peteski

Thanks for the info David.

The subject of current high kit and supplies prices seems to come up often here. Does anybody bother to compare the incomes (salary) from when the $1.39 kits were available to your current income. Doing that will lessen the pain of the high prices.

Those look a but thick to me, but if it works for you . . .

Since the rules are clearly stated in the initial post (even before the photo), I'm really surprised anybody would miss that.

Yes, I rather see cat or dog photos here, than a bunch of death notices.

Old news. This obit has been already covered Since Sunday.

There is nothing wrong using multiple materials or techniques - that is a indication of a good modeler not afraid to try different materials to achieve the desired goal.

Enamel is expensive? Any paint sold as a hobby paint is rather pricey, but Testors enamels are not all that pricey (if you can find them). But paint does not need to be an enamel to go on smoothly. Painting technique is the key. If it goes on too dry, you either holding the airbrush too far from the model, the paint is not thin enough, the air pressure is too high, or the nozzle is too small. Or a combination of those things. In my experience the air pressure you use is good, so I would say it is the other things I mentioned. I'm always surprised how many modelers have problems like this (paint too dry or orange peel). Modelers have to have enough balls and spray the paint heavy and wet. Sort of like it comes out of a spray can, but using airbrush allows more control of the process. I use a basic Badger 200 airbrush and I rarely have any problems. The "secret" is to keep the paint volume high enough for the solvent not to evaporate while traveling from the nozzle to the model. Open up that needle and let the pain flow. I do admit that it is a fine line between a smooth wet coat, and getting runs in the paint. That is where experience comes in. Experiment on plastic spoons, empty soda bottles or Speed Shapes until you get the hang of laying down a smooth coat (without runs). First coat or two can be sprayed on lighter and drier (to build up a paint on the surface for the subsequent wet layers. Again, practice is the key.

Ok, so those kits seem to have shared some parts. That makes sense. The Creepy-T (first and later releases) also uses 2-piece polystyrene rear slicks molded from the same plastic as the rest of the kit. All the styrene parts (including the slicks) glow in the dark either blue/purple and recent ones green). The name molded in the slicks' sidewall was "THUMBSTONE". What I am interested in is whether the recent Mummy Machine release (your kit) still uses glow-in-the-dark styrene for its parts? Also in your kit are the rear slicks the same as in the older releases or are those now soft vinyl tires?

. . . and of course to state the obvious, if we consider scales other than 1:24/25, (like 1:43, 1:32, 1:16, 1:12, 1:8, or others) the wire used need be scaled appropriately.

Welcome to the forum Kelly. You didn't mentioned, so I'll ask: What type of models do you build, and how long have you been in the hobby? Nice to have someone here with your stills. You could likely provide some inside info as far as making tooling for injection molded models. Sometimes the subject comes up, but there aren't many members here directly involved in this type of manufacturing. EDIT: I just found a thread about your Pro Street Ford - very nice!

Good to see one of those kits in a WIP thread (and learning the kit's history). Back in the day I built the Creepy-T. It was molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic which glows blue. Very unusual. That model is long gone, but I bought a more recent reissue. That one is molded in plastic that glows green. I wonder if the Mummy Machine kit is also molded in glow-in-the-dark plastic? You are doing a really good job of making this kit look more realistic. I like it!

Even $10 in USA seems crazy! Heck, those could be shipped standard First Class mail in a letter-size envleope (or larger envelope if the decal is larger. That should cost what regular 1st class mail costs, plus cost of the envelope. Nowhere near $10. But it is eBay . . .

I agree - thinner paint, lower air pressure, smaller distance. Nozzle might come into play too.

That is also what I recommended. They look "in-scale" because they are. The actual gauge of the conductors inside the insulation really doesn't matter. The only negative thing about those Detail Master wires is that the insulation is made from very slippery plastic (Teflon?) so glues do not hold it well. I suppose if someone wanted to measure the gauge of the conductor, they could strip the insulation then use a caliper to measure the diameter. There are charts online which cross reference diameter to gauge. Actually Charlie (a member here) From ProTech Model Products also sells wire similar in diameter to the detail Master wire. I was also told to look for tonearm wire for turntables (record players) on eBay. That is supposedly also very fine wire, but I never really looked for it.

Mike, I don't have an answer to your question, but I'm curious why you posted it in the Off Topic section? The question is very topical, relating to how the forum works. Wouldn't it be a much better fit for the "How To Use This Board" section (which I assume is frequented by the moderators or others who can provide technical answers relating to the forum's functionality)? How To Use This Board If you're having trouble using the forum, please post your questions here.

They *ALL* are. The "Big Brother" is not the government (as predicted in the past) but the greedy corporations making profit from your browsing patterns, and other personal data they can collect.

Setting aside the fact that there are multiple diameters of plug wires used in 1:1 cars, the wire's stated gauge does not reflect the outside diameter of the wire insulation. For example in a typical Kynar 30AWG wire wrapping wire the 30AWG the conductor itself has a diameter of 0.010" while the OD of the insulation is around 0.020". in 1:25 scale that scales out to 0.020 X 25 = 0.5" diameter in 1:1 or in 1:24 scale 0.020 X 24 = 0.48". That would be a bit too thick for typical 1:1 plug wire, but close to some thicker high-performance plug wires. I would say that both 26 and 28 AWG insulated wires would likely be too thick if you want the plug wires to look in-scale. Detail Master makes some nice spark plug wires that will look in-scale in 1:24/25 kits. Yes, that wire costs more than some random electrical wire, but they look "right". It is one of many small details that either make or breaks model's realism. EDIT: I was going from memory. I corrected my post after reading Greg's post.

I'm sorry. Please teach me what part of my comments you found insulting? Either here, or in a PM? I really don't see anything there that would be insulting. I simply pointed out what I thought would be good (and compelling) reasons for printing those parts separate. Maybe it is one of those things which comes out different than if we had a in-person conversation. EDIT I re-read my post and I suspect it was the part about not wanting to hear excuses. Well, that is how I feel. Sorry if that offended you. If we were having an in-person conversation, I would have said the same thing. I guess it is me. Thanks!

Alps Electric is a big company. The "ALPS" MicroDry printers hobbyists use for decal printing (models MD-5500, MD-5000, MD-1300, MD-1000, MD-2300, MD-2010) are a small consumer-grade printers. It is also obsolete and long out of production. Latest drivers for it were made for Windows XP. I also don't think Alps even makes ink cartridges for it. I'm really surprised that a UPS store would have one of those printers. I wonder if they have some other ALPS printer model?

Thanks Pete!

If the clear 3D printing is good enough for headlight lenses, it should be good enough for turn signals (which are usually not as crystal-clear as headlights. I was hoping not to hear an excuse, but . . . How about offering the lenses printed in regular resin (included when buying the grille)? That way modelers who really strive for realism could use them as masters and cast their own clear resin lenses. That would sure make it easier than trying to make a mold from the turn signals embedded in the grille.

While I'm not interested in this particular grill, I like to make a general observation. Since you are planning on making separate clear headlight lenses, why not also do the same for the turn signal lenses? As they are recessed deep inside the grill, they would be difficult to paint cleanly. Plus having clear lenses greatly improves realism of any model. Chromed, painted white, amber, or red opaque "lenses" never look very good or realistic. Yes, someone can take a mold of their grill then cast and trim their own clear lenses, then cut out and replace the solid ones with clear. But that is a lot of extra work (that I sometimes I end up doing in the name of realism). It is much, much easier to separate the turn signal lenses in your CAD all, and print them separately. Why not do it?

Thanks for the additional info and photo. Yes, it is now clear. The way I interpreted your original sentence (which I quoted) was that you were firmly pushing the inner part of the fixture into the cylinder. But now that I know that it is the tire being firmly pushed onto the tapered end of the fixture, it makes perfect sense. Now I see how the inner surface of the cylinder guides the pen's tip around the tire. That results in the stripe being close to the outer diameter of the tires. Most narrow white walls I have encountered have the white stripe about half way on the sidewall. There is probably an easy way to change the pen's offset from the cylinders inner wall, to paint the stripe closer to the center of the tire. I'm also curious about the marks scratched onto the top surfaces of the fixture.