peteski
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Posts posted by peteski
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21 hours ago, bbowser said:
I'm working on an old Revell F-1 car and the decals are giving me fits, cracking and falling apart. My question is if I use some liquid decal film to keep them in one piece, will solvaset or the like still be effective to make them snuggle down? I'm afraid I already know the answer but thought I would see if anyone has had any experience. Thanks in advance.
The clear film of old decals can shatter into small pieces. Coating the decal sheet with Microscale Liquid Decal Film will add another layer of clear which should keep the old decal together. That is the same clear film Microscale uses for their decals so yes, it will be flexible and respond to decal setting solutions. Some people just spray the sheet with any sort of a clear coat, but I prefer to use the product specifically made for the task.
I have also revived cracked decal film sheets by airbrushing a couple of wet coats of lacquer thinner (not wet enough to run of course). Wait for the lacquer thinner to evaporate between each coat. The lacquer thinner remelts the shattered film so it basically becomes like it was originally. But use this method at your own risk.
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2 hours ago, MarkJ said:
I haven't done anything yet so maybe I'm good to go. My email address has never changed. I never log out.
Read the quote below.
On 2/12/2025 at 3:19 PM, stitchdup said:it will affect you. when the change happens everybody will be logged out and have to log in with the new proceedure
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What a coincidence Kurt!
But the situation is not that grim. We have discussed food packaging's "best by" dates, and those are really just a suggestion of a date where the food will be as flavorful as the day it was packed. If the can is sealed, the contents will still be good for some years to come. It's not like it instantly spoils or becomes poisonous the day after the "best by" date. I have eaten food from long "expired" cans, and it was still quite tasty (and I'm still around to tell about it).
As for what cracked me up, just when I thought I saw it all, I have encountered a bicyclist on a busy street today. The temps here are quite cold and there are snow banks at the sides of the road. This time of the year there aren't many bicyclists riding around on the streets. As I was approaching I saw their both of their arms flailing in the air as if they were riding with their hands off the handle bar. I thought that it was a silly thing to do since they were riding very close to the snow bank on the side of the road.
As I got closer I saw the reason for their flailing arms - that person was riding a large unicycle!!
Those have no handle bars! They were using their arms for balance. I made sure to stay as far away from them as I passed. It was a rather large unicycle with a good size wheel with a fat tire (like ones on mountain bikes). The tire was also rather low in air. They were traveling at a pretty good clip. I will likely never see anything like that for the rest of my life.
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5 hours ago, LennyB said:
This irks me every time. Don’t know if they just do this where I live or all over. Buy a head of iceberg lettuce and it comes wrapped in a plastic bag with the end twisted and then folded over and taped down with clear tape. I can rarely find the end of the tape to remove it and open the bag. Most of the time I have to cut open the bag and then you can’t reuse it. You would think if they can make a bag of M&M’s resealable they could do the same for iceberg lettuce.
LOL! No, you're not alone. It is the way the produce companies package the greens. They do the same with cauliflower and probably other veggies which have similar shape. Only way to deal with this is very sharp pointy knife. Even if you found the tape's end the adhesive is so aggressive that it will most likely rip the plastic bag instead of coming off. Ask me how I know.
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2 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:
I've never been into computers. It's a tool, if I rented a car, I wouldn't care about the engine displacement, I just want it to run. But to answer your question: "You’ve used 14.71 GB of your 15 GB ..." I'm up to mid 2023 so far, saved about 25 emails so far, a couple from my deceased mom just because.
Just a tool or not, space managements not just a computer thing. Emails are like pieces of snail-mail. Whether virtual (emails) or physical, if you let them pile up, they will fill your whole house (or space allotted for your emails). In my experience most emails are rather small in size, so to fill 14,710,000,000 bytes takes a lot of individual emails. As for just wanting it "to run", just like your car your email account needs some periodic maintenance to keep running well. It will automatically purge the emails it marks as SPAM, but it doesn't know how important or unimportant are all the other emails you never deleted after reading them. Don't forget to go through your "sent" email folder where all the emails you sent are stored. Good luck with the purge.
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How much "mail" do you guys have??!?!
My free Gmail account which I had for over 20 years has 15GB of space and I'm only using 0.18Gb!Imagine if you left all your snail-mail spam sitting by your front door - you would have a huge pile! Gotta purge!
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5 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:
Three more attempts from the same source this morning already.
Kinda hoping the new admin will do something about internet fraud...
New admin where? On this forum? Or do you mean "the new U.S. gubermint"? "Admin" when referring to some computer relate thing usually mean system administrator. The only way to stop this insanity would be to shut down Internet or nuke the entire world (including U.S.), and neither ain't happening. The Pandora's box has been opened and there is no going back to sanity.
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I also noticed that the background color does change spending on which part of the forum I'm viewing. It might be tied to the ads being displayed at the top.
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1 hour ago, Rodent said:
Interesting, mine looks like this:
Are you using any type of Adblock?
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Wick, again some logical thinking is helpful. B-Bs are probably steel balls with copper plating. If used in water-based paints, there will be chemical reaction taking place. But if used in petroleum based paints they are probably safe to use. Lead shot can also be affected by long exposure to water-based paints. Personally I borrowed the idea from spray can agitators and started using glass beads as my agitators in paint bottles. Glass is not affected by water or solvents. Just make sure to get glass (not plastic) beads.
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I suspect that this type of thing is easily customizable by the admins, but still not sure why the designers thought this would be good idea in the first place. Probably another example of someone not thinking things things through.
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Yes, that color scheme is less than ideal.
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7 hours ago, webestang said:
I do like the Euro short cards. I remember when KB toys sold the European issue window boxes. I thought those were cool.
I want that Merc! So cool MB brought back that casting. I have an original......
Ah, a nice vintage Matchbox. Nice! It has much better proportions than the new version. Even the castings were thinner, and the new one has slightly exaggerated "chunkier" look. Still nice, but not as good as the older one. As I mentioned earlier, the older Matchboxes had more accurate look to them. The body castings were thinner and the clear plastic parts was also mold thinner. Even the interiors were better looking. They had actual steering wheels (even if the "cross" spokes were inaccurate), not solid blobs they are like in most contemporary models. The detailed Tampo-printed decoration on new models is nice, but to me it still does not compensate for the clunkiness.
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1 hour ago, That Plasticated Guy said:
I tried to change email address that I used but unfortunately forgot my password. I'll probably just set up a new profile and use it with the new login procedure.
Can't you use "forgot password" procedure, or your current email address is no longer valid?
Still, admins here do not like users to have multiple logins. If you PM one of the admins (like Dave Ambrose) he should be able to help you taking care of this problem.
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Well then, using PVC as a baffle for diffusing the released air is ok. Looks like the pressure pipes on the bottom are iron.
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While we don't have a more detailed description of what it looks like other than "little oxidized", I suspect that as Bill mentioned the "oxidized" look is due to the metalized layer simply missing and no amount of polishing will bring it back. In order to polish a solid metal surface, the dull layer needs to be abraded off the surface. That is what polishing compounds do, They simply remove it exposing the clean metal underneath. But here since the "chromey" aluminum layer on the plastic surface is so thin, there is no pristine metal to be exposed. But at this point you have nothing to lose by polishing it - give a a whirl!
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Yes, using PVC pipe for pressurized gases is a big no-no. I've seen what happens, and it is not pretty. A BIG Kaboom!
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Time of some education.
Kit chrome (in 99.9%) of the kits is not chrome. It is a very thin (couple of atoms thick) layer of aluminum applied in a vacuum over a glossy clear coat. The process is called vacuum metalization or vaccum metal deposition. The metal layer is very fragile (as Bill pointed out). If it was real chromium (very hard and chemical resistant metal), it couldn't be easily stripped with bleach or lye.
Polishing it (polishing compound is abrasive) will instantly strip the aluminum exposing bare plastic. Your only options here are to strip it, then either paint it using one of several chrome-finish paints, or sent it out to be "replated" (vacuum metalize) as that service is again being offered.
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Welcome to the world of today Tom, where ineptitude is rampant. Who will fix things when the older experienced folks are gone? At least we, older folks won't have to worry about it.
After reading your towel bar adventure I was ready to tag it with a sad icon, but the Washington image in the unsanded spackle on the wall made me smile. You're a good father Tom!
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What could come in really handy for you is a $20 digital caliper from a place like Harbor Freight. I bought one about 25 years ago and I use it all the time in my hobbies. With the resolution of 0.0005" (0.01mm) it is more than up to the hobby tasks, and you can measure inner and outer dimensions plus depth. Just watch our for the really inexpensive (usually made of plastic) digital calipers with a resolution of just 0.01". Those aren't worth the money.
The brass eyelet is likely a common item but without knowing the dimensions it is difficult to find info about it. Is the eyelet really needed there? Looks like it acts as a bearing for the axle, but since this will be a static model, just wrap some paper on the axle to compensate for the missing thickness of the brass eyelet.
The replacement spring can likely also be found. Since it appears to only be cosmetic, something close to the original (or 4 replacement ones which are slightly different dimensions) would likely do the trick. You could even wind your own from a piece of bare copper wire. 1/64" is 0.016" and 26AWG wire diameter is ~ 0.016".
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Thanks for doing the research Rob, even if inconclusive. As for Polyurethane resin, we know that the liquid resin absorbs moisture from the ambient air, and when it hardens the moisture causes bubbles to form.
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14 minutes ago, Old Buckaroo said:
Ok so I'm confused here, " the vendor is dropping support for screen names" does that mean our screen name will be replaced by our email or we getting assigned a number like in prison ? Ive been a member for 15 some years and never had any issues with my account, not once did anyone try taking credit for my mediocre models.
Yeah, as I mentioned few posts earlier, that is confusing me too.
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21 minutes ago, robdebie said:
Maybe there's another mechanism with pressure casting: I have a feeling that small bubbles do not get compressed to a smaller volume, but that they are actually absorbed by the resin. Why do I think that? I have never seen tons of tiny bubbles in cured pressure-cast items.
I'm not sure Rob. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. Yet, I have doubts that air (mostly Nitrogen in the ambient atmosphere) gets absorbed by the liquid resin when under pressure. I know carbonated drinks (like Coco-Cola) have CO2 dissolved (?) in the liquid when under pressure, but then the gas escapes when not under pressure (when the sealed bottle is opened), but I'm not sure similar process can take place in resin. But my opinion is just an opinion. I have not done any scientific research about it.
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3 hours ago, Chariots of Fire said:
Pressure casting should be reserved for making the mold so that the RTV is forced into every crevice and the bubbles are forced out. Vacuum casting in essence collapses the mold pieces in on themselves assuring a clean casting. Tom Coolidge who did my '66 DODGE W300 used a pressure pot. The results were amazing.
Yes, pressure casting will force resin into all the crevices in the mold. But if those crevices had voids in the when resin was poured, they were not empty. The voids were full of air. Pressure pushes the liquid resin into the void by compressing the air that was in it in the first place. It does the same to all the air bubbles within the resin itself. Since the compressed air doesn't just disappear, it is still there in a tiny bubble under high pressure (60 psi or whatever the pressure pot has in it. When the hardened resin part is removed from the mold the compressed air from the void will be vented, but any bubbles which were within the resin itself, will remain trapped and under pressure.
At least that is how I understand the pressure casting. Vacuum casting process sucks any air that is in the mold's voids and the resin itself, so no compressed air remains in the resin after it hardens. Mold itself is air-free RTV material - it doesn't collapse since it is solid. That's because the RTV itself was also vacuum cast. Robs illustrations show all this quite clearly.
Comparison chrome paint from Vallejo vs. Green Stuff World (GSW)
in Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials
Posted
Yes, Spotlight Hobbies is offering "chrome plating" of plastic model parts, similar to what others offered in the past. That's a winner for me.
If you still want DIY paint solution, then the winner will be what works best for you. As you mentioned, there are lots of opinions and lots of varying results, depending on the individual reviewing it.