peteski

Kidding or not, you're correct - I'm happily single.

We're getting close to what's depicted in the Space Odyssey movies, but it's going to be over 20 years later than predicted.

None of the '80s Vettes to me fit the definition of a "sports car". To me sports cares are more esoteric vehicles like Ferraris or Lambos or similar. I like them all - I don't have one specific favorite. I really don't have a single specific anything I would call "my favorite". I like too many things to narrow it down to a single item. When I see all then "what's my favorite" threads I always wonder how can anyone narrow anything down to a one specific item.

Never heard of it, but I guess I'm not curious too. But what exactly is it? The name is ambiguous. Is this a company making/selling resin cast or 3D printer items? Is it the resin material (liquid) used to cast/3D print resin parts?

. . . or have 20 computers on-board.

95 deg. Celsius or Fahrenheit? If Celsius, that is way too hot for drying paint on plastic parts, if Fahrenheit, that is an acceptable temperature (as I said, mine is aroudn 110-120 deg. F)

You need a source of strong UV light to cure this type of resins. If you don't have a curing LED lamp which the resin manufacturers usually sell along with the resin, Sun on a clear day will set the resin hard in about 10-20 minutes (probably depending on your latitude which determines how strong the Sunlight is). Craft stores often sell UV resins (Michaels has it in the jewelry section) along with the curing lamps. Dentists have used this type of resin (non-transparent) for years for tooth fillings. Bondic (notaglue.com) was one of the earliest consumer-grade transparent resin of this type. I have tried multiple brands and many of them never fully cure (they harden but the surface remains sticky). My research showed that this is due to oxygen inhibition effect ( https://www.google.com/search?q=uv+cured+resin+oxygen+inhibition ). I have found that the Blue Moon Studios UV Resin Craft Hard Type Resin from Michaels does not suffer from that effect and cures without the sticky surface. That is what I use now.

Parafilm-M is what I first learned about in an article in FineScale Modeler magazine over 30 years ago, and that is what I use for various modeling tasks (like masking). There was a bad batch around the start of the COVID pandemic and I suspect some of it is still around. I still have some small amounts left on my first BMF chrome sheet and its adhesive is still good after 30+ years. I have some newer BMF and it has good adhesive.

I'll take an exception to this. First of all, I'm an "accuracy" modeler. Second, I don't understand why some models think that chrome finish has a scale, and supposed to look duller than on 1:1 vehicles, so they strip perfectly good metallic layer from plastic part and use less shiny metallic "chrome" paints. That is strictly personal view, not a fact. Chrome does not scale. Just like transparent "glass" items on a model should to be just as as smooth and transparent as they are on 1:1. You don't make scale "glass" duller because it is smaller than the original modeled object. You don't use semigloss paint on the model of car which in 1:1 scale is glossy. Also, the whole "vote with your wallet" thing is also silly, especially if the desired model is the only game in town. It is unfortunate that manufacturers are cheapening their model offerings (as I don't think they do this to cater to the "duller chrome" crowd).

Maybe so, but I suspect that most modelers aren't hardcore (like me) and prefer plated parts. Stripping parts is easy, but getting that super shiny chrome-like metalized finish is much more difficult and expensive. I much prefer the kit's old-school vacu-plated "chrome" than any currently available spray-on paint chrome finish. Too bad it seems the manufacturers are eliminating that option. In this specific case there is no real need for the shiny chrome finish for those parts, but as I mentioned, it would make painting the wheels easier (at least using the method I like).

That is an enamel (in the same family as the old Testors PLA enamels), so yes, I'm not surprised that it dries to a very glossy surface. Hardener makes it even better. Unfortunately (according to my local sign and pinstriping guy), probably due to environmental regulations, it is getting harder to find, especially in smallest size cans. With all the computer printed vinyl signs, sign painting and pin-striping is a dying trade.

Open recessed areas was what I was describing. Anything below the wheel's surface. As for the color (black, gray, blue, red, etc.), my painting technique applies to any color used for the recessed areas (even if they are open). I just used a generic description for the technique. Yes, I know I can paint the wheels shiny aluminum using organic solvent paint, then use water-based paints for my technique, but having the wheels plated makes my technique easier (and I like plated parts). Judging by all the parts located on that tree (like the door mirror faces, etc), it was designed to be plated and Revell for some reason decided not to do it.

The car in that last photo seems to have flat tires. Good luck with the move!

Well, we are now splitting hairs here. Ok, what I meant was "original high-calorie drinks". Sucrose, fructose, and similar. Non-diet. If one wants "real" sugar, Mexican Coca-Cola contains that.

Since you specify sugar-free sodas, does that imply that soft drinks with real sugar do not foam up as much? Also, the volume of foam generated is related to the speed of the pour, the height of the pouring stream, the temperature of the liquid and of the container your are pouring into it, and also how clean the walls of the container are. How's that for a getting technical about foaming? Personally I like as much carbonation as I can get, especially if I don't drink all of the container rather quickly. I hate flat soda! It's gross.

Unfortunately I suspect AI is already in your life without you even realizing it. It will be very interesting how things turn out in the next 10 years or so, or even sooner.

For over 30 years I have been using a bare-bones basic food dehydrator. On the bottom it has a 40W heating element and it has adjustable ventilation slots on the bottom and top. It doesn't even have power switch - you plug it in to turn it on. It has served me quite well. I have a cooking thermometer for monitoring its temperature and i have the vents adjusted for around 110-120 deg. F. No need for fancy adjustments. It came with multiple stacking hoops with food drying surfaces which I had to remove to create a single large space inside for drying car bodies. You say that it doesn't get very warm. Have you taken a temperature reading inside? 110 deg. F is not *ALL* that warm, and it is perfect for drying paint on plastic parts. As for it being very small, you must have seen how big (or small) its box was.

Been on eBay since 1999 and sold (in the past) and buy there. It is a huge company and it is safe to use (just like amazon is, since eBay is slowly turning into amazon-like marketplace rather than an auction site). But with tens of millions of transactions there bound to be a small fraction of problematic ones. With few thousands of purchases I made there I might have had a problem or two (don't remember the specifics) but overall I think Bay is as safe as any other online company. I also only use PayPal. I'm also not a fan of some of their more recent "features", but they are the largest marketplace of that kind after all, with the largest audience in the world. BTW, there is a sticky eBay thread for this type of discussion in the General section

Yes, it is important to use hard cutting surface, and glass or ceramic tile is the old standby. However those are so hard that they quickly dull the cutting blade. I used to use them at first, but then I started using a piece of 1/16" thick or similar sheet aluminum as the cutting surface. It is hard enough to prevent the photoetched item being cut from distorting, yet it is soft enough not to appreciably dull the cutting blade. Works really well.

Well if someone scans the small-scale images (bitmap or raster format) then convert them (trace them) into vector graphic format, then they can be resized without any quality degradation. I design most of my decal artwork in vector format. Vectorizing the bitmap graphics is a time consuming process. I suspect that in a near future AI-based auto-tracing processes will make this task easier and quicker. I still do mine manually.

I'm almost certain that the original run had that tree plated. Even looking at that tree parts, it holds parts which would customarily be plated. Yes, there weren't many plated (or polished aluminum, or stainless steel parts on 1:1 Fiero, and the wheels were aluminum mags, but having those parts plated makes painting them easier. The wheel faces were very shiny bare turned aluminum with a clear coat, while all the recessed areas were black. On a plated model wheel you just spray the entire wheel black (like Testors flat black), and right after the paint is dry you wipe the rim's surface with a paper towel or a piece of rag moistened with paint thinner. That will remove the paint from the smooth plated surface, leaving rest of the wheel black (just like the 1:1 rims). Nice and easy. If you find the plating too shiny, you can spray it with a flat clear. If they are ribbed, the same can be done for rocker arm covers. If those items are unpainted plastic, they have to be dealt with other, not as easy ways.

The tree with wheels is not plated? The are really downgrading their kits. For a while Revell AG had their decals printed by Cartograph (Italian company making top-quality decals). Looks like that's not the case either,.

Funny! What was old is new again. Lights which were tied to steering were popular in higher end cars early in the 20th Century, and also in the '60s Citroen DS21 also had that feature. There were probably others too. But back then they used mechanical linkages tying them to the steering linkages where I suspect yours are driven by servo motors controlled by one of dozen of on-board computers. Sounds like they are performing a selftest/calibration when you start the car.

Assuming custom-made decals? Not sure about "best", but this might be helpful:

As my last post indicated I'm not a fan of all that technology in cars, but more and more even low-end new cars include all sorts of high-tech stuff in them. Pretty soon there will be no escape. Sure, you can get a vintage used car, but maintaining them will get more and more difficult.