Tom Geiger

I saw that episode Rich! I liked the Nomad before they touched it. It was a nice original red and white car. But I can understand the interest in the 'new and improved' version. I understand that Mountain Dew will be giving that one away.

A lot of guys here also belong to the Spotlight Hobbies Board. I belong to a board for Toyota Celicas and Jaguars since I own a 1:1 of each.

Very cool work. I check the board constantly so I'm surprised that I hadn't seen this thread until now. I have two camper thingies in the works too, so far you've got way more detail going than I have planned! I got my propane tanks from Escorts Resin.

I agree with Harry, the government ended not only automobile production, but all other kinds of production of consumer goods so all US factories could concentrate on making materials for the war. There may have also been a low demand for new cars, since most men of a certain age group pretty much disappeared into military service after Pearl Harbor .And there was pretty much limited use due to fuel and rubber rationing too. Still, there was very limited production of civilian cars and trucks. You would need government approval to purchase one based on your need. For instance a doctor making house calls may have qualified for a new car. Or others involved in war production may have qualified for new trucks. Otherwise it was make due with what you had. Neither of my grandfathers were in WWII (and my dad was too young). Both had exempt jobs. One worked for the railroad, essential to moving materials and the other was a watch maker. I remember my grandfather telling me that he would walk to work and just got enough gas each week so they could have Sunday dinner at my great grandmother's house. I still have his rationing stamps.

Very cool build. I've loved these pickups since I went to a GM drive event and they let me drive them!

Very nice work Rich! And we'll need a group photo of the entire Class of '56! And I'd bring them to the show that way too! And what's up next? Maybe a '56 Nomad????

At my old house I used to take my pictures in my front garden. The neighbors used to watch me with suspicion. Then the nosy lady next door came over and asked what I was doing. At that time I was taking an eBay photo of a model I was going to sell, so I told her that. By week's end everyone on the block thought I was a rich eBay tycoon and I stopped getting funny looks.

That is a cool kit. I have a copy that I bought in Germany as a kid, but never built. I noticed that I'm missing the windshield frame so maybe I'll get motivated to build it one of these years.

I never joined the modelers club since they wanted to ship you spacecraft and military subjects and I was only a car builder. Plus I lived at an APO address in Europe and a lot of the offers wouldn't ship there. I was a member of the Hot Wheels club and got my special chrome Boss Hoss Mustang, only available through that offer. That ticked off my friend Henry who had more Hot Wheels than anyone, but not that one. He offered to trade me a mess of stuff for mine, but I never would since I knew it bothered him a great deal!

What if Chevrolet brought out the Pacer instead of AMC? Would it be a big classic today based on the loyalty base of Chevy?

The best I can do! I found these dogs in a gum machine vending unit at a local restaurant. They were pretty much to scale, so I thought modelers would want them. I did some research and found the source and ordered a gross of them, vending capsules and all. So Steve if you see one that you fancy, I'd be pleased to send him to ya! (no you may not have my favorite street rod! )

Alternate history = rusty 'Vette diorama! My point exactly!

Oh, the story of my life!

I thought Ben Franklin said that!

Good seeing you Blair. Wish we had more time to chat!

Diecast / plastic, both can be made into cool models. Doesn't matter the material. Some guys fail to remember that this hobby started out with guys taking prebuilt dealer promotional models and customizing them into models. Taking apart a built diecast, in good condition or a junker, pretty much is the same thing!

I always respond to your PMs Ed!

Here's two cars that always grabbed my heart from the moment I saw them as new cars... First up, the 1990s Celica GT convertible in red. I once had the opportunity to buy a low mile beauty in black, but it just wasn't the same. Finally, we found this one. My daughter drove it for a few years, now it has reverted to dad! She now has a Fiat 500. The Jaguar S Type. It just evokes that classic Jag look. I always watched as one rolled by. I saw this one for sale by a Rolls / Bentley dealer on eBay. It is a 2000 and only had 23,000 miles on it. So I drove there and it was as nice as in the ad. A quick $10,500 later and it was mine. It now has 30,000 miles on it without a single issue. We don't drive it daily, it's our Sunday driver. So those are two modern designs that just make my heart beat faster. I had to wait a long time for them to come down to my price range!

Typical GM of that era. My father's 71 BelAir had hook kinks right at the front of the hinge mount from the same issue. GM pickups of that era were notorious rust buckets. Someone said that they didn't even paint the inside of the body panels. Looking at this truck, it seems every panel on that body was replaced!

Nice diorama! Here's how I did roof shingles. I cut them out of 220 grit sand paper and glued them in place just like you'd shingle a real roof.

there are two kits, the '33 has a street rod modern interior and chassis. The '34 is pretty much the same kit, but with stock interior and chassis suspension. People have said that the body has issues, such as the roof being too square and the hood being too long. I started out with the '34 that I did the rat rod, and have another body sectioned. I wanted more to play with. Here's the '34 body (same exact part in the '33 kit) that I sectioned. I need to build a chassis and interior for it.

I went to the Super September Showdown Sunday today in Gilbertsville, PA. I used to drive 2 hrs to this show. Now that I live in PA it's a half hour on country roads! Anyway, here's the loot... The vendor area was healthy with a lot of guys with cheap kits. Deora minus glass $5 (I just wanted the slant six) and '33 Ford street rod minus instructions, decals and one bumper mount $10. I've been playing with these and needed another parts kit. The price was right. An old boat trailer for $3. It does have velvet on it, so I will probably add a deck and it can be the trailer for the Olde Kustom Kollection. 30 something little plastic cars for $5. I had these as a kid and just wanted the bag of them! And an old built up of the SMP '61 Chevy pickup in a nice box for $20. No hood, no grill and the tail gate was hacked away. Dig that corduroy! Some odd parts in the box for the optional stake bed and trailer. Not enough to do anything. And a clean near complete decal sheet. The custom grill is a '61 Dodge unit. So I made out pretty well for a $43 investment!

The Central PA club did a great job! Modelers came from all the region's clubs including the Classic Plastic crew from Mass. Everyone had a great day! Many thanks and looking forward to next year! A vendor came into TWO GROSS of the Motorific Barracuda. That's 288 bodies! He said someone found them in an attic. The stuff is still out there boys! An interesting take on the S'cool Bus. Blair Pletcher won diorama with this swap meet. It was very well done. And the vehicle I'd like to own in 1:1 scale! Please Santa! And a very large album... http://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/model-car-shows/super_september/super-september-sho/

U joints could be cast in two parts, the inner and outer, since they are in a bent position on some applications. I found a few drive shafts in my box, probably from truck kits, that had the u joints at an angle. So if they were in two parts, they could be glued or pinned into the correct position for any application.

To get this one back on topic.... I think the hobby will get a bump as us baby boomers retire and get back to hobbies. Note that in the "Introduce Yourself" section we have "Life Long Model Builder Returning From A Hiatus", "Another Returning Builder", "Getting Back Into Models Again" and many others, some saying they're getting involved for the first time. And that's just this week's new recruits for the board. And some of them are even young guys.