Plumcrazy Preston

I really stepped into something I know nothing about. It's what used to be cheap plastic models for a shelf back in the old days for crying out loud. I didn't anticipate printing decals to be something of "rocket science".

Clarifications? You asked for it. The original artwork file was a BMP file I authored and then it was modified in a "vector" program by a third-party, copyartwork.com online, for a nominal fee. Then that file was saved as a PDF and sent to me and that file was sent to the decal company, bedlamcreations.com by me. Essentially, the decal printer made my decal set from that same PDF file I received from copyartwork.com. The "vector" work done by the third party was to make everything razor sharp around the edges and ensure the colors were spot colors, Pantone. I want nothing short of razor sharp edges on the decals I'm to place on my home-built models. I paid this bedlam creations $57 and the decal sheet I got looked like crapp for the amount of money paid. I need a highly competent decal printing concern. The BMP file from copyartwork.com did not look corrupt at all. The image was razor-sharp when examined by me in Adobe Reader and zoomed in. I believe this bedlam creations is a crappy outfit. That's all. I need a printer and operator with top-notch equipment and top-notch skills. I'm going to have to consult with the German bloke when he opens up for business again this spring. I hope he won't disappoint me.

Ok, I will have to contact this German fellow again this coming March. The only reason I passed him up because he is shut down until spring. I had no idea that ALPS made products looked that cheesy when held up under a magnifier. The stock decal sheets boxed inside model kits look so much more refined than what this Muma dude provided me. I also wasn't sure of the QUALITY of the German guy. There is cheesy mopeds made in China and there is Mercedes-Benz as an analogy. Is the German printer at least "Mercedes-Benz" grade if not Rolls-Royce grade? Remember that I have white objects. Can the German print white decals with razor-sharp edges? The white objects on the decal sheet Muma sent me are sloppier than the black objects. Some of the small silver text objects have small holes in them, they are slightly broken up. The trouble is I can't examine the workmanship samples of all these various printing firms in person. A picture posted on the Internet doesn't provide the same level of detail that a magnifier can provide to the naked human eye.

I had Josh Muma, from Bedlam Creations online, print me a decal sheet on a second new order and it came out sloppy too! It took him about a month to get this order shipped to me and once again I'm disappointed with the cosmetic appearance of the decals. This was indeed printed from a vectorized PDF and has three Pantone colors: silver, black and white. Bedlam claims to use ALPS thermal printing technology. I carefully examined the decal sheet under bright light with a magnifier. The white objects are mostly text letters and they look rough around the edges like white paint that was chipped. The smaller text objects are somewhat distorted. The silver about the wolf's heads appears too dark in tone. The airplane windows appear to have serrated lines running through them. There appears to be artifacts as dust particles on some parts of the sheet that were shellacked over. So all that said, which commercial online decal printing firm actually produces decal sheets with a very high degree of overall neatness? Here is a photo scan of the decal sheet I received but you won't be able to really see the defects here.

For nearly 40 dollars I expected much better from AMT. In the old days most kits did not exceed $10 and were commonly sold in drugstores.

Monogram always fit together nicely. You could cement the parts firmly and paint the models too. So how do I know if a kit is good before I buy it? I took a look at the parts for my new Atlantis Boeing 727 kit and that looks very promising. Virtually every part has slots and tabs for mating.

Why did they not have tabs and holes for mounting the horns, lights and visor on the roof? Some parts have these features but many don't. Why were they too cheap to not supply rubber tires? Holes and tabs also give a much more solid connection for gluing parts together.

I gave this kit a 1-star at amazon.com where I bought it and told everybody there the same thing as in my OP here.

Are there better quality kits on the market these days than AMT? AMT kits suck because: 1. they are too expensive for the low quality 2. the parts lack precision and excellent fit 3. many parts don't have holes/slots/grooves for other parts with tabs to insert into 4. the instructions aren't very good 5. the assembly diagrams aren't very clear as to where to precisely locate parts 6. some parts don't fit well 7. some parts are put into hollow places and they are allowed a certain degree of rotation as the transmission and the engine bell housing: there should be a keyway with a tab to keep these mating parts from rotating upon each another and why doesn't the rocker covers have tabs to mate with holes in the top of the engine's head? I'm working on the W-925 Kenworth tractor right now. The limp stretchy Goodyear vinyl tires are cheesy and not made of nice firm well-fitting rubber. The bead area is too large in diameter to fit the rims snugly. I tried using that 3/8" foam rod stuff. The beads of the tires just get pushed right over the measly little flanges of the rims under the pressure of the stuffing material. The visor for the top of the cab has no tabs/holes to locate it. Where am I going to apply the cement? Both the cab and the visor are to be custom painted but cement doesn't adhere well to paint. With mating tabs and holes I normally scrape the paint away on those spots and put glue there. There is no precise way to locate the 5 marker lights on top of the cab. This expensive plastic AMT kit is rather mickey-mouse quality. Is Revell or Monogram much better in overall quality than AMT? Virtually every Monogram kit model had snap-together parts with optional gluing. For close to $40, I'm rather disappointed with this AMT Kenworth kit. I expected much better for the price.

Force, thanks I just ordered this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-3-8-in-x-20-ft-Grey-Poly-Foam-Caulk-Saver-C21H/100067266 How long should each piece of foam rod be, the outer circumference of the tire? I will need this for my AMT Wilson cattle trailer as well.

I would like my AMT Goodyear tires to fit the flanged rims of my Kenworth W-925 tractor a bit more sung so "the bead is set". Any tips?

I ran my frame under scalding hot sink water for about 20 seconds then gave the frame a bend to the right a couple of times. It now seems pretty dam straight. I monkey with it no more.

...Copyartwork.com made a few goofs so I went to their Corrections page to submit a correction. Goof Number 1: they changed the PDF file page size from 13" x 8" to 15.90" x 11.65". My decal firm needs the page size to match the decal sheet size, 13" x 8". Goof Number 2: They made the BOEING 727 logos black instead of white for some unknown reason. The KENWORTH logos are white as they are supposed to be. At least they don't seem to have any trademarks issues. I made the KENWORTH letters for the the nose of the hood white because that's closest spot color to real bright chrome there is. Silver looks too dark. Otherwise, the vectorized work looks super sharp.

It seems like I read somewhere that one could immerse the frame in hot water to soften the plastic then place the frame in a vise or under heavy weights like a book or blocks of wood to straighten out. I can't find the web source where I read that. The plastic should hold the proper shape once slowly cooled down again under some sort of jig. Die-cast metal might be ideal for vehicle model frames, at least the side rails.

I noticed the frame looks warped curving somewhat to the left while looking down the top of the frame rails from the rear. Plastic doesn't seem to have the precision of metal. The frame seems to lie flat while on a tabletop. What is the frame straightening trick?