Harry P.

Ever heard of Wicked Weasel bikinis?

I don't know for sure, but that would be my guess. All the high-end diecasts (Danbury, AutoArt, etc.) use rubber tires, not vinyl. You really only see the vinyl on cheaper kits and low-end (toy) diecasts... so my assumption is that real rubber tires cost more.

I think car modelers are at least partly to blame. They are notoriously cheap. The price of a kit is the overriding factor for a lot of them, and they want kits cheap! My guess is that vinyl tires are cheaper than real rubber ones, so the kit manufacturers use the cheaper stuff. The high-end kits use better tires, it's the cheap mass-market kits aimed at the average modeler (and kid) that use the cheap tires.

My cousin had a purple 5-speed bike, big shifter on the top tube, almost as big as a car's shifter... but the frame was really long... longer than a Schwinn. I don't remember the brand, but it was a cool bike. With the longer frame it had a really low look to it.

First of all, why would you assume that the Chinese don't know about this? Second... the kits are manufactured in China, but they're made for Revell. Revell surely knows about the problem... it's up to REVELL to do something about it, not the company they contracted to do the manufacturing. If the material they're using for kit tires is reacting with the kit parts, it's up to Revell to tell their contractor to change the formula or to use a different material. If a US car company has a plant in Mexico that assembles a certain car, and they find a defect in that car, like a bearing that wears too quickly or a bad transmission or whatever, who is responsible for fixing the flaw? The Mexican worker on the assembly line, or GM?

That's what it's all about. And I'll do my part to keep this place friendly... I've learned my lesson as far as giving people a lot of leeway. It blew up in my face.

I don't know why they even bother with vinyl tires. Put 'em on the parts tree, fer crying out loud. There's no reason they have to be black vinyl; styrene painted a realistic shade of black would look more like real rubber tires than any vinyl tire does.

I deleted about half the posts and suspended two members. You're right, I gave people a long leash for too long, and a few of them took advantage of me. But my "treat them like adults and they'll act like adults" theory has been shot to hell. I was wrong. With some members, you treat them like adults and they'll take advantage of it and push the boundaries. So now it's clear that the only way to deal with the troublemakers is to start getting rid of them. Yes, I probably gave them too much leeway for too long. My mistake. All I got for my faith in fellow members is a pile of trouble. But no more.

You're right, the whole point of the "General" section is to give you guys a place to interact a little bit about stuff that's maybe not 100% model-related. That's why we call it the "General" section. If any members don't like anything off-topic and want this forum to be about only models 100%, all they have to do is stay away from the "General" section. The whole rest of the site is about models, model building and model-related topics. The "General" section is there for those members who like to talk a bit about other things (more or less model or automotive related, but not necessarily). If you don't want to join in, no problem! You have the whole rest of the site to look through.

Don't worry, I know. It just got hijacked by a few guys with nothing better to do than slam other members. Not your fault it turned out the way it did. I had to delete more than half the posts.

I thought I got that. I'll check.

So far tonight I've suspended two members. They thought they were being real clever and real funny. I have no problem suspending as many as necessary to clear out those whose only purpose is to either slam others or just cause trouble in general. I've been way too easy on you guys up to now, I always thought that a laid-back approach would make for an open, enjoyable forum where we could talk like friends. But I've learned that there are certain people here who have no intention of talking like friends, their only intention is to disrupt the forum and cause trouble. I have to say I'm pretty disappointed that my theory of treating you guys like adults, and expecting adult behavior in return, didn't pan out as I hoped it would. So... so far tonight two are gone, and more to come if necessary. As many as I have to get rid of to return this place into a friendly forum where we can all respect people who have different opinions or personalities instead of attacking them with lame, childish posts.

And photos of models go in either Under Glass or On the Workbench. Not here.

It was a suggestion. You know, something to do besides posting personal attacks on other members. I don't decide which threads are "useless" or not, that's not up to me to decide. There is no forum rule regarding the "usefulness" of a thread, but there is a forum rule regarding personal attacks. It's up to me to decide which posts are nothing more than personal attacks on other members, and I'll delete those. Or delete the people who insist on making posts like that.

Thank you so much to all of you guys with nothing better to do that post personal atacks or useless comments. Here's a suggestion: Instead of posting yet another attack on a forum member, why not post up some photos of your latest model?

No! I'm no auto worker...

It's almost inevitable that a big bucks ad run during the Superbowl by an automaker that was bailed out by taxpayer $$$ and was seen by millions of people is going to get under the skin of some, especially people who either opposed the bailouts (as I did) or who saw a partisan slant to the ad. I just didn't see it that way. Maybe I'm naive, but I took the ad at face value. "Go America, go USA, let's work together and right the ship." It wasn't until the day after, and all the talk in the media about the "hidden messages" in the ad that I even considered the idea of it being a partisan political ad (which I still don't think it was). Also... remember, the "talking heads" are paid to stir up controversy... even when the controversy is invented by the talking heads themselves! It's all about ratings, not necessarily truth...

Whoa... easy there, Skip... I guess there's a reason we're not supposed to talk politics here...

I remember those! They had the straight top tubes. Kinda weird looking...

Exactly! I'm always busy trying to do the impossible (please everyone)...

When I was a kid it was considered the utmost in cool to have a Schwinn stingray. Orange Crate, Lemon Peeler, Grey Ghost, etc. My parents refused to buy me one...

Wow! Even the original tags on the handlebars! Nice!

I would take Clint Eastwood at his word when he says he was not making a political statement. Everyone knows that he is not an Obama supporter. And seeing as how he is on record as opposing the auto bailouts, it seems pretty clear that he was not making a pro-bailout statement. Now it may be true that the ad was intended by the writers to make a political statement, but if that was the case, Clint Eastwood obviously didn't see it that way or he would not have done it. Personally I didn't see anything overtly political in the ad. I think that saying the ad was an obvious reference to Obama is stretching it. At least I (and Clint!) didn't see it that way. and I'm a pretty savvy guy when it comes to politics. I follow it closely, I watch the talking heads, the debates, etc. On well, in any case, the ad has us all talking, and in that sense, at least, it was a very successful ad!

Same here. Work from home, all work done on the computer, site open all day long. So the answer to how often I come here? Too often!

Ditto times 2!