Tom Geiger

Adam, back when those Dodge Omni kits were current, I remember seeing that someone built 6 or 8 of them, all a little different, and put them on a car carrier! I saw the model at a show back then, before I had the ability to take photos of models. It still sticks in my memory as a daunting task, to build that many of the same kit! Almost like the movie Groundhog Day.

I love the old Corolla. In 1978 I was given a brand new Corolla wagon as a company car. I put 100,000 miles on it in two years without a peep! It was still there when I left the company. Always loved that car. We also had a 1994 that my father in law bought new. He gave it to my daughter to use for college when he stopped driving. It had 45,000 miles on it. My daughter smacked it up, and the photo below is it after I repaired it. I used it a bit for work and then gave it to my brother in law because he needed a car and we had too many. He still uses it daily and it has about 60,000 on it.

Great work! It's good to see you know exactly where those rust. Another prone spot is the front edge of the hood.

Very cool. Everyone needs to go to Adam's website and read the write up on this model. He also has a Ford EXP done just as nice! Those MPC kits from the 1980s are best kept secrets! They don't get much love in the hobby, but were very well done and build well. I have a Chevy Cavalier I've built and am looking at doing another, modifying it to a notchback. I also have a Plymouth Volare that I seriously need to finish up! The Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon kits are also on my shelf and to be done one of these days.

I agree with my esteemed colleague! Testors Dullcote from the spray can, sprayed into a little cup will work dandy. It dries flat so you won't see brush marks if you paint it on generously. Practice on something first if you are leery. You may want to try a semi-gloss to get a different sheen but still look like vinyl instead of the dead flat of dullcote. Also, per the little cups... I like the Dixie brand bathroom cups. I use those for everything from spraying paint in them for touch up to using them as paint stands.

I wouldn't mind driving that today! Pretty much a Mustang fastback that someone added Shelby windows to. I remember people doing that. It's good that you put hub caps on it because a six cylinder Mustang would have had four lug wheels. Nice save of a junker!

I do own two air brushes (one a gift, the other won at a contest) and haven't used them in years. I do mainly light commercial and weathered models so I'm not concerned about mirror finishes. I use mostly automotive paint like Duplicolor in rattle cans. I get the finish I'm looking for and will spray the smallest parts, seldom brush painting anything.

Richard, as I've been watching your build, there was something familiar about it... then I remembered this one! I cut the roof off the '34 snap kit a while ago but never went any further with it. Mostly because the side panels were very thick and didn't look right to me.

1960s International with a Thomas body! Aside from school buses the US Military used these all over the world so people around the globe have seen these. I was a military brat and rode these to school in Air Force Blue, Army Green and Navy Gray! The one below is in Europe and no doubt was US Military surplus sold abroad. (Check eBay Germany, there's a bunch of old US army trucks there!)

I'm old, I'm cranky and I don't give a darn what anyone else thinks anymore! My wife had a problem when the movie ticket girl automatically gave us senior tickets.. and she's 2 1/2 years older than me. Me? I was just happy to have the $4.

Hasn't started snowing here just yet, but I took this photo of my pool control panel in my house the other evening. Anyone for a swim?

I voted for the closed pickup because I'm a light commercial kinda guy! I do think a future version, like a Vicky could be sold bone stock. That would be the parts kit for everyone who has moaned that there are no stock parts in the previous releases. Also with Revell's strategy of doing new tools of iconic cars that you would buy and build over and over, with the option of multiple versions... don't think that they're not planning on a Model A somewhere in the future. It would make sense that the Model A kit would interchange with the '32s for that classic A on a '32 chassis. There are a bunch of older Model A kits, but nothing that's up to contemporary standards.

Update- I paid for the Opel Kadett body and '67 Dart conversion kit yesterday and got an email that it was shipped today. Hoping to see it by Saturday.

My workbench is an old hollow core door. Figure it's 24" wide by 7'-0" long. It's covered with brown paper and it sits on top of two old night stands that I cut the legs so the bench surface would be at the right height. Note that I have all that space and I work on that small board in the center of the bench. The rest accumulates junk until I start to hopelessly lose parts, then I clean it up. The photo here was snapped right after a cleaning. That's as good as it gets!

I always wondered how they survived with those huge stores. People go there, buy a coffee and read the books and magazines for free!

I was invincible when I was younger! I didn't even wear glasses, never got sick, never had an operation or broke a bone in my life. Then in my early 40s someone handed me a Mercury dime to look at... and I couldn't read the date! Uh oh, glasses! Then a friend of mine gave me some photos of a model bull session I had at my house. I was looking at one and saw a head from behind and thought, "Who is that bald guy?" Well, I was the only one unaccounted for in the photo! And now I'm 54. My wife and I went to the movies and I simply said, "Two please!' and the girl gave us two senior tickets. My wife asked me why I didn't protest... I'm at the point in life where I'll take the $2 and don't care what someone thinks!

Here's a typical piece of mail from the 1850s that traveled from California to New York, possibly in Harry's stage coach. If only it could talk! The post office issued our first stamps in 1847, but they weren't fully in use for a few years.

Does anyone know what the difference between Squadron White Putty and Green Putty is? Aside from color!

Come on Rich... that knob is your manual choke. Nobody will argue with that.

Yes, I thought I recognized the product as AFX. No mention of it in the auctions. I won the Opel Cadet gasser. I'm hoping to build it more stock though. Does anyone have that one and can give an opinion?

I bring mine to shows in model kit boxes. I generally center the car in the box and then put packing peanuts all around the it to keep it in place. Then I stack the boxes in a xerox paper box, which gets carefully put in the car in a position that it won't move. Never had a problem. Just don't shake them!

Ha! I was bidding on that one too. Didn't get it either. I did win the Opel Cadet though! And the '67 Dart conversion kit.

There are cars that are better off bought new, pretty much the ones that hold their value too well. That would be the Mustang GT you mentioned, Toyotas and Hondas. With zero percent financing it can actually be cheaper to buy a new one than a year or two old one that a dealer is still asking close to new price for! My own advise is to buy domestic since a totally trashed Toyota Camry is still commanding a big price. The last two cars I bought were (1998 & 1999) Plymouth Breezes. Chryslers, and other domestics, don't hold their value too well and make excellent used cars. I look for older cars with low miles. For instance, I bought both Breezes about six years ago with around 30,000 miles on each. I paid $3200 for each. I bought the first one for my daughter quickly when she wrecked her Corolla on a Friday when she needed to go off to college on Monday. We realized it was a comfortable car that performed pretty well with the 2.4 engine, so when I saw a second one for sale, I grabbed it for my daily commuter. My plan for this car was nothing more than to use it as an appliance. I have nicer cars that I didn't want to put the 3 hr daily round trip commute on. The Breeze did it's service well for 200,000 miles. It would probably still be on the road, but my daughter let the oil run dry (she told me her boyfriend was checking it, yea right!). The first Breeze is still in my other daughter's hands and now has 140,000 miles on it with no problems. I've recently been tempted to buy a 1999 Dodge Stratus with 60,000 miles on it for $3000. Good transportation values.

Here's my beauty, photo is in my old model room back in New Jersey. I built this something like 20 years ago and it's been in operation ever since. It started life as a Tucker brand recycling bin. The cover was two part and hinged upward at the mid seam. I don't know where it ever went! I have a good bathroom fan mounted in the back of it. It is lined with newspaper and I clean it out and change the paper once in a blue moon. I take it out in the yard to clean and vacuum out the entire assembly, fan and hose. When I'm ready to use it, I toss the hose out the window, when weather is bad or cold, I just fill in the opening with a towel or two. The lights are just standard clip on units. I have the lights and fan plugged into a power strip so I turn it on and off with a flick of a single switch. I am hoping to build a new and better one in the near future. When I sold my house in NJ, I had to replace the kitchen appliances and the set came with a matching hood. So I have the old hood, which was only a year or so old, set aside. Once I build a better booth, I'll drill a hole in the house and permanently mount the hose!\.

How close am I? Oh yea, another 27 to go...