jbwelda

not many matchbox in this photo but I have still got some corgi and dinky from my childhood plus a period of intense collecting. here are a couple shelves worth, that whole case is full plus another of just old dinky cars and boxes. sorry for the terrible photos, working with low light: jb

yes the maltese cross sticker was much more mainstream and I believe it didn't "originate" (quotes taking into consideration its actual origination centuries before) with the Nazi party, it was a German military and government symbol before shickelgruber came on the scene and therefore avoided the smear the other symbol has endured. jb

yep like they said using that softener to initially position your decals is a problem. I usually let the decal dry in place or mostly dry anyhow and then lightly flow or brush on some microsol, then LEAVE THE ROOM and don't come back for at least half an hour. reason being: if you stay in the room you are probably going to be tempted to touch the decal and you don't want to do that. let it dry out for awhile and if more softener is needed do it again. hope that helps jb

here is a pic of the built up motor from the kit: really kool little mill...one half a V8 jb

tims resin still does business and can be found in person at the NNL West generally speaking. I think the body Tim referenced is still available or at least he had one or more last February. I used the AAM 27 T for a build once, and glued the body, hood and track nose together into one piece. biggest problem with it was it was very uneven in thickness, one side was nearly a quarter inch thick and needed considerable thinning, and the other side was nearly paper thin in places and needed reinforcement with epoxy before much handling. still once it was stabilized it was very nice and I thought represented the subject very well. Bernard your builds are always of great interest to me. jb

yes well there is plenty to jab at! jb

ok, so now, just to see where the conversation can go, can we consider that maybe there is a difference between a historically correct replica of an actual vehicle/plane/ship containing a swatstika or other somehow hated symbol, as did the prototype, and a cartoonish model kit obviously (originally) aimed at kids? I am going to get some popcorn, hope I don't miss much. ps: please remember I am not offended by that rommels rod thing in the least bit, other than from a stylistic standpoint. I just think its very odd that a model company chose to reissue it even recently. jb

>Good lord, lighten up. I suppose it is wrong for model companies in your mind to make models of German aircraft armour and ships too. hey I am with you all the way! I have always advocated that one of the major model companies ought to release a replica of Charlie mansons dune buggys too. strangely no one has managed to see the genius in my idea. and you might have noticed, had you actually read my post, that I was just commenting on the historical reality, not suggesting it. but you DO know the swatstika is a totally outlawed symbol in many countries (starting with Germany) and I believe right on ebay as well? and that a kid can get kicked out of school for so much as scrawling a swatstika on his book cover? its not me who needs to lighten up, its the world that needs to. jb

I think that tom daniels thing is a monstrosity but that's what I thought about most of his "creations". its just amazing to me that in this day of everything being politically correct, a major model manufacturer actually markets a cartoon based on mass murder and holocaust and even puts swatstikas on it. is that thing still available new/reissued? jb

maybe I missed something...what gives you cancer? (besides everything I mean) the issue with incandescent light bulbs is electrical usage. not a problem in Edison's day jb

Note that is a real Nazi troop carrier, not that cartoon of a "hot rod"...that's why the two do not resemble each other. jb

I don't care what a bagging machine costs; I care about the condition my issue arrives in. its the cost of doing business Harry. but that problem was solved on a micro basis...I no longer subscribe but instead order back issues in a batch. then they come well packaged, but its expensive and not timely but there is nothing time sensitive about a magazine if you ask me. ps: plenty of people have advocated digital only and once digital is an option it becomes a very tempting option to just publish digitally because it cuts costs for production and distribution to near nothing. and from the responses consistently received from those in a position of power, as exemplified above re: bagging the magazine for delivery, digital only would be an immediate and probably irresistible option. magcloud solves that problem by implementing printing and delivery on demand and/or digital availability. jb

heres a bike from my collection, mfg july 1950, unrestored but freshened up a decade or so ago: I would love to have one of those Danbury mint miniatures. I have a cheap knockoff in 1/8th but its pretty crude. edit I notice its the same as shown above, you can tell from the poorly shaped handlebars and its general clunkiness. jb

Digital is great for a lot of reasons. the point is, don't obsolete the print version or you will lose most of your (paid) readers. or at least put it on MagCloud, that's really the revolutionary publishing and delivery concept going on right now. supports both the printing and distribution arms of a magazine. and put your darn subscription issues into plastic bags for gosh sakes. jb

uh harry: >But it's not as if we'll ever be able to buy them everywhere and use them to light our homes! guess what? you cant buy them anywhere anymore (at least not in California), not in their original design anyway. but I think you're arguing with yourself, I don't think anyone thinks it wont happen, its just not happened yet jb

>Designing and building the 3D model is the real show stopper here, everyone seems to forget that. I didn't...look at my post above. jb

>The resolution that 3-D printers can output at is like megapixels in digital cameras... it will continue to increase at a very fast pace. that's true in a way but actually not. the problem is the physical size of the medium used to create the piece, and the nozzles needed to shoot that medium. while pixels exist only on an electronic tube, 3D printing is a physical piece in three dimensions and so is the material that makes up that physical piece. so not only must the resolution of the images become better but so must the hardware used to actually spray the resin as well as the resin itself. probably million dollar machines are approaching a good standard currently but certainly anything you buy at home depot is not going to satisify the needs of a 24th scale modeler. jb jb

I had that problem once with some resin wheels and it seemed the resin had not set up properly. I contacted the maker and he apologized and sent me all new ones X 2. that was mini exotics I believe but if you bought this body from the maker I would check into a replacement or at least let him know youre having problems. It may have just been the resin was reacting to the Tamiya paint but you wouldn't think that would happen especially through primer. I think the resin is just not cured properly. jb

I remember those darned axles from when I was a kid. I was too young to know how to cut the steel so I always left them the length they were and then sweated it that it just looked dumb with the tires sticking out too far. There wasnt access to plastic rod or anything like that, at least not to me at the time, or I would have made some new axles. I tried banging them on further with a hammer which only sent the axle through the wheel front but then at least the tires were inside the wheel wells. I never figured out why a company like AMT couldn't give you the right size axle! and back then the car had to roll...they were usually destined to end their lives being dragged in the dirt while I laid on the merry go round.

they really couldn't settle on a scale to save their lives, could they? nice score though, totally my favorite 'Vette. gotta be metallic candy blue! jb

>Really? really. jb

that goofball scale kills it for me. too bad too because I would be all over a 1/24 or 1/25 kit. actually its not that goofball...Tamiya uses it for their open wheel cars. jb

I had the chance to buy about 5 or 6 Testors' reboxed Fujimi Porsche 356 enthusiast models for 30$ (they all had broken roof posts due to poor package design). so I would have to say that one. I am not really much into multiple copies of a kit unless there are some parts that I tend to want to use a lot. jb

the thing is, these days, with the paint formulations that are used, its not like a "lacquer" is really what a lacquer was say back in the sixties. seems like pretty much all paint formulations are either a hybrid formula, or heavy on the acrylic side. I am not an expert on this but I have noticed numerous times being able to shoot for instance Tamiya "lacquer" over some model master supposed "enamel" with no harmful effects at all. I was cautious though and laid on light coats, but it seems ive done this more than once and it worked out. also have sprayed testors lacquer over model master undercoat color, which was enamel and same thing, no problems. maybe its just a fluke or maybe living in dry California has something to do with it, but I think paint is so compromised these days that its not really "lacquer" and "enamel" anymore. jb

superglue was originally developed to be used for field sutures in battleground situations. that's why (well not really *why*) it bonds skin to whatever, but especially other skin, so well. jb