Tom Geiger

Looks perfectly good to me. I looked the pictures over several times and couldn't find any issues! Nice car, nothing wrong with building it the way you'd want it in 1:1. I do that with my cars too.

I watch the show "Yukon Men" on one of the cable channels. It's a reality show about the people who live in a remote village up in Alaska and how they survive. One of the main characters is Stan, a guy who was originally from Boston but moved to Alaska 30 something years ago and raised a family out in the wilderness. The coolest aspect of the show for me is the vehicles they drive. The town is only accessible by water or air so the vehicles there are pretty much stuck there. In a few episodes they go to the dump to find parts for stuff and there has been a pan shot of ancient cars and trucks there. I am hoping the do a decent tour of the dump some episode. Anyway, the most intriguing vehicle for me is Stan's International pickup because it's a purpose built mash of parts. It started out as an International Traveler 4 door SUV, which was cut off behind the front doors. Then an old Dodge pickup bed was added. The thing that makes this unique is that the bed doesn't fit, and sits back on the chassis, leaving a gap between it and the cab. Add in the plywood cab back and tail gate and this would be one cool old truck. And in all the episodes this vehicle never fails Stan, even in 40 below weather! Note that all the photos here are shots I took with my digital camera of my TV screen. But good enough to build from... This shot shows the gap between the truck cab and bed. It's a 4 wheel drive Traveller, which hasn't been kitted. My first thought was the Scout kit, but that's a much smaller truck, both length and width wise. I'd have to start with something like a 1970s Ford, Dodge or Chevy cab and modify it to look like the Traveller. The red dot is from my camera, no I wasn't taking a shot at Stan! Nothing in this view would be a problem for a junker modeler like me! I love the bed dent, ripped bumper and plywood tail gate! So this one is on my very long build list for sometime in the future! And a few more grainy pictures at my link: http://public.fotki.com/modelcitizen/11_car_reference_library/yukon-men-stans-int/ And an album of a decent Traveller for details: http://public.fotki.com/modelcitizen/11_car_reference_library/rusty-old-internati/

About a dozen years ago, a guy I worked with was tasked with cleaning out his uncle's house after he passed. He knew I was into cars and asked me if I wanted "a free Model T". He told me that his uncle had kept this car in his barn for over 50 years, so I was intrigued. I made the hour drive and here's what I found... The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't a Model T! It was a Model A 5 window coupe in absolutely awful condition. It was more like the uncle left it outside for 50 years, then pushed it into the garage! So as the story went, I started to figure out how to get it home. I didn't have a place to keep it inside since I had two cars already stored in my two car garage. Plus I knew any restoration would be way beyond my abilities. So I thought about grabbing it up to either part out or sell as a unit to someone else. Then a funny thing happened... just after I secured a tow, suddenly the giver started to wonder if it was worth anything. Next thing you know, he wanted $3000 for it! So at that point I walked away. I don't know whatever happened to the car. Link to the rest of my photos. I hadn't looked at these for a while, but maybe I need to build this? http://public.fotki.com/modelcitizen/11_car_reference_library/the_free_model_t/

Wouldn't the old '82 Cavalier kit be a good start? I believe it's the same car underneath. And still a cheap kit to buy!

Blair, about the wheels. I think they look great, but remember when we were talking about wheels at MidAtlantic NNL? Check out some of the wheel / tire sets from those big cars of the 1930s. My '34 has the wire wheels from the '28 Lincoln on the back, and I have the '31 Chrysler kit out now. Some interesting wheels in that one!

Happy Birthday buddy!

Could any of the spellings be trademarks?

What I have to add to the subject: 1. Alclad - This is also available in a spray can. Many folks don't seem to know this. I think it works just fine and I don't think the surface rubs off unless you are a polish fiend. I have also sprayed a little into a paper cup and used it to touch up kit chrome and add bits like key holes and door handles. 2. Scribing open panels - Oh, kill me but I use my small battery powered eXacto brand drill to do this. I got this drill over 20 years ago using a gift certificate my inlaws gave me to a hobby shop. It's my favorite tool and I use it every day. I haven't seen anything like it for sale for many years. I use a small drill bit and perforate it in the panel line. Once I go all the way around, I will scribe it from the back (as in connect the dots) and carefully push the panel until it comes out. Once I get a little corner going, it pretty much tears out like a postage stamp. Once the panel is out, I just sand all the edges flat for a good fit once painted. 3. Fine Line Masking - I have nothing to add further than the others have already covered nicely. 4. Build a model in 24 hours - YES! I did the 24 Hour build this past February with Gary Kulchock and gang on their Facebook page. I did manage to build up my Miss Deal Funny Car within the time allowance. Started at noon on Sat and finished (gave up!) at 5am on Sunday morning. Here it was at the 24 hour deadline. Later on I added the headers (people warned me about these), the scoop (kit one had a big sink on it, the windshield and push bar. I also added some rust weathering later on.

Very clean and very nice work!

I think he has his own zip code!

Bill is right, this is the AMT '53 Ford, one of the great old kits from the 1960s. It still works well today! One of my favorite all time kits, as you can see from my avatar!

Very true. I noticed the difference out west. In NJ and PA the dealers front row is always cars.. when I was in Utah and Wyoming, it was trucks!

I like it! The 2 door Citation was rare in it's day. Most of them were the 4 door hatchbacks.

My favorites are the Monogram 1950 Ford pickup, AMT 1953 Ford pickup and the AMT 50, 55 and 57 Chevy pickups. I have at least a dozen of each! Quality wise and a bit different would be the AMT '60, '64 and '65 Chevy pickups. The '60 is cool 'cause it's got a six.

Lookin' good!

and I don't think anything is different today. I recently pulled the MPC '67 Corvette "Streaker" kit done in 1972 from my stash to build the rusty Corvette. The plastic was this milky opaque soft stuff with a lot of flash on the parts and trees. I also noticed that it heated up from friction easy as it was clogging up the drill bits with melted plastic as I used my small battery power drill.

Not today but I got some stuff at the Mama's MidAtlantic NNL last Saturday.... Large bag o' junk for $3. I'm just mad at myself for not buying the other 2 bags he had at the same price. It's all been sorted out into my parts bins. This Piranha funny car body was included in that bag too. Hmmm... what can we do with this. About 50 pieces of exhaust pipe and mufflers for a buck. Couldn't leave that behind. A very nice and clean '62 Valiant. I've reached my quota on these but couldn't pass up one this clean! A nice little custom Buick wagon for $20. It even has a fuzzy striped interior. For my Olde Kustom Kollection. And a buddy gave me these three old originals built in the day because he knew I'd fix 'em and keep them intact. All from the same builder, mild customs with brush paint jobs. The funny part is that he didn't put any glass in them. I guess we'll never know why. Getting some nice stuff just is the icing on the cake of a good day out at a model show with friends!

Me too! I'd love to have a few of them!

Very nice work as always John! I'll be watching as this one takes shape. You take modeling as a spectator sport to a new level for me!

Looks great as always! It was nice to meet you and see your builds in person last Saturday!

Next thing ya know, they'll be rusting out Corvettes!

Thanks Mike! Sometimes simple is better. This was a three day build, the fastest I've ever done. So nothing was all that complicated. I simply heated up the body panels and smashed it with a Matchbox car! My rust is basically a collaboration between Earth tone chalks and Testors Dullcote. Sometimes I'll spatter some gloss onto it to give it dimension. Thanks to everyone who enjoyed the joke. Usually my builds take way to much time to do a spot gag, but the 24 hour build taught me how to build quickly when I need to.

Only in New Jersey!

Richard- that engine cover is way too wide in real life. I had one of those vans and there's very little foot room for either side passenger or driver.

I think I'll watch Judge Judy and see if that case comes up! With old cars... 99 percent of the fleet must get used up and scrapped or we'd be 20 feet deep in old cars everywhere. There have always been more cars than demand, so decent running cars do get scrapped. It goes back to Henry Ford's reverse assembly line in the 1920s. There were so many cars around then it was jeopardizing this opportunity to build new ones.