peteski

That does look very nice! I don't think I can get the tinted area so even applied - what's your secret to doing this so consistently even? Practice? Also, why are you using opaque blue when Tamiya also makes transparent blue? The tint used on 1:1 windshields is transparent.

Sure, it is a plastic polish - lots of uses mentioned there, but neither polishing styrene model car bodies, nor polishing paint is mentioned there. Neither is removing adhesive residue. Like I stated earlier, modelers started using it for those tasks.

Yes, all those products are petroleum-based (they call it "mineral"). They are crude oil derivatives. I'm not sure what you mean by "they can be the same thing sometimes but not always". They all are derived from crude oil. Naphtha is sometimes present in some lacquer thinners or automotive lacquer reducers.

Because I would not have thought that a water-based polishing compound would remove rubbery adhesive. If anything, I would have thought that a petroleum-based polishing compounds would work better (since petroleum solvents will dissolve most of the pressure-sensitive adhesives) Novus is not made specifically for plastic models. I believe it was designed to polish out clear Plexiglas or Lexan windscreens, but modelers quickly realized that it will work well for polishing plastic model bodies and "glass".

I believe we again have another alcohol-based product. It might affect certain paints.

Not sure what you are asking. Naphtha is not mentioned on that Web page. Here's info about Naphtha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha

I resize pictures on my computer before uploading them to the forum (among other things to save forums storage space). I usually make them no larger than 1200 pixels across. I use Corel Photo Paint, but there are lots of picture editing apps out there that can resize pictures. Or just configure your camera or smart phone to take smaller size photos by default. You can post some photos here in this thread as a test.

In USA it is available in quarts and gallons in hardware stores. It is labeled VM&P Naphtha (Varnish Makers & Painter's Naphta) - a solvent used by painters. If unavailable, I'm sure you can find Ronsonol lighter fluid, which is pure Naphtha, but at much higher price. I use Naphta in my hobbies (mainly as a solvent and degreasing fluid).

Like I said, adding solvent to rubber material which normally hardens by a chemical reaction (not by solvent evaporation) will make the final product shrink. But if you want a solvent, use Naphtha instead of mineral spirits. It is also a petroleum distillate, but it have much faster evaporation rate. But it will shrink. I know people that use it specifically to produce molds smaller than the original (shrink it).

I'm surprised at your WD40 experience. What you describe sounds like effect of silicone spray lubricant, not WD40. Silicone and paint just don't mix at all (fish-eyes). AFAIK, there is no silicone in WD40. Just standard standard petroleum-based lubricant thinned with petroleum-based solvent. I also don't think that Lee is contributing the paint chips specifically to using WD40. I suspect that the paint was chipped by removing the old tape from the painted surface (and were there all along, obfuscated by the remaining tape adhesive).

Isn't it alcohol-based?

Growing up on Poland in the '60s and '70s I saw many reminders of WWII (like buildings with stucco pockmarked by shrapnel, or air-ride sirens on rooftops). Of course, I learned lots of details about WWII in the history classes. I visited Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and other war memorials. I also built my share of models depicting WWII aircraft and armor, but when I became an aldule I didn't really think about WWII much. But there are plenty of scary things happening it today's world that remind me of what I learned about the days of WWII. Scary!

We are so far removed from WWII that not many people can relate to this. Especially if they are under 50 years old. Pink Floyd The Wall album has lots of WWII references. Heck, even that album is over 40 years old!

Corn starch in your rubber mix? You sure use some unconventional ingredients Professor Michaud. If you use mineral spirits to thin the rubber mix, the volume of mineral spirits you added will eventually have to evaporate, and the part you cast will shrink.

The thinner CA glue is (less viscous), the faster it will set. Reverse is true too - thick stuff takes longer to set. CA glue is ideal for bonding urethane resin. I also don't think that the brand of CA glue makes much difference. CA is CA.

Wow Marko, that looks good. Looks like you made it out of steel? I would have used aluminum: much easier to machine, has nicer finish, and it will not rust (unless of course you used stainless steel). Thanks for the info on how you replaced the spokes. That is the same method I have used in the past. It is time consuming. I was hoping you came up with an easier or faster way, but it looks the one-spoke-at-a-time is the most used method.

Yes, the logos on company websites are usually images stored in a PNG format. If someone actually took the time to design their own (and yet, slightly flawed) version of a logo, they were not very smart hackers. Another way to get logos is to do a Google search for any logo (either in a bitmap or vector format). I recently had a phishing email, supposedly from Yahoo asking me to log into the new version of their mail reader. It looked legit, but if you hovered over the various links or buttons looking like they were pointing to yahoo, they were actually pointing to other (illegitimate) website. No way I was going to click on them, so they can ask me for my user name and password!

Sorry to hear that yo got hacked - that sucks. But I'm not sure what you mean about the logo being easy. A logo is usually a bitmap (picture) that can easily be copied into any email to make it look official. They can even use the logo directly from the company's website. Not Just Yahoo. Here are some logos from various companies that I simply posted here by using the URL of those logos: Or the bad people can just go to each website, do a screen capture, then crop the logo and add it to a scam email. This is all easy stuff for them to do. I wouldn't blame yahoo for what the scammers do.

That one is very familiar to me. Well, not that specific body style, but I'm familiar with the make. Funny that this one has "venti-ports" on the fenders, like American Buicks had.

Yes, this is a perfect example of what people (and 3 of them) are willing to dish out on that kit. And this is not even the original Can-Do kit (decals are different).

That doesn't look to me like molding or mold flaw - it looks like the missing piece of plastic snapped off after molding. I also see what looks like a large "gate" area on the bottom edge of the body, and that "gate" was trimmed off the body (after it was molded). This problem might be as simple as the worker that trims the gate off the body not being careful.

I would paint the license plate, then put a piece of paper towel on a smooth flat surface (like apiece of glass or whatever else you have that is flat and smooth), gently place the plate painted-side-down on the paper towel, and gently drag it across for some distance. Put very little pressure on the plate while dragging it - just have it barely contacting the paper towel. That should remove the paint just from the raised areas. To aid in the process you might lightly moisten small area on the paper towel with whatever paint solvent is normally used to thin the paint. But do not soak the paper towel - just moistened it, then gently drag the plate over that moist area, finishing the dragging movement over dry area of the paper towel..

No to rain on your parade Jim, but with the pandemic all the shows are likely canceled, and club meetings are also canceled or done remotely (like Zoom meetings). Unless of course you are thinking for next year (or whenever this pandemic gets under control).

Matt, seeing your excellent pictorial, I'm pretty sure I'll be using your engine photos for reference when I finally get to building my kit. It looks better and easier to follow than the factory drawings.

That *IS* nuts! I wouldn't want to work on that engine (1:1 one). But the 1:24 scale version is coming along beautifully!