to deliver the package to the post office. They denied my claim because the shipper didn't use a new box. Never mind that it was a sturdy hard box that they crushed, their defense was that a box is only good for shipping ONCE and it must've structurally failed! Not their fault that it looked like a vehicle had run it over! Good luck to ya!

Floating is a good description. There is a build thread on this vehicle, but Fotki is in a transition and the photos that are hosted there aren't visible at this time... The http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71527&hl= I still have work to do on it. It is a very nice kit, but fiddly like early Revell kits. The body builds up from several flat panels and I'm having issues getting it all square. Right now it's built onto the frame and fender unit, but I cannot get the rear doors to fit correctly.

and that's usually beyond the shipper's control. This year I got a Heller Citroen Borden milk truck on eBay. The seller put it in a USPS Priority box and mailed it to me. It arrived with a hole punched in the front, straight through the front of the model box inside. Looked like someone put a bullet in it. Can I blame the seller? No. Model was intact, so I built it.

tail lights, port holes and sun roofs might be candidates to leave in place and mask off for paint.

I like it! For your first attempt at patina, you've hit it outta the park! Very cool model.

Dan, how 'together' is this model. You said it was a 1970s van. Is the body, interior and chassis still together? Or do you have a body that you're trying to get well glued glass out of? You did the main things that usually work. Now it may be brute force and grinding to get it apart. Sometimes you may be able to score a glue joint with an exacto blade and carefully pry it apart at that point. I've also reached in through wheel wells and grabbed screw posts with wire cutters. And I've also looked at what parts can be left intact in my rebuild. For instance, I've had glass glued in so well that it was easier to just mask it off for paint than to get it out. I've had chrome parts that were on so good, I stripped them with the body and then just BMFed them in place.

Scrap metal value for a small car across the scale is around $400-450 these days. I had a 1960 Buick Electra 2 door hardtop that I owned for about 25 years. I paid $500 for it back around 1983. I never did anything with it, but it kept one of my garage stalls full all that time! I decided to sell it for $2500, or 5 times my original investment. If I could calculate how much the space it occupied for 25 years cost me, I certainly lost money. A funny story. I had the car on Craig's List for $2500. I got the usual parade of clowns who had no money and big ideas. One guy thought he could use it as a daily driver and 'restore' it over time in his apartment building's parking lot. It hadn't been on the road for 25 years so that wasn't happening, nor did he have the asking price! I had a guy show up with a pickup truck dragging a car trailer. I hoped that meant he meant business. He walked around the car and offered me $250. cash money, right now. Turns out he wanted to drag it across the scale for weight. I asked him how the heck he thought someone selling a classic car for $2500 would let him do that for $250, and his reply was 'enough times that he made a living at it'! For the record I finally got a call from a guy who paid me the $2500. He owned a body shop and did a full restoration on it.

Very nice work. I've been following this one from the beginning. One thing, a 1970 Valiant wasn't available with buckets and console. The seat that was in that car was a bench with the split back and a fold down arm rest. The seat backs you have are correct, but it would have a bench lower. In one of the photos at the movie car database site, you can see the column shifter, see below picture: photo below is of the car after it was burned up. Note the remains of the bottom of the bench seat and the arm rest: As far as engine.. someone in the thread mentioned slant six, but the car was a 318 V8. The 340 in the Duster kit would work since it's the same engine externally. There were several cars used in filming and at least one was a six cylinder car, but the majority the pictures I've found have the V8 emblem on the front fender edge like this:

And just where did you bury her body?

A baby step of progress actually done Sunday morning. I got the drip rails replaced on the sanded side of the body. And the right side had a little piece broken off so I thought I'd be sanding it all off so all the rails would match, but I matched up the size and pieced it in with minor effort vs removing and redoing it all. It helps that whoever did the master, probably used Evergreen round for their work too. I was lucky that I had bought all the sizes of Evergreen round that would approximate trim and drip rails a while back. When I go to the hobby shop and I haven't spent enough (meaning I have some money left) I'll buy Evergreen bits I don't already have, if I need it now or not. Next step will be priming the body to see exactly what else I'm dealing with. You really can't see the repairs I've made on that translucent greenish plastic.

Welcome Steve! When I got back to the hobby as an adult, I joined a club and found some good coaches who brought me up to date as to available materials, tips and techniques. My models got way better very quickly. Now with a board like this, you can do that even quicker. Read all the threads, and if you have questions, just ask. The folks here are happy to help.

I'd have to check! I scanned that one a long time ago because I thought it was cool. It was an early 60s kit. My thought was that was what the kit manufacturers thought of builders back then... little kids building while sitting on the floor!

want to get totally confused? Go to the US Virgin Islands. In St Thomas they drive US spec left hand drive cars on the left side of the road! It took a bit to get used to, and you couldn't daydream when driving since your instinct was to go back to the right side of the road. Below is the Jeep I rented on their "correct" side of the road.

I got a new avatar. He was on old 60s kit instructions. A bit too small to really see it as an avatar though!

I've bought a handful of model boxes in my day. Interesting ones or my favorite box art. Never for big money. I have used old model boxes for parts boxes and such. I have a bunch of them I use to transport my built models to shows. They sit in the corner near my display case, with the necessary plastic peanuts inside. Some of them have a divider so I can put two models in one. I have torn up and recycled some boxes, but I won't do that to older boxes. I carefully fold them up and I have a large box of them I've saved. And since cats have been mentioned, I've never had a cat. I have had cat friends and they seem to like me. Back when I was dating, a girlfriend had a cat named Mauser who would always come right to me when I came over. Later on there was a neighborhood cat named Okay, who would come sit on the fender of my car as I did engine work. Most recently we were at the vet's office with my dog and they had a free range cat in the office who was roaming around. He decided to plant himself on my lap. Oh, TJ my dog was not happy, but so stressed about his own impending doom at the vet that he didn't complain! In my family we always had a dog. My mother had a thing for schnauzers so we had a succession of them. My sister still does. When I got married, we soon got Sandy, a mixed terrier rescue whose owner had died. Once he passed, we agreed no more dogs until 6 years later when I came home to find puppy TJ. My wife got him for my daughter who was afraid of dogs. He's now 13 and once he goes, I doubt we'll get another.