Tom Geiger

I don't remember meters in the taxi cabs in Izmir. This was 1966-68 and I remember we paid an iki bucuk to ride anywhere we wanted in a horse carriage and double that for a taxi. Great model! I enjoyed watching the build.

I just changed my avatar picture since my old one was my Christmas theme truck! Onward into the new year!

I usually don't clear at all. For most of my building I usually have weathered surfaces or at least used vehicles where clear coat would be an unrealistic shine. One thought on clear coats, regarding both decals and Bare Metal Foil, is that the clear coat gives everything the same tone. In real life, the paint, the chrome (even the difference between chrome and aluminum / pot metal trim) are different. Many decals on cars actually are stickers that sit on top of the paint and have more of a matte finish on them. I remember one time seeing a Nascar car that had everything buried under mile deep clear that looked totally unrealistic. So I would be doing my decals and BMF after my clear coat.

Very nicely done! I love the old workman modified trucks. It's so Americana

Very nice! Not my style of build but I love looking at other styles. Your detailing is perfect, love your hose clamps. Not a hair out of place.

Wow Jim! You've really got the hang of this! That last photo is just perfect. I'd swear it's a black and white photo of my grandfather's basement. Keep going!

Very cool and it's interesting to see what can be done. As far as 3D modeling for the average modeler, I can see that the design work requires professional tools and skills. We are starting to see products emerging and I expect to see more as the equipment and process becomes more commonplace and less expensive. So for most modelers, these will be products they buy, like photo etch or cast parts, rather than something people just scan in and print. Still, like someone buying a lathe, there is a considerable amount of skill and talent required. Great work and thanks for the post.

As you can see, I like chassis detail. Funny thing, as I went though the albums of my built models, I didn't have chassis shots of many of them... and I went to a lot of work on those. The above chassis is on an AMT '55 Chevy pickup and was done to represent a working vehicle. Note that every vehicle has some degree of dirt and wear on the chassis. Even new cars on the lot have the start of toning on the exhaust system and rust on bare bolts. I also like to do some weathering, anything from a light dusting for a new car to bring out detail highlights like Erik did above. For varying dark tones, collect different brands of black, semi gloss black, flat black etc. You'll find that when you put them next to one another, they vary in color and effect. You can also use Testors Metalizers, I like them without the fixative coat. There are also dark grays that work on chassis. I like the Testors Euro dark gray (I believe this once was called Panzer gray) because it's very dark, almost black. I've used this for bottom floor pans. You can also add different tones by using Testor Dullcote or semi gloss over any of the above. I also like the Poly S / Floquil weathering set that includes colors like "mud", "rust", "grimy black" and "dust". One brand of these is acrylic (preferred by me) and one is more enamel. The acrylic is easier to blend with water for weathering. I also like to use earth tone pastel chalks. I bought a set at a hobby shop that is just the earth tones and that $10 box has lasted forever. I leave the sticks in the box and sand the sides of them to get dust to either brush on the model or to work onto the model with Testors Dullcote. One suggestion I have is RESEARCH! I regularly go to eBay Motors to collect detail photos from the car ads. Some sellers post 20-50 photos and I'll often save an entire set on vehicles I'm interested in. Some put the cars on a lift and shoot several shots of the chassis. That's where you'll get the detail you need to build a killer chassis. Here's an example of a reference shot. Not the greatest picture but what I had on hand. This is actually the Deora show car. Even the parts photos are useful. What's the underside of a used tranny look like? Here ya go! Hope this helps!

Hi Rich, time does fly. I didn't realize Dave was gone so long. In fact I had to go back to my photo albums from the Liars Challenge to 1999 to find this photo. Back when things were good and Dave drove Da Deuce to the show. It's nice that you're building in Dave's memory. My favorite build of his was his Topolino street rod WITH fenders. I don't think anyone else has done that before or since! It's also good to see you doing the complex flock jobs like you did in the old days!

When I've traveled by air to GSL I've only brought one model with me. I've carried it in my carry on bag. I've wrapped it in toilet paper and put it in a heavy cardboard promo size box with a top flap. When I brought the truck that's currently my avatar, I cut foam blocks to go around the mirrors etc prior to wrapping.

Long time ago! I believe I ignored him but he kept sending emails. But after that I started a buying ID separate from my sellers ID since I did buy a lot of stuff to break down into smaller lots and resell, mostly stamp and postcard items.

One of my favorite car movies, no that car wasn't a taxi, that's yellow primer in the door jambs!

Years ago I won an auction for 3 old promos. I wanted one of them. When I received them even the one I wanted was bad, so instead of whining back at the seller, I took some good photos and put them up for sale each in their own auction. The guy I bought them from went nuts. He started harassing me by email that I had ripped him off and how dare I take advantage of him to make a profit. He was reporting me to eBay etc. Well, I had the last laugh because each of those cars sold for more than I paid for the lot of 3! He must've been fuming!

Nice Bike Irvin! Wish I still had my original. I do have my 1973 Peugeot Tour De France 10 speed though! That's me on Christmas 1969 with my spiffy new Raleigh Chopper in Pirmasens, Germany. This orange one got stolen and was replaced with a yellow Chopper. These were Euro models with head/tail lights run off a generator in the center of the front wheel. The yellow Chopper got brought back to the US and I thought it was safely tucked in the back of my father's loaded garage. Nope! He admitted giving it away to a friend years ago. Argh! At least he didn't dump my Peugeot!

Ya know Dan, I saw that yesterday and thought "Nah, that's too easy!" LOL

And you wonder how many actually did before they came up with them!

Jon, read the thread above that Chuck Most has posted. That will give you the origins. The original NNL was held in the Toledo, Ohio area and still is held each November, in Sylvania, Ohio. It is a club run event for over 30 years running. The second NNL was NNL East. The Tri-State Scale Model Car Club president, the late John Slivoski, attended the Toledo event and envisioned holding a similar meet in New Jersey. He asked and was granted permission. Thus, NNL East was born and is in it's 27th year. There are other club run NNL style shows around the country. Different organizing clubs have changed the format a bit to suit themselves. There is a MidAtlantic NNL in Maryland, NNL West in California and several more around the country. No one group is in charge of them. The whole idea of NNL is it's informal and not a contest. More people do come out and display more models since it's fun to show your work without the pressure of judging. It's all about sharing models and making friends. To show you a bit about an NNL, go to the www.nnleast.com website. There's links to photos of the past shows that will give you the flavor of what happens there.

Great work Jim. I can identify with it being scary. You get so far with great work and just dread screwing it up. But you're doing good! Here's a few pix of a diorama done in black and white. It was at the Liars show back in 2002. I had to dig a bit to find these!

I just love those old International school busses! I was a US military dependent in the 1960s-70s and those were the Army and Air Force busses we rode to school. The government must have bought a bunch of them because I saw the same ones in Turkey, Germany and Belgium. Here's a photo I found on the Internet of one with Euro plates on it. No doubt one that the US military left behind!

Here's a hobby cross over piece from my stamp collection. This is an airmail envelope mailed in 1929 from the REO Motor Car Company to California. I love this old historical stuff, aside from it coming from REO, it was transported in an old prop plane like Lindberg's across the country. If it could only talk!

Seat wise you can lop the head rests off those buckets to use them, or like you said, find another pair. A suggestion... if you have any of the MPC Dodge van releases, the custom van benches (diamond pattern upholstery) make a decent seat in a pickup. I'm using one in a '50 Ford and it fit in like it belongs there!

I finished up the windows last night. I was having issues working with the jalousie windows on the doors. I kept losing the little wedges and invisible panes of glass! So I kinda walked away until I could focus again (a learned behavior!) and worked on my other projects. I got back to it yesterday and conquered my mental block! The side wall casement window was previously made and just installed. The windows are open but are glued in place that way. Maybe I'll hinge them next time. The roof rack and sky light are permanently mounted at this point in the build. Rear view shows an old house dual double hung window used. I am going to redo the license plate. I have a frame and light already made for it. Just a matter of getting it together and mounted. The interior is done, but I still have a lot of little details I'd like to add as I finish up.

Great Jim! Let us know how you make out. The key is to use enough glue to get it to stick, but not soak through to the surface. Also, note that the Taco Bell napkin just happened to be the color I was looking for. I'm sure there are other napkins in other colors that would work as well.

This is a recent photo of my work bench. The top shelf is just display, but all the boxes on the other shelves represent an unfinished project. This year's New Year's Resolution is to get more of them finished and onto the shelves. I'm currently finishing up the '34 Ford Rat Rod that had been sitting since 2005. There are many more that are much older than that. Let's just say that the putty and paint is more than dry!

Remember the old IMC VW Beetle? It was later issued by Union, a Japanese company, and the tool hasn't resurfaced. I have several of that Union release and noticed that you can build the stock Beetle and still have the entire drag chassis to use elsewhere! I'm hoping to do that someday... great project idea number 698 on the list!