peteski

No, they did not ask me for SS# either. I in the past, I was able to keep the money I received from buyers in my PayPal account, but few years ago they changed the rules and now they force me to transfer the money I receive there to my bank account right away. If I wanted to keep my money with PayPal for more than a day or 2, I would have to treat PayPal as a banking institution, and I would probably have to give them my SS#.

I have *NEVER EVER* used anything but water and good dishwashing detergent to clean the parts before painting, and I never will! I would not trust any sort of "cleaner" or "treatment". I'm not sure where people get the idea that some other compound is is needed *BEFORE* painting. If decals are dry (I give them few days), it is safe to wash the decaled part with water and dishwashing detergent. Take a 1" soft natural hair brush, wet the bristles, then squirt little detergent on the bristles. Then I work up the lather by rubbing the bristles on my palm and gently brush the decaled part to be cleaned. Don't spend too much time doing that. Then I rinse it off using warm running water from the faucet. Then dry the part blotting (not wiping) the part with a towel. I suppose microfiber cloth might work well too. If there is some moisture left, I just let the part air dry. If there is any lint or fuzz left after it is dry, I blow it of gently using compressed air (the "canned air" in aerosol cans works good, or just compressed air from your compressor). After that the pert is ready for a clear coat. However, after seeing the problem you experienced it might not just be Novus - maybe the clear coat is attacking/crazing the plastic?

I don't have any problems with my paint jobs, and I never sand/rub out/or polish them, except for couple times I had to remove some small speck of dust that landed in the paint.

Unless you use "model paint". But on a serious note, I don't think that it is always the case (at least as far as I'm concerned). I believe that paint on 1:1 cars is applied in a thicker layer than what we do on our model cars. Well, some modelers do lay it on rather thick (especially the clear coats), so the model looks like it is dipped in honey. At least I always strive to minimize paint thickness. I avoid primer as much as I can. Not using water-based hobby paints allows me to often skip the primer. Then I don't apply 20 coats of paint to build up thickness - I apply as few coats as possible.

The model in that video is amazing! I wonder what he uses for chrome foil? It sure does not look like BMF. And it seems to conform to complex curves (like the taillights).

Lacquers dry, but can be dissolved again using lacquer thinner. That actually can be a good thing in many instances. But they do dry, and dry hard. Enamels however nto only dry (when the solvent evaporates), they also cure exposed to oxygen. It is a actually a chemical reaction which cures them hard, and they can never be redissolved again. But both types of paints are widely used and both result in very durable finishes. So the "never dry" statement does not really make sense (as far as paint's durability or hardness are concerned). After all, when was the last time you cleaned your lacquer-painted vehicle using lacquer thinner? That is just silly.

Another gorgeous cleanly-built model from Chang! And as usual, great photos. Awesome! I have one of those kits to be built some day.

Not sure if the Dick Van Dyke Show, and I Love Lucy were mentioned - they are both excellent old sitcoms. Cheers was another (newer) sitcom that was quite good. Someone mentioned Seinfeld - I did not watch it when it was new, but I found it in reruns - brilliantly funny!

What you said is true. I watch it on MeTV sometimes, but most of the stories are just so implausible that I just roll my eyes. Funny that they all can speak perfect German whenever they go out of the camp dressed in German uniforms. Actually the whole German/English language thing is just so silly. And an Africam American pretending to be a German, back in the WWII days? That is so out in the left field.

There is a sticky thread in this forum with lots and lots of ideas about stripping paint.

Miles, if there was such a thing, don't you think that lots of Modelers would be using it already (and loudly touting that paint on this forum)?

Instead of shooting the iffy paint on model parts, take a plastic spoon, and give the paint (Molotow) a quick test. If it is up to the expectations, spray your wheels. It is as simple as that, and no paint striping required if the experiment on the spoon doesn't work out.

That looks good Tom!

Yeah, right on! Especially a motorcycle with straight-pipes going by at full throttle at 3am! Or really going by me at any time of the day. Loud pipes save lives? Really? Paying attention while driving saves lives.

I hope that this new development does not mean the end for BMF company. Not sure if they can survive just selling decals and decal paper. Either way, I hope they stay open because I really like their decal paper (and I have tried several brands) for my Alps printer. And of course the (original) chrome foil is indispensable in my automotive modeling (which I haven't done much lately).

The black is likely the is standard black paint but the other one . . . very interesting. I never used any of their spray can paints (just the 1 oz. bottles), so that is likely why I missed it. But I think I've seem similar speckled spray paints either at a hardware or a crafts store.

Come on Tom, I use Floquil fairly often, and even have their color chips booklets, and I have never seen the sell paints called "parking lot" or "road spray". But whatever are the "real" color names, your base looks good too. For another idea, I also use roofing material to represent asphalt. It is a leftover piece of rubber roofing sheet. What is nice about it is that it is larger (about 6 sq. feet) and it can be rolled up easily and taken to some place which will give me a realistic background (like an empty company parking lot on a weekend).

Nope. It is "2.0mil aluminum", that instantly eliminates it. And 2.0mil is much thicker than BMF stuff. That is about thickness of a sheet of paper. The original chrome BMF is some sort of soft metal with fairly low melting point. It is also quite dense (heavy). If you make a ball of some discarded foil you can tell that it feels heavier than aluminum. It probably contains tin, or maybe even lead? I know, there were no lead warning on the packaging, so that is probably not it. But it could be tin or some other soft metal.

Thanks for the clarification. Makes me wonder which company produced that non-aluminum stretchy thin foil BMF resold. What was/is its original application? I thought all along that BMF developed the metal alloy formula, and was either manufacturing it themselves, or had someone do it for them. But maybe all along it was a product intended for another use, repurposed (as it is often done) as a very successful hobby product

Very nice!

Ok, I'm really confused. I have not bought any BMF for probably 10-15 years. Last time I made purchase there were only 2 types of chrome foil: Just "chrome" and "ultra bright chrome". "Chrome" was the original BMF product made since their inception. The metal has a slightly "warm" tone, it is very thin and stretchy. It is not made from aluminum. The "ultra bright chrome" was at that time a new product from BMF. It was much shinier, whitish-silver in color, and rather stiff. Would not easily conform to compound curves. It felt like thin aluminum foil. I believe BMF introduced it because Detail Master started producing their own version of foil, and they called out BMF, stating that the Detail Master foil was much shinier. Detail Master version was just like the BMF "ultra brigth chrome": Thicker and very stiff. I didn't like either version. Going back to BMF, they had only "chrome" (good stuff), and "ultra bright chrome" (crappy stuff). What I'm confused about is that there seems to be a third version of BMF chrome. Correct? What was the "new improved chrome"? Was it stretchy with a warm tone to it like original "chrome", or was it more like the very shiny but crappy "ultra bright chrome"? And now people like crazyjim are saying that they liked "new improved chrome" and that the "chrome" they received instead is crappy? For me the original, just "chrome" was the best foil.

I'm also curious about the source of this info? Where did it come from? As I mentioned, it is not just thinness - it is the actual material that is unique.

Because at that time we didn't know about the BMF supplier issue. The original CHROME foil is *NOT* just thin aluminum foil - the foil is made from some special alloy which is much more pliable than aluminum foil and it has a "warmer" silver color. BMW was the only company I have ever seen sell that special foil. If the supplier of that special foil is not making it anymore, we are all screwed.

I just checked https://www.bare-metal.com/bare-metal-foil.html and it shows all foils in-stock. Does it show as backordered only after you complete the purchase?

Like this I'm not making fun of the "skull PT". Just surprised seeing it. Yes, I made a semi-joke. I didn't think it was nasty. Not all art is the same either, and not all art is understood by all folks. I don't see "art" in Picasso's paintings either. Still, his "art" is highly prized by others. Our models can also be considered "art", especially those highly modified or scratch-built ones.