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peteski

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Everything posted by peteski

  1. That model is controlled using IR (infrared) light, not radio. Like a TV remote control. I think the reason is that a radio receiver would be physically too large to fit in that tiny car. IR receivers can be made much smaller. EDIT: I think the photoreflector" you are thinking of is actually a phototransistor/LED combo which detects the piece of white plastic on the steering motor shaft. It is used to count the revolutions of the shaft. That provides feedback to the control circuit, so it "knows" how far it turned the front wheels.
  2. At least the delay allowed you to take this lovely photo. With that beautiful sky in the background, this photo looks like it could be an advertisement for the trucking company.
  3. There were H0 size RC car toys available several years ago (I bought one from HLJ). But unlike this model, they had no proportional control. It was stop, or full speed, and steering was straight, full right, full left. Again, it was a toy. I still have that car (Nissan 350Z), but the battery leaked out and corroded the motor and other parts. The only markings on the model and remote are 2005 SUPER GRAND CHINA.
  4. The new trend in food is for riced-cauliflower, but I suspect that is not the same as what is discussed here. And I sincerely hope that the cauliflower is not offended.
  5. I have made plastic washers using this technique. I first punch the small hole, then I line up that hole in the center of the larger diameter punch die (eyeballing it), then I punch the larger hole. I end up with nice washers.
  6. Thanks Guido. I had fun building these kits. Actually, the blue '57 Caddy is the first model I ever used Bare Metal Foil on.
  7. When some kits can be built multiple ways, I believe that all the releases of that kit include all the parts for various versions of that kit.
  8. Yes, there was a whole series of those little curbside models. They build up very nicely. While the kits are fairly simple, the molding quality is excellent. Like other Japanese kits from that time period, these has an option to add an electric motor. Front wheels are steerable. I have built few of them about 25 years ago, and still have several unbuilt (including that T-Bird). The car featured on the Bare Metal Foil packages is the '57 Chevy Bel Air, also from this series.
  9. That's my fire truck! Yes, your photos came out really well, considering just how small that model is.
  10. Smooth-On also has a line of resin dyes and tints. That's what I use. Then of course one can paint transparent colors over a clear-cast lens (like we often do when building model cars which include clear directional and taillight lenses).
  11. MY test was some resin on a piece of aluminum foil. I also left it out for quite some time. So, I don't have an answer for you. Just guessing, if Sun completely sets the resin in less than a minute, there should be no danger to the styrene. Plus grills are usually metalized ("chromed"), so they should reflect Sunlight (including the heat, or IR radiation), leaving the plastic cool.
  12. I usually roll my eyes when I see very old threads broth back to life, but in this case I appreciate it. If it didn't get revived, I would have never seen this masterpiece! Too bad the photos are scarred by Photobucket.
  13. That is what you always say before updates Dave. Just giving you hard time - I appreciate all the effort you put into maintaining this cool place. Is it me, or the updates (major and minor) seem to be occurring more frequently than few years ago. It seems that in the past there were no updates for long periods of time, and now they seem to come every few weeks. On the related note, it seems that the SQL code injection filter problem has been taken car of. We don't hear about the 404 error anymore. I hope I didn't just jinx us! The lazy photo loading doesn't seem to affect my browsing here. I do see the photos catching up when I scroll through posts, but there doesn't seem to be any appreciable delay. I use a Windows machine, and Seamonkey browser.
  14. I have absolutely no desire to ever use that stuff again - I survived decades of modeling without it, I don't need it now. I lived and learned. Thank you very much.
  15. Optivisor solves vision problems. Trust me - I'm addicted to mine.
  16. The bolt/nuts from Tichy will have sizes specified in model RR scales (like H0 or similar).
  17. I don't see why not - it is 8% stronger. I buy IPA 99% by the gallon in a hardware store.
  18. With some sellers it doesn't take much.
  19. EBay sellers can block certain bidders from bidding or contacting them. I suspect that this is what happened to you. If you done business wit that seller in the past and did or said something they didn't like, they could have blocked you. It might be something that you didn't think was a reason enough for them to block you.
  20. Even monitoring online forums is not a very good indicator of what the entire modeling population wants. Members of the online forums are likely a very small percentage of the kit-buying population, so monitoring forums is probably not the best indication of the market's desires. Same with eBay listings - many of the high priced items get to those high prices because few bidders with too much money in their pocket have bidding war. Well, maybe except the Revell Can-Do/Will-Do wreckers. Those regularly show up on eBay, and always fetch a high price. Yet, Revel does nor reissue that kit often. There is also the problem of people buying kits on eBay and parting them out. But by parting the kits out they will easily will recoup the high price they paid for the complete kits.
  21. Go to the files section https://alps.groups.io/g/ALPS/files/Drivers/Apple_Mac and look around. Like I said, I don't deal with Macs., but maybe Alps_Mac_driver_requirements.txt and Alps_MAC_compatibility_notes.txt will be a good start?
  22. I'm not sure why you would suggest using solder to bond plastic. You also just posted to thread that was last active 6 years ago.
  23. Sure, most of us here are old men (over 50) spending lots of money on all sorts of toys (model cars are considered toys after all). Other old men are into different toys (stuff you mentioned, like Legos, Star Trek, Transformers, and other toys). We are adults, and we can spend our own money they way we choose. But I believe Earl was alluding to the fact that children's programs are just an extended infomercials for all the show-themed toys. That is what he objects to. Those nagging kids wanting all those goodies they see on TV. The boob-tube is turning nice kids into zombie-consumers (with the parents footing the bills).
  24. I think he means merchandising toys based on all those children TV programs (and movies), not plastic model kits. Not quite the same.
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