peteski

Bleach will not remove the glossy clear undercoat that the "chromed" parts are sprayed with before metalizing. Sometimes the clear coat is laid on fairly thickly. To fully strip the parts to bare plastic, it is important to use stripper that will handle both. Any Sodium Hudroxide (Lye) based products will work well.

NOVUS polish system was specifically designed to remove small scratches and polish plastic surfaces.

If you are looking for flaws, why use clear? Primer is usually good for finding defects. I believe any solvent-based paint (enamel or lacquer) should be safe to use. I don't use water-based acrylics, so I can't comment on those. Before the parts get metalized, they are sprayed with very glossy clear coat anyway, then another clear top coat is usually applied after metalizing (to protect the few-atoms-thick layer of metal). If you want to be 100% sure, contact the company that does the metlaizing, and ask them.

Don't bother with the gallery - it is broken and even moderators recommended against using it. See:

The plastic-covered wine bottle foil is not lead, but aluminum. If you hold a piece in your hand, it is almost feather light. It also has totally different "sag" properties. At lest in my experience. The lead foil on bottles is getting hard to find. Lead=bad, bad stuff. We live in a very protective society.

Hate? No - good for you! That is the only way to bid on eBay. That is how I do most of my bidding. No nickel-and-diming for days.

Interesting turn of events. The model relisted for 3rd time now sold for a more reasonable $295. Looking at the bidder list on the second relisting, he bid on it (only $149 that time). Then the other kit (by that "good seller") in turn was sold for $515!! Wow! As expected bidders from the other listings were bidding on this kit.

This "problem" is much bigger than just a worker making a mistake. Besides mail is handled and routed by machines. Days of manual mail sorting are long gone.

Back in the day, it was mostly the driver's skill, with the mechanicals of the vehicle not really contributing much, but nowadays it looks like it is all about the vehicle and the driver is mostly in it just for the ride. I know I'm exaggerating, but all these doo-dads generated in a CAD environment are too much. I haven't really followed F1 for many years. They even have automatic transmissions nowadays (or paddle shifters?), rigth? Too much technology. IMO, they have jumped the proverbial shark.

Yes it does (and I often use it that way). But the glasses have to be narrow enough to fit into the visor part. I have some glasses which are too wide, but I have one pair that fits. My glasses are the cheapie readers from a dollar store (I haven't had my official eye exam yet), but if you get your glasses from an optometrist, you can probably choose a frame or frameless lenses which will fit under the Optivisor.

Release your hate - Optivise-yourself! Your modeling will become much less stressful.

I know exactly what you mean (the slow panning), and I also find it annoying and unnecessary. While I don't watch the history channel, this type of thing is done in many PBS documentaries. What is also annoying is the constant background musical score. Sometimes it is so loud you can barely understand the narration. To me silence (with just narration) would be golden. I guess this means we're getting old. Every new generation has to do things differently (just look at all the crazy bulbous distorted logos, and even coin faces designs they create), and I guess the need everything to move and make noise. Grumble, grumble!

Well, I know of currently only one "plating company" that caters to modelers, so unless you found someone else we all suspect we know who it is. Or if you do know another cmpany that does plating for modelers, I would love to get more inf about them. I would not be happy with the missing metalization and the yellow area either. Years ago, when ChromeTech USA was my go-to company, I had a similar problem with them. While they offered to redo the plating for free, most of the labor was on me (as I had to strip and remount the parts). That was very frustrating!

Oh I agree, but I still have be a little selfish and hope for a price that I'll be able to afford. I don't have an unlimited budget.

I agree. I'm in no rush, but the only problem is that the molds do wear out. He can likely make a next set of molds from the master, but it seems that every time that is done, the quality suffers.

I didn't mean to jump all over you, but I'm just so sick of reading that "Rustoleum bought out and killed Testors). It's all good.

I wish people would not keep on passing on the same misinformation. RPM has owned Testors brand for 2 or 3 decades. RPM also owns the Rustoleum brand (along with couple dozen other brands). This is not a recent development! Rustoleum didn't purchase Testors because both are already owned by RPM!

Yes, it made sense, and the comments in the photos make thing clearer. Sharp closeups are also very helpful. But I guess the real test will be when I have to make a set of seat belts for one of my models.

I bid on the one listed on eBay tonight, but it went for a higher price. At least it was not over $500 anymore!

Excellent tutorial Kurt - thanks! The belts look great too.

You're making good progress Matt. But I also find that there is something odd about this model, or the way its parts are made. They all seem to have overly sharp edges. Most 1:1 cast or forged parts have softer, rounded edges. Those seem to also look out of olace (because they are). Please understand that I'm not criticizing your work - it is the kits parts themselves that seem strange.

Sweet! From what you wrote about needing 2 magnifiers, I recommend the Optivisor. Trust me, you will wonder how you got along this far without one. I bought it about 25 years ago. When I first tried, it felt awkward - I put it back in its box. MY eyes were still good for closeup viewing. Several years passed by and I needed to do some microscopic modeling. I took the Optivisor out and it really helped me in that project. I set it down near the workbench and I found that I was going back to wearing it more and more while building models. Now I couldn't work without it - it is like an addiction. Granted, my eyesight has deteriorated - I can't focus closeup. For super-microscopic tasks I have a stereo-microscope, but Optivisor gets most workout., I use mine with the #7 lens plate. If you decide to get one, get the real Optivisor. Other headband magnifiers are nowhere as good. I tried some friend's inexpensive magnifiers, and I would not exchange mine for theirs.

That does sound reasonable. Another unusual thing about the other (original) seller I was mentioning is that they aren't really a seller of plastic kits - the One Arm Bandit is the only kit they have listed - all their other items are unrelated things.

Craft paints are usually water-based acrylic enamels. I'm glad that lacquer thinner did not cause it to curdle.

Craft paints are usually water-based acrylic enamels. I'm glad that lacquer thinner did not cause it to curdle.