peteski

Thanks! I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I did bunch of scratchbuilding to add more details to that already nice kit. That was last automotive model I built (few years back). I have bunch of photos of it (in progress, and finished). Someday I'll post it in the Under Glass section.

IPA fumes are very mild compared to other chemicals. After all, it is used as rubbing alcohol, spread all over your body (without wearing a respirator). IPA is relatively safe - just don't drink it! But rubbing alcohol is usually 70% strength. For paint stripping you need at least 91% (I use 99% purchased in gallon containers at a hardware store).

LOL. Sounds better than Stasia.

Few years ago I bought the sedan body at the NNL East from the gentleman that wrote and sells the plastic kits price guide. Bill "something" (Coulter? don't remember). He might have more available.

A face only its designer could love.

What others said: The T-Rex looks awesome Joe! The struggle is real.

The stenciled logos look great! Bruce, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but if I was going the extra mile to stencil the logos, I would have first dulled down the sidewalls. They just look too shiny to me. I've had a success using scouring powder and a toothbrush. Mix the powder with some water to make a paste, then rub it over the sidewalls with the toothbrush. It takes some time, but the vinyl tires look more thke the 1:1 tires.

I actually joined this forum so I could PM him to ask a question (after I found his Bandai Showman's Engine thread in a Google search). He was a super nice guy, and a very talented modeler. I too miss him a lot!

Yes, a gloss clear coat (of any type) over flat paint will change the sheen to be more glossy. That is what modelers do to prepare flat finish for waterslide decals (which are best applied to glossy surface). But I was under the impression that you wanted to retain the flat finish on that part.

This is a Monogram Ultimates 1:43 scale 2879 Cobra. I drilled out the model's distributor using a PC Board drill bit (those are very sharp Tungsten Carbide bits with 1/8" shanks) held in a pin vise. Those bits are very fragile (but I have large supply at hand). This type of very small and precise work I do under magnification. I use a stereo-microscope (aka. a dissecting microscope). 1:43 scale distributor is quite small.

I don't need anything large. I was just adding some information to what Bill posted about Photon in his post above mine.

Alps MD printer is the only consumer printer I know that can print Metallic Gold and Gold foil. Here is a list of decal makers who use that printer: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm#custom

Yes, Anycubic Photon is very popular printer on a model railroad forum I frequent. Several members own them, and they can produce some really high quality items (and this is in N scale, or 1:160). But hat printer can only produce fairly small items (perfect for small scale modeling).

Usually oil-based stains and paints will not distort wood, while water-based will. Was the stain water-based or oil-based?

I had one of those too (I think it was a 1973) as a beater car in the '80s. Mine was metallic blue with white interior. Slant-6. I also had another beater: similar vintage Plymouth Gold Duster. It was cream with a genuine-snakeskin vinyl top, brown interior, and also a slant-6. Drove both to the ground.

Cool. In that case you have an important obstacle behind you.

OK, but that is pretty much 2D drawing. 3D is quite different in complexity. I'm also fairly good win CorelDraw, but when I dove into SketchUp, it was quite a new experience. You have to think in 3D space.

I love to get my hands on one of the T-bird kits, but it looks like it will be an "unobtanium". That sucks!

Of the Modelhaus fame? I wonder if it is one of those special projects he mentioned that he would still take on after closing Modelhaus.

I had a feeling that this was some sort of take on Lotus Europa (but I didn't spent the time to find the actual car). The wheels, and the shape of the door were my main clues. The flat rear deck also has a strong Lotus Europa flavor.

Same here. I often have a 6" x 6" spot on the bench to actually work on. When I do clean the bench, it looks better, but that doesn't last long.

Yeah, those are some photorealistic flywheels! Nice! One very important thing with programs designed for graphic design is that you can easily accurately scale any object to the exact size you need. That functionality alone to me is worth the purchase price. PowerPoint does have some vector graphic capabilities, along with limited ruler, grid, and accurate object sizing capabilities, but it is not really geared towards graphic artwork design. MS Paint does not have those abilities, so you basically keep on resizing until you get it right.

I bought one of those at Michael's few years ago and tried it few times. But I never got used to is, so it just sits in a drawer. Maybe I wasn't "wearing" it properly?

How about Splash Paints? They seem to be a competitor of Gravity. They post on this forum

That technique is quite old. The box art for the old (mid '70s) AMT KISS van model featured a model done that way. The instructions on how to achieve that effect were included in the kit.