Olle F

Eh... I kinda get hooked on everything I try, and I have tried a lot of different hobbies. Right now, my major obsessions are: -Cars. Got a '69 Chevelle, and a 383 project engine in the stand. Not sure if the two will ever meet -Woodworking. The sawdust in the basement is a great excuse for not building models -Home improvement. Everything just takes forever when you're never home, so my wife says: "Never mind the savings, hire a frickin' contractor and git-r-done!" -R/C cars. Almost gave up on this after realizing how fragile they are if I drive them the way I think they should be driven -Computer gaming, mainly CoD4. I love to sit down in the evening for an hour or two of mindless killing -Guns. Buy them, look at them, take them apart, put them back together again, cuddle with them. I even shoot them now and then. So there's my excuses for not building models.

I do the same thing as Brendan, but I would like to add that you want to be careful with what kind of soap you use. Some soap contains oils that can affect the adhesion, or even cause "fisheyes" in the paint. I learned this many years ago when I was working in a car manufacturing plant. They started having big problems with the paint adhesion and after a thorough investigation, they tracked it down to a new kind of soap they were using in the restrooms. It obviously contained a skin conditioner that affected the paint, and after changing the soap they had no problems at all. So whether it's 1:1 or 1:25, you need to use the right soap. Cheap hand soap or dish detergent works for me.

I was seriously tempted to do just that while I was building the Renwal V8. It's not for the faint of heart.

Funny... I made this many years ago, and used it as a background on my office PC:

Must have been me...

As much as I hate it, I could see that coming and I guess I have to consider the $30 I sent them as a contribution to their doctor's bills. It might sound cold, but it just rubbed me the wrong way to see them still taking orders (seems like their web site is still open for "business") while at the same time trying to explain in lenghty and elaborate e-mails why they couldn't deliver my parts, and what a bad person I am for bothering them with my questions. Bad health or not, there's no excuse for that.

Thanks, I needed a good laugh today!

I really don't know. When I thin paint for brush painting, I put some on a lid from a Planter's peanut can (IMO, they are great "palettes" for mixing small amounts of paint, and it's also an excellent excuse for eating large amounts of peanuts) and use a pipette to add thinner until it's "just right". Sometimes, I have to brush some of it on a scrap piece to make sure that the consistency is right. I do it the same way but in the paint bottle/can when mixing larger batches, whether it's for spraying or brush painting. There's really no perfect ratio, it depends on the paint, what you are using it for and how you use it. I'm probably not much help, but mixing paint is a trial and error thing, IMO. I have learned what the paint is supposed to look like when I have the right ratio, but I don't have a clue what the actual ratio really is.

I use lacquer thinner for Humbrol and Testors enamels, it is by far the best I have tried. It mixes easily with the paint, makes it dry quicker and it also seems to help the adhesion. It's better to use regular paint thinner or Humbrol's own thinner for brush painting though, the lacquer thinner makes it dry a little bit too quick to get a nice finish if you brush it.

I wanted one too, but I changed my mind after looking for them on eBay a while ago. Prices are obviously going through the roof and I can't justify a Messerschmitt if I can have a '60's Camaro for the same money. The sad thing about it is that I remember seeing huge piles of microcars in the junkyards back in the '60s and '70s, when they were so totally worthless that people didn't even bother to pick parts from them...

Wow, that's beautiful! I just love the details, and this is great inspiration for the Corvette gasser I'm working on. And Raul: Thanks for revealing one of life's great mysteries. I have always been wondering about that funky looking "fire extinguisher" you find in some kits, and that's definitely a great detail to add!

Maybe... I'm just intimidated by the process of applying decals on curved surfaces. I usually end up diddling around with decals and setting solution to the point where the decals are wrinkled and cracked, and the adhesive is washed out. When I finally get all the bubbles out and the decals are stuck good, they are usually misaligned or in the wrong place. I figure that nylon with a tacky back would be more forgiving, but that's just me. And of course, I'm cheap too. I usually keep spray adhesive in the house, and I'm sure I can swipe some of my wife's nylons without her noticing.

I remember the Tatras from my childhood in Sweden, they were among the "prize cars" when our family was traveling and me and my brothers played car spotting (yep, that's what you did before they invented Nintendo DS and portable DVDs). The ones we saw were usually Tatraplans with a 4-cylinder boxer engine, and they sure looked weird even back then. There were plenty of bizzare looking cars on the roads, like Citroen, Simca, Goggomobil, Messerschmitt, Isetta, Vespa (yeah, they did make cars), Dyna Panhard and many others. BTW: I searched the web to find a link for those who don't think Vespa made cars, and look what I found: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2006/10...little-big-car/

How about hitting the fabric with some spray adhesive? I haven't tried this myself, but I'm thinking that the tacky, non-permanent stuff could work.

Slipknot, "Psychosocial". Never underestimate the power of Google.

I ordered from them about a year ago, but I still haven't seen parts. Haven't had any problems contacting them via e-mail, but all I get is a song and a dance.

It's not enough to use different paint types from the same manufacturer, unless they clearly say that they are indeed compatible. For example, Testors have enamels, acrylics and lacquers, but that doesn't mean that you can use, let's say a laquer clearcoat on an enamel basecoat. The other way around might work just fine though, and there are some types of paints that are compatible, but there's really no guarantee that it will work. It's kind of a hit-or-miss deal, and after several paint fiascos in the past, I have come to the conclusion that the only fool proof way to a good paintjob is to use paint of the same type and (just to be safe) from the same manufacturer. I might be overly cautious, but at least it gives me peace of mind.

Funny that you would say that, I have also got a bottle of Faller that I have had for about 15 years, and I'm still using it now and then. It's still as good as the day I bought it and it seems like there's gallons of glue in that tiny little bottle, but I guess this is because the built-in needle applicator makes it so easy to apply just the tiny amount you need. $6 ain't that bad at all, considering how long it lasts.

It's difficult to make styrene stick permanently to vinyl, so make some shims and glue them in. You can also put blobs of epoxy between the halves to fill the space, it's a quick and dirty way to get the right spacing without fiddling around with shims. You can't do that if you want the wheels to turn though.

That's a really sweet Camaro! I have a thing for 2nd gen Camaros as I had a '71 many years ago... one of the few cars I wish I had never sold. And the head light bezels came out great, it was actually one of the first thing I noticed. None of the kits I have seen have "looked right" in that area, and that's one of the reasons why I have never build one. But here's proof that it can be done!

As already said, BMF doesn't fall off, but I have had a problem with the drip rail trim on some cars. I usually move my models by grabbing the edges of the roof, and it the trim is real thin it kind of tends to slide a little bit, leaving the trim a bit crooked. Clearcoating the BMF would take care of this problem, but being more careful would of course be a good alternative too. Anyway, I have clearcoated the BMF on a few models that had a lot of thin and fragile BMF strips (like on a '58 Impala), and it sure seems to help when you handle the model, dusting it or if you for some reason have to polish the paint again.

I did this when weathering the engine bay in the picture below: I painted everything flat or satin enamels (IMO, any glossy finishes will look out of place), and used washes to simulate dirt and rust. It doesn't show in the picture, but I also used some glossy, black wash in areas where you usually find oil leaks. Some parts that usually rust (like the generator, inner fenders, radiator support etc.) were stipple painted flat black and rust colored paint to give them a rough finish, then dusted with rust colored pastel chalk. To simulate paint flaking off of the radiator, I painted it a brass metallic, masked with liquid masking, sprayed a thin coat of black and then unmasked it to reveal the "brass" underneath. I made my own weathering powder from dry pastel chalks, I happened to have a large set with about 100 different colors, and it sure came in handy. You can buy them in any good crafts store, they come in just about any color you want and they are way cheaper than special weathering powders. My best advice is to take pictures of engines in real cars and study them thoroughly, so you know where to apply dirt, rust, chipping paint, oil leaks and other details. It will also give you a good idea of what colors you need to use. I'm definitely not an expert on this, but I would say that most of the realism lies in applying the right finish in the right place. Simple and easy details like a slight oil leak around a leaking valve cover can add a lot of realism.

I don't have a clue how they make metal pigments, but I'd say that pigments are way cleaner than what you get on your hands. The dust is probably contaminated will all kinds of crud, like debris from cutting tools and sanding discs, cutting fluid, oxide from plasma/torch cutting or whatever you may find in your shop. Unless you find a way to filter/wash/etch the dust, I'm afraid that your paint will be just as gray as your hands. But what the heck, it's worth a try. Who knows, you might come up with a new, cool color, even if it's not exactly what you thought it would be.

Not really. It might be just me, but it's easier to cut a straight line, especially when you have lines to follow. I find it way easier to get a straight line using BMF and a knife, rather than using paint and a brush.

You can actually trim liquid masking with a knife to get a neater edge. You have to apply a pretty heavy coat, and it can be a bit finnicky, but it can be done. It's nothing I would do on a whole chassis though, I'm lazy so I think the wash method sounds more attractive.