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peteski

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Posts posted by peteski

  1. While I love the original chrome BEM, I wouldn't recommend the black version.  Not sure  about the adhesive (there was a bad batch of all BMFs made during the COVID pandemic - yours might be from that period), but if its application is to depict rubber window gaskets, it is way too shiny for that, and the black coating could rub off during burnishing.

    • Like 1
  2. 2 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

    Call me the voice of dissension but my vote goes to LED. Their compactness enable more styling freedom, they provide excellent lighting performance and they should last the life of the car. No more idiots driving around with burnt lamps, no matter how cheap the replacement cost is. Sometimes progress is a good thing.

    There is no denying that LED lighting (especially efficient white LEDs) have (mostly in a positive way) totally changed the world's lighting (they are now everywhere), they are not infallible.  I see many examples of failing LED-based lights. Usually though it is not the LEDs themselves but  their electronic power supplies.  Most common failure mode is rapid flashing, but I have seen many traffic light fixtures where entire stings of individual LEDs in the lens are dark, and similar problem with car taillights.

  3. 8 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

    Nowadays expanding storage space for you PC is pretty cheap. Hosting sites are somewhat risky as they change their access rules and/or go out of business. There is also metadata hidden in the photo file that can put semi personal data at risk such as location.

    Um, isn't that metadata (EXIF or similar) also present in photos uploaded to this site, so what's the difference? Anybody can extract it here or on Photobucket.  If you are worried,it is up to you to disable storing that information on your end, when taking the photos.

  4. 8 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

    I like the direct file transfer for maximum resolution. I no longer downsize the file as today's digital bandwidth is much improved over the days of dial up.

    It is true that the days of posting "modem safe" sized images are long gone, but it is not about the transfer rate, but about the hosting disk space.  With the default size of photos from modern cameras getting out of control large, and hundreds of participating in *FREE* forums like this  one, uploading all those large images, something will eventually have to give.  Either become for-fee forums, or run out of image storage space.  Why do you insist in maximum resolution when the image will just be viewed on a computer monitor? How much detail do you want to show, just because you can? Forum software displays photos in posts in a size to fit the browser window. How many people viewing your photo will actually expand it to view it in its full 24 Megapixel glory, especially since many view the forum on tiny smart phone screens? What a waste.

    • Like 2
  5. 7 hours ago, rossfox said:

    I have not included a picture, as I cannot get the file to convert from pdf to one accepted here

    Bitmap (a photo/picture) stored in a pdf format is a bit unusual as it's not a native format for bitmap.  I'm curious how you ended up with that file.

    A quick and dirty way to get that picture stored in a forum acceptable format would be to open the pdf on your computer then take a screen capture and save it in a JPG or PNG format.

  6. 3 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

    I’m still posting the vast majority of my photos through a hosting site.

    That way no storage space is used.

     

     

    Steve

    That certainly is a valid solution to the space utilization issue, but since the images are remote they might not be available in the future.  Whenever possible I prefer hosting small images along with messages on the same forum site.

    • Like 1
  7. 5 hours ago, Swamp Dog said:

    i understand what you are saying. 90% of my decals are off the internet that i send to him to re size. its not a big process for someone in the business, so for Perry's 1/43 decals scale them in 1/20 scale that's not a big process..Terry always tells you up front what it will cost with your choice of shipping..

    Does he redraw the bitmap images you send into vector format so the decals look crisp (not pixelated with jagged edges)?  Does he print them with white undercoat (so they can be applied over dark surfaces without affecting their color)?

  8. 7 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

    I tend to speak in "layman's" terms, I'm not an expert nor would I claim that, btu makes it a bit easier, at least to me, to understand. I've had the "pleasure" of training more than a few "less bright individuals". Force of habit.

    I'm far from an expert, but know enough to realize that BTUs (a unit of energy, specifically measuring the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit) have nothing to do with color temperature of light.  Not sure how applying btu to light color makes you understand things better.  But whatever . . . if you want to measure light color in btus, so be it. Make sure you have large enough furnace! ;)

  9. Small clarification:  light's color temperature is not expressed in btu (British Thermal Unit) but in K (degrees of Kelvin).  I also find most of the new LED-based headlights blinding and annoying at night.  And the sharp light cutoff is not all that handy.  It works well on a perfectly smooth road but if the road has undulations it makes the headlights appear like they are flashing while going over the bumps (or blinding like high-beams when the oncoming car is traveling uphill).

    And as John mentioned, many of the self-installed "upgrades" result in headlights which are totally out-of-specs, either not correctly illuminating the road, blinding oncoming drivers, or both.

    The other annoyance is that it seems that more and more drivers drive with their high-beams on all the time.

    • Like 3
  10. 6 hours ago, Russell C said:

    Ditto, but what I do instead is text the photo to my email address, open up the email and download the photo to my computer desktop, then crop out any extra background and fix the sometimes too-dark shadows using my simple Photo Preview program. But I also use that program to knock down the epic file sizes the iPhone generates. I set the measurement thing in inches and reduce the widths from 24 - 48 inches down to 4½ inches and the pixels-per-inch measurement thing to 150 ... which seems to put out photos in my posts that look clear enough for my old eyes.

    Good do  see  that  there are more conscientious members here besides me who do resample their huge-size photos to  something more reasonable.  While nowadays storage space is relatively inexpensive, it still costs money, and this forum is quite busy with hundreds of members uploading photos.  The storage space will be filling up and then what likely will happen is some of the photos will be purged (making many threads and posts useless).

    There really is no reason to upload huge photos which would be printed poster-size.  There are different ways of describing size of a graphic file.  I usually resample mine to about 1200 or less pixels across resulting in the file size of 200k bytes or less.  Russel's description of what he does results in images (4.5" * 150dpi  = 675) pixels across. these will probably be around 100k bytes in size. That is perfectly good for photos displayed in an online forum post.  Some of the huge photos some upload to the forum take up 3 or 4 Mega bytes each. Way more than what is IMO reasonable for a forum photo.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
  11. 4 hours ago, Redisetta said:

    Bondo glazing putty has been around forever,and readily available in my area, not sure where you are but I don’t think it’s been discontinued 

    You might be thinking about the Bondo 1-part glazing putty which shrinks as it hardens (the solvent evaporates).  "Catalyzed" is the key word. Catalyzed putty is a 2-part polyester putty which hardens by chemical reaction (not evaporation - no shrinkage).

  12. Yes, there is a rather lengthy thread about this subject, and if you start a new one, you'll get multiple "best" answers - just like what you see in that lengthy topic.

    But your last question can be answered.  Since you are looking for a hobby size compressor, you will never need more than a standard 120V 20A circuit. Even that is likely an overkill. A 15A circuit should be sufficient.  if you needed a repair garage size large capacity compressor, that's when you need some higher amperage 240V circuit.

    I gave my recommendation for best quiet compressor with a 2 gal. tank in the other threads - no need to repeat it here.

  13. 2 hours ago, Swamp Dog said:

    Terry Borchers at STS Scale Model Decals is not a man that will drain your bank account. i have had many Decals designed by him and he has always treated me right. 

    If he has to create the artwork from scratch or from a decal  scan, that is a time-consuming process. Time is money. As I mentioned, whether something seems expensive or not depends on your hobby budget.  I just mentioned that  so someone doesn't get a sticker shock.  I design and print decals for myself and few friends, so I have an idea of what's involved (especially if the decals need to be opaque or have white or metallic images).

  14. 8 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

    The Sherline was built in Australia originally, but the rights were acquired and bought out by Joe Martin and production moved to the USA.  The Sherlines are currently in production and able to take advantage of the market space now that the Unimats are no longer in production. The Sherline range is an excellent high quality package available for miniature machinists.

    Absolutely no confusion about the Sheline - For the 3rd time I'm posting the link to Sherline history. It is all very clearly explained (assuming someone actually visits that webpage: http://www.sherline.com/about/sherline-history/

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