peteski
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Posts posted by peteski
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16 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:
I do a lot from my phone... pay my bills (incl. my mortgage), move money between accounts, buy/sell stock, adjust my hot tub settings, adjust my thermostats, stream music from my phone to my patio and hot tub speakers, etc. I have four 24 inch monitors in my home office (2 for my work laptop and 2 for my personal laptop), but my phone goes with me wherever I go...
Well that was the point. Seems that for many the smart phone became an indispensable portable device, for better or for worse. Might as well have it implanted in their palm.
Still to me the convenience of doing things on-the-fly on that tiny screen does not trump a large monitor connected to a home computer. Most of the things mentioned above can wait until I sit my behind in front of the computer. Mind you that I prefer not to have smart devices like Alexa or other IOT devices like thermostats fridges and now even cars. I depend on my smart phone so little that I sometimes forget it and leave it at home. When I have it with me I also forget that I can whip it out in the spur of the moment and take a photo or a video.
Mind you that back about 45 years ago I was a computer geek. I was into electronics (on hobby and later on professional level) since my early teens, I built my own computers and lots of other electronic circuits. I still have the skills and the know-how, but the invasive nature of today's Internet-connected world worries me. Maybe because I understand what goes on behind the screen and keyboard. And as I said, I can wait till I get home to do most of the tasks involving online activities.
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That thing is so very homely that it made me throw up on my keyboard. What a mess!
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6 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:
It never surprises me when I see so many people using their phone to pay for stuff.
Let me rephrase that for you: It never ceases to amaze me that people use their smart phones for pretty much everything relating to their computing experience.
But I suspect that we are just old fogies left behind in the desktop computer world.
Forget just the banking thing. Seriously, I just can't understand how someone is happy viewing photos, videos, or reading tiny print of emails or other online documentation on a postcard-size screen instead of a nice 24" or larger computer screen. Sure they can magnify what they are reading, but that only gives them just a postcard-size portion of a larger image or document. Same with the audio coming from those tiny built-in speakers. The experience is lacking (at least for me). Yet, when it comes to TV viewing, most will want the largest screen possible. Sure, the tiny wireless-connected device with a tiny screen is convenient, but the overall experience stinks.
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Leaving the yellowed decal exposed to sunlight (UV rays) will often bleach them. I usually put the decal in plastic zipper bag and tape it to a south-facing window.
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10 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:
Dr. Microtools? I think it was red.
Wow, we are now going at least over 20 years into the past. I'm pretty sure that was just rebranded Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty. Both smelled and looked (dark red color) the same.
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Lets start with which specific putty that you use is crazing plastic for you?
While I have not heard of it before, many 1-part putties do use "hot" solvents which might cause crazing on sensitive clear styrene.
2-part putties (including 2-part epoxy putty) should not cause crazing.
Within last few years there have been some new water-based putties made available. Those should be plastic safe.
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4 hours ago, Jim N said:
Alan, I might have an explanation for the gap between the cars. People are being advised to leave more of a gap between their car and the car in front. The reason for this is that if there is an attempted carjacking, the person has room to escape. You are correct that this does not help when the light is not calibrated for this kind of a gap, but people have to protect themselves as best they can.
That sure is an odd reason I never heard of before now. But whatever . . .
I assume that this is to prevent damage to the car being hijacked and the car in front and behind it. Well, that's all well and good, but think about it - how often the hijacked car (not damaged during the initial part of hijacking) is recovered undamaged? From what I see, when a hijacker is finally apprehended, most of the times the car gets seriously damaged anyway.
My mother also used to do this, but her reasoning was that if she leaves large enough space between her and the car in front of her, if she gets rear-ended she will be far enough not to hit the car in front of her. I thought that was also a silly reason, but what do I know . . .
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Yes, that is the typical PCB drill with a 0.125 (1/8) inch shank. That's what I'm familiar with.
3 minutes ago, Matt Bacon said:PCB drills are designed to reliably and repeatedly cut through metal and a very hard plastic substrate when mounted in a computer controlled drilling machine with a chuck positioning motion that's accurate to 0.001mm and rock solid in the vertical plane, unlike you or I...
You are absolutely correct. And they usually rotate at very high speeds when drilling FR4 glass/epoxy composite PC board material (which is abrasive to the tools). Even so, for decades I have been using those PCB drill bits down to #85 (0.28mm) to hand-drill (holding the 1/8" shank between my fingers) holes in plastic. I have broken few over time, but not often. I also use them in my drill press with almost no breakage.
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2 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:
The PCB drills made from tungsten carbide generally have 6.3mm ( 1/4 inch) shanks ) so using in a bench drilling machine is generally OK if drilling into a flat surface only.
I have never seen PCB drill bits with such large shanks. All the miniature ones I have ever dealt with have 1/8" shafts. A #85 bit on a 6.3mm diameter shank would look sort of strange to me. I even have PCB bits which are larger than 1/8" but they still have 1/8" shafts.
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9 hours ago, NOBLNG said:
It annoys me how brittle those little PC board drill bits are. They seem to be the best ones for drilling aluminum or brass….but I go through a lot of them! I’m getting better now that I bought a press stand for my rotary tool. I just hope the wife never finds a broken chunk in the carpet with her toe.
Unfortunately to work so well they have to be made from very hard material which is brittle. Those bits were designed for use in precision machines (not hand-drilling) which use them for drilling thousands of holes in PC boards. Yes, they survive much longer used in a drill press. I use those bits as much as I can and have plenty of spares.
Large part of why PC board bits work so well is because they are sharpened to split point. If you could find very small HSS bits which were sharpened to spit point those would work just as well on softer materials like plastic aluminum or brass as PC board drill bits. Split point bits do not wander and cut the material better than bits sharpened to a standard point. I have larger HSS bits with split points and those work very well.
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3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:
The service guy from La Z Boy is coming this afternoon to replace all the padding in our one year old recliner loveseat. He had to come over last year just after it was delivered to replace the “cardboard” and padding on the center console. He told us then we would likely have to call just before the warranty was up to get the padding replaced. We paid thousands for this leather trimmed POS.🤬 They offered to upgrade the padding for an extra charge…I told them they already had enough of my money and they were never going to get any more.😡
So much for La-Z-Boy having reputation as a excellent quality furniture company.
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6 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:
Found the thread whilst idly scrolling the forum as you do Pete.
Hope that answers your question Pete.
Yes, it answered my question - thanks. It just seemed odd the way you phrased your message. It was as if someone else brought this thread from the grave and you were surprised that the old thread was revived. At leas that is how I interpreted it. Yet, you were the erson who brought it back.
And FYI, I never randomly scroll through the messages here.
I have very specific and deliberate method of viewing the forum. I look separately into only sections which interest me (I skip some sections altogether). I have the forums sorted by the newest threads on top. In each section I only look at new messages (since my last visit), But again, not all new messages. If there is an active thread which I looked into earlier but which doesn't interest me, I don't even bother to open it. When done looking through all the new messages in threads which interest me, I just mark that entire forum section as read, so I'll have a baseline next time I visit.
I never scroll thru the forum sections to look at any older threads. I only look for older threads when I search for a specific info which I hope to find in the message archive.
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3 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:
They didn’t ask which side of the tire was to be shown, and my dad just assumed since he had inquired about some different white letter tires there before settling on these ones and so you’d think they’d know that of course he’d want the white letters facing out. So now he’s gotta go through all that again to get the tires facing out the right way. Bummed out cause I was totally hoping to see some sporty tires on the truck. Oh well not today.
NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING, especially with the low-IQ "certified technicians" servicing your car.
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8 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:
This is a very old thread !
Cranky is at least 12 years older now and seems to have disappeared into the ether. Not aware of any recent MCM forum activity.
So why did *YOU* fish it out of the archive? The post before yours was 12 years ago!
BTW, checking Dr Cranky's profile, he last visited October 22, 2016.
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12 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:
Couldn't seem to find if this was a real thread already, so here it is now. What are your Favourite Rims?
Mine are the stock 1966 Charger Rims
Do they make these rims in model 1/25 scale?
Were those actual wheels or just hubcaps (wheel covers over steely wheels)?
9 hours ago, stavanzer said:I've got Two. The first is for any American Hotrod. The Second is for Tuners, or Hot Hatches.
1. Centerlines, Auto Drag.
Yes, those Centerlines look really good. Back in the day I had them on my '76 Camaro.
I also want to mention that I strongly dislike any black colored wheels. With the black tires that combo looks too drab to me. Wheels need some contrast from the tire.
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Sounds like it power washed it!
That's not cool.
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Well then I guess the admins have to intervene here. They can do all sorts of "magic".
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Interesting. I would thin that Revell uses the the typical (easy to remove) vacuum metalizing method to "chrome" their plastic parts.
When you were sanding the metallic layer off was there a noticeably thick layer of metal or the metalization came off fairly easily?
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49 minutes ago, Musclecars said:
I too use LA Awesome but it will not take the chrome off in some kits,the re-release of the Stacy David Hiboy for example. I let some parts sit for a couple days and nothing so I ended up doing a light sanding to remove it
While the "chrome" most model companies use to make plastic look like chrome is actually very thin layer of aluminum over high gloss undercoat. Aluminum is not a very robust metal so it can be easily removed using Lye-based liquids (like LA Awesome) and some even use chlorine bleach.
But some manufacturers use electroplating method to deposit thicker layer of another metal over the plastic. Those are basically impervious to most chemicals. Trumpeter is one of those companies which uses this method. What company makes the Stacy David Hiboy?
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What specific kind/brand of foil are you using? "Slick surface" is sort of strange statement. Slick might mean waxed (not just glossy paint).
Foils used to represent chrome trim on models all have pressure sensitive adhesive (like any other sticker). In my experience stickers adhere best to glossy surfaces.
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Standard "gold chrome" used on plastic kits is the regular (vacuum metalized) layer of (silver) aluminum sprayed with transparent yellow/orange clear top coat to make the silver look gold. If you try stripping just that top clear layer you will also damage the delicate silver layer under it. As I see it, the only way to de-gold is to fully strip the parts and re-coat them with a silver color finish of your choice.
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Thanks for the explanation, but to me in order for the "solder" to run like a liquid along the kit's parts indicates that the "solder's" melting temperature has to be quite bit lower than the kit's parts themselves. If l liquid metal actual wets another metal, there is a great amount of heat transfer going on between them (for the wetting to occur). I guess looking at the "big picture" there really is no point trying to get into the technical details. Looks like that technique works and I learned something new.
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As you mentioned, many metallic paints (made specifically for models, automotive touch-up or just general purpose) have metallic particles too large to look in-scale on a model. Testors line of automotive colors hobby paints is one of the examples of out-of-scale metallic paint. Models painted with those paints look like the were coated with glitter. This is not very noticeable when the model is viewed in-person, but it really shows in close-up photos.
Some hobby paint suppliers who blend their own paints (like CMW, Scale Finishes, Zero or Splash Paints) use fine metallic powders so their paints look in-scale on a model.
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45 minutes ago, Brizio said:
Recently I received some old transkit, and they have white metal parts. Few transkit have a rollcage, and I was wondering the same, if was possible to soldering insted to use CA glue. I cleaned up the parts, because the flashing.
But since these transkit are old, rare to find, I opted to laser weld all the rollcage parts. It works great and is pretty solid. I welded different material, even diecast. It could be tricky, but it is doable.
Good for you! I don't think many modelers have access to laser welders.
CA or epoxy work well, but the joint strengths is nowhere as good as welding.
6 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:Welcome to the club! First of all, you need to know that you don’t solder white metal kits like you’d solder electrical components or brass. You need “low temperature solder” (which is basically the same stuff as white metal itself). And instead of heating the parts you are soldering with the iron and touching the solder to the hot parts, you melt the low temperature solder on the iron and let it flow onto the cold parts you are joining and into the gap between them by capillary action. So you need to be able to hold the parts you are joining together as you want them to be when joined. Use clamps or tape, and do the bits that are exposed, then move the tape and do the other bits. The solder sets really fast.
You can probably source some old gaming figures or model soldiers to practice on if you want, but when I took the plunge with the white metal Finecast kits I have been building I just went ahead and did it, after watching a couple of videos online. Google “low temperature soldering” to find them.
Any questions, just ask…best,
M.
Matt the technique you describe sounds more like brazing than soldering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazing
Also, if the solder was the same stuff as the kit parts themselves, wouldn't that also start melting the kit parts?! I suspect the melting point of the solder is lower than the metal used for the kit. Don't you also need a soldering iron with adjustable temperature to keep it for getting too hot?
Favourite Hubcaps
in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Posted
Funny thing about this is that as I understand the word hubcap was originally used to describe a small cup-shaped metal cover in the center of a wooden spoke wheel. It protected the hub bearing from debris and keep the lubricating grease from oozing out. Those early wooden wheels usually did not have full wheel covers. Later on, when wheel covers became more widely used, I guess people found using the "wheel cover" name too cumbersome, so those full size covers became hubcaps. Many contemporary cars still use the small hubcaps for non-driven wheels/axles.