peteski

Yes, I found member's location useful to the conversations (unless someone entered something like the Moon). That info is now hidden (for privacy reasons?), but if someone doesn't mind they can include their location as vague or as accurate as they want, in their signature. Like I did. It would be handy if others would follow.

Yeah, when I'm driving gingerly on a level road or down hill, my 6-speed Kia is already in 4th gear at around 25MPH!

Yeah, just like with other things in today's world, esoteric car manufacturers (and even large regular passenger car manufacturers) have jumped the shark. I see this kind of thing all around me. Do we really need 20 varieties of Oreo cookies, not even counting all the "Limited Editions". Or dozen flavors of Coke or Pepsi? seems that every time I go grocery store, there is a new variety of something available. This extends to other product ranges too. Sometimes too-much is too-much.

As I remember it explained elsewhere, it is in large part for fuel economic and efficiency. Having large number of gears is there to keep the engine's RPMs in the narrow and most efficient range at most operating speeds. My 2019 Kia Soul has a 6-speed computer controlled automatic transmission, but observing the tach. I see that there are also other things that happen (probably torque converted clutch and some other similar doo-dads) which affect on the engine's RPMs. I don't much care for it. I would much prefer a 4-speed auto transmission. Just like someone else mentioned, one of the annoying things is that it doesn't want to downshift even when I floor the gas pedal when trying to avoid a sticky situation. It is like "I don't think you need to accelerate this fast". These transmissions (well, the computer controlling them) supposedly learn your driving habits to adjust the shift points. And don't get me going abotu the ABS brakes, although my Kia is a bit better than was my 2006 Scion xB.

I remember those days too. Hobby Bunker used to be in Malden, but moved to Wakefield several years ago. It is an ok hobby shop but it doesn't really have much for model car/truck crowd. It is more gear to military/sci-fi/fantasy modelers. Hobby Emporium in Tyngsborough is a much larger shop catering to all genres of modelers. They also have very large selection of paints and adhesives. That one is too far of a drive for you? There is also Charles Ro in Malden, but that one is basically for model trains (although they started stocking limited selection of model car kits, and at rather good prices). Worth a visit. I miss Erich Fuchs stores in multiple locations, Adventure Hobby in Arlington, Modeler's Junction in Methuen, and few others I don't recall now. Of course back in the day department stores like Woolworth, Bradlees, Zayres, toy stores like Child World, Toys R Us and even KB Toys used to carry decent amount of model kits and supplies. All gone now.

Well as I mentioned, there are several factors at play and we will likely never know for sure why. I doubt it was just a single set. It was likely whole batch of of models (not just your single Camaro). Whatever material they used at the time must have been more stable. I posted all that info because this seems to be a reoccurring subject, so I thought I would dive more into the details as to why that happens, and why it seems random.

Well, the decal scan can also be supplied to a custom-decal producer (not just for printing it yourself) so they can make new duplicate.

It is the luck of the draw. Tire melt is a real thing. The vinyl mixture used to mold the tires can vary in composition. The melt is caused by the plasticizer leaching out of the PVC material. Virgin vinyl (PVC) is a hard plastic (most modern sewage plumbing is made of PVC). To make the PVC soft, a chemical called plasticizer is added to the PVC, making it soft. That stuff can leach out of the the tire PVC material, and when it comes in contact with polystyrene or ABS (both are hard plastics used for molding model kit parts) the plasticizer will try to make those hard plastics soft, thus the infamous "melt" happens. Why some vinyl tires leach plasticizers while others don't is anybody's guess. There might be different formulations of PVC and or plasticizer being used at the time by the model company. Some might leach the plasticizer while others don't Over the years model kit tires were also made from materials other then PVC. Those usually do not cause any adverse reactions. Most Japanese kits have tires made from rubber. Those do not cause any problems but they can get brittle in time. Best solution would seem to make the tires from the same hard plastic as other parts of the kit, then just paint them "rubber" color. Since models are mostly static, model tires do not have to be soft to look realistic. Not even sure how that trend started.

BSI Gold (low-odor) AC I believe is not as strong as standard CAs. Still plenty strong in use assuming the glues surfaces are clean and fee of debris or oil (even natural human body oils). Also using the accelerator instead of allowing natural cure to occur makes the CA more brittle.

You hit the nail on the head here. The problem with electrical wire (which is what we use for simulating wiring and hoses in scale models) usually only describe the wire gauge, not the outside diameter of the insulation. Those, as you noted, will wary depending on the wire's purpose (like its maximum voltage and type of insulation material). I have not find any reliable source which would give the outside diameter of insulated electrical wires. That is why I keep on collecting various wires I find from various sources so I can measure them myself. Also, even the same vendors can change the source of their wire, and the new version of the same gauge wire will have different insulation and of course the outside-diameter. There are hobby vendors like Detail Master or Pro-Tech who sell electrical wires for detailing models and they do state the wire's outside diameter. Some large industrial sources of wire also provide complete details specs for their wire (including the outside diameter of the insulation), but those sources usually require that you purchase a large quantity of wire. Some wire, like the 30AWG Kynar-insulated wire wrapping wire have kept its (~0.016") OD over the years, however I find that wire a bit heavy for simulating ignition wire in most 1:24/25 scale models. It does have other uses though (as ti is equivalent to 0.4" wire or hose in 1:1 scale vehicle). Or whatever the equivalent is in other scales you model. Over the years I have collected a decent range of diameters and colors of wire, so I have a good selection available for my models.

Regardless with how many sub-forums we have there is also the fact that many threads are started in the wrong forum. For example, take the "Model Cars Magazine News and Discussions" section. The forum's sub-section description clearly states"Model Cars Magazine News and Discussions. This is for news and discussion about the magazine. We will be posting news and announcements, and you are welcome to ask questions. As always, please be respectful." Just on the 1st page, 9 threads were moved to more appropriate sections, and 10 more moved on the 2nd page. If you look further, more thread moves are there. If you look at all the moved threads, they have nothing to do with the clearly described purpose of that sub-forum. Members just either do not read or understand the description. Maybe MCM forum should go to the single stream of posts like the the Spotlight Hobbies forum. Yes, I'm joking.

So, this is a newly tooled kit? Nice! I thought it was a reboxing of the Fujimi Porsche, like Revell did some years ago.

Sure. I should also mention that if some domestic (USA) paint has "poly" in its name, that also indicates a metallic paint. Mica name is usually used in names of Japanese paint colors.

The shape of the shield seems wrong.

Any paint with "mica" in its name is sparkly or metallic.