peteski

Luftwagen? I love it!

It is all covered in the thread I linked to earlier. Just click on the link.

Thanks for the info KJ. Like you said, something simple to make from scratch, but makes a huge visual difference.

Unlikely to change (and go back to when posts could always be edited). See:

I use very cheap dehydrator (about 35 years old by now). It has no thermostat and no fan (air moved by natural convection). Temperature is controlled by adjusting the size of open slots in the lid. Works fine for me.

Nice! Tamiya does make quality models! Las time I've seen one of these built-up was years ago, at a Tamiya-Con.

Revell AG (Germany) has been molding plastic parts in Poland for some years now (unrelated to the latest epidemic). Now that the American Revell is also under the German umbrella I suspect that those kits might also be molded in Poland.

That is a really nice paint drying setup! Does that dehydrator have a built-in fan to move the air, or just natural convection? I see that it has a thermostat, so there should be no problem with it overheating (the thermostat will shut off the heating element when the temperature goes above the set temperature).

I have a pair of those and similar tool from UMM USA (because I'm a "tool whore", and can't help myself). I also have very fine toothed double-edge razor saw from UMM USA. I also sometimes use a good quality cuticle trimmer (bought at a beauty supply shop), and of course several pairs of diagonal cutters. Some of those (Lindstrom brand) are very high quality, read: expensive. And yes, all those tools make my hobby more fun.

Exactly.

I have the Xuron branded version and use for its intended tasks. Nothing is wrong with those unless you want really clean cut. The jaws are too thick to fit between the part and the tree on many parts trees I have handled. The angle of the cutting edges is too shallow for precision cutting. Real "sprue cutters" are modified tweezers. The blade has a sharp angle which prevents the material being cut from being squished too much. The jaws are also very thin to get into those tight spots. Why is everybody so resistant to spending around $10 (or even less) to add a quality tool to their modeling toolbox? I don't get it. Proper tool for the job make the job easier.

The Revell 450 is different than the ESCII model. Esci is a 4-seater (coupe) while I believe the Revell is different year and a convertible (with a "token" back seat). I think the Revell model is a repackaging of their convertible kit (with a separate hard top).

Getting an actual sprue cutter will make your modeling much easier. For a small price you will be much happier (unless you like trimming pieces of the plastic gate leftover from your dike-cut). The diagonal cutters also displace and deform the item being cut, instead of cutting it. Well, the sprue cutter also displaces some material, but it occurs on the side of the gate which is left on the parts tree.

Is he back in business? Last I heard he was on a hiatus.

I believe that the Micropore surgical tape mentioned earlier has a finer (more in-scale) pattern of fibers.

Dentists are very expensive and most dental insurances suck.

The sizes marked on model car sidewalls are often inaccurate, that's why I posted the actual rim diameter and tread width. Also worth noting is that the Bandai RX-7 model and its wheels shown above are of a different generation car than the Tamiya models I own. Tamiya is the next generation from what the Bandai model represents.

Ok, you piqued my curiosity. I took out my Tamiya kits and looked over the wheels. They are mag wheels, different than the ones in the kits mentioned above. The rim diameter is 0.666" (or scale 16"). That makes the tires roughly 14.5" (or between 14 and 15"). The tires are roughly 0.980" diameter. The sidewall is marked PIRELLI P5 as 205/60R 15, but the tread width is roughly 9.4mm, which translates to 235mm (wider than 205).

Thanks for the clarification Ben. What gets me is that you are comparing the RX-7 wheel diameter to MX-5. I would have thought that RX-7 has 14" wheels. Anyways, I'm pretty sure Tamiya RX-7 has appropriately scaled wheels.tires (or at least ones that are very close. I do own 2 Tamiya RX-7 kits. 24060 RX-7 Savannah GT-Limited (red) 24074 RX-7 Savannah Cabriolet (black) I think they both use the same wheels. If you wan't I can dig them up and take some wheel measurements.

Gorgeous build! I immediately noticed how realistic the windshield wipers looked, so I went back to your in-progress thread to get more info. Sure enough, they are scratch-built (not stock kit item). How did you make them? Details like this make or break the model's realism. Good job!

Ah, closer look revealed the small gaps. That makes it much easier to paint the engine.

Just think: one of the institute's graduates might have been working on the jet engine of the airliner you are about to take to fly overseas.

I wouldn't trust any free hosting site anymore (especially since I can upload images directly to this forum). The Imageshack was first - it was free until they wanted payment or delete the images (way before Photobucket did that). So I let them delete my stuff and moved to what was recommended by forum members at that time . . . Photobucket. Then they pulled the same stunt. No thanks - I'm all set! While I have local (and backed up) copy of all my images, it is a pain (or impossible) to re-link the images in my older post to whatever new "free" site I upload my photos again. But uploaded here, the images will be around for as long as the forum is up.

RX-7 and MX-5 are 2 different vehicles. Tamiya made both. I'm still confused.

Ben, Your subject line is confusing. If you are asking about Miata, it is MX-5 (not RX-7). You could edit your post (and the subject line). Adding "Miata" too might also be beneficial. And isn't it Revell, not Monogram? I have both kits, but I'm not home. I can look into this later (unless someone else beats me to it). I'm pretty sure the tires used on the Revell kit were generic tires they use for other kits, I also think that while a simpler kit, Tamiya's body lines are more accurate to the real car. My plan is eventually to kitbash the model using the best parts of both, Tamiya and Revell.