Doughnut

One of the members of our club, Don Stauffer, recently completed his scratchbuilt 1/8 scale midget as well. It is really impressive. Here's a photo: http://public.fotki.com/dstadick/rpm0411meeting/dsc01792.html He is quite the expert and if you have any questions, I can pass them on to him. Excellent build so far.

Looks fantastic, a great retro hot rod. The only thing I would add (if it were mine), is a little cap on the center of the steering wheel. It looks kinda plain.

To actually address the original topic, Yes, I have had a 90 gallon aquarium near my modeling hobby and it was the toxins from the CA glue and other items (clear coat gassing out) that made my fish sick. When I moved my model room to an enclosed room, I never lost another fish to illness. Varnish will also kill fish with the vapor it leaves in the air. The two hobbies just don't mix well.

Just a little helpful advice - Accessories has two C's in it. (under Polishing Accessories and Engine Accessories)

I use an Excel spreadsheet and classify them the way 58 Impala mentioned, by catagory. I can then take the spreadsheet with my (via my pocket PC) to events and know if I have the kit before buying another. It has also helped for insurance purposes. I have recently added a column to tell me where the kit is (which box) as I organize them in my crawl space. Many of the modelers in my club think I'm anal, but I prefer to be organized.

As long as we're on the subject . . . does anyone know what the white powder-like substance is that has attacked some of my tires? Is it a form of oxidation? My tires are stored in Rubbermaid totes (not completely air-tight) in my model room with normal humidity. I have not tried to clean them yet, but I will try the Purple Power. I just don't want it coming back once the tire is on the model! Thanks.

I'm with Jon Cole. I can't find Tamiya primer around here anymore so I switched to Dupli-Color and it has been fantastic. The one I use under white is called "White Sand". It's also a lot cheaper per once than the Tamiya. Good luck.

There are 200 pictures of the show at the RPM website. Please visit www.RPMModelClub.com and click on the Gallery menu. Enjoy.

Keep searching and hunt around. After all, sometimes the thrill of the hunt is quite fun. I kept watching and stopped in a Harbor Freight one day and sure enough, there was the micro-lathe on clearance for $109. It was missing the allen wrenches that normally came with it, so the manager knocked off another 10%. My friend went to another Harbor Freight and got the same deal. While it's not the best out there, it does the job.

While I agree it would be a great topic to cover, I will point out one reason that they may have stayed away from it for so long and that reason is licensing. As a decal maker and former legal company employee, I can tell you that as soon as a magazine starts to promote something that could be even remotely considered as encouraging one to break the law, they get in hot water. They would have to emphasize that you can only make decals of your original artwork and honestly, who is interested in doing only that? As you yourself stated, you would like a tutorial that covers scanning, and scanning is the first step in artwork piracy. For example, to legitimately produce decals that include a Goodyear logo, you have to get permission from Goodyear themselves. To produce a decal for a car that was driven by Don Prudhomme, you need to get Don to sign off on it (good luck on that one!), and so on. As I have also stated on other similar topics, there are so many variables that an article would have to cover inkjet, color laser, Alps-based dry inks, etc. Each method is completely different. So while I share your enthusiasm and think it's a great idea, I can also offer you some ideas why they won't.

Thanks Terry. I am getting power to the switch, but from there I need to dismantle the rest of the lathe to see how far it goes, which think I will have to do. It's past warranty, so I don't need to worry about that. Thanks.

I purchased a micro-lathe through Harbor Freight last year. I know, it was cheap and you get what you pay for, but I have never used one before and I didn't want to invest a ton of money before seeing if I liked turning my own parts or not. Bottom line is that the motor stopped working. I checked the brushes and blew it out the brush dust with compressed air, but it simply won't start. Does anyone have any insight on what I can try to get it running before recycling this thing and getting a new one? I've only used it a few times. Thanks.

It's a kit that I've always wanted because my first real car was that Pinto wagon! Mine was red with the paneled sides and it had a factory four on the floor. Funny thing is that I bought the 1:1 car back in 1982 for $50, and now the model is exceding it!

I have heard this from several people and experienced it this weekend. As soon as the can gets about helf empty, it's time to decant because it simply has too much propelant left in the can and causes the bubbling. Otherwise, I feel Tamiya is the best on the market and use them almost exclusively.

My daughter (who is nine) wanted to take a step up from the snap kits to the glue kits. I won the new AMT curbside 2010 Corvette in a raffle and showed it to her. It was the perfect kit and she loved it. Very well designed to fit between the snap and full-on glue kits. Highly recommended.

I'm not building the TIV, but I am building a follow vehicle from a Nissan SUV, complete with broken windows and lots of hail damage. It will have all the instrumentation on it as well. It will look nice next to my Twister Truck on the shelf.

Wayne, that's cool. I would love to go on a ghost hunting excursion someday. I spend a lot of time with my family, working on projects in the garage, and playing video games (yes, even though I'm 43). Can't wait for Gran Turismo 5 to come out.

For worst fitting, I would have to go with the original Revell 1957 Chevy Nomad and the 1974 Garlits dragster. Both are awful. As for downright ugly, I passed on some Tamiya Lotus Europas for $2 because I dont even want that thing in my collection. I saw someone mentioned fit issues on the Stingaree - mine went together like a glove. No issues what-so-ever.

I can't wait for the "Little Racers", as our club is calling them. I can't believe that they spelled Edelbrock wrong on their brochures! That's kinda a slap in the face for ole' Vic.

It looks like you may have exceeded your viewing limit on this one. I would suggest that anyone who wants these coupons just sign up for Michaels.com and they will e-mail them to you. Simple as pie. (I've never really understood that saying, have you ever tried to make a pie? Not so simple.)

If you want the best lettering and smooth curves, you should check out Adobe Illustrator. I have been printing decals for a few years now, and I use Adobe Photoshop because it is what I am familiar with. Since I usually print on an Alps at 600dpi, that is what I create my decals at and they are a perfect match. When I scan in parts or other items, I also scan them at 600dpi so everything is a match and lines up. I don't want any surprises when I print. The pixelating you are getting is most likely because your image is at too low of resolution. Good luck.

Very nice! I'm going to have to check out this Promolite, as I have a 1:1 1951 Pontiac that I would like to make a model of.

Beautiful job so far. I built that kit a few years back in racing trim and loved it. This makes me want to build another one as stock.

Do you belong to a model club? Do others know how to contact you? I have seen a lot of posts that ask if there is a model club here or there due to someone moving to a new area of the country, and there just hasn't been a consolidated list of model clubs listed by location - until now. I understand that you can search this topic, but wouldn't it just be easier to see a list organized by state? RPM has just launched a new page on their website where we would like to list your model club so others can find you! And the cost - NOTHING! It's free. We just want to help you get your information out there so others can locate you and join your club. Information can be found at http://www.rpmmodelclub.com/ModelCitizen.html Help us make this a viable resource for model clubs in the United States and Canada. Thank you.

I agree with Antonio, my favorate builds were painted with nail polish, including my Plymouth Belvedere (and the Purple Ford behind it). These nail polishes were lacquer-based and thinned with lacquer thinner.