peteski

Not too long ago (well, probably over a year now) moderators decided to lock down editing after 3 days (or similar short time period). In the past you could edit your old threads, but not anymore.

PM sent.

Those wheels look great, but the kit's tires are still pieces of you know what.

When I need to keep parts aligned, yet separate them for painting or complex assemblies, I pin them. If feasible, I put the parts together then drill through both assembled parts. For pins I use 0.020" brass rod (or sometimes thinner). I glue a length of the rod into the hole in one of the parts. That allows for precise reassembly when I come to that task. Magnets are a clever idea, but since I mostly work in 1:24 or 1:43 scales, the magnets would be too large to be used for alignment of most engine parts. But they woudl work for aligning and holding car bodies. to the chassis or frame.

Wow! That is a blast from the past for me. I'm not into rally cars, but I worked at Computervision for over 10 years in 1980s and early '90s. I seem to recall that they also sponsored some Penske race cars.

The Italeri kit is on my to-do list. I also have the Tamiya kit mentioned as an engine donor. I bought both several years ago. But the Tamiya kit is so nice that I might have to buy another one, just to build it. There are several things that bug me about the Italeri kit (going from memory, as I haven't looked at if for few years). -- Windshield and frame are single clear piece, with very thick "glass". I was thinking of using it for a vacu-forming buck, then cutting the "glass" out, "chroming" the remaining frame, and then gluing in the thinner vacu-formed "glass". -- To make operational trunk lid hinges I bought some Sakatsu cast metal hinges - those should work nicely. Unfortunately those hinges are out of production and hard to find. -- Wheels and tires (especially the tires) are very poorly done (and wrong size?). I have found an inexpensive die-cast hardtop version of this car with really nice wheels and tires. -- There is something odd about the nose/grille area (don't remember specifics). -- The interior also needs some work to make this into a decent model (don't remember specifics)..

I have done that years ago (when I was younger and crazier) on a Monogram Ultimates '67 Corvette, in 1:43 scale. Yes, 1:43. Then I Bare-Metal-Foiled the door handles.

Rob, I keep meaning to contact you to let you know that some of the decal makers info is out of date (unless you updated it recently). I looked through the USA section.

Oh man, you're messing things up over here! Shouldn't you have posted this in the "What pleased you today" thread? ?

You can check anybody's profile here. According to Greg's profile, he last visited here just couple of days ago, Saturday Sept. 21st. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/profile/8648-greg-wann/

I once again invite everybody to join our annual model exhibition and contest. Lots of contest models, vendors and delicious food. Loads of fun and camaraderie! Staff photographer (me) will be taking photos of models for possible publication in Scale Auto Contest Annual (they choose the ones they will publish from the batch we send in). Show flier is available here and contest entry form here .

Well . . . Drivers have not been updated since Windows 7 (and that was a kludge), so while you can get them to work with current version of Windows, it can be a pain. Only 32 bit drivers too. Alps are also happiest running from a hardware on-motherboard parallel (LPT) port. Anything else can be a pain to set up. I have dedicated Win98SE machine where my Alps is attached and I run Corel Draw 10 on it to do my artwork. That is the easiest and most reliable setup, although Alps is also perfectly happy on XP. These printers are quite delicate and many (sold used) end up with damaged print head. Most ink cartridges are still relatively easy to find, but the prices are shooting through the roof. I have a nice stash of inks, so I'm set. Elephant Rocket is also producing some custom color inks, not ever offered by Alps (makes it easier to get some colors difficult to print on Alps otherwise). But don't think that once you have the printer, the decal printing is easy. There is quite a bit to learn on how to do it properly, and some ink overlays will not adhere to previous layers. But once you get the hang of it, and the printer cooperates, the results are stunning! I have owned my Alps printers for at least 15 years now, and I'm glad I got mine when I did. Here is a good primer and general reference on Alps decal printing. robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm (had a 404 error when trying to post this with the link above, so just add "http://" to the URL above and copy/paste into your browser)

I have another post which generates an error when posting. Dave Ambrose, if you like, I could send you that text to experiment with (I have not isolated the specific trigger words). I probably won't be able to PM that text to you (since PMs are probably filtered too), so I would need your email address.

I think that is an understatement. Decals printed on clear film using any CYMK color printer (ink jet or laser) do not work on dark surfaces. Period! Lets not dilute ourselves. No matter how many times you overprint, they will still be translucent and the dark model surface will basically hide them.CYMK printers rely on the background surface being white. The only color which is opaque in those printers is black (by definition).

Not every part you send to be metalized is a simple grille or bumper. Not everybody has the skill for resin casting.Some parts have complex shapes which would require multi-part molds (that makes it even more complicated). To get bubble free parts case you need vacuum and pressure pots. MAybe you have the ability and equipment to cast copies of complex parts, but I don't think that casing spares is a viable option for most people.

That wouldn't be optimal for me. I usually need some smaller parts plated (not just bumpers, grilles, and wheel covers). ChromeTech USA used to accept racked parts. I always sent them my racks (not individual parts). If KustomKrome uses his own larger racks, he could just rack my rack in his as one "large part".

Drafting tape? I like that. IIRC, is paper based, and probably thinner than electrical tape. If the adhesive is stable, it is all good.

Not being skeptical about quality (even if George mentions a disclaimer about possible problems at the plater). I'm not of FB but would like to know more details about what he accepts. I like to rack my own parts. Is that acceptable to him? What size rack? Which areas of the rack have to be left free of parts?

Electrical tape (even the more expensive 3M brand) will shrink in time and also the adhesive gets gooey and soft after few years. At least in my experience (in its as-intended electrical application). The tape is stretchy vinyl. The shrinkage might be due to the fact that the tape stretched when it is being pulled from the roll. It probably takes some time for it to relax and get back to its original size. But even then, the adhesive meltdown can be a problem when it is used on a model.

Ok, but either way, he might just get tired of casting all those parts - he's been doing this for decades. As far as the business being taken over, even if he finds someone, I'll be really surprised if they are as fastidious as Norm is. Which means the quality will suffer. Yes, I might sound negative, but IMO, I'm just being a realist. But on the bright side, 3D printing is really advancing, and there are plenty of computer whizzes who can whip out superb 3D designs with ease, so we might have a replacement for fine craftsmen casters like Don H. and Norm V.

70-something? Unfortunately, time marches on. I'm dreading the day Norm decides to retire - just like with Modelhaus, we will loose a superb craftsman, and all of his excellent resin castings.

As it has been discovered earlier, there is likely some combination of words in your detailed commentary that trips the forum's anti-hacking routine, causing the 404 error.

I don't believe you can just replace the black toner cartridge with a white one and magically be able to print out opaque color decals. It all depends in which order the colors get printed. There are color laser printers which can print white, but they also come with special drivers (RIP, or Raster Image Processor) which allows you some control of how images get printed.

To be honest, I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it was not an automotive lacquer or enamel. So that leaves either some flavor of solvent-based Testors model paint, or possibly Accu-paint (model railroad paint). Does it matter? If it leaves a mess on my model (regardless of what paint I use), I will not use the product.

Happy Birthday?