Tom Geiger

You will have to post a picture of that happening! It's a cool event. One time I was at a local junkyard in NJ and I saw an old Honda Accord sitting next to the office with "DON"T TOUCH" across the windshield. I looked at it and asked the guy what was so special. He replied, "Look at the odometer." It had just hit 500,000 miles! He said there was nothing wrong with it, just that the owner achieved the mileage and then junked it. He couldn't bring himself to part it out!

Another thread that asked what magazines you read on the throne got me thinking... I was on a job interview and the interviewer asked an interesting question, "What were the last two books you read?" I was lucky that I do read and didn't hesitate. I don't know what a non-reader would say! Soooo... here's two books I recently enjoyed.... Blue Highways - William Least Heat Moon This one was recommended to me by Dean Milano and was worth the read. Blue highways are the designation on maps for the secondary highways. So Mr Moon loaded up some stuff in his old Ford Van, "The Grey Ghost", and headed out to find America, traveling back roads, meeting people and just experiencing America. The book is an easy read, is insightful and makes you want to load up your van! In fact, I liked it enough to buy another of the author's titles, "River Horse" that I will start shortly. I'm Feeling Lucky - The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 - Douglas Edwards Doug tells the story of the early days at Google, when everything was done on a shoe string and the crazy things that occurred. It's not a deep business text, more like a friend telling you the story. It's cool. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson Okay, this one I really didn't get. I bought it out of curiosity after the title came up a few times within a week. If you saw Pawn Stars, Corey bought an autographed copy of the book because it was his favorite book. Then I saw it on a friend's Facebook page as one of their favorite books. It's just a drugged out mess without any real plot or redeeming values. Maybe someone can explain why this is a cult classic? Tell us about a book! Or take recommendations and get a book! Note that I get all my books on Half.Com (an eBay company) and I seldom pay more than a dollar plus shipping for anything! Or it's cool to comment about the books already listed, may conversations take place!

Yea, there must be an interesting story there. I know that one of my club members built a pickup truck for his sister with her company logos on it. It was stolen from her desk at work!

You are better off with manual tools. Electric tools will melt the plastic as they cut. For most operations, nothing is more complicated than an Exacto No 11 blade. For straight cuts on sheet plastic, I have an old hacksaw blade that I use the non-cutting edge as a straight edge to cut against. It's thick enough that I don't jump over it when cutting. Mostly I will score the piece, then snap it apart. And here's my favorite tool for cutting plastic strips or basswood. You get a straight cut every time. and I will tape a stop onto it when I want pieces all the same length. It also has a few templates that snap in for angles. Best $50 you will spend on tools!

Congrats! I passed my Certified Facility Manager exam through the International Facility Management Association on Tuesday. It has made my week, and has given me confidence that I really know my stuff! So I know what passing that test means to you!

Model Cars Magazine! I'll sit there until my legs go numb!

Man! I hadn't seen this thread until now. That Nomad has to be my favorite car of all time. Back when I was a kid, that box art got me! I bought the kit and of course never realized that the parts in the box were never going to reasonably represent a Nomad. And the flames weren't even in the box! Each year I'd buy a copy of that kit reasoning that I was a year older and would be able to build it. Nope. I've never gotten one together! Darin, you are a better man than I, I would never attempt that ambitious paint job. I heard tale that Danbury Mint was planning on doing the car. I'd be the first one on line with my credit card!

Lookin' good Rich! Another one off the bench and onto the shelf... what's next?

Cool. But you do know to have that view in the background, the Batmobile would be in Jersey City, New Jersey!

Richard I don't know if you've ever seen the American show "Jerry Springer". I saw it today and thought about how much his set looked like your garage!

Man, I've done a bunch of neat headliners but can't find pictures of any of them. I've done headliners for pickups as below... I have a box of old business cards with a nice pattern in the cardstock. I will trace out what I want and then cut a template. Note that I folded it in the middle prior to cutting to make both sides the same. Then I trace it onto a fresh piece of cardstock and cut that one without bending it. I will paint it the needed color and install it with white glue as below. This is okay for 1950s pickups and I've done the same with 1930s cars. I've also used ribbed Evergreen sheet. I know what I did here isn't correct for the 1979 Ford, but it looks finished and nobody has called me out on it.

I think it was Dave Darby who accidently painted his kitchen orange when a can exploded on him.

That's what I thought the article was about. And I was thankful they were going to stop making them. Guess not!

Yea, at 12 or 13 I was too busy burning my fingers on my Vacu-form and Creepy Crawlers hot plate. I wonder how many house fires those started! Then there was the time my buddy Henry got a Cox airplane as a present. He crashed it making it useless within a half hour so we did what 12 year olds will do. We filled the fuselage with the Cox fuel and lit it. The ensuing fireball cost Henry is eye brows. And we thought that was way cool!

200,000 is the new 100,000. I remember when we thought a car that had clicked over 100,000 was very special. Many cars didn't make it back in the 1960s-1980s. Today's cars should make 200,000 and beyond as a routine matter. I have 183,000 on my Grand Caravan, 140,000 on my Breeze and 140,000 on the Tracker. All three run well. My other Breeze only died at 190,000 due to lack of maintenance on my daughter's part. So even nothing special cheapie cars should go a long ways! Those cheap plastic clips snapping drive me nuts. It's like when you go to take a part off with pinch clips and one breaks. I read a book about the design and debut of the new Dodge Caravan generation in 1996. The book told how they saved money and weight by substituting plastic parts for parts that were metal in the previous year's vehicles. When my Caravan was still under warranty, the power door locks in the sliders broke and were repaired TWICE. Then I talked to the service manager and we put the 1996 part along side the 1995 part and the earlier part was all metal, but mounted exactly the same. We agreed to use the metal part and I haven't had an issue since, and that was 160,000 miles ago!

Triple A said that the majority of their lock out calls are from people whose remote control battery died. They never tried to use an actual key on the car!

I'm good with BMF, I actually find it relaxing. What freaks me out is wood graining! Every time I do it I'm sure I screwed it up as it just looks like a paint mess as I'm working, even right when I finish. But the next day when I look at it, it looks like wood!

That's cool Rich.. I was just trying to complicate your life! As if the Nomad wheel debacle wasn't enough! (and I had no part in that one) I'd still thin out those vent windows though!

I believe that the success or failure of hobby shops comes down to the personality and skills of the owner. Things that come easy to some of us (greeting customers, being friendly and interested etc) just aren't in the set of talents some folks have. We've all known store owners and workers who just tick people off or don't know the very basics of business. And we know when we've been subject to this, we don't go back. And that's why they fail. I've been stalking my local Hobbytown USA and have learned that when the owners (an older couple) are there, they're pretty decent. The woman always greets people and approaches you in the store to see if she can help you. The man is more the counter guy, but always has a brief conversation with me when I check out. He thanks me for my business. That's most important. When they're not there, the youngsters running the store exhibit all the bad behaviors of ignoring customers, being totally engrossed in conversations between themselves in front of customers etc. And John, I think you look like a shop lifter! And having worked my share of retail I know that many shoplifters don't look like shoplifters at all!

Yea, I can't see anything under the hood of my 2000 Jaguar S Type. I've been told there's a V8 under there. I couldn't find the fuse box or battery... found out they were in the carpeted trunk under a panel! Even the spare tire has it's own carpeted cover.

Harry do you have brick on your house? Ladybugs seek warm when the weather turns chilly and nest in weep holes in brick facades. Once the brick warms up again, they wake up and some can't find their way outside so they wind up in the house. I've always found them in my office buildings and people's reactions are funny. Some call facilities to get rid of them, others want to keep them for good luck! I once had a secretary call that the lady bugs were in the senior VP's office. When I got there he was sitting at his desk and they were flying around the room. He didn't want us to touch them. So I instructed house keeping to vacuum up the dead ones every night! I won't kill ladybugs either. Let them back outside. They are good for the environment, they eat pests like aphids.

Today I got a new professional title! I had been putting off going for the International Facility Management Association's Certified Facility Manager exam for a bunch of years because of horror stories of people failing the five hour exam. I've even taken the prep course twice. Well today I got past that fear and took the test. And I passed. So now on my business card it will say "Tom Geiger, CFM", which is a big honor in my industry. And it should help me a great deal in my current job search! Anyone need a Certified Facility Manager?

My father was in the US Army so I lived in Germany as a kid. My only access to American model kits was Auto World. It took something like 90 days to get a package delivered to me, and I ordered about once a month. So I had my notes of each order I made, seeing I was like 3 orders out most times. Each time I got enough money from my lawn mowing and car washing, I'd place an order for a kit, the needed brush paints (couldn't get sprays shipped to me) and some other goodies like Auto World details, Ulrich men and the like. On one order I bought the Auto Cutter and two packs of Auto World hinges, since I believed I'd be cutting out and hinging doors like a pro! Wasn't to be!

That is a pretty decent piece Rich. See mine above along with Jackson and his dog. Looking at yours, maybe repaint the white section gold or charcoal??

I had a 1970 Impala coupe. I sold it back when gas was still 50 cents a gallon because I couldn't afford to put gas in it then!