peteski

To me it had some features and hints of the Trabant P70s, but obviously not even close. Those seemingly large wheels look really strange. I learned something new today.

Well done -- looks great!

NICE!

Looks good Michelle! This kit looks similar to Revell pirate ship I built about 30 years ago. Mine had black plastic sails, and came with a bottle of glow-in-the-dark green paint and glow-in-the-dark stickers. Per instructions I did the rigging too. I still have it (but it is very dusty)

There seem to be so many reasons. Everybody constantly has their noses in smart phones for good portion of the day. SO many social media apps and games in them to occupy person for hours. Then people seem like instant gratification - nobody wants to spend time building building and painting model kits (also having to wait until pain dries). Many people people aren't really into cars (they rather not even drive cars, much less build miniature models of them), or military models (even less if those are historical models - who is interested in learning about the past, when there are so many things now that grab their attention). There are exceptions to that, but not many. We have a member of our club who is about your age, he is into cars, and also loves to build models. He is beyond basic builds, he kitbashes and customizes his models, adding lots of scratchbuilt details. Most of his models are also in H0 scale (1:87) -- tiny! He admits that his peers see him as an oddity, but he doesn't care. We also have few members (and excellent modelers) who are in their late 20s or mid 30s. There are also some young adults who are into cars, but those are the contemporary "souped-up" cars, not the old-school muscle cars. Some of them build models of those cars, but there aren't many kits available that fit their needs. Still, the plastic model kit hobby is alive and doing really well. Gundam is one of the really popular subjects, then all sorts of military models, then automotive. So someone out there is buying all those kits, but I suspect that most are over 30 years old.

I used to use Kleenex (well, generic tissues) that I used to fold and cut into 8 small squares. About 1.5" square. I still occasionally use those, but for several years I have been taking Bounty select-a-size sheets and cutting each into 8 pieces. I used to tear them, but the ragged edges have fuzz (especially tissues). I now cut them using sharp scissors. I stack 3 to 4 sheets, then cut them at once. I end up with 24 or 32 pieces and it takes me probably about a minute or two to do that. Those batches of little towels last me quite some time. I curve the sheets and stuff them into a a liquid laundry detergent measuring cup. It makes a nifty dispenser.

It is not. If you look at this forum's description, it states "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." If that is not clear enough, there is one sticky post in this forum, further clarifying its purpose. I would post your type of a question in the Q & A or General Automotive Talk forums.

Duh! My brain was again not fully engaged. Carry on. Vallejo is a good choice.

While the fishing stuff looks ok, if one really pays attentions to scale fidelity, the angle of the braiding is wrong for scaled down braided lines. The only scale braided line I know that has the most realistic appearance is from Pro-Tech. Those really look like scaled down braided lines. Sure, they cost more, but to me couple more bucks spend on a model to make it look really good is worth it.

Vallejo are water-based paints while the ones I mentioned are "stinky" organic-solvent based paints (like Testors PLA enamels). Testors did also make water-based Acryl line of paints, but we still don't know what type of paint (water-based or "stinky") Spooky 52 is looking for.

You might want to clarify. For brush-painting or airbrushing? Are you asking to replace the "stinky" solvent-based PLA enamels (or Model Master) then there is Humbrol in the little metal tins. Very similar to old-school Testors paints. Then there is Scalecoat II paint - again similar to Testors. Next is the Tru-Color paint, but that one is best applied using an airbrush. Recent FineScale Modeler magazine also had an article reviewing several new lines of "stinky" acrylic lacquers (in bottles). I have never heard of most of them before reading the article -- they are new lines of paints from various manufacturers.

There was a member here few years ago who used silver leaf for chrome trim. He wrote a full thread about the process (if someone feels like searching for it). While the results are really good, and it is durable, it is still nowhere as easy as BMF.

What a strange looking vehicle. It has some features familiar to me, but those large thin wheels are just plain weird. Almost Donk-like. The nose is very strange too. Even the photo doesn't look real, but like it was computer generate or enhanced. It will be fun to find out what that thing is.

Another great and unique model by Grzegorz! Too bad there are only 2 of these models existing on Earth. Many modelers would love to be able to purchase and build their own models like that. But I also understand that when a hobby becomes a business, the fun of making models is gone. I had the pleasure (in my mid-teens) to ride in one of those "boats". As I remember, it was a beautiful and very shiny silver, with silver leather interior. It was my mother's friend's car. To a Polish kid visiting USA (used to small Polish and European cars) that Lincoln was amazing! The air-conditioned interior looked so rich and the supple rear seat was wide enough for me to comfortably lay on it (like on a bed). And all the flashy gadgets on the "wood clad" dash looked so very impressive. That oval opera window was also so classy! And of course the ride was so smooth it felt like we were silently floating over the road, with no road nose in its well-soundproofed interior. So "American"! I'll never forget those rides.

Cartograf is one of the top decal printing companies (and very pricey), but there are many others out there. Most kit manufacturers outsource decal printing to one of those companies. Many use silk-screening process. For home made decals, the long-discontinued Alps MicroDry printer is the best solution. It can print white, silver and gold inks (in addition to standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks) and it can overprint previously printed inks (keeping it all aligned), so the color images can be printed over white ink (making the decal opaque, just like the professionally made decals). But the printer is just part of the process - you need quality designed artwork. For good quality home-made decals you need more than just scanning some decla sheet and printing. Good overview of what is needed is shown on Rob's page: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm

The "chrome" is actually a very thin (few atoms thick) layer of aluminum applied over a layer of clear lacquer, and often also final coated with another layer of lacquer. If the lacquer is glossy, the "chrome" will look like polished chrome. If the lacquer has a satin or flat finish, then the "chrome" "will also look like satin finish aluminum (or silver paint). It is important to strip both the layer of aluminum, and the lacquer. That is why using solutions that contain Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) gives the best result (those are the same styrene-safe stripping solutions used for stripping paint on model bodies.

Yes, nail polishes (acrylic, Nylon, or whatever marketing name they use on the bottle) are "stinky" solvent based lacquers. The word "acrylic" is terribly misused by the modelling community to broadly describe water-based acrylic paints. As others mentioned, any of the "hot" thinners will reduce them. I use hardware-store lacquer thinner, or PPG (automotive) Medium Temperature Reducer. There are lots of good automotive colors available as nail polishes. I probably own close to 100 bottles.

What model kit was this? I noticed that some of the 1:43 scale resin kits from NEO use thin stickers that are on a decal paper carrier. You wet the paper to remove the decal image, but when it is applied to a model it sticks right away (like a sticker would).

As I seem to repeat in every BMF related thread, BMF Chrome (or Improved Chrome) are *NOT* aluminum foil. It is some sort of soft metal alloy, which is very stretchy. That is why it conforms to complex surfaces so well. It is not just the thickness that makes the difference between BMF and aluminum foil. The very thin adhesive also makes difference. HVAC duct tape uses much thicker layer of adhesive. If you burnish that foil the soft addhesive will cause the foil not to look smooth.

Try Windex (or just plain ammonia). Maybe using a Q-tip. That often seems to soften water-based acrylic paints. That should not affect the "stinky" paint underneath.

I doubt it - upon a sale the seller pays all sorts of fees. It would not make sense to do what you suggest, because they would be losing money. And auctions run hot and cold all the time - you really need at least 2 very committed bidders to bid the item up to high amounts. The last listing I linked to appears to have been "buy it now" listing as there were no bids on it - just a sale.

The plastic runners (as you call them "sprue") is excellent raw material for making all sorts of things. You could chuck a piece of the plastic runner in a Dremel, and (on slow speed) using a file, shape it to resemble a breather. If the diameter is too large, just file it down until it looks right. You are sort of using the Dremel and file like a poor-man's lathe. I've made quite a few round-shaped parts that way.

I mentioned that when I plan on removing all the "chrome"and varnish from parts, I do that before gluing them together. If I understand you correctly, you took the "chromed" parts, removed the plating from the gluing areas, them glued them together.Next, you try to remove the all the remaining "chrome" and varnish. It is possible that the combination of glue and "chrome" removing chemicals made the parts brittle.

Tools designed for graphic design shows you the exact dimensions of any graphics and allow you to resize them accurately. I use a "real" Windows PC and Corel Draw suite of programs. I have used Corel for decal artwork and other tasks fo over 2 decades. I also know that Inkscape and GIMP are freeware applications similar in capabilities to Corel. I have no experience with iPad, but If you search the app store for GIMP, there are couple of downloads available. Try it out. GIMP is a powerful graphic (bitmap) editor, so it will take you some time to get used to it. It could be overwhelming at first, but once you get familiar with it, you should have no problems creating decal artwork in the exact size you want. I'm sure that there are also lots of online tutorials on how to use GIMP (from basic to advanced). Many of those are probably on YouTube.

That is an interesting theory. I have experienced thin Polystyrene strips getting brittle and crack into small segments as I tried to glue them using Testors liquid cement (the thin stuff, mostly made of Methyl Ethyl Ketone, or MEK). But the same strip does not break up when using Methylene Chloride based liquid cement. The strips are not old (freshly purchased Evergreen brand strips). Maybe the chemical used in Heller glue did make the wheels brittle. That to me would make more sense than Chlorine or Sodium Hydroxide making the Polystyrene brittle. I didn't realize that you strip "chrome" *AFTER* gluing parts together. I *ALWAYS* strip parts before gluing. That way I don't need to scrape the "chrome" from the glued surfaces.