Tom Geiger

Part of Al's process is that rubber tires must stay in his pressure pot overnight. That really limits production to something like 6 tires a night. And that's when he is home. Al travels a lot on business. He's been doing the resin out of his engineering curiosity of perfecting molds and the process. Note his prices are really cheap, which is about his cost for materials. So when you order from him, think of it more as if you are asking a buddy to cast a few things for you, than sending in an order to Walmart.

Why not? It's not drinking or running around with women. As long as you're not taking food off your family table to buy kits, buy what you want, stash it until if and when you build it and just enjoy the hobby. It's not like model kits go bad. I have models mint in box back to the 1950s that are still just fine. And if it wasn't for the folks back then who stashed it and didn't build it, I wouldn't have it today. So if you must get over the guilt, you are storing kits for future generations of modelers. Later in life you can always sell them, or if you fall off your perch, your family can sell them.

Yup, the Riv had a clear steering wheel as a custom part

Dominik- The '57 Chevy is diecast and this was the photo I took before I modified it. The interior in it is very poor. I had thought about creating a nice interior for it, but never did. Below is a photo of the finished model, but prior to installing the red light on top. The build photos are: http://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/my_model_cars/my-finished-models/1957_chevy_suburban/ The Ford pickup is one of the box art trucks from the Model King release of the '79 Ford pickup. The photo you saw was one of the raw photos Doug Whyte took and emailed to me prior to doing the photo shopping you see on the box. Here's a front view: And the build album is: http://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/my_model_cars/my-finished-models/test_folder/ Thanks for asking! Tom G

Awesome car with a great history, super story. Fantastic build to commemorate it!

Yes. That photo was taken in Pirmasens, Germany where we lived at the time. The PX stocked Raleigh bikes. My Chopper was a Euro version, where generator run head and tail lights and pedal reflectors were mandatory equipment even back then. The generator was in the center hub of the front wheel and would be a very rare bike if I still had it today!

As best I know Matt is alive and well and a member of the Maryland club. Last I saw him was at their show back in May.

And remember that a $50 kit today isn't the same as a $50 kit way back when you started buying as an adult. Back then kits were retailing $10 so that $50 kit was 5 times base. Now a new kit fetches $25 in a hobby shop so that $50 kit is only twice base price. A kit would have to be $125 to be a $50 kit today. I know, that is logic, but it doesn't keep us from whining.

Thanks Gregg! The board is running much faster now. Thanks for all your efforts in bringing (and keeping!) this vital service to the hobby!

I've got this one to restore someday. I've had it forever. No big decision since it was built by a kid way back when and has a replacement hood.

And this all led me to change my avatar as well. My last one was Dwight D Eisenhower, not because Harry had Truman, but because it had something to do with a build I thought I was starting, but didn't. Oh well. This one is me back when I was about 12 with my brandy new Raleigh Chopper, the Euro version of an Orange Crate!

I use Zap A Gap, a slow drying ca for stuff like this. It gives you enough time to position your part before it's final. And any mess sands at about the same rate as kit plastic.

I once lost my box of Falcon rebuildables and parts. I looked everywhere and gave up. It finally surfaced. It was marked "Old Matchbox Cars" on the other end of the box and was sitting right out on my shelf. Duh! Found it when I took everything off the shelf and I noticed it was too light to be full of Matchbox cars. I still have a Hubley Renault Daulphene that's been in hiding at least ten years. I have everything but the body in the right box. I just haven't seen the body in a long time. Still, I know one of these days I'll pop open a box and there it will be! And there's the guys who leave models behind at NNL East! Pretty much an annual thing that there's 1-3 models left on the tables when we go to knock them down. Usually we get a frantic call that evening and we make arrangements to get the model back to them. I do have a very nice Corvette that someone left behind a long time ago. We searched the registration sheets, put it out there, and nobody ever claimed it. So if you know of someone who complains they had a model stolen at our show, have them give me a call!

I met Debra Harry. She's from Lincroft NJ and her family owned the Lincroft Inn. Back around 1978-9 I rented an apartment that was originally servant quarters in a big old house. My landlord was a local, owned a business downtown, and knew all kinds of people in the music scene. The tenant before me was the lead singer from the Ian Hunter band, who left quickly when they went on tour. He left a huge bookcase full of scrap books of bands he was in etc. It was fun to go through. Anyway, I was friendly with my landlord so he'd invite me downstairs when he had folks over. I met Debra Harry, the Ian Hunter Band and Melanie. I was away one weekend and he told me Bruce was over. Oh well, I'd already met Bruce, I used to deliver pizzas to his house when he lived in Holmdel, NJ.

Just remembered I had this one lurking in my unfinished project pile. Jimmy Flintstone resin body that is replicating a van of a friend from back around 1976. The van was brush painted and had wood bumpers.

Back when I first finished this model I brought it to a meeting and put it on the table. Almost instantly a guy who lives to point out errors jumps up and tells me that the grill for this year Ramcharger was silver not black. I just looked at him and said, "Yea, but it's my truck and if I had it in 1:1 I would paint the friggin grill black!" Done deal. Harry- Please note that it does have mirrors!

Here's some Hari's for ya!

Like Mark said, there are different paints for different situations. While I love Duplicolor for main body colors, there are other paints I use for effects. I love the Testors Metalizers for when you need several metal tones. Much of my weathering involves Testors Dulcote and flat black. I will also buy most any brand of primer gray and flat / semi gloss black for the same reason I like the Metalizers... I use them for different tones, sometimes on interiors next to each other to give interest and show different materials that would be on the real car.

Wow! That's pretty darn cool. I started one many moons ago. This is as far as I got. It looks like we did the dual axles the same way! Card stock mock up of the wedge bed I designed for it on CAD. Never did commit this to plastic though!

Duplicolor for just about everything. Of course using their primer under it. If you watch, you can find closeouts of obsolete colors, which are great for model work. Two years ago I bought 25 cans at Ollies for a buck a can!

What makes some kits so desirable, and fetch 'moon money' when listed as an auction? All you need are two numpties who both want the kit very badly. Kinda like dueling mo'runs. What are the driving factors that push model kit values? The auction result of the above duel Why do prices surge and then fall drastically, with no rhyme or reason? Both numpties now have a copy of the kit.

I used to have a 1977 Dodge Sportsman 300 extended wheelbase van. It was two tone blue and I bought it in 1986 to use in my new home renovation. I paid $600 for it because it ran really lousy. The old owner had put the wires back on in the wrong order. Once fixed, it ran fine for the two years I owned it. A buddy o mine borrowed it and blew the motor. Still, I sold it for $850!

I build, therefore I am! I build to satisfy the voices in my head. And some of my odd friends, some of which march to the beat of a different drummer, and some of them refuse to march at all. If I was out to please everyone I'd be building red Corvettes. Ooops, I did build one.. it's red under all the rust!