Harry P.

ok, this is a tough call, but I think I need to lock this and here's my logic: I have no idea what happened at the contest that Drew and Mark refer to. I have no idea, and make no judgement, on who is telling the "truth," I'm not taking sides. Both Drew and Mark are magazine contributors whose material I value. But I have a feeling that leaving this open will lead to results that won't be very beneficial to the forum, so for that reason only (what I think is best for the forum), I think I need to lock this. I could have deleted Drew's and Mark's comments, but I think I'll leave them up.

On the other hand, if they had kept production in the US, wages and benefits would undoubtedly have meant much higher production costs and much higher retail prices... so sales might have been much less. You can't really blame them for having outsourced production to where the cost is so much lower.

Oh... Gotcha!

I would remove the seam and only foil that area, not dechrome the whole part. Of course it depends on the part itself... where the seam is, the types of curves and angles, etc. Might have been unfeasible, but I think 95% of the time it can be done. I've done it before... just sand the seam smooth and patch the area with a piece of foil. If you put the edges of the foil in areas where there are creases or "folds" on the part (like where a bumper guard and bumper meet, for example), it's almost impossible to see the patch unless you know what you're looking for.

But there was chrome foil. Maybe not the best solution (rechroming is obviously better)... but if he had taken the time to remove the mold seam and then foil the part, maybe the judges would have seen it as going the "extra mile" (even if the result was less than perfect) rather than seeing leaving the seam in place as being "lazy" on the builder's part. I'm just speculating, of course... I can't get into the judge's heads.... but if I was judging that model I would have seen things that way.

But how did Virgil see them?

Where did you see them? I can't find any pictures online.

No, it's not a clown car! It's a 2004 Hindustan Avigo. http://www.bsccoc.ca/wp/time-capsule-arrested-development-or-alternate-future/ Who got it right: Chillyb1 wisdonm thom maltsr dodgefever G Holding george53 Kenny Badluck 13 trogdor Chris R carsntrucks4you Johnny matthijsgrit kataranga

Hmmm... you're right! But I assume that's a typo, they undoubtedly mean their first 1/8 scale kit, not the first. Surely they know about the old Monogram kits. But either way, a minor point... and in their defense, it's not Pocher that put up the website, but Hornby. But all that aside, let's hope their announcement isn't a big letdown.

They say that it was their first 1/8 scale kit, not the first 1/8 scale kit.

It's hard to believe that the dozens and dozens of diecast models they offered are gone just like that! I mean, the investment $$$ alone... just gone? This is almost too incredible to believe. I used to get a DM flyer in the mail every few weeks. Now that I think of it, it's been a long time since I got one. Maybe this really is true!

Available on newsstands?

I was on the DM site and saw that they only had a handful of models still on the site, so I wondered what was going on. I looked around the web and found this posted on another forum: The story is that the Chinese producer for Danbury went bankrupt and was seized by the Chinese government who confiscated ALL of the current and future fixtures and dies for all of their diecast in production and future models. Several of the promised models (like a 1953 Ford 2 door hardtop) have been officially cancelled by Danbury. It is uncertain whether or not the dies have been destroyed, but DM claims not to have them. One can hope that DM does have the original specs and drawings. The diecast business is lucrative UNTIL you have a set back like this...having said that, the 1:24 market has been shrinking more than the larger and smaller scales. Danbury has been busy selling everything out of their warehouse and it is unknown whether or not they can find a new fabricator and then start all over from scratch producing new models - the old ones are probably a done deal. At this point, the future of DM diecast models is in question, but there is no credible evidence (from what I know) that they are at this time out of the diecast business. Is this true? All of those amazing DM diecasts are gone?

Man! That is some fine work. You and your brother are definitely the 1-2 punch of diecast modeling around here! BTW... what is the source of the fire helmets and boots?

Copying the IMG code and pasting it into your post is exactly the way you should be doing it.

172 was mailed out a long time ago.

Don't be shy... post some photos.

That looks pretty cool. Nice job!

I guess I'm crazy.

Very impressive!

WOW!

True.

If you mean that it looks like a clown car, I agree!

Yeah, and they also taught you "duck and cover" to hide from those big bad communists! Sometimes teachers get it wrong...