Pete J.

Pickups, SUV's Mini or Maxi vans any of those slab sided monsters out there! Why such a rant? Well, Harry, you mentioned clueless drivers. I drive an MR 2 and if I am parked next to any of the afore mentioned vehicles, I can't see(expletive deleted)until I am 2/3s of the way out, so backing out of a parking space is a slow careful exercise in hoping that those going by aren't running at full speed and can see me, because I sure as heck can't see them!

The S turns apply to just about all the tail draggers. It is just that late war radials were particularly bad about it. Here is what can happen if you aren't doing it right. By the way there was one fatality and on serious injury.

Ah, I should have picked up the blue color.

You think that's tough, try taxiing out behind this beast!

....or you could do it in a car and you could have car pool.......or combine the car with a bowling alley and you could have a car pool lane..... or.....

Same here, but that sounds more like your corvette.

You want to shoot 8 ball in the rain???

Love the prank on the new guys! When I was flying in the Air Force, we use to send the new kid on the crew back to base ops to get the keys to the airplane. On KC-135s the boom was often kind enough to do the coffee run for the pilots. Invariably an new copilot would ask for a half a cup. The boom would pull out his survival knife and cut the Styrofoam cup vertically and serve the coffee that way. Brings back fond memories!

Bill that is kind of annoying. The assumption that because one came from wealth and privilege to get through school is so bogus. I don't think I knew anyone I would classify that way when I was getting my education. I have a bachelors and two masters and my life was anything but "wealth and privilege" I grew up on a farm in Nebraska and worked my tush off as a kid and all the way through college to get that first degree. I did my post graduate work when I was in the Air Force serving as a "Yankee air pirate" during Vietnam. I don't look down on anyone unless they are the type that are unwilling to put forth the effort to be good at what they do.

Always wondered what it would look like if I lit of the acetone when I was cleaning the gun, but never had the guts(or stupidity) to try it! Now I'm too old and value what parts I have left to try it!

He did. That is how I met him. Unfortunately his eyesight has deteriorated to the point that he no longer builds. His builds were some of the cleanest, best researched and meticulously detailed models I have ever seen. He build a N.A.R.T. Spyder and a Daytona Cobra that just made my jaw drop. If you have ever heard my story of the three Ferrari 360 spyders in OOB, he is one of the three that played that gag!

I have a very good friend who is the brightest person I know. I often refer to him as my rocket scientist friend, which in almost true. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the majority of his career at JPL in Pasadena, Ca. His specialty is engine combustion. He has managed many different projects at JPL from the first Mars lander on. He is now in his mid eighty's and has the greatest curiosity in all that goes on around him and is conversant in just about any subject you would like to bring up. I have the privilege of driving him to our monthly modeling club meetings and the best part each month is the trip down and back because of the conversation. Any time the subject of engineers comes up we always seem to wind up in the same place that this discussion is going. As a young M.E. he started at the university in the machine shop, learning the ways of a mill and lathe. He worked with tool and die men and got the basics of construction that way. He does not understand how todays engineers can get along without this type of experience. You just can't design stuff that is practical without practical experience. Theory is fine, but you really need hands on experience to apply the theory.

I'm about an hour south(2 hours if the traffic is bad) and get up there once a month. I am a member of a model club than meets just east of the 5 across from Disney land and I generally stop by for supplies before the meeting. Always something going on interesting and I can always find some thing I need to have.

I am sure it is a regional thing, but unless you have actually checked immigration status, it might surprise you who is here legally and who isn't. There was a big stink here some time back about a hospital having to let a doctor go because he was here illegally. He has all the licenses and certificates to practice, but through a misunderstanding his work permit expired and nobody did anything about it for years.

Actually, Teflon seals(solvent proof) have been around for quite a while, and there are replacements for just about any airbrush. I just got the seal in my 20+ year old Badger Crescendo/175 replaced(see the thread on "Greatest airbrush shop ever") It went out years ago and I just got it overhauled(no Chip Foose had nothing to do with it) and had them put a Teflon seal in. Never had any issues with my Tamiya's or my Iwata. By the way Coast Airbrush use to replace the seals in all the new airbrushes before sending them out until the manufacturers started using the Teflon ones.

Just a interesting number to throw into the mix. According to the last census data around 80 out of 100 illegal immigrants in the US are from North America(the majority are Mexican and Caribbean Islanders. About 14 of the remaining are Asia and the rest are European with probably 1 or less from elsewhere.

I am actually lucky, I have about a quart of my old DuPont thinner left and a whole gallon of House of Kolor un opened. I only use those for thinning paint. Too precious to waste on cleaning out the gun. You clean the gun every day? I do it after each color or use. I have had too many messed up paint jobs not to do it and it really doesn't take that long. Not directing the comment at you jwrass. Just threw it in there for the benefit of those who may not have the experience. Keep your tools clean!

Easy, to narrow the field, but hard to get the specifics!

That was one of the first things I learned when I started spraying lacquers many years ago. There is a difference in lacquer thinners. The best can be had from automotive paint stores if you don't live in the Peoples Republic of California. They cost more but are definitely better. Incidentally, if you can get them in Minnesota, the store will have different "temperatures" The higher the temperature, the slower they evaporate. For models you want a lower temperature so the thinner doesn't have time to work on the plastic and etch it.

I believe that MCW paints as well as Zero paints are lacquers.

I also did a bit of research on the subject and you are right.

Harry, I hear what you are saying, but I live in an area with a lot(I would guestimate near or more than 50%) of people who are not fluent in English. I get very annoyed with the people around who think that Spanish speaking = illegal immigrant. This is just as much of a fallacy as believing that someone who speaks English well is a citizen. Both are just BS. Personal experience. My son-in-law is was an illegal immigrant. He was brought here by his parents when he was 14. Due to some complexities I can't explain or understand, his parent's are legalized citizens. They both struggle with English. My son-in-law is perfectly fluent with only a very slight accent. He has been in the naturalization system to get his citizenship for over 20 years. He has been a very productive member of society, starting several of his own businesses, the latest being a very profitable medical transport business. As an immigrant, he has paid his income and social security taxes with a tax ID number instead of a social security number so he has not been mooching on the system. He is well respected in the community. He is not unlike thousands of other illegals who are being productive members of our society. Most people are not aware of these people because they appear to be good citizens, so they are just off the radar. The point is that for the average immigrant the legalization system is so screwed up that no matter how productive and upstanding they may be, they may wait for 30 years to get legalized. That whole time they have to look over their shoulder. Because of his marriage he is now legal and will be a legal citizen soon. He is not the exception.

Harry, that is only part of the explanation. I think you need to get a new agent if he left it at that. I spent 7 years as an underwriter and 15 as an agent and there is a better explanation than that. All companies use a standardized form. If you look at the bottom of your policy on each page it probably has something like "ISO HO-3" printed on it. That means that your basic policy is an "Insurance Services Office" homeowners form 3. That is a quite complex policy that includes a lot of stuff that some people will never use or need. The reason it is used by all the companies is that in addition to providing standardized forms ISO also acts as an independent organization for the companies and tracks legal actions that involve the forms in all fifty states and compiles that information for the companies. This is critical to the companies, because this means that they know exactly what each word in that document means in a court of law. I say this is important because they use this information to determine their estimated costs on losses. So what makes the companies different and how do you make a policy suit you? Well, this is all done with standardized endorsements. To put is in carguy talk, the basic policy is like walking into your local Toyota dealer and ordering your Camry as a DL, LX, or Touring. Then the endorsements are the dealer add ons. Unlike in the past where you could go to a Chevy dealer and order your Nova with a radio delete option, you can't do that any more, you can't take things out of the basic policy. You can get customized policies through offshore companies like Lloyds of London, but the cost on those is only practical for the very wealthy. Just too much to keep track of for the manufactures. So just like the car companies, in the basic models they include things that the majority of the population may need as a single cost. Then you have options(endorsments) to add things you might need over and above the basics. I'm surprised that your agent didn't take the time to explain this a little better.

Harry, I with you on that one. Living in SoCal, yards are a year round affair. I had abdominal surgery a couple of years ago and couldn't do the weekly maintenance for a while. I hired my neighbors lawn people and at $100 a month I got very use to it. I can't mow the lawn, trim the plants and maintain the trees for that. Talk about great value for the money.

I am very lucky to live in Southern California. Having said that let me explain what happened to me on Friday. I have an old Badger Crescendo 175. It was my first real airbrush(metal not all plastic). I really liked it because it was kind of like me, big and kind of fat. It fit my hand very well. Well, some time ago, it started blowing paint past the seal into the air valve space. I contacted Badger and they said it was the seal(or bearing) and on the early models, it wasn't replaceable. So I messed with it to try to get it to work and eventually something jammed and I couldn't move the needle any more. I tossed it in the drawer and forgot about it when I got a Tamiya HG. Now this was probably 15 years ago. A couple of months ago, I was cleaning out my shop and came across it and the following week, I happened to be in Anaheim at Coast Airbrush picking up some stuff. I mentioned it to one of the people who runs the place. He said I should bring it up and he would look at it. Well, last Friday I roll into the shop and they give the brush to one of the techs and he starts messing with it. Turns out the needle, and the needle tube are bent and the bearing is shot but replaceable. It takes him about 30 minutes to get it back up and running like new. Now I am happy to have my old friend back. Good enough right? Not really, I ask him how much and you know what it cost? $21 and change! I am just blown away. He just charged for parts, no labor. You just don't find that kind of service often and I figure they deserve a good word!