Tom Geiger

Very nice work! At first I thought the windshield was broken out but that is just a shadow. Cool ride.

The equivalent of getting out of it wearing your camo jammies!

Me? I got a lot of rain here in PA and NJ. Today, of all days, I had to drive to South Jersey for a job interview. I should say I hydroplaned there! It should have been an hours ride, was more like a two hour trip through a car wash. It even took me longer to get home, once the rains had pretty much stopped. That was when all the roads were flooded and there were more people on the roads. This had to be the biggest rain since I moved to Exton, PA and it was the worst I've ever seen the creek in my yard. It over ran it's banks for the very first time, and the road leading to my development was flooded out by it. I've never seen that before. Looking at it just now, the force was so great that the course of the creek changed in the bed. Now there is a curve in the water flow where it was straight in the same area before. And I am amazed at how much dirt and large rocks it moved! There was a huge log the circumference of a telephone pole sitting in the creek, and it's GONE! And the job interview? It went well enough only they didn't tell me ahead of time that the project they needed managed was 2 hours from my house. And the interview I went on a few weeks ago just announced they have cancelled the position. Argh. The search continues!

I've been on Fotki for over 10 years. I manage two Fotki Premium Gold accounts. One is my personal account and the other one is my club's NNL East account. Fotki did have some drama this past year and had issues with server space etc. They have restored everything that was missing and have moved everything to new servers so it's all faster than it ever was before. The cost for that Premium Gold Account, which is unlimited storage and band width is $20.40 for a year. $18.70 if you sign up for 2 years, $17 each for 3 years, and $16.15 a year for a 5 year deal. They also will have specials from time to time where you can save more. When they have those, I'll re-up both accounts for the maximum. I'd suggest signing up for one year to get your feet wet, and once you decide you like it and they have a special, you can add years. Overall, I like the way Fotki works, I think the albums are the most intuitive of any of the sites. It's very easy to upload and move photos around. And you can load stuff to Fotki to your heart's content, and post on boards without ever worrying about people getting a 'band width maxed out' error message.

Years ago I went to a GM drive event and their big thrill was letting you drive an H2. They even imported a lot of dirt to let you drive it on an uncomfortable tilt to one side, and then they set up two huge dunes for you to navigate. They put an instructor next to you in the vehicle because well, you needed instruction, and reassurance that it was 'okay' since it certainly felt that it was going to flop over on its side. The instructor had me gun it all the way up this near vertical dune. All I could see out all the front and side windows was sky. Then he said to let it glide down the hill and up and down the next one. Man, it felt like a roller coaster. At the end of this demo, he asked me what I thought. My response, "There's no way on Earth you should sell these to car pool mothers! If I lived on the moon or in three feet of Alaska snow, I'd want one but there is absolutely no reason for this to be sold to the general public in New Jersey!" The guy just looked flabbergasted! Right after that my sister in law wanted to buy one to haul her urchins around. She was lucky she listened to me and didn't buy one. Later on one of her affluent friends did, and got rid of it after 4 months when she tripped on a heel and fell out of the drivers door and landed on her nose. I believe her new nose cost more than the Hummer! A dealer friend of mine said there was a reason there were a lot of used H2s on the lot! They were just too much of a chore to drive around and get in and out of to be someone's daily driver.

Very nice work and a unique truck!

Very nice, especially taking the color scheme to the chassis!

I was born in September 16, 1958, and the 1959s were coming down the assembly line on that date. So I've actually collected '59s as my birth year cars. My favorite of either '58 or '59.... Full size Plymouth Belvedere. My cousin George had a green '59 Belvedere with a flathead six and pushbutton tranny when we were teens. So I have fond memories of that car, so that would be the one!

I've probably owned a dozen of the Lindberg Grand Caravan kit, all the original issue. I don't have any of the subsequent PD versions etc. I've owned a 1:1 1996 Grand Caravan with a Mark III high top as long as this kit has been available. It's Caravan number three. I owned a 1984 and a 1990, that I traded in around 85,000 miles. This one is a bit different, I've hung onto it twice as long and I currently have 180,000 on it. So this model is a bit of an exploratory model working towards creating a model of my own 1:1 Caravan. Still, it's been on my mind as I see 1:1 Caravan taxis both in person and on TV. So this past week, I found I had the kit and the right paints, so I started on it.... And here's where we are right now. Paint by Duplicolor, masking by Tamiya tape. Man, that was a real issue, since the body was the same color as the tape. It did come out well. I do have a clear coat on it now, since the yellow came out very flat. I needed the shiny surface to accept decals, and since it's been very humid, I'll wait another day to move forward with it. I was planning on doing the door handles in flat black, as they are on my 1:1. Then yesterday a Caravan taxi drove past me with body color door handles, so I'm taking the easy way out! I was at Avenel Hobbies in NJ yesterday and must've run about a dozen Tamiya grays out to the 1:1 van for a comparison. I finally bought three different ones, which I test sprayed this morning and picked one for the interior. I have already shot those wheels in semi gloss and they are still too shiny. Dullcote tomorrow. As a side note, this kit has the nicest Michelin tires I've ever seen! So by end of business tomorrow, I'm hoping to have this one decaled up! I am having issues with the glass. I tried using Testors smoke for glass, but it ran down the glass and bunched up at the bottom. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do the dark glass in the back areas??

Looking good! Welcome to the board and your return to model building. Your English is fine, I've lived around the world and understand that a person whose English isn't perfect is smart enough to know TWO languages!

I have the old SJS Studebaker Champ resin kit. The front piece on the SJS kit wasn't all that accurate, basically an exact copy from the Johan Lark convertible. The Champ bumper sits quite a bit lower than the Larks, and exposes a lot of detail that's not on the Johan. I used to have a '63 Lark and still own a complete NOS front panel. I'd be happy to photograph it for you if you'd like. PM me.

Why didn't you make the deal for the 1000 kits, save him the posting?

I don't think I've ever done it that way. My great ideas always are from outside the model hobby. Then I check my hoard for the needed kits to build it. And per Murphy, you can have 2000 kits but not the one you need for your latest brainstorm!

I've never liked Corvettes. I never saw a purpose for them. Manhood extensions for the younger guys, the last hurrah for old guys. I've had friends into them and have access to enough of them over the years. Just not my cup o' tea. But I saw pictures of the '14 in a magazine the other day and thought it was the best looking Corvette in years.

They already make a 40 footer with a trailer. These are just additional pieces. I don't build big rigs but I see some neat diorama possibilities with both of these. I remember reading not long ago that someone had built a neat contemporary house out of 3-4 of the larger ones.

Blue dots were / are very popular on 50s cruisers. The blue reflects back into the tail light turning the whole thing an interesting color when lit.

And I was really excited reading the thread until that body suddenly disappeared! That is one of my all time favorite trucks. My favorite kit is the stock AMT release, I don't think I've ever owned the flip nose version. I may just try that body work myself!

German language DVDs? I remember back when I lived in Germany 1969-72 watching American TV shows in German. The Partridge Family and Brady Bunch spoke German rather well!

Yesterday was a nice day to work outside!

I saw the Torino in person yesterday and it's as nice as it looks in the pictures. And Al works fast too!

The '55 is from Ideal, the last year that name was used by Johan. It has metal bumpers.

Nuthin wrong with Zuks... Here's mine. Here it is sitting in front of my old house in NJ. I bought it new in 1991, hasn't failed me yet. It now has a PA plate on it!

Today I was in NJ for my club meeting and stopped at Avenel Hobbies afterwards. I needed to get some Tamiya candy lime paint to finish a paint job (someone said you never get a complete model out of a can of Tamiya spray), so I stopped for that. I am working on a Dodge Caravan and needed to get some grays for the interior. I had my 1:1 with me so I was bringing cans outside to compare to the actual interior. Wound up buying 3 different tones. Figure with the Duplicolor paints I bought for the body, I must have $50 into paint for this snap kit! And the shop had bought a collection so I got a '65 Chevy step side pickup for $15. It was a funny thing that I had several of that pickup, all with the fleet sides, so I wanted a step side.

I've got these! The '55 is the last year they used the Ideal name. It has metal bumpers. I wouldn't touch it since it's a decent promo in good condition. I got it as part of a collection I was given years ago. The '56 is the Excel repop and a candidate for the same treatment that Rich gave his. Maybe a Moebius Chrysler chassis.... hmmm

Funny story... my grandfather bought a fully loaded Crown Vic as his last car. The article said the Town Car made the list because driving it you'd look like a retiree. My grandfather was a retiree, but he didn't want a Town Car because he didn't want to look like a limo driver!