Tom Geiger

I got eleventy-seven of them! Do I win a prize? Is this like ski ball? Where do you cash in the tickets?

Not on a 1:1 car, but in real life... I was thinking this same thing as I used blue painters tape to tape up a fancy two tone on my deck!

GM did scrap those Motorama dream cars but didn't do a good enough job to make sure they were destroyed. Back in the 1980s I remember reading that several of them were found in a Detroit area junk yard where they had sat for years. Those are the ones that Joe Bortz (Blue Suede Shoes Collection) has been restoring. It's very cool that they survived against all odds! BTW, your model is coming along fantastic!

Cool work, especially the working steering and the wood in the box!

Very nice work on the Opel GT! One of my favorite cars, they were new when I lived in Germany. I was getting gas the other day and a brown one pulled into the station. You forget just how small these cars are until you see one up close again.

There are some pretty good thoughts on this page. To try to quote them all results in an error message There are guys who just want to put the model together, as if it's a puzzle. In the end they just want to have what's shown on the box. I used to work with a guy who did job assignments away from home. He'd just buy a model and glue and put it together in his hotel room. No paint, no detail, basically just assembling it to pass the time. I'm sure he's not alone. For me, Cranky said it well, "and the details are those moments where the thing comes alive and it makes you smile. Priceless." I like to add those little details that make the model unique and stand out. People say they can spot a model on a table and know I built it. Then Eric said, "I do like to add or change small, obscure items that modelers may notice (if they are familiar with the kit or real deal), but "outsiders" have no idea..." I will do those little things that just make me grin. For instance... 1950 Ford pickup dashboard. I'm not a smoker so I did away with the ash tray and made myself a much bigger glove box! Chances are nobody will ever notice, but it makes me happy. And Harry mentioned guys who have never done BMF or wired an engine, but for some reason just don't try it. There was a guy in my model club who did very nice paint jobs and then just assembled the model without detailing the chrome at all, no BMF. So I brought BMF to a meeting and did a little demo. I had an extra body and materials to let people try it. I couldn't get this guy to even try. Funny thing, his 10 year old son tried and was actually pretty good at it.

Neat garage. That would be cool to build! I've had my share of short garages. My last house was on a corner and the original owner added the attached two car garage. They needed to maintain the set back off the property line, so the garage was a bit less than 20' deep. My first house had a detached single car garage. A neighbor who was an original owner from 1950 told me that one day he saw the original owner of my house had his 1950 Ford parked up on the hill. He wondered why then saw he had placed stakes around it. That's how he sized the garage. Very narrow and also short. When I had my 1960 Buick, I'd back it in until I touched the back wall. Then I still had to pull the garage door out slightly to get it to close over the front bumper tip!

Very nice work Carl! I'm surprised I didn't see this thread until now since I pretty much stalk the board lately! And that is one of my favorite kits to build!

I've done black trim a number of ways. I tend to mask it off with BMF and Tamiya tape and spray it. I don't like brushing due to brush strokes showing. I've also used a black Sharpie and have used the Tamiya tape for a straight line with it. It worked very well.

I stopped building for contests a long time ago. I pretty much build for the voices in my head today, and for the few strange guys I call my friends. I add details to models basically for the sense of accomplishment (Can I do it?). Things do snowball and I often surprise myself. I originally was working on this van camper as a quick project and intended on blacking out the windows. I wasn't going to do an interior at all. Then I decided to just do something basic.. and it got out of hand from there. Everything in the picture is scratch built. Each step of the way it was "Can I do that?" so I decided to see if I could. And I'm very pleased with the results. Is it contest quality? Well, it wound up in Model Cars Magazine coverage of NNL East. Overall I'm happy with the results, enjoyed building it and feel that the model improved my skills. And that's what it's all about.

I'd build the Revell 914! Hey, that's just me and you asked.

In every automotive era there has been the good, the bad and the ugly. There's little sense in comparing the looks of cars from different era, they're just different by way of progress. I do love retro, whether it's the classic look of my 2000 Jaguar or how the new Mustangs or Challengers bring back the look of that era with a modern twist. While I love 1950s and 1960s cars and the nostalgic feel of them, I wouldn't want to put my young daughters behind the wheel of them. Today's cars are better engineered to protect the occupants, drive better especially at high speed, seldom rust and the interiors don't shred by 50,000 miles. While a 1950s or 1960s car was lucky to see 100,000 miles, todays cars routinely go 200,000 or more with much less service and repair. My 1999 Plymouth Breeze went 195,000 before my daughter's neglect took it's life. As I walked around it on it's way to the junkyard, I noted that there was no rust and the interior still didn't have a single tear. Not bad for a throw away car. It's just progress. If you're flying coast to coast, do you want to watch a movie in a 767 or hang onto the wing of the Wright Brothers airplane?

I've always thought the Scrambler was cool and thought I'd like to get one in 1:1. The problem is that they've held their value well!

Being out of work! Every few weeks something great and promising is dangled in front of me, only to fizzle out. And then I'm back to the starting point again. What is wrong with these companies??

Yes! I start out with noble intentions of doing a quick easy build for the shelf. Next thing you know, I'm creating details that nobody but me will notice. Yea, I could just plow on with the simple thing, but every time I looked at the finished model, I'd see the missing details. So that's why I'm making seven tiny seat belts for my Dodge Caravan build!

Why do these threads go downhill fast? Ken, I thought things were going along fine. I was completely enjoying your thread on the '56 Corvette Impala, and like most folks here I was both amazed and in awe of your talent and quick progress. I believe many of us would be happy to buy a resin copy of this work. That was our enthusiasm with comments that were aimed at having you fix minor things we all saw, in the hopes of you improving the model while you were still at a stage where it could be done easily. In fact, reading back to your exchanges with these folks, it seemed you were on board and working towards making the model better. I was also looking forward to your 56 Buick Centurion build. Considering what you've done with the Impala, you have the credibility that I know you can pull this one off too. I also just saw that the Plymouth Belmont show car is going up for auction and the first thing I thought of was that this would be another great project for you. There are many guys like you who do great work with little. Joe Cavorley comes to mind. He was a great commercial truck modeler who was disabled and died over 10 years ago. Joe built some terrific models, some of which are in the International Model Car Builders Museum, from scraps and old built ups people had given him. It was all in the level of skill he had developed, that he said he'd rather make a broom that went on a truck than buy a resin one. I too, build with simple tools. I don't use a Dremel or airbrush. Like you, I use hand tools and spray cans. I just like it that way. As for the "Trading Post" on this board, I think a lot of us haven't been able to get what we have requested there. While the majority of folks on the board have good intentions, there are 'serial traders' who are looking to be ahead and on top of a deal. Back when I was looking for an early Chevette, I posted and some who will remain nameless wanted me to trade him my complete unbuilt later model Chevette kit for a broken promo body he had of the earlier car. Of course I declined. And then there's folks like me who, seeing the work you do, would be happy to send you the parts needed for absolutely free just to see them incorporated into one of your builds! Heck, I'd open a new kit to help you. With posting, the response you get is pretty darn random. I post on a couple boards, and sometimes I get great response, other times none at all. I'll sometimes post the same post on two boards, I'll get no response on one and resounding response on the other. The next time it will be reversed. Don't let it get to you.

No, not that song! Now it's stuck in my head! A few years ago my two daughters decided to take a vacation to California to assert their independence. So both my wife and I were worried for them. One day at work (here in PA) I see my younger daughter's number flash up on my cell phone. Of course I'm thinking the worst, that it's a panic call from CA. Instead she says, "Daddy, listen....." and the next thing I heard was "It's a small world after all!" They were at Disney.

Wow! That's a lifetime supply of Evergreen and K&S metal! I'd be happy to get the Mini and London Taxi too.

Fred, you are lucky you are not in the US. There are several tv commercials that have me wanting to bang my head against a hard surface. Argh!

Ya know you wanna!

Rich, just noticed something... check out the vent window on the real car and the model. You may want to thin out the plastic to make the window larger prior to your BMF. Not having the model in front of me, I'd thin the plastic on the three sides, and take it off the back edge. You may get away with BMFing the back edge of the glass.

Here's the car that is Rich's inspiration. Gas Monkey Garage did this for Dale Jr and Mountain Dew. They're giving it away in a promotion.

I went to Aruba in 1991 and these were all over the place. A guy on one of the tours with us worked for Toyota of Canada and was very upset that they weren't sold in North America. He figured they could have sold a ton of them! You never know exactly why manufacturers offer vehicles in certain markets but not in others!

Looks great so far Rich! You can blame me on the crappy weather. I've been trying to paint my deck.

I need a visit from the model finishing fairy.