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Tiny Car Podcast Episode 2
42 Plays1 year ago
Torben and Bob welcome in Jim Kampmann to talk about the early days of the NNL Nationals, judging model car events, and the overall state of the hobby.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Reflections
00:00:01
Speaker
Good afternoon. We are live from the Lake Street Studios for the Tiny Car Podcast. It is a beautiful day in Minneapolis. My co-host Bob is here. Bob, how's it going? It's going great today, Torben. Beautiful day in Minneapolis, out on my bicycle. Well, first off, I would like to apologize for the audio on episode one.
Model Car Building Tips & Projects
00:00:25
Speaker
We did not shoot that one from the bottom of the ocean, even though it sounded like we were at the bottom of the ocean. We had bags on our heads, but that was not the case. But we did learn some stuff. First, I learned not to touch a microphone. It sounded like when Captain Kirk got hit with a phaser every time I touched a microphone. So I promise not to do that this time.
00:00:48
Speaker
Also, we learned whatever reverb is that we shouldn't turn it down because that kills our sound as well. So anybody that listened all the way through episode one, thank you. Thank you. That was an awful lot to get through. So first off, did I already say that? Yeah, forget I said that. Well, we've had a lot going on since the end of December, early January, since we last talked.
00:01:17
Speaker
We had the 24-hour challenge. Now, this is something that you have not done. Will you ever do it? You know, I don't think so. It's not something that moves me. That's all. Can I take this bag off my head now? Is that okay? No, there's no teeth. No, this doesn't move me. But I know you like doing it. I know guys, a couple of our buddies in
Racing Events & Shows
00:01:40
Speaker
Milwaukee like doing it. They do it for the 24 hours of Le Mans.
00:01:43
Speaker
But you do it for the Daytona and I did. I did. Yeah. And the nice thing this year was that Peacock had the whole race. So I was able to watch watch along while I built. I didn't get done in 24 hours, but I did finish within the week. Now, it's my opinion. If you're going to participate in this, there are some guidelines. One thing I think, well, you know, the whole thing is to keep it as simple as possible. So.
00:02:12
Speaker
a one-color paint scheme, minimal decals, minimal bare metal foil, and a well-engineered kit, I think, are necessities, along with lots of sugar and caffeine. Certainly don't want to eat a big meal. It'll give you a food coma and you'll probably fall asleep on your exact blade. So I chose the Gatorade Buick by Bobby Allison's 82 Daytona winner.
00:02:42
Speaker
It looks fabulous, by the way. Well, it is white, so you can't go wrong with white. The decals were a little much, but not too bad, considering some of the full body wraps. And the bare-mouth foil on those is pretty much straight, so that wasn't too bad. What really did me in on that was I decided to polish the body. And by this time, it was about four in the morning. And if you ever have trouble sleeping, I would recommend getting up and trying to polish a body.
00:03:12
Speaker
because it's like counting sheep, you know, with each passing grit, rubbing that along. Before
Racing Season Updates & Recommendations
00:03:20
Speaker
I knew it, I don't think I even got to the 8,000 grit and I was asleep. Oh, perfect. Here's for insomnia. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I did manage to get up and I watched the end of the race and Roger Penske, his Porsche again, is all he does is win. So, um,
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, so that's it. But hopefully one day we'll talk you into something. We'll have to see. We'll have to see. Maybe we'll get you to a 43rd or something like that. We'll have to see. You know, you are retired. Promises. Promises. You know, Monday.
00:04:00
Speaker
Well, we also had the Hope It Don't Snow show in January, which is... First of February. First of February, yes. Rochester, Minnesota. What did you think of that? Great show. I'm sure our guests can talk about that. He was one of the judges. There were lots of cars. There was almost an equal
Current Model Car Projects
00:04:20
Speaker
number of cars and airplanes, and there were about 500 models at the show. It was fantastic.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it used to be that there were a handful of jaw-dropping cars, but this show, the table was full of them. I know I really liked the 112th scale Formula One cars. I think Mike Klesick had one. Mike Klesick had one. Our own Howard Quidnow had one. And then some other gentlemen had one. Yeah, there's three of them. And Howard had that wonderful diorama
Upcoming Events & New Kits
00:04:50
Speaker
as well. The Bugatti 1930 Monaco. Yes, great, great model.
00:04:55
Speaker
And then there's a guy that had all the weathered stuff. Troy D like his very own junkyard. That's true, it did. It did look that way. That was really cool. Yeah, great show. A lot of our RPM members did really well. Absolutely. I think Tyler won the green machine. He won the easy-being green. It's not easy being green. Yes, he did. And that's the last year for that. Let's hope. I've been drawing for 40 years.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, there's a lot of good shades of green out there to paint. So all right. Well, and in this time, we've also had racing has come back. So we had the Daytona 500, which to me is your typical Daytona race. You know, the first 80% of the race was just kind of a parade. Then you have the big one.
00:05:49
Speaker
then the end of the race is kind of exciting, if you can hold on that long. And who won this year again? William Byron. Oh, okay. Won. And just a little preview of new kits out. I know Salvino's is doing the Daytona winner. They were fortunate enough to have a Hendrick kit.
00:06:15
Speaker
win it or a Hendrick car win it. I know last year, the winner, they did not have under contract and they spent the whole year trying to get that one together. But this one should be out. You could order it probably in a month, I guess, if you want to build a Daytona winner. But the real race was next week, this past week now, but it's a week after Daytona, the Atlanta race. I don't suppose you watch that.
Model Kits & Tools
00:06:40
Speaker
I watched
00:06:41
Speaker
Jim, in fact, told me that the ending was fantastic and the end was fantastic. And I watched any of the non-restrictor plate races are far more interesting to me. They're less of a parade.
00:06:54
Speaker
Well, this is what Daytona used to be like, and it makes sense because it's the fastest racetrack now without the restrictor plate. It was at the end of the race. I watched the highlights and it was fantastic. It was reminiscent of the first Daytona race, where they had to go look at the review with the three cars coming to the line. The 59, yeah. And Lee Petty, and then they needed to get some
00:07:22
Speaker
Some video. Some photographic evidence. Which always makes me laugh, because how much video did they have in 1959? I mean, people were out there. And who won this one again? This was the Atlanta race. It was close between... Daniel Suarez winning the 99 car. Yeah, I'm glad to see him win one. Yes. Second win. Second win. Yeah, he won a World Course race. And is F1 starting up? F1 started up this past weekend. I just watched the highlights.
00:07:51
Speaker
Jim can probably talk about that as well. It was not a shock who won the race, but the Red Bulls seem to be on track for another dominant season. They finished 1-2. The other teams are running behind. Oh, and another thing I'd like to recommend for all you wonderful NASCAR fans out there.
00:08:16
Speaker
The Wada Wilson podcast by Dale jr. Was really good. It was like
00:08:22
Speaker
And I know it's not your favorite movie, but it's one of my favorite movies is Forrest Gump. And it reminded me of kind of like Forrest Gump of NASCAR when Waddell Wilson started talking. He started out as this young kid working at Holman and Moody. And then he moved on to Die Guard. And then part of the late 70s, early 80s, that dominant Bernier racing team of the 28 car where they had
00:08:51
Speaker
I'm five years in a row on the pole at Daytona with several different drivers, you know, Tiny Lun, Buddy Baker, Bobby Allison, Kale Yarbrough, Benny Parsons, all different drivers, but they're winning, you know, and he was the main engine builder for that. And so just did an awful lot of different things. So that's a really interesting podcast for Dale Jr. Cool.
00:09:17
Speaker
So that covers kind of the racing through January, February. What are you working on, Bob, as far as what's on the bench? What's on the bench? I just finished a 34 Ford pickup, the old AMT kit. And I use the hairspray method to give it a rusty beat up finish, made it into a tow truck. And I'm going to, in fact, tonight, I'm going to try to spray some paint on the 56 Ford, the old Revell kit.
00:09:46
Speaker
I had a disastrous paint experience and so I sanded it back and I'm going to use the Marcos cruise method. I'm going to spray some flat and then I'm going to clear it and hopefully that'll make the car go faster. I'm hoping
Interview with Jim Campman
00:10:00
Speaker
it will. Those are the ones I'm working on a couple of pickup trucks. Okay. Well, um, yeah, and it won't surprise anybody. I'm working on NASCAR stuff, but, um, I'm trying to do a lot of Bobby Allison cars. Um, I think for the IPMS shows, I'm kind of,
00:10:14
Speaker
gone away from any of the competitive stuff. And I'm just trying to build for collections. And so this year I'm trying to build Bobby Allison cars. And so I did the 28 Hardee's Regal. I've been working on that. And then the theme for the N and L Milwaukee is one of the sub themes anyway, since it's on May the 4th and May the 4th be with you is Star Wars. So now I'm not a sci-fi builder.
00:10:42
Speaker
But I did have a special Jeff Gordon Star Wars paint scheme. So I've been doing a lot of decaling because that is like a full body wrap. And I was a little concerned because the decals themselves were about 25 years old. And then even the technology back then made you wonder. It's worth a lot of money too. The Wetworks won.
00:11:07
Speaker
Now, I helped myself out a little bit because, you know, doing the full body wrap, I took off the roof rails and some of the venting on the front. And then I filled in the the roof flaps in that way I can put and then they have decals for those and I'm going to add the roof rails back. But so that's coming along. Hopefully you'll be here for May the 4th. May the 4th be with you. Yes.
00:11:35
Speaker
Yeah, so that's what I'm working on. And that brings us to what's new in the hobby. What do we have coming up? Last week we talked about the 64 trucks, 63 Ford and the 71 Demon. And you passed on all of those? I passed on those, yes. The 64 pickup game. The 64 pickup doesn't seem, seems kind of cool.
00:12:03
Speaker
You know, but, uh, no demon for me. So you have your own demons. How about you?
00:12:12
Speaker
I've been good too. We went on that Nebraska trip and I bought way too many things and so I've tried to really limit my consumption. I've heard you're going on another soldier in there and you're going to try to up the ante. Going back to Nebraska and that's really, really going to test myself for strength. I got to admit the 64 pickup was tempting. I got a thing for pickup trucks but
00:12:42
Speaker
you know, kind of like with funny cars, I'm at the point where I have to build one before I buy another one, because I, for whatever reason, like buying them a lot more than building. Well, of course, who wouldn't? But they got a
00:12:59
Speaker
a host of other good things coming out, the 68 Coronet to hardtop, I guess it's convertible the first time. So that coming out, the 2021 Dodge Charger cop car, 72 Corvette, a 60 Corvette seven and one.
00:13:18
Speaker
the cat. You know,
Judging & Presentation in Model Car Shows
00:13:20
Speaker
take a guess what the cat is. Beautiful MPC library. And the 173 Cougar. Yes, there you go. Oh, 73 Cougar. Oh my goodness. Well, and Bob Ferrara casted bumpers for one of those that changed for you. Well, he's selling them for a dollar. So I bought one, but
00:13:41
Speaker
You couldn't resist. You don't have the car though. I do. I do. The old they released it once I think maybe early 2000s and back then my favorite shop, the best shop of all time, Slot and Wing Hobbies in Champaign, Illinois. What they used to do is Hobbico would just dump all their damaged stuff and
00:14:06
Speaker
they would just give you anything for three bucks. If the, if the bike could be, and you could open it up and look at everything, everything was in there. Yes, absolutely. And, uh, $3 for any kit and then a dollar for any paint. And like, I bought, I probably bought 30 cans of spray paint, never had a problem with spray paint and the kits were good. So it was truly.
00:14:32
Speaker
dream come true. But then I think somewhere around 2008 or nine, they they just started giving all their damage stuff to tower hobbies and selling it. Okay. So but it was great while it lasted is about 15 year run. He's gotten wing hobbies, which is still open. So if you're anywhere in central Illinois, you should go check it out. Then we have the Dodge truck warlock.
00:14:58
Speaker
This is kind of like the Little Red Wagon. It seemed like they sold a lot of those Dodge pickups. I remember we went to Model Empire. Oh, yes. It seemed like they were flying off the shelf. I had one under their arm. So we got one done. That is funny. Yeah, I don't know. Oh, well, no. Don Static got a race truck one done. Bobby Alson went
00:15:25
Speaker
And when I first saw it, I was like, my God, what, what is, is that just a fantasy build? But it was an actual, an actual race. You had pictures of it. So yeah, loosely replicated. Yes. Yes. But, but he did get it done. So we got to give that to him. Um, also he got, he got two, uh, two NASCAR kits done for the display. He did. So kudos to Don for that.
00:15:50
Speaker
Well, they also have a 2022 Corvette coming out. Yeah, that's coming out soon. Are you listening, Hugh? Anyway. Yes, I'm sure he's in line as we speak. This one, the 79 Nova two and one, if I had to predict people to buy this, a Troy Stanky. I think he would go for that. I can see him in line for that one. Yeah.
00:16:12
Speaker
Then they got a 61 Ford, one that you talked me into buying in Nebraska. I just suggested. That's all. It was merely a suggestion and you fell for it. Well, you fell for it is right. And we both open. What did you get? We were both open those that night and then realize just how much damn work it would be because we both wanted to make a NASCAR out of it. Right. And it was like a lot of work.
00:16:37
Speaker
the whole backseat stuff. The trim was just all over the place. One for the white elephant. Yes. Another one I think you're going to really salivate over, Bob, is the Tom Daniels Sidewinder. I can't wait. I'm all with Twitter. And then we have the Shirley Moldani funny car, which again, I've taken an oath until I build another funny car.
00:17:06
Speaker
not to buy this one, but it does look pretty cool. And it comes with a driver figure, right? And some would say, what a figure. And then parachutes as well. Cool. We go along with that Shirley Muldani funny car. Just a bit of trivia on that. Yes. She had a really bad fire in that car. OK. So I'm sure she doesn't have a lot of good memories of it. Oh, wow. So you could possibly do a fire diagram on one of that. Yeah.
00:17:36
Speaker
driving in my car sorry now was that before after she had the before the 71 satellite oh the satellite because they had similar paint schemes on the satellite was after after okay she also had a bad fire in that car as well good lord really yeah
00:17:59
Speaker
Well, I do remember watching the Heart Like a Wheel movie. It was How It Didn't Win Best Picture, I don't know. But it was pretty good. It was good. It was entertaining. And then we have some other movie cars from Ravel. Stranger Things. Did you ever watch Stranger Things? I watched the first season, and I thought it was pretty
Future of Model Car Kits
00:18:20
Speaker
interesting. Yeah. As a kid that grew up in the 80s, it was really cool. And my son has said, man, I wish I grew up in the 80s.
00:18:28
Speaker
It really uh, it wasn't as fun as they probably made it look. Yeah. I was just wondering. Yeah, really. Okay. But uh, it was a good show. Anyway, they have a pizza van, Volkswagen coming out. So if you wanted to do a follow-up on, you did the Jagermeister. I could, you know, carburetor. It's in booze. Why not? You know, it may be a vegetarian version. Maybe you could win a challenge with this one. I could. There is one coming up as you know.
00:18:58
Speaker
VW challenge. There is a VW challenge. At Nordicon. At Nordicon from the MSM boys with Torben and Ira. No, it's more the Andy Martin, Howard. Oh, really? They've got their own. Oh, they have a VW. All your favorites. A secret VW challenge. Okay, because the MSM boys, which Torben and I are in part of that group, we have a VW challenge as well for Nordicon.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yes, yep. And I think the closest thing I could come to that is a Doom Buggy with a VW engine. There you go. Or I could do another Koopa Wagon. Yes.
00:19:40
Speaker
I know how much she loved it. It hurts all fluttering. I have to go get checked. Well, after, was it the Red Baron? Was that it? The Red Baron. We're just going to do a Domino's one this time. Yeah. Look for all these wonderful automobiles on our soon to come tiny cards, Facebook page, where we can share.
00:20:05
Speaker
A lot of these cars, I'm sure all our listeners are dying to see. We also have about a 78 Camaro, the one that Monogram has done over and over again. But this one... It's a Stranger Things one, isn't it? Stranger Things, I can't remember the guy's name. He gets possessed in it at some point.
00:20:29
Speaker
He starts out like the cool hunky dude at the swimming pool. He's one of the main characters, older brothers, but then he gets possessed, but he's driving. I think it's a blue Camaro. And then Hopper, which was my favorite character in the show, a good actor. He was in a couple of other things that were pretty good. He has that blazer, and I think that's the same. It was a snap-type blazer. They released it like Ambulance. Yeah, MPC.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, and then if you're not enough movie cards, we have some 007 things coming out. I think they're going to do the 71 Mustang for 007. And then maybe an Austin Martin. Well, the Aston Martin is already out and was the Mustang actually the diamonds are forever. Yeah, the Aston Martin is always by Ravel of Germany, and it comes with all the the James Bond stuff. And
00:21:24
Speaker
there's extra parts in it that looks like they're going to do a stock one as well. Thank God. But I mean, you know, so. Now, do you think that makes a difference? Like, for instance, Revell came out with the 71 Mustang, you know, maybe six months to a year ago, and then this 0071. You think you'll sell that many more? It's a different kit, though. It's got a different engine. Different. It sells a different engine. There's some differences to the kit that you'll have to buy two.
00:21:55
Speaker
Maybe. Well, that's the one I'm trying to get together for my Mustang Challenge and I really went with a cool MCW color. I think it's cool. Most people won't but it's the grabber lime color. Oh my goodness. That will jump right off the table. It will. It will. It will. Maybe if there's still
00:22:19
Speaker
It's not easy being green thing. You might compete and if there's any justice Well, and then of course from Salvino's They got if you're playing a drinking game at home take another drink But remember to pace yourself pace yourself. Yeah, it's probably gonna be a lot of They just came out with the
00:22:49
Speaker
Kind of a repop of the double Budweiser kit with the Neil Bonnet and the Darryl Wall Trip. It's the 84 paint scheme. And so that's coming out. And like they've done in the past, everything's decal. If you want to use the red decal for the roof and the blue for the stripe around the bottom, could theoretically not paint the car if you don't want to.
00:23:16
Speaker
Um, and then they're coming out with a, uh, Salvino's club exclusive, uh, 77, uh, Monte Carlo. Uh, but it's actually the one that, uh, I raced in 81. Richard Petty drove the number 42 for a race, uh, to try it. They had some kind of a winner circle bonus. So, and Kyle was starting to drive that year. So.
00:23:42
Speaker
Uh, in order to make both cars eligible, I think he drove the 42 car for one race. And then Bill France told them that he needed to drive the 43 car. They worked out some arrangement. So, but it was a one race thing. And that's, uh, that's another, uh, kit the Salvino's is coming out with. And the Indy cars are late effort. They are a little bit off. Um, I think was it April? Is that what you heard? Well, I thought it's going to be.
00:24:12
Speaker
May. October. May. No. After the 500. No, not October. After the 500. Okay. Yeah, I think. I'm looking forward to that. Well, you know, off the top of my head, or off the top of your head, Bob, how many indie winners can you build? Because Rick Salvino was saying, take another drink, Rick Salvino was saying that you can, you're going to be able to build like four indie winners because they're going to go back and do the Sato.
00:24:41
Speaker
They're going to backdate the cars. And when they're using the windows, they can do that. So Sato, and who was the other one after Sato? Well, they're doing the Joseph's New Garden car. Of course, Takuma Sato, Will Power was a few years ago. Oh, and the fence climber.
00:25:04
Speaker
Well, Castro never said, right? Yes. The human fly, right? Yes. Yes. I think that was the one that they mentioned being able to do that. I don't think they're going back as far as Alexander Rossi because the cars were really quite different at that point. You know, but we'll find out. I mean, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, it'd be fun. And you showed me a screenshot of
00:25:30
Speaker
Jimmy Clark, 65 Lotus, India, 38, which looks fantastic. And now that's going to be a multimedia one. And so that would be pricey. What scale is that going to be again? 120th. I think they're doing all their 120th, but they've been commenting that it's, you know, because the cars are so much bigger now that it looks really small.
00:25:56
Speaker
And then they're planning on doing a couple others. That'd be fantastic. Yeah. I mean, so they'll probably see how many they sell. Do you think you can talk Don Stauffer into one of them? No, that's not going to happen. So Don has ordered one of the newer Indy cars. So he's, you know, he's, he's on board.
00:26:20
Speaker
He has a resin kit for that. But yeah, oh, that's the other guy's Simon Pacwon, you know, Pacwon or whatever his name is. Yeah. So him, um, I would be interested to see, I'm looking forward to those. There's a lot of decals to different ones. So out of curiosity, how many indie kits could you build without using resin? Any guesses? Well, we'll hold that for next time. See, we'll make a little list because I mean, there's AMT and the monogram kits.
00:26:50
Speaker
Ravel and both AMT 63 Watson, IMC did the Jimmy Clark's car. Sort of AMT. Yeah. And the old Curtis Craft Roadster, you can do some of the 50s cars. There's quite a few. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Sure. All right. Well, other new products, stuff that I've ordered this past month,
00:27:19
Speaker
Our guy Claude in the RPM Club put us onto this. And this is bare metal foil, but they cut it in strips. So if you want to just do like, for instance, if you want to do something around the fire extinguisher with two straps, they have all different kinds of cuts for this. This is model and slot car, body chrome trim and fender. Well, detail is by Five Ultra Cell. Does it have different widths?
00:27:49
Speaker
Yes, see if you see here. Oh yeah, that's great. You have to peel it off without trying to cut it with a ruler. Fantastic. Straight edge like that. Then also another place for 3D printing, scalecars.online. They have some hose joints, AV fittings, a whole break, you know, with the brake calipers.
00:28:18
Speaker
and rotors for if you wanted to add some detail to some of your cars. And then also Jim at Salvino, Salvino take another drink, has 3D printed stuff, he's got some helmets. One of the issues with the monogram NASCAR kits, even though they're really good when they came out, unfortunately the day they came out to shoot for Junior Johnson, they were doing some kind of experimental
00:28:46
Speaker
piping on the bottom of the car so that's not completely accurate so one of the things over the years I've always fixed is like the header pipes and the exhaust coming out but Jim makes some 3D printed stuff so you would not have to modify the stuff that comes in the any of the early GM kits like the Regal or the SS Monte Carlo
00:29:11
Speaker
The flat nose Monte Carlo now, the Salvino's does that one, or the Pontiac Grand Prix, early 80s stuff. So that's really good stuff. And then the AV fittings is also really good. I don't know about you, but over the years I spent a lot of money on the, what is it? Detail master ones. Detail master ones. They're nice. They're really nice. They're nice. You get like, what, 10 of them for $10 or something like that.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah. So these AB fittings are a lot, they give you a lot more. It's probably about, I can't remember 10 or 15, but they give you enough to, to build a lot of stuff. So those are some new products. Oh, also with a 71, a demon coming out, a raise kits decals. That's the name of it, right?
00:29:58
Speaker
Um, they're a little pricey, uh, so be ready to spend some money, but fantastic decals. And they give you a lot of different stuff for the interior and different things. Um, kind of like, uh, was it the last detail used to be a, uh, uh, muscle car type, uh, decal that you could add extra detail to your things.
00:30:18
Speaker
Raised Kits has a 71 Demon set for anybody who just bought that kit. And they also have a lot of other things. So what's the name of that? Does he have other stuff for other kits? Yeah, mostly muscle cars. Okay. Yeah, mostly muscle cars, interior stuff.
00:30:38
Speaker
I was tempted to get the 81 Transam Indy pace car. Another one of my pet projects, one of those things you wonder, will that day ever come? I do have a lot of Indy pace cars to build and that was tempting. But again, was that the gentleman we saw at the trunk sale at? Yep. That's the guy. Yeah. Yeah. And that now that guy was a dealer. Was that the owner of the company? No, it was a dealer.
00:31:05
Speaker
He lives in Wisconsin. Yeah, he talked about driving on the Road America course. Oh, cool. You did that one time, right? I did. I did. Were you driving? I was driving. Oh, nice. What were you driving? I'm a clarin. I made it. No, I wasn't. I was driving a Bill Halverson's Corvette, which was actually very fast and really nice. I was thinking it was your AMC. I wasn't driving my my wagon. I wasn't driving the the four wood wagon. No, I wasn't. No, it was fun.
00:31:36
Speaker
Okay, and is there any new products that you've purchased in the last month or two? I have not, but... Well, hold that thought. Yeah, right. Nothing right now. I haven't... Nothing car-related, let's put it that way. And I'll have to say, so... Yeah. Okay, great, great.
00:31:55
Speaker
All right, well our next segment for the show is going to be our interview and it is my pleasure to introduce one of the pioneers of the hobby, Jim Campman. He was one of the speakers at the last N and L Nationals and then and he was also attended one of the first or second ones. He's a phenomenal builder, winning many awards
00:32:21
Speaker
including the only two-time winner of the Bob's Excellent Paint Award at the N and L Milwaukee. He also built many model cars for the box art for kit companies. He was a long-time resin caster with Good Stuff Resins, and he's also judged many shows, including the IPMS Nationals. Jim, welcome. Thanks, Darvin. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm happy that you invited me.
00:32:51
Speaker
Well, thank you so much for being on the show and being our first guest. We have quite a swag bag for our guests, so I hope... We will roll into the questions here. As a pioneer of the hobby, take us back to the early 80s.
00:33:15
Speaker
You know, the Pittsburgh Steelers just won their fourth Super Bowl, defeating Vince Ferragamo and the Rams. The Phillies had finally won the World Series after years and years of being a franchise. We'd lost a couple of huge Johns and John Wayne and John Lennon, and the space shuttle was going up into the sky. What was the hobby like back then, Jim? I don't know where to begin, Tarven, so I'll just
00:33:44
Speaker
start off by saying that I had a, you know, your typical, uh, childhood, um, baby boomer childhood, I would say. So, um, at that point, which was the sixties, uh, the hobby was quite dumb. It was everywhere. You know, it was, it was, uh, very popular. A lot of, there were car model magazines. There was all kinds of stuff going on. Um, when we get into the eighties, the, uh, kids selection was pretty slim. So there wasn't.
00:34:14
Speaker
A lot of, you know, compared to like the automotive industry at that point, you know, the whole energy crisis and those kinds of things, early eighties were pretty grim when it came to, I know you brought up the little red express truck. That was actually the fastest production car at that point in the real car world. Wow, that's really sad. Well, it was a V8, so that's, you know, but anyway, so.
00:34:44
Speaker
So yeah, really the thing that kind of changed that was Monogram, Bob Johnson came into being the product development manager and was given some money to spend and started doing some unique car kits that were designed for the autumn, the adult builder example would be like the 64 thunderbolt.
00:35:08
Speaker
Um, things like that and, uh, got into some racing cars that hadn't been done, uh, that were current, you know, current race cars at the time. He's one that got into the NASCAR, you know, early eighties, T-birds, all that kind of stuff. So, um, that was very, uh, well, uh, received by myself and other builders at the time. Um, 1981 was the advent of the first Toledo.
00:35:38
Speaker
N and L, which I was, was at, um, with Andy Martin. And, uh, that was a run that went on for 40 years. Like you'd mentioned, I was speaking at that one and, uh, yeah, so there, you know, it's, it was a very, uh, um, popular time and there was the, um, the builders, there were, there were a lot of builders out there. I think personally, I think the hobby right now is extremely healthy.
00:36:05
Speaker
There's a lot of building going on with COVID and everything. I think there was an advent for people looking for something to do in their house, climbing the walls, didn't got tired of doing puzzles or drinking games or whatever you want to suggest. Why are you looking at me when you say that? I'm not going to bring up Selvie, but have another shot. I think the hobby is really, really thriving.
00:36:36
Speaker
Our hobby is also supported by all the local clubs and that kind of thing. The Twin Cities area is a bevy of clubs. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on. And plus that too, we have a great couple of hobby shops that keep us going and not a lot of cities can say that. No, we're very lucky as much as we like to joke about the dungeon.
00:37:05
Speaker
you know, I see online that a lot of people comment on what a great store that is. And it really is. And one of your buddies owns that, right? You guys shared a 70's Shaville. Bruce, you mean? Bruce. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you'd mentioned something about Road America and Bob's AMC tooling around or whatever. I actually was able to drive around the Indy 500 track with my
00:37:34
Speaker
vague a wagon. Nice. Oh my God. That was a memorable moment. Yeah, it was cool. Yeah. Cool. That was the same vague a wagon that you picked Tim Boyd up from the airport. Correct. All right. Yeah. Now, was he in the back when you were riding around? He was in the back because Bob Hood was in the passenger seat. Wow. And it didn't have a back seat so he had to basically sit on the floor of the back. Oh my God.
00:38:00
Speaker
wagon. Wow. And he was thrown around quite a bit because there were no seat belts. But he had a great time. It was it was a small block Chevy engine. It didn't weigh anything. So it went pretty well. So it was cool. Well, you know, my brother and I, one of the first kits we used to build, because I think we bought a couple of them. My brother threw one of them against the wall. So
00:38:25
Speaker
But it was a Pony Express Pinto one But it was kind of that version where you could build the cover, you know wagon type thing But that had a little in a porthole or hole. Yes. That's the way the wagon came from Ford. Okay was a special edition NPC you're talking with the NPC. Mm-hmm Now the annoying thing about those back then was they would try to put like you would build a
00:38:51
Speaker
the interior, but you would glue the sides of the interior, but the sides of the interior would also have the trunk and then the engine room sides. And then you would have to get that all together. And I remember that with both the Pony Express and the Snakebite Mustang really kind of tripping us up as kids. They did that with all the Pinto kits that they didn't have. Like, I know exactly what you mean. The door panels.
00:39:21
Speaker
was a one piece that went from the front to the back of the car. Yeah, and it had the inner inner fender in the front. And you glued the radiator and all that stuff to that, and it dropped right in. Okay, well, in theory, yes. But no, those are actually pretty good. I mean, they were for the time were pretty good. I mean, they weren't
00:39:43
Speaker
They're as bad as popular as the real car. It reminds me of the Camaro that I just built, and you built one as well. That's one whole long piece. Oh, the Transam? The Transam cars. That was very difficult to get it to. It wasn't straight to begin with. Well, for the assembler. Assembler, right? Yeah. Talented assembler. So come on, give me a bit. I'm kidding, of course.
00:40:12
Speaker
Now, you and Jim Johnson tell some great stories about some of the early N and L nationals. And I know for a lot of the younger people, it's hard to imagine a time where there wasn't an eBay or online shopping. But back then, I remember you guys saying it was kind of like a Walmart only. It was all model kits and a lot of discontinued things that you could only find.
00:40:42
Speaker
at this particular swap meet. And I think if I would have gone to that back then, I probably would have cleared out my whole bank account because it was like, it sounds like a once a year type thing. Well, I'll say that, you know, the first few times that I went, I ended up going to the cash machine a few times because, you know, like you said, there's stuff you saw there that you never saw anywhere else. And
00:41:11
Speaker
It was the size of basically, like you said, like a Walmart. And to get a table at that show was, it was kind of like the Packers games. You know, you had to have a family member that had season tickets. So I mean, it was, it was really, it was great. And all of it, you know, all the aftermarket guys were there from the early days, Fred Katie, of course, and things like that. But I mean, it was.
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah, it was a great time to be in the hobby. And I was able to partake in that. And I have a lot of fond memories, like you said. But yeah, no, it was, that was where we had all the N and L's. That's kind of how they all started. And they would always have a theme and it was an N and L type show. So it didn't have awards per se. They would have a popular vote.
00:42:06
Speaker
And then they started this, these sub themes, like what you're talking about with Milwaukee, where they're going to have the Star Wars kind of sub theme or whatever. They, we had some like that. And that was probably one of my favorite awards that I got was from one of those where you don't expect that it's always more rewarding. So, um, okay. And what was that? Uh, what was the sub thing? Uh, it was a, uh,
00:42:32
Speaker
Not easy being green. They had the old Model A pickup truck kits. There were two different ones. There's an MPC one and AMT, actually three. AMT, MPC and Monogram all had those pickup kits. And so you had to build one of those.
00:42:50
Speaker
And so I did one of those with fluorescent green paint. So I did a bunch of extra detail and things like that. So yeah, it was great. Do you still have the kit? I do. Awesome, awesome. Well, again, once we get this Facebook page up and running, we'll have all these pictures. It will be a homage to our past and fallen member Ted. This is way before Ted's days. I know, I know.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yeah, one of my favorite stories was Jim Johnson talks about looking out the hotel room, and there were guys that had like, what do they call those? Miners caps. Yes, and they were selling stuff.
00:43:36
Speaker
off the top of the hood of their cars and stuff. Yeah, that came from the fact that you couldn't get a table at the show, at the toy show. So people started selling in the parking lot of the toy show while the proprietor of the toy show caught wind of that and banned everybody from selling in the parking lot. So it turned into a hotel parking lot across from where we were staying. We didn't know where it was, the first one that they actually had,
00:44:05
Speaker
Someone got up to use the restroom in the middle of the night, looked out the window and saw these lights flashing around. And so we all threw our clothes on and ran to the meet, to the swap. And it was like a feeding frenzy. There were these station wagons would pull up and the crowd would run to the wagon. I can't remember the guy's name from Hobby Heaven.
00:44:30
Speaker
but he was there, he was buying stuff. And they would just basically start pulling stuff out of the station like, here's a 66 El Camino. And then someone would grab that. It was great. It was a wonderful time. We got some deals there, obviously. I'm sure that was going to remind you of a story. Speaking of deals, talk about the time where
00:44:55
Speaker
probably a regretful father went for a bathroom break or a lunch break and left his kids in charge of his booth. Oh, yeah. It's a fond memory, Tarman. I know that you think I'm going to go to hell for that. But so, yeah, we were before the show started. This is back when Jim and I were selling resin bodies and kits and that kind of thing. But it was Sunday morning and the show hadn't opened yet.
00:45:22
Speaker
So the only way you could get in is if you were a dealer or bought florites, which were, you know, the same price as a dealer would have sort of like $50 for florites. And Brad Knight had joined us that year as a really accomplished builder on NASCAR Builder. And Brad and I were wandering around looking at the stuff that was for sale and there was a
00:45:44
Speaker
Table with two little kids running it. If you had to guess their ages, what do you think their ages would be? I would say maybe seven, eight years old, somewhere in there. We didn't think anything of it, but then Brad happened to lean down and look underneath the table and saw quite a few NASCAR, NPC NASCAR kids and some funny cars, dragsters, things like that.
00:46:10
Speaker
And so he started looking through that. And of course I jumped down and we started fighting over the stuff, but we pulled them out of it, you know, some of those out of there. And Brad asked the boy, you know, how much are these? Oh, I don't know, $2 each. So, so of course we couldn't get the money out of our pockets fast enough. And all we could think of, you know, as we were laughing, walking away from the table was,
00:46:35
Speaker
Boy, those kids are going to get a whoop of the night, so. Oh my God. Sunday morning coming down. But anyway, we live to tell the tale. Oh my God. That's a great one. Well, that's a good transition to a resin. As a resin caster, you had several of your kits that were turned into model kits. Sure.
00:47:00
Speaker
Um, so tell us about your, uh, your journey through the resin casting business. So, yeah. So, I mean, I don't know how much time you have. So, um, I'll just, I'll try to make it as brief as I can, but basically I was doing box art models for AMT route. Well, I wasn't around to then, but it was AMT MPC out of Dyersville. And, uh, they were coming out with a 68 road runner kit and, uh, Karen sands who worked for the company. She sent me a test shot.
00:47:30
Speaker
And I looked at the thing, you know, because I'm a Mopar fan or whatever, I thought, geez, why don't you have some different wheels in the kit besides the Magnum 500, which all the kits usually come with. And I said, you know, you should think about maybe putting some of those, you know, the poverty caps, dog dish hub caps or whatever. And she's like, oh, no, we're not doing that. And I thought, well, that's, you know, you're trying to be an up and coming company that's going to be leading the charge on quality and different detail and stuff like that. So.
00:48:01
Speaker
I was looking through Scale Auto and there was a guy out of California, I don't recall the company's name, but they were offering a resin how-to kit with a video and the whole thing for like $30. And I thought, geez, that could be kind of interesting. So I sent away for it and that kind of started the whole thing. And then Jim Johnson, who has been a best friend over a long time, I was showing him some of that stuff and I just started making some parts.
00:48:31
Speaker
And, you know, one thing led to another and we started doing more things that we really liked. And I kind of spawned us into doing it as an aftermarket business, make some extra cash, that kind of stuff. We met a couple of guys in Toledo actually that saw some of the stuff that we were doing and offered to take that to Playing Mantis, who was the parent company for
00:49:01
Speaker
polar lights. And now is round two. And we met with them and did a bunch of projects with them and turned them into plastic kits. So it was very rewarding. We got paid pretty well. But yeah, it was it was more about the, you know, doing it for them and doing it turning into a kit, which made it really, really fun. So
00:49:26
Speaker
Out of all the funny cars and then the NASCAR's that you did for Polar Lights back then, what was your favorite? Oh, I don't know. I think, you know, the funny cars were interesting because, you know, you had to do all the different bodies and that kind of thing. And obviously we had had aspirations of doing a lot more. The NASCAR kits that kind of got shut down almost right after we started because there were some disgruntled, you know, some
00:49:54
Speaker
people that weren't happy at the company. And so they ended up, we only did the Fords. We were planning on doing the, the Mopars as well. And, uh, but those, they were a lot of fun because they were, they were cars that we really liked a lot. And we felt like they hadn't been done as well as they could have been. So, um, we decided to do that and, uh, yeah, it was, it was a lot of work, you know, but, um,
00:50:20
Speaker
Well, as somebody who's built a lot of those Talladegas, what did you start with and what went into doing that particular kit? Well, for the Talladegas and the Cyclones both, we started with the AMT-69 Torino as a base and then
00:50:45
Speaker
Jim Johnson did a lot of the master work for the bodies. So he was, he was instrumental in, in getting those to look right. Um, and then we did cyclone. And then we used the, um, Randy Derr had a fantastic article that he had done on the Holman Moody, um, fair lane, uh, 66 fair lane that he had done. I used that kind of as a guide to kind of do the chassis. The chassis was pretty much scratch built, but it was used.
00:51:14
Speaker
um, extensively with his article on how to do the frame and all that kind of stuff. And then using the, uh, Johan Torino kit, the 72, I believe it is as a guide as well, because it has the, you know, the 429 as well as the 420 27 in it. So that was another, another model that we used as a guide. So yeah, it was, it was fun.
00:51:40
Speaker
Yeah, I believe that, uh, article is in, uh, Bill Coulter's, uh, red book, um, building NAS cars with, uh, the Dale Jared car on the cover. And, uh, was it a super bird and maybe a 56 something Chevy on the cover? Really great book. Uh, kudos to a Bill Coulter. That was an awesome book. I know.
00:52:02
Speaker
I'm getting back into the models in the mid 90s. That book was kind of my Bible for a lot of things that I was building back then. All right. Well, over the years, the RPM Club and MCCM Club have built the NL North into one of the largest shows in the Midwest. What goes into creating a show like that, the NFL and
00:52:30
Speaker
maintaining it. Talk about the history of the N and L North. Well, it's evolved over the last 20, this will be the 26th year this year. 27th actually. Oh, really? So we got the number wrong on the flyer then. Seriously? Because last year was the 25th. You're correct. I'm sorry. You're correct. 26th. So anyway, yeah, it's just, it's a labor of love, obviously, but I think that we've
00:52:58
Speaker
developed it into a show that pretty much runs itself now because we have a lot of volunteers that are very helpful in running the show. We've collaborated with MCCM, so it's both clubs. And we found a really good venue that's not too expensive that we can promote the show and make some money and keep it going for a long, hopefully a long time.
00:53:26
Speaker
And like I said, we've got a lot of vendors that come every year. It's ebbs and flows like everything else. You'll have someone will show up and then all of a sudden you don't see him again. But we've had some, we've had some really good friendships along the way. Our friends from Canada are some of our most dear friends that we spend time with at the shows.
00:53:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a lot of fun. The day just flies by. It's had a good time, too. It's on a Sunday, which is nice. It's not too warm in the year yet. It's still May. So we have a lot of rain and stuff at that point. It's the weekend before the 500s. You get into later months, you start doing graduations and stuff like that. So we found kind of a sweet spot, I think, for the
00:54:21
Speaker
between shows because it's not complete competing with Milwaukee or Hennepin at least or Chicago and Chicago or the Detroit show now is another big one. So yeah, it's and we've got a really great relationship with fine scale model or two where they love coming to the show and have a good time. And it's it's yeah, it's nice. So well, speaking of time, what is the exact time for that show and date?
00:54:50
Speaker
May 19th, 10 to 4. And that's the Knights of Columbus? No, it's the Bloomington Event Center, it's called now. Bloomington Event Center. Yeah, they do wedding receptions and things like that. We found a deal where we can be there on Sunday and get a little bit of a break. Saturday we found out is prime wedding time type shows. They can make a lot of money at those things.
00:55:18
Speaker
And it's close to the Mall of America, and it's a really good location. Easy, easy off the freeway, and yeah, it's great, so. Yeah, well, we look forward to that. Another question I have for you is, you've been a judge a lot of times, including a lot of IPMS shows, including the IPMS Nationals. Talk about some of the things that separate a show winner
00:55:48
Speaker
from the rest of the cars that are sitting on the tables. Are there some things that really jump out? Yes. Well, yeah, I will say that I've done it for a long time. I mean, contests can be a challenge. It's very subjective.
00:56:14
Speaker
People have their own ideas of what a contest winner might be. Depends on what the actual category is. Depends on what they're entering. But, you know, first impressions are always huge, in my opinion, as far as you look at, you know, paint jobs, fit and finish, how the model sits, degree of difficulty, scale. Scale is a big deal too. You know, you can have someone enter a
00:56:44
Speaker
1.8 scale or 1.12 scale Camaro or you know, I don't know what scale that HO scale car that Andy entered in the Hope of Don't Snow Show and it was 3D printed and you're going by someone's description of the model. So you maybe not have seen that one before so you have to kind of take that as a grain of salt. He has a grain of salt.
00:57:11
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's fun. It's a lot of work. Um, and there's definitely some people that are not, you know, maybe not as happy as they would think they were going to be. So, um, you know, it always happens. Uh, you know, it's just something that you have to accept and be ready for that person to come and want to talk to you about it. And you have to be honest and fair with them. You can sugar coat it.
00:57:42
Speaker
You get all different people from all walks of life to come in and think they're gonna you know change the world with whatever it is that they're building and You know, it's a reality check I'll say that Well without using any specific names, can you talk about any of these incidents? You know, it's
00:58:08
Speaker
Don't worry, nobody listens to this podcast. No, I know. Say what you want. I had an incident back to the 50s last year that the model contest there. I had an older gentleman that had built three 1.8 scale monogram kits. He was really upset that he hadn't won anything and wanted to know why. I was given the task of
00:58:37
Speaker
telling telling him you know what what was wrong and and it was it was actually pretty easy it's just really hard to tell someone you know that the model really isn't that good I mean when they don't paint it and they use stickers you know that you got like at Walgreens or something like that and but you can always find examples around the table that you can show someone as
00:59:06
Speaker
This is what you're trying to achieve. You look at the scale of the model. Does it look like a real car? What's different about your model than everybody else's? What's the paint like? That kind of thing. And it was actually pretty easy once we got this guy. And he was totally fine with it. He just didn't understand. And he really appreciated my input. And hopefully he'll come back and try again.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, well, and we go through some of the same things as a teacher and you have to call home and, you know, talk about or report cards or something. But, you know, over the years I've found that, you know, being as objective as possible and just reporting exactly what happened without using any kind of judgment words or anything like that. And most of the times, you know, I remember one time
01:00:05
Speaker
where we had these kids that we always had issues with at parent pickup. And the person who ran parent pickup when I was watching the room when the incident happened said, well, you can talk to the mom because she is just off the wall and I'm not going to deal with her. And I just told the mom exactly what their children did. And she was very supportive. She came in thinking like, oh, this is not going to be a fun conversation.
01:00:34
Speaker
Um, but you know, I just said exactly what happened and you know, she was very receptive. So I think probably in the way that you give that feedback without any judgment, um, really makes a big difference. Um, yeah. And, and the other thing that I want to mention too, is that the reason I'm doing it is to give back to the hobby. I've gotten a lot of satisfaction and.
01:01:01
Speaker
enjoyed myself over the, you know, long time for a long time. And so for me, this is something I want to give back to the hobby because it's a difficult job and not a lot of people want to do it. They just want to sit around and see what happens. And you learn, you learn a lot. And like I said, it's, it's personalities, it's everything. And so I really enjoy it a lot now. I mean, the nationals was another eye opening experience that I didn't expect and, um, not all good.
01:01:31
Speaker
from several reasons, but I want to get better at it. I want to be part of it and help it succeed and make it look the way that it should, which is a professional organization with quality models and the right model wins the right awards and things like that. It's important to me to achieve that if possible. I know it's really a challenge, but
01:01:58
Speaker
That's kind of my goal. And I've made a lot of friends along the way. I mean, I have to say that it's been a lot of fun. And you know, you and I, all of us have gotten to be really close. And yeah, so it's great. So this is maybe too simplistic of a question, but just overall, what do you think? Is it more important or one-to-one accuracy?
01:02:26
Speaker
or actual building skills going into looking at a subject? Well, you know, I'll use one of the, uh, one of my, um, I opening lessons when I was at the nationals was, um, and they made this perfectly clear at the beginning was that, um, you were not there. So you cannot say what it was or what color it was or whatever.
01:02:54
Speaker
And so, you know, I don't know that I can honestly agree with that statement, but I have to live with that statement. So that kind of takes a little bit of, you know, you have to think about that. So, but I think, but I do think that it has to look like the real car. I mean, it has to be, you know, there's plenty of examples of what doesn't look accurate.
01:03:19
Speaker
I could give you examples of someone thought this was out of the box. For example, we have an out of the block box category where you can use everything out of the box kit, including bare metal because it's considered paint. But there's people that have built a, well, I'll just give you an example, a monogram challenger kit, for example. And it had a blower and things hanging out of it. And he's like, well, it's out of the box.
01:03:47
Speaker
or it's a replica stock and it's like, no, it's not. Well, that's what it says on the box. Well, no, it says two in one. So you have to explain to him that you can build it that way. You can build it the other way, but when you build it the other way, then it's not a replica of a muscle car anymore. And he didn't understand that. He thought that, you know, because it was all in the same kit, it was a replica stock. So it's the same as like adding plug wires or something like that.
01:04:15
Speaker
changes it from being out of the box to just in a regular class. And you have to be patient with the person, explain to them, hopefully they understand. If they don't and they storm off, you can't win them all. You cannot win them all. You come across people, we've had friends of ours who judge shows where people have wanted to come to fisticuffs.
01:04:43
Speaker
you know, or a truck model. You know, we've had, I've talked to people who would said, why isn't mine winning? And he would be pointing at his model. And the one that won was right next to it. And I'm like, well, look at the two models. Uh huh. You know, and it is sometimes I have the beholder is so much it's got a blur. It's got a, it's got a gauze that can't see sometimes, you know, so. Yeah. You're never going to please all the people all the times, you know,
01:05:12
Speaker
One of the things that's kind of hard though, I feel like the glossier, the better. I feel like, uh, and that seems to take home, uh, of course it shows. There's some controversy with regard to that. Um, and I can only, um, I can use an example of, uh, one, probably one of the better models that I had ever seen was the, um, uh, Camare or the Corvette, uh, Grand Sport that Jim Drew built in one 12 scale.
01:05:41
Speaker
and used a regular production Corvette as a base. And he didn't put clear over it. It was shiny, but it wasn't like uber shiny. And he didn't do very well at Salt Lake. He didn't win best in show. And I believe that was the show. I don't recall. It was the red color that won the best in show. So yeah, it was the custom
01:06:07
Speaker
one-off thing. Right. Right. And I had people standing, I was looking at the model and just loving it. And I had guys come by and go, it's not really shiny. Yeah. Yeah. No, it seems like, I mean, it's a race car and realistically, especially a period car like that in that scale to that scale. Right. And he, and, you know, it's like you said, be using the eye to be holder. Um, it depends on the person, the judge.
01:06:33
Speaker
And there, what they feel is degree of difficulty and what, you know, I have to look at what, what is it something that they really like that they build? And this, this person, I won't name names was, he was more into the custom thing. He wasn't really into race cars. So, um, take it with a grain of salt. Yeah. And that's probably one of the hardest things for judging is being completely objective because there's all stuff that we're into and you're
01:07:03
Speaker
of course gonna see that in a better light. That's something that you're into. But it can be, you know, like when you get too shiny, it's not realistic either. And it's easy to do that now because of all the urethane that's out there. And you cover, you know, you put it over decals, all that stuff. Now if it's a wrap, that's one thing, but, you know, they didn't used to have wraps. So they were actual decals.
01:07:31
Speaker
that you had to apply to the car. So there would be a transition of, you know, level of, you know, shininess or whatever. I've seen race cars where they actually pinstripe the sponsors on the car. They were actually hand lettered. And that's different again. So anyway, it's it's recent, you know, I'm I'm going to stick clear for research to someone has a lot of information with the model.
01:08:00
Speaker
I don't just blow it off and say, no, I'm not going to read that. I think it's important. They, they made a point to do all that work for you to look at it. The least he can do is read it. And, uh, so that's, that's how I feel about that. So. Yeah. And another thing that seems like at least at the N and L ones, uh, putting it on a stand and we all, it's funny cause you know, a lot of people will maybe kind of roll their eyes.
01:08:26
Speaker
But the majority of them have at least some kind of stand. I think just mentally the way when you walk through and there's 600 cars on the table, it helps it stand out. Now, it doesn't guarantee that it's going to win. But in your brain, you remember it because it's different from 500 other cars that are just on the table. But it's kind of a conundrum. The competition thing has never really
01:08:55
Speaker
Um, you know, I, I talk about, I wanted to win the Alan Kawicki award cause I'm a NASCAR builder and that's a NASCAR award. But beyond that, uh, it, it isn't what I would say fuels me in the hobby. But you wanted it and it was on the base. Yes, absolutely. Uh, yes, absolutely. And so it is, it's hard to like, if somebody asked me, I really, really want to win a word and few people ever do that. But you know, if you know a person long enough, you can tell the people who really.
01:09:23
Speaker
like to go after it. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a hobby and to each your own and whatever brings you joy. But I would say probably if I was just giving them advice, a stand or a base would help and as glossy as you can get it. I mean, you've judged yourself, has a car ever won or lost for being too glossy? I mean, if it was a flawless paint job and said,
01:09:52
Speaker
I am sorry, this is a flawless, I can see myself, I can see every pock mark on my face looking at the roof of this car. This is just too glossy, it's not gonna win. Has that ever happened in the history of model cars? I have no idea, I've never seen it happen, so I don't know. We have a couple of people in the club that put clear over everything and I think they've done pretty well.
01:10:20
Speaker
You know, it's just, I don't know, it is what it is. You know, you're going to see everything, you're going to experience everything and how you take care of how you handle it is, is up to you. I think there's two things you can view the model as a work of art, or you can view the model as a representation. Right. I tend to build it as a representation. I don't view it necessarily as a work of art. And though it's artistic, it's not necessarily, but I think that
01:10:50
Speaker
you know, especially military buildings that put them on bases, elaborate bases and stuff, becomes more of a work of art then. All right, well, before we go, another thing that you've talked about is building kits for the manufacturers for their box art. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, so it was just something that was presented to me. I was interested in doing it, so I took it on.
01:11:20
Speaker
This was a long time ago back in the 80s. You were bringing the 80s up at the beginning of our discussion Uh-huh. So, you know, it's one of those things that yeah, I'm kind of intrigued that'd be kind of fun to do something like that but there were some requirements that were a little bit difficult that is When you got the model You only had like a week to build it a week
01:11:45
Speaker
Yeah. And this is, like I said, in the eighties. So I was using enamel at the time. That's kind of what I, no dehydrator. It was kind of my go-to thing. Um, so, and they didn't really care about that. They wanted you to leave the windows out because they were going to airbrush them into the box art. So you left the windows out. They asked for the, they didn't care about the paint jobs usually other than it had to be shiny.
01:12:12
Speaker
Um, they might give you a color that they want you to use as far as, you know, if it's a, like, for example, I did a Camaro that they wanted at yellow. Um, they ended up, I used Fred Katie decals for the stripes cause I didn't have anything else and they wanted it to be in, you know, an SS or whatever. So, but yeah, it was fun. Like I said, there were some trials and tribulations. I'll give you one example of that. So they had sent me a kit and.
01:12:41
Speaker
They really needed it in a short amount of time, like a week or whatever and the model never showed up. And I told them that and they said, well, I know we did send it to you. You know, we can send you the FedEx receipt or whatever. So they did. And lo and behold, I was out taking the trash out one day in my garage and I opened the garage door and it was sitting inside the garage up against the corner of the window.
01:13:08
Speaker
And the guy had just dropped it off and put it in the garage. So he never got me to sign for anything like that. And so I had to thrash to get the thing done. And it was a 1 16th scale 65 Mustang. If you've ever seen that kit on the shelves, the one that's yellow on the box, that's the one I did and had opening doors, which
01:13:34
Speaker
You know, not a great kid. I can't wait to see him swear about it. But yeah, no, it's one of those things, you know, I'll just say that it was something that it was fun to do for a while and then at some point it said, no, I can't do it anymore.
01:13:57
Speaker
I always wanted to work in a hobby shop. I was able to do that back in the eighties. That's probably before I knew you though. Which shop did you work at? Motorsports, miniatures. Okay. And it was a lot of fun. I met people, you know, there's friends that I have now, Jim Johnson, I met him there. We had a model contest actually several different times and got to know people from that. And a lot of, you know, it's one of those things where, yeah, you're going to get a paycheck, but you end up
01:14:27
Speaker
just going, going for the kids, so. Yeah, they should have just paid your models. Right, right. But that was a lot of fun. And, you know, there's things you do working for a resin company. And I did, I did some work for Andy for a while. I did some building some models for him that lasted about two weeks. So what cars were you building for Andy? Those are just little 43rd Porsches.
01:14:55
Speaker
He had to build, you know, several of them at one time. And he had his own requirements, which were, you know, lacquer paint. And, uh, yeah, so it was, it was fun. How much was he paying you for this? Uh, I don't, I don't recall. Uh, I don't remember, honestly, I don't, it was, it was something I'm sure, I'm sure it was cash. But have you ever built anything for commission?
01:15:23
Speaker
Yeah, actually I have, as a matter of fact. I built some models for Ed McCullough. I don't know if you know who that is. Yes, yeah, Ace, right? Yeah, Ed McCullough. Yeah, I did some stuff for him. Another friend of mine was doing some cars for him and just didn't have time and asked if I would be interested and of course I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, Ed would only pay you like
01:15:51
Speaker
$250 for the model. And some of the stuff was like, totally scratch built. So it was a labor of love. And this was all before die casts. Now you can buy those, you know, ready built replicas and that kind of thing. It was just something like I said, it was something I got to do and had a lot of fun doing it. Ed was very happy with what I got him did for him.
01:16:17
Speaker
Um, and yeah, it was, it was something so I would never do it again. So, you know, no, it is a really hard building stuff for people. Yeah. Yeah. I had my own experience with my buddy, Gary wanted me to just painting this diecast truck, but it's just like, you know, if, you know,
01:16:40
Speaker
if you're not passionate about what you're building. It's just a job, right? You figure out you're only making about 50 cents an hour when you actually figure out the time that's involved. Yeah, it's hard. You do it for the love, you don't do it for the money. Well, Jim, it has been a pleasure being on the podcast, having you on. Anytime.
01:17:06
Speaker
Yes, yes. We can do a sequel. I have a feeling you'll be back. We can do a... Yeah, probably like... No, it's a lot of fun. I was going to just know you were talking about new kits. I was just going to mention there are some. Ravel has like five new kits that just came out. Okay, yeah. Tell me, tell me. Well, I'm not sure that Mr. Madrich would be interested in any of these, but it's kind of a funny story. I'll just share it with you anyway, because it's funny.
01:17:35
Speaker
So we were at the nationals actually, IPMS nationals. I think it was, uh, the last Omaha show, which was what, 20, 22. And, uh, I only remember this because Jim Allen was the instigator, but he was talking to Ed Sexton who was the product manager. And he was telling Ed, you know, since Ravel, you know, USA is basically not around anymore. Why are some of these kits not out?
01:18:04
Speaker
And it's like, like, what do you mean? And so he started rattling off all these things. Well, you know, 68, 69 Camaro, 68 Firebird, 50 and so Ed's going and grabbing a pen and he's writing all his stuff down. And I'd be shocked to know that that wasn't something that Jim had some sort of influence on Ed where he got, you know, the light went off. He realized, Hey, you know what? All these kids aren't on the shelves right now.
01:18:32
Speaker
And so, you know, we could be selling these things again and they're, you know, they're popular then they're, you know, so anyway, so, uh, I just know there were like five of them. The 68 Firebird was one. The, um, there's a Jeep, there's the Bronco, the short roof Bronco. The one that came with the trailer. Originally came with the trailer. They brought it out just the Bronco. Yes. Um, and then a, um, let's see, 57 Chevy Bel Air.
01:19:01
Speaker
Uh-huh. There's a Jeep. I don't recall which Jeep it is. Is that a CJ7? Yes, I think so. Yep. 77. Right. And a 64 Impala too.
Market Challenges & Accuracy in Modeling
01:19:14
Speaker
Oh, okay. That was another one. So, you know, those are all going to be out if they're not already. And I assume that there's going to be more. So, you know, they have a lot of tooling that's just sitting idle, right? Sitting around, yeah. But yeah, no, it's...
01:19:31
Speaker
It's evolving and kid prices aren't going down. There's supply and demand, especially like I said, from COVID that there's a lot more people building right now. Yeah, I know they did the 70 Torino. They brought that back out because that was getting up there. Speaking of COVID, I remember the Fijimi F4 GT40s.
01:19:59
Speaker
were really getting up there and then they brought those all back out. How are you guys doing, by the way? I'm just wondering. Well, it's kind of lost some steam, especially when I painted the first half of it and then realized that it was the wrong one. But I guess I could still build that. No, I can't because I got the front of it and I painted it's the Gulf colors, but the first one
01:20:27
Speaker
just had the kind of teardrop and it wasn't actually sponsored by gold. No, it just had the teardrop. It was Ken Myles' car. Ken Myles' car. So I painted that, but it is the later GT. Right. You did it. It's got a different back end. Yeah. So, oh well. Yeah. Oh well. But yeah, one day. I think we all have the one day list. Are you going to finish it the way it is though?
01:20:50
Speaker
No, I'd get completely beaten up for that. I'm glad I realized that before I put it on a table. He had a good camera. Oh, really? You know, all the hell I caught for just putting Goodyear Eagles on a car pre 1981.
01:21:11
Speaker
Can you imagine putting the wrong GT40 out there? The whole back end was different from a Mark II. Well, pre-1981 is a lot different than... What year was that, Matador? It's 75. But here's this. Eight years. If you've ever gone to... Let's say years between friends. If you've ever gone to a museum and know that tires they put on, like I remember seeing the Dale Earnhardt 77 Monte Carlo, which he raced in 80.
01:21:42
Speaker
And it had the yellow Goodyear Eagles, and they didn't use those till 90. When you see them, they went to Omaha, and we saw the David Pearson color was in the big wreck with Petty. And it was super shiny and just glossy. And first of all, I really knew this was so big. And it was just like, wow, this is impressive. It didn't look like this back then.
01:22:07
Speaker
I don't know. You can't say because you weren't there. The worst one I saw was at the Talladega Museum and they had the Davey Allison car and it was
01:22:20
Speaker
the white and black one that he would have ran 89 and 90, I think, javelin with the white and black scheme. But it had, I think, a 96th nose on it. So yeah, again, you got to do your research. Even at a museum, you know, and they're just trying to keep the doors open. So accuracy is well, the worst and that Fireball Roberts, 63 Ford,
01:22:48
Speaker
The museum one, the color is way off. That's true. There's a reason for that though. What's that? Well, because the actual car was repainted or whatever. So, yeah. Because the color changed in that year, right? Well, even within the year, yeah, they had one that was more like an Easter egg color. And then the other one was that Regency purple metallic.
01:23:14
Speaker
that was for the second half of 63 and then 64. Right. So it changed.
Retirement Policies & Music Favorites
01:23:20
Speaker
Yeah. But the one at the museum is not close to either one of them. Well, you know, I mean, we each have our things that we are, you know, sick into and then other things that we kind of blow over. And, you know, and it all is, you know, to each person is there things that they really that they value and then other things that
01:23:44
Speaker
You know, sure. Anyhow, um, well, we'll, we'll go ahead and, uh, wrap the show up, uh, coming events where we're going to Nebraska, Bellevue, Nebraska, March 24th, 23rd, 24th, 23rd and 24th. Um, then we have that NFL Milwaukee, uh, which will be coming up May 4th. That's easy to remember with made the forest. Yeah.
01:24:12
Speaker
And, and NL North, May 17th. 19th. 19th. Ooh. Check that. Please don't listen to that. Yeah. Please don't. 19th. You just, you wrote it down there. I do not want to be responsible for that. May 19th. Yeah. Tony Gwyn, number 19, if you can. Of course, it's always a baseball kind of thing. And then, you know, for you guys, you're doing the, um,
01:24:38
Speaker
IPMS Nationals of Madison. Middle of July. 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. In general, I've talked about the Heartland Show. Maybe. That's in early June. Take a quick rundown there for Peeky Boo. How much time can I spend with you, Bob? 20th. I'll be the judge of that.
01:25:04
Speaker
No, it's, it's, you know, it's a great show. I mean, I'm retired, so I have time. Oh, rub it in, rub it in. I'm not rubbing it in, but I know. You know, it's also disappointing. In St. Paul, the teachers can retire and get their full pension at 62. In Minneapolis, it was 67, they brought it down to 65, but still three more years. And they're still about ready to go on strike. And they have a much better deal than we do, but
01:25:34
Speaker
That's, uh, yeah, who knows who knows what's going to happen with that. But, uh, yeah. So thanks for being here. As usual, enlightening, entertaining. Thanks. It was great. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Well, uh, we do want to end with the super six last, uh, last time we did our six favorite movies. Uh, and this, uh, this time is a six, uh, best albums of all time.
01:26:02
Speaker
Oh, boy. Well, I mean, I. You want to go first, James? No, you want you want to, you know, you want your Dylan. You want your Dylan connotation. Well, I couldn't pick six foot off the top of my head. Yeah. I mean, this is just rock albums. We're not talking jazz, classical. Oh, it's your list. It's my list. I'm just going to do rock and roll. You know, I mean, Highway 61 by Dylan. OK. Who's Next by The Who.
01:26:33
Speaker
Um, probably, uh, God, what's the rush album? Um, 21 12. No, no, not that one. A little bit farther into the newer one and newer one moving pictures by rush. Um, I would say blue by Joni Mitchell. Um, and.
01:26:59
Speaker
Probably revolver or rubber sole. It's hard to toss between those two and That's all I can come up with
01:27:10
Speaker
All right. Well, those are some great tips. I can throw my spin. Are they all spring stinks? No, only three. Well, no, I mean, and I know that you wouldn't say this, but Hotel California would be. Oh, you took one on my list. Would be one of mine. And another one that you wouldn't, wouldn't be there. These are favorites of mine. You know, Trey Sombre buys easy top. Okay. Here's another one of my favorites.
01:27:36
Speaker
Physical Graffiti by Zepaland is another one of my favorite movie records. Obviously, Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Nebraska. Those are some of my favorites. What do you got, Jorvin? Well, you took one of mine, Hotel California, Billy Joel Glass Houses. It's kind of an obscure one.
01:28:05
Speaker
I got a few that they've worn out over the years, and I've heard the song so much that it wasn't Hotel California, could be that one too, but ACDC Back in Black, but the full album has a lot of great songs. Pearl Jam 10, a little later, that was a great album.
01:28:25
Speaker
Van Halen, another one, 1984. They wore a lot of those songs out and just like Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction. And it's really frustrating with KQRS because I don't know why. There's so many songs, but they have to play Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child of Mine. I mean, even off that album, there's other songs they could play. They play the Dylan cover occasionally. My brother and I have had this conversation and he talked to one of those record people and
01:28:54
Speaker
Apparently, they look for the songs that people are not going to turn the radio off. Of course. And so they keep rehashing Hotel California or something like that. Sultan's a swing. If I never heard that again the rest of my life. And I love that band. Yeah, it's a great thing. Phenomenal band. Another one is Van Morrison.
01:29:18
Speaker
Oh, I love it. Brown Eyed Girl. Brown Eyed Girl. Moon Dance. Moon Dance. You know, it doesn't matter. They just pick the same ones. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas like Caravan is a great song. Caravan is a great song. I love that album. But they rarely play. Yeah. It's a great album. Yeah. So. Well, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is Bob, Jim, and Torben saying goodbye for now. Remember, keep building something, anything, whatever brings you joy.