Harry P.

That seems like a pretty good way to do it. Judging can never be made 100% objective, but by having specific objective categories to judge each entry at least you can keep the judging somewhat objective.

Peter, I'm with you on just about everything you wrote. Facts are facts, there's no good way to spin facts politically. But I'm not about to jump on Glenn Beck's bandwagon. He has the right to his opinions, of course, but for me he's a little too far out there. While I agree with some of what he says, I disagree with a lot of it, too. I hesitate to take anyone at the extreme of either end of the political spectrum too seriously, because mostly they're not being logical... they're being political. The problem is, the "talking heads" that appear on TV generally put forth a fairly extreme agenda... because it makes for good TV. People who have "extreme" viewpoints, or who are on the extreme left (Olberman, Ed Schultz, etc.) or the extreme right (Hannity, Beck, etc.) outnumber (and outshout) the moderates. There are very few "moderate" pundits out there. The media gives us way too much partisanship and far too little common sense. It makes for some lively "debate" on the TV news shows (if you can call political posturing "debate"), but unfortunately the lefties and the righties endlessly spouting their respective party-line propaganda is more flash than substance. I would love to see a program where intelligent, thoughtful and insightful "experts" from the left, the right, and that great big chunk in the middle that is so severely under-represented in the media would sit down and discuss the issues without trying to knock the other guy's viewpoint. But I do agree 100% with your overall post. Corrupt, arrogant and at times totally clueless politicians are making a mess of things... and unless "we the people" assert ourselves and do something about it, that trend isn't going to stop any time soon.

Peter, you paint a very disturbing picture. But you know what? It's all true. I won't restate any of what Peter so eloquently has written, but I'll give him a big AMEN. He is right, the country is drastically changing right before our eyes. The America that we knew only a short time ago is no more... and more "change you can believe in" is headed our way as long as our federal government is now entirely in the control of one party. One party rule... isn't that how the USSR operated? And China? And North Korea? And Cuba? Checks and balances? Not any more. These days, what Congress wants, Congress will get. And Peter is also right when he says it's up to US to get the country back on track. We have to remember that WE are the boss... the politicians that WE put into office work for US. Unfortunately too many of them seem to be totally oblivious to that fact.

How about this one? Real or model? Remember, if you know the answer because you know where the photo is from, don't tell! The answer: REAL!

Here's the "Reader's Digest condensed version" of the story, in Mark Gustavson's own words (from his "Custom Clinic" website): I started to think seriously about creating a national model car championship that would have as its focus a dispassionate approach to subject matter and an absolute commitment to subject-matter neutrality and objective judging...as plans progressed, the name of the contest was changed to the First Invitational Model Car Championship (FIMCC), and was scheduled for April 11-13, 1980 in Omaha, Nebraska... Remarkably, I believed such an event could be run by remote control from Salt Lake City, without on-site organization or a pre-existing base of national support. But FIMCC was doomed from the outset. A combination of benign neglect, blind enthusiasm and gross inexperience yielded appropriate results: It was a disaster...My failure to grasp the realities of contest organization and promotion was due to a foolish misjudgment of the responsibilities and complexities necessary to present such an event... But, at this point, I made another error. You see, I was angry about the failure of FIMCC though the reasons for the failure were well known to me. Nevertheless, undaunted by my own lack of judgment, I wrote a Putty Thrower column for the March-April 1980 issue of Scale Auto Enthusiast in January of 1980 that got me in a lot of trouble with many Midwest modelers. Unfairly, I was upset with modelers from the Midwest that I had never met! In essence, I publicly complained about the lack of support for FIMCC from those "national luminaries who shall remain nameless" because, at the time, I thought that the absence of interest in FIMCC by old-time MPC builders was inexplicable and xenophobic. When I calmed down and thought through things, it became apparent to me that the venerable MPC contestants either didn't know about the contest or quite reasonably decided not to trust an upstart from Salt Lake City. I was not prepared, then in my youth, to admit -- in public -- that I was responsible for the FIMCC "nonevent." Predictably, the Ohio group were greatly perturbed with me, and led Tom Woodruff to create the NNL in response to my diatribe . That first NNL (the acronym was for "National Nameless Luminaries" -- an artful rephrase of my outburst) was held in the Summer of 1980 at Tom's home, and featured the now-famous presentation of models in a noncompetitive atmosphere.

I don't understand why GM is killing Pontiac either. I can see dropping the Saturn line... Saturn has never made a profit for GM. I'm surprised they kept it going as long as they did. But Pontiac is a much more iconic GM brand than Saturn ever was. I would have kept the Pontiac name alive, maybe sold at Chevy dealers (as in "see your Chevy/Pontiac dealer today!"). It works for Ford (Lincoln/Mercury dealers) and for Chrysler (Chrysler/Jeep dealers). I would have kept Pontiac as "specialty" line, maybe just a few models like the Solstice, a new Firebird based on the Camaro, and a Bonnevillle based on the Chevy Impala. I also don't understand GM's reason for dropping the Pontiac name: they say Pontiac wasn't selling enough cars and drawing buyers away from Chevy. Wasn't selling enough cars? Isn't selling even a few cars better than not selling any? And what's the difference if Pontiac took some sales away from Chevy? In the end all the money goes back to the same pot. What's the difference whether GM sold a "Chevy" or a "Pontiac" that day? A GM car sold is a GM car sold, no matter what it was called. If Chevy competes with Pontiac for buyers, who cares? They're both GM cars!

From their website: Our Solution: We have modeled a solution that would have the following elements: Contribute the Pontiac brand and a dormant plant like the Spring Hill, Tennessee plant to a new entrepreneurial, passionate management team and the future employees of Pontiac. Fund the new Company with $3 Billion in preferential term loans from the Federal Government. (Only 6% of the $50B given to GM; only 3% of total Automobile bailout funds or less than 1% of the unspent bank bailout funds) Company does an IPO within 5 years to payback loans and Government (Taxpayers receive 5% to 10% of the IPO proceeds and the loans are repaid.) The estimated Enterprise Value at the end of 5 years exceeds $9 Billion. So their plan is this: Give them the Pontiac brand and give them an assembly plant, give them a $3 billion taxpayer-funded loan, and in 5 years they will have become so successful that they will be worth $9 billion and will pay back all the loans. That's way beyond "wishful thinking"... that's delusional thinking.

No, it's just a model.

You might consider moving to Arizona! But seriously, though, why not try a paint that isn't affected by humidity, like acrylics?

Hmmmm... I didn't know you could retire from that job!

Here are a few photos... and that's just the wheels! Imagine how much more went into this model...

Nope.

Here's how I would go about cutting panels with thread: 1. Forget about it. 2. Get my knife and score the cut with the back side of the blade. I know it's possible to cut plastic with thread, but why use such an awkward method when the old back side of the X-acto works so much better and easier? Like Bill said... when you're holding the ends of the thread with each hand, what's holding the model???

Final vote: Real 42, Model 11. Boy, I got you guys GOOD this time! It's a MODEL! Now... who can tell me what scale it is? Next ROM coming MONDAY!

I wouldn't mind having one of those in my driveway...

If there actually are "secret societies" nobody else would know about them, right???

As long as human beings have been part of the planet, there has never been peace... and as long as they remain part of the planet, there never will be peace. I base that opinion on the events of the past 2,000+ years. But hey, Trekkies... keep dreaming! There's nothing wrong with being a "glass half-full" type, just remember to take a dose of reality with your happy pill once in a while...

BS it is. Mankind has never lived in peace and harmony, ever... beginning with the first caveman that conked the second caveman on the head with his club and took his wife away, right through to today and the wars going on around the world. There have been wars going on somewhere on the planet (and many times in many different places simultaneously) continuously since we began keeping track of things... apparently it's human nature to want to fight somebody. I see absolutely no reason to think that human nature will change any time soon. For better or worse, we are what we are. Anyone who thinks that someday soon man will somehow fundamentally change is pretty idealistic (or naive).

Notwithstanding all this nonsense about 2012 and all the other lunatic "theories" out there, what really amazes me is how many people apparently think "Star Trek" is anything more than just pop-culture entertainment...

http://www.pegasushobbies.com/rims.htm Scroll to the bottom of the page... Or try this: http://locsters.stores.yahoo.net/oldstwhti.html

Ok, now that the running board has been modified, back to some more chassis assembly. Here's a shot of the radiator housing... The shell is a one-piece plated metal stamping. I masked off the outer portion and sprayed the grille with Krylon semi-gloss black. Once the paint was dry I took some very fine sandpaper and removed the paint from the "Alfa Romeo" script to reveal the original plated surface. Since the grille shell is a plated metal piece, a little light sanding with very fine sandpaper didn't hurt the finish (a plated plastic piece would have gotten scratched). The gold medallion at the top is a separate kit piece, and the filler neck is brass. Those two weird things on each side of the grille shell are the headlight brackets, and the loose wires you see are the wires for the headlights, which at this point still had to be routed neatly along the chassis. Here's a shot from the same angle but a little further along in the process: You can see the headlights are mounted and wired, all I needed to do now was add the reflector buckets, bulbs, lenses and outer trim rings. The parts in this photo that look like real plated metal, like the crank, the horns, etc. really are plated metal. I left a lot of the metal chassis components unpainted (not prototypically correct)... but I liked the look of the plated components against the black of the chassis.

Actually it's a 1933 Ford. Did you try a google image search? There are hundreds of pictures of it. Here's one: http://www.detroitmoxie.com/storage/Photo%203.jpg

That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard! The whole point of wearing a helmet is to protect your head in a crash so you DON'T become a "vegetable" and you DO live to ride another day! It's when you don't wear a helmet that even a minor crash could turn you into a vegetable.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/contact/

Finally!