Thursdays Ramblings in a perfect world, LOL
Posted by Dr Diecast at 12/14/2007 7:24 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Hehe....... life...its funny sometimes isn't it ? Well...... what an interesting day it was, not so much business wise but in life, LOL, well diecast life.
So first off..... to Doug... I have to say.... Autobiography ? Ha, LOL nobody wants to hear an old guy bitch like Archie Bunker for 100 pages, LOL. So I don't think Pendent Publishing will be contacting me anytime soon, LOL.
So yesterday was filled with my never ending line of Xmas delivery projects. OK , the line is ending and well one of the funnier stories is the Black 70 Chevelle I did for a woman for her husband for Xmas. You guys might remember how I had to walk her thou the process of questions to find out about the car. If you remember the one part that was missed was its a bench seat car.... and well only one Lane Chevelle comes with a bench seat, the Cheap Street version.
Since I needed just the seat to ship the car I called my friends at Lane and asked if they had any damaged Cheap Streets I could buy so I can get the seat. Mario, who pretty much runs the show now that Cynthia is off on maturity leave, says well why don't I just send you a seat, you don't need a whole car, right ? I agree and he says its leaving today.. comp, whoo hoo. So........ a week goes by..... no seat..... a week and 3 days, that's 10 total for those who can't count, LOL, and still no seat. Im starting to panic a little, I mean the car is going to NJ and it will need about a week to get there depending on the weather. So.. I blow in a call to Mario on Monday, tell him I still don't have it.... he says well ya should but if you don't have it by Tuesday I will OVERNIGHT one to you.... I laughed when he said that..... im like overnight ? A fricken $2.00 seat at $25.00 shipping ? Im like you don't have to do that... but I will need the seat soon. Well he said just call him and he will get it done if need be.
Tuesday... no seat..... Wednesday... no seat..... I am in deep panic mode now..... so I call him. I ask him where they mailed it too he says Casa Grande but will overnight one to me. Mind you I feel bad about this..... thats a ton for a stupid seat but hey... I need the seat. So...... Thursday... I head to the post office and lone behold theres the seat.... that was shipped to Oregon.... yep thats why it took so long, MI toAZ via OR.. LOL. So I get home seat in hand, yeah and ding dong, LOL..... heres my overnighted seat, LOL. Figures huh, 2 seats now.. so anyone with a 70 bench seat Chevelle needing a repaint hit me up I have a seat, but it will cost ya, LMAO.
So..... I have a car that well has been a nightmare for the over a year I have had it. Yes over a year and still not quite done. So here is the story about Good John and Bad John.
Good John writes a contract to do a 1993 ? Camaro hardtop with Corvette wheels on it. Again a contract written for a woman looking for a Xmas present for her husband. So its all good until I get the paperwork and pictures back. Yeah... its a Camaro hardtop (which they don't make in diecast) and yeah it has Corvette wheels.... but it also have some funky deck spoiler along with some weird 2 color pinstriping. So Good John calls her and tells her...... you know I should charge extra for this but will do it for free since im doing the roof conversion too which makes her happy with Good John.
Well.... off I set to create the car..... things are rolling along and here comes Xmas 2006 and when the car is done I email her pictures. At this point her husband knows what's happening and looks at them and though happy with seeing his car in diecast he also conveys that his car has a full ground effects kit on it and its not really like his car the way it is. At this point I tell them I cannot fix it by Xmas and that I will gladly discuss this after the holidays which they happily agree too.
Now comes January 07 and my discussions with him. He goes on to explain where he got the kit and bla bla bla.... I said well if I had pictures of the front, side and rear of the car I would have noticed and we wouldn't have had this problem. The pictures sent were basically close ups of the wheels, spoiler, hood and pinstriping. All printed on paper cut into little squares. I have worked with less so its not that big a deal, until now, LOL. Well..... he starts ranting about it being done correct and when I mention I needed more money he starts ranting about it being my error, LOL. Well it clearly was not my error but how can I bash his wife to him..... yeah now THATS customer service, LMAO.
So.... after he sends the pics via email of the other spoilers I see this is going to be a major project and something I should have gotten at least $200.00 more for. The entire ground effects package needs to be created from scratch. Yeah...... thats simple, LOL. Well Bad John....... oh wait, thats STUPID DUMBASS JOHN...... rears his head and says.... ok Mr Customer Who I Want Happy I will do it for free. With one condition though..... it will be ready when its ready and that might not be until Xmas 07.
He agrees and well the plan moved forward. Basically over the last 11 months I have worked on the car on and off taking into consideration how much Ive lost on this I can only stomach small amounts of time spent working on it. So now comes the time to repaint..... yesterday...talk about running it to the wire huh ? Yeah, I did..... but the car is painted, looks great, will get the pinstripe on it today and get clearcoated Sunday so it can ship to CA on Monday. So what did STUPID DUMBASS JOHN learn ? Well when it went so wrong I had two options, 1 , what I did and 2 refund the original deposit and walk away. In hind site that is what I should have done. I know some of you will say but wait, DUMBASS, isn't it you who says work outside your comfort zone ? Isn't it you, DUMBASS, that says the possibilities are endless (my websites tag line) ?
Yeah, yeah, yeah its me but in the end sometimes we just need to walk away... some projects are just too much of a pain to invest that kinda time on for free mind you. See..... since this is the first 90's Camaro I have ever done I doubt highly I will ever do another one and for that matter one with ground effects on it so, did I learn something yes.... but will I do ground effects again, doubtful.
OK.... I do want to touch on the whole painting thing. I have said this before but I will again, I love it when a plan comes together, LOL. I had 5 cars lined up to paint yesterday and they all flowed nicely and should be clear ready Sunday.
So yesterday I receive a RC2 Authentics 1971 Charger R/T. This car is supposed to be a blem car since I hate paying retail. I have heard all the good and bad about this car on the diecast chat board. I have been part of the comments and have even posted what thought was some good insite as to dealing with new cars that have defects. Many replys said people should have the right to bitch about something not being correct for $70.00. I do agree wholeheartedly but in the same vain think it can be approached differently. For those who don't go there I will give you my short version of why ALL THIS BITCHING is a problem. The more ya bitch the more people don't want the product. If the product doesn't sell the manufacturer doesn't make a profit and then moves on to other things and the diecast doors get closed. I type this since its true life and a real problem. Bitch about whats wrong if your life is such that you have nothing else to bitch about but in reality all you need to do is say, my car/cars had some problems and Im returning them for replacements.
Now.... I typed this because, again, I received my 71 Charger yesterday. I spent about 40 minutes looking it over and found one minut flaw..... a flaw that im sure 75% of the diecast collectors would probably miss but I was LOOKING for some. For my car its a nick in the clear on the leading edge of the hood. Something with a dab of clear is fixed and no longer a problem. Actually its not a problem at all if you display the car with the hood closed. So.... another item that was BITCHED about.... were the plug wires. Well I looked at the motor a few times and all is good with mine..... until.. I get a magnifying glass out... then I can see one of the plug wires is out of its hole. OH MY GOD CLOSE THE FRICKEN FACTORY !!!!!!! THOSE BASTARDS ARE MAKING SUBSTANDARD CARS!!! How can I drive this with only 7 cylinders working.... how ???? WELL YOU CANT YA DOPE ! Ugh.... people piss me off sometimes.
Why are you inspecting an diecast car with a magnifying glass ? Whats the purpose ? Since its a toy/collectible/mass produced item it will never be PERFECT. Hell nothing is perfect. I said to someone yesterday (cover the kids eyes) I was living with a women who had a PERFECT ass....yeah..... in my 50 years and ...... well I wont state the number for fear of being called a whore, wait I already have been, LOL, anyway... many many women, she has the most perfect ass I have ever seen. Now the other 90% of her isn't that great so here I sit a 50 year old playing with toy cars all day and not getting any, LOL.
My point..... NOTHING is PERFECT.. especially when mass produced by 1000 Chinese who could give a shit since they just want to earn there $8.00 a day and go home. Ugh... oh well, this is what makes the world go round, opinions, while are like asses, everyone has one and some are perfect while others are just down right shitty !
Ok ..... im out
So first off..... to Doug... I have to say.... Autobiography ? Ha, LOL nobody wants to hear an old guy bitch like Archie Bunker for 100 pages, LOL. So I don't think Pendent Publishing will be contacting me anytime soon, LOL.
So yesterday was filled with my never ending line of Xmas delivery projects. OK , the line is ending and well one of the funnier stories is the Black 70 Chevelle I did for a woman for her husband for Xmas. You guys might remember how I had to walk her thou the process of questions to find out about the car. If you remember the one part that was missed was its a bench seat car.... and well only one Lane Chevelle comes with a bench seat, the Cheap Street version.
Since I needed just the seat to ship the car I called my friends at Lane and asked if they had any damaged Cheap Streets I could buy so I can get the seat. Mario, who pretty much runs the show now that Cynthia is off on maturity leave, says well why don't I just send you a seat, you don't need a whole car, right ? I agree and he says its leaving today.. comp, whoo hoo. So........ a week goes by..... no seat..... a week and 3 days, that's 10 total for those who can't count, LOL, and still no seat. Im starting to panic a little, I mean the car is going to NJ and it will need about a week to get there depending on the weather. So.. I blow in a call to Mario on Monday, tell him I still don't have it.... he says well ya should but if you don't have it by Tuesday I will OVERNIGHT one to you.... I laughed when he said that..... im like overnight ? A fricken $2.00 seat at $25.00 shipping ? Im like you don't have to do that... but I will need the seat soon. Well he said just call him and he will get it done if need be.
Tuesday... no seat..... Wednesday... no seat..... I am in deep panic mode now..... so I call him. I ask him where they mailed it too he says Casa Grande but will overnight one to me. Mind you I feel bad about this..... thats a ton for a stupid seat but hey... I need the seat. So...... Thursday... I head to the post office and lone behold theres the seat.... that was shipped to Oregon.... yep thats why it took so long, MI toAZ via OR.. LOL. So I get home seat in hand, yeah and ding dong, LOL..... heres my overnighted seat, LOL. Figures huh, 2 seats now.. so anyone with a 70 bench seat Chevelle needing a repaint hit me up I have a seat, but it will cost ya, LMAO.
So..... I have a car that well has been a nightmare for the over a year I have had it. Yes over a year and still not quite done. So here is the story about Good John and Bad John.
Good John writes a contract to do a 1993 ? Camaro hardtop with Corvette wheels on it. Again a contract written for a woman looking for a Xmas present for her husband. So its all good until I get the paperwork and pictures back. Yeah... its a Camaro hardtop (which they don't make in diecast) and yeah it has Corvette wheels.... but it also have some funky deck spoiler along with some weird 2 color pinstriping. So Good John calls her and tells her...... you know I should charge extra for this but will do it for free since im doing the roof conversion too which makes her happy with Good John.
Well.... off I set to create the car..... things are rolling along and here comes Xmas 2006 and when the car is done I email her pictures. At this point her husband knows what's happening and looks at them and though happy with seeing his car in diecast he also conveys that his car has a full ground effects kit on it and its not really like his car the way it is. At this point I tell them I cannot fix it by Xmas and that I will gladly discuss this after the holidays which they happily agree too.
Now comes January 07 and my discussions with him. He goes on to explain where he got the kit and bla bla bla.... I said well if I had pictures of the front, side and rear of the car I would have noticed and we wouldn't have had this problem. The pictures sent were basically close ups of the wheels, spoiler, hood and pinstriping. All printed on paper cut into little squares. I have worked with less so its not that big a deal, until now, LOL. Well..... he starts ranting about it being done correct and when I mention I needed more money he starts ranting about it being my error, LOL. Well it clearly was not my error but how can I bash his wife to him..... yeah now THATS customer service, LMAO.
So.... after he sends the pics via email of the other spoilers I see this is going to be a major project and something I should have gotten at least $200.00 more for. The entire ground effects package needs to be created from scratch. Yeah...... thats simple, LOL. Well Bad John....... oh wait, thats STUPID DUMBASS JOHN...... rears his head and says.... ok Mr Customer Who I Want Happy I will do it for free. With one condition though..... it will be ready when its ready and that might not be until Xmas 07.
He agrees and well the plan moved forward. Basically over the last 11 months I have worked on the car on and off taking into consideration how much Ive lost on this I can only stomach small amounts of time spent working on it. So now comes the time to repaint..... yesterday...talk about running it to the wire huh ? Yeah, I did..... but the car is painted, looks great, will get the pinstripe on it today and get clearcoated Sunday so it can ship to CA on Monday. So what did STUPID DUMBASS JOHN learn ? Well when it went so wrong I had two options, 1 , what I did and 2 refund the original deposit and walk away. In hind site that is what I should have done. I know some of you will say but wait, DUMBASS, isn't it you who says work outside your comfort zone ? Isn't it you, DUMBASS, that says the possibilities are endless (my websites tag line) ?
Yeah, yeah, yeah its me but in the end sometimes we just need to walk away... some projects are just too much of a pain to invest that kinda time on for free mind you. See..... since this is the first 90's Camaro I have ever done I doubt highly I will ever do another one and for that matter one with ground effects on it so, did I learn something yes.... but will I do ground effects again, doubtful.
OK.... I do want to touch on the whole painting thing. I have said this before but I will again, I love it when a plan comes together, LOL. I had 5 cars lined up to paint yesterday and they all flowed nicely and should be clear ready Sunday.
So yesterday I receive a RC2 Authentics 1971 Charger R/T. This car is supposed to be a blem car since I hate paying retail. I have heard all the good and bad about this car on the diecast chat board. I have been part of the comments and have even posted what thought was some good insite as to dealing with new cars that have defects. Many replys said people should have the right to bitch about something not being correct for $70.00. I do agree wholeheartedly but in the same vain think it can be approached differently. For those who don't go there I will give you my short version of why ALL THIS BITCHING is a problem. The more ya bitch the more people don't want the product. If the product doesn't sell the manufacturer doesn't make a profit and then moves on to other things and the diecast doors get closed. I type this since its true life and a real problem. Bitch about whats wrong if your life is such that you have nothing else to bitch about but in reality all you need to do is say, my car/cars had some problems and Im returning them for replacements.
Now.... I typed this because, again, I received my 71 Charger yesterday. I spent about 40 minutes looking it over and found one minut flaw..... a flaw that im sure 75% of the diecast collectors would probably miss but I was LOOKING for some. For my car its a nick in the clear on the leading edge of the hood. Something with a dab of clear is fixed and no longer a problem. Actually its not a problem at all if you display the car with the hood closed. So.... another item that was BITCHED about.... were the plug wires. Well I looked at the motor a few times and all is good with mine..... until.. I get a magnifying glass out... then I can see one of the plug wires is out of its hole. OH MY GOD CLOSE THE FRICKEN FACTORY !!!!!!! THOSE BASTARDS ARE MAKING SUBSTANDARD CARS!!! How can I drive this with only 7 cylinders working.... how ???? WELL YOU CANT YA DOPE ! Ugh.... people piss me off sometimes.
Why are you inspecting an diecast car with a magnifying glass ? Whats the purpose ? Since its a toy/collectible/mass produced item it will never be PERFECT. Hell nothing is perfect. I said to someone yesterday (cover the kids eyes) I was living with a women who had a PERFECT ass....yeah..... in my 50 years and ...... well I wont state the number for fear of being called a whore, wait I already have been, LOL, anyway... many many women, she has the most perfect ass I have ever seen. Now the other 90% of her isn't that great so here I sit a 50 year old playing with toy cars all day and not getting any, LOL.
My point..... NOTHING is PERFECT.. especially when mass produced by 1000 Chinese who could give a shit since they just want to earn there $8.00 a day and go home. Ugh... oh well, this is what makes the world go round, opinions, while are like asses, everyone has one and some are perfect while others are just down right shitty !
Ok ..... im out
John, great job today, I really liked Dumbass John, oh wait thats you, sorry I forgot. Anyway I enjoyed the reading and have to say that the 71 Charger appears to me as a great mold. Again we all know nothing is perfect (except 1 ass), so for what I got, and what I paid I really like it. I am not DIRECTING THIS TO ANYONE AT ALL but enjoy the hobby while its still here. To hit on what you posted on the Pub, when all the smoke clears, and a few of the companies that constantly get bashed are gone, we will be stuck with a limited variety, a limited amount of manufacturers and the prices are going to go through the roof since supply and demand will lie soley with the companies that survive. If you are going to want to continue collecting, be prepared to pay as they will be able to set the price very high, if you don't like it you will have to quit the hobby. Also noticed yesterday on the Pub, a few people getting really pissed off at a few of the "KNOW IT ALLS". I am glad they stepped up to the plate and aired what they did. I made a few phone calls and stated the same to them. Like some dumb ass before has stated in the past.. I'm out be safe and enjoy the weekend, I am sure I will talk to you.
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