peteski

Guys, This thread is 18 years old!!! It's not surprising that a whole bunch of the cottage-industries listed *ARE* out of business. Even Billy, who started this thread 18 years ago has last visited forum in 2011 (13 years ago). I love when someone revives an ancient thread and starts critiquing it, then others pile on.

Not sure about that. I suspect that a majority of Gundam builders are under 30. It might be that the generation which builds those models doesn't think attending contests is something they are interested in, since there are many other online ways to share their work. Younger generations seem to prefer remote interactions to in-person ones.

I wonder if they also have a larger audience on Facebook or other social media platforms where they share their builds with more than just small group of friends?

Yes, MS Paint is very basic, but you seem to be doing pretty well with it. Maybe try https://www.gimp.org/ or https://www.irfanview.com/ . For really advanced stuff (vector-based art), try https://inkscape.org/

It's big in Japan.

To me, 1mm (0.040")is way too wide for realistic 1:25 scale pinstripe. That in 1:1 would be 1" wide. Something between 0.005" and 0.010" (~ 0.13 - 0.3mm)would be in scale.

You could first paint the body gold, then apply thin striping tape as mask, then paint the car black and expose the masked stripes. Not sure how well that will work, and those will likely be oversize (I doubt you can find realistically narrow tape and apply it straight. Decals seem like a more viable option and ever those will likely be out-of-scale. The car in you photo seems to have rather restrained striping. I've seen other similar cars with more elaborate striping.

Well, even those fluids get recycled. The get flushed into the sewer system, eventually ending up in a river, then ocean. The ocean water evaporates, creating clouds. Those rain on land, eventually ending up being picked up by a municipal water processing plant, and into the water distribution system, and at the flusher for that urinal, closing the loop.

Yes, fortunately communications between seller and a bidder on their auction is still allowed on eBay even now. I had a similar experience where after the auction I missed bidding on (with no buyer). I contacted them to tell them I was interested, and they listed the item again with a BiN price, and let me know that it was active. I then bought the item (like you said, without breaking any rules).

. . . and looking at the bid history, it was won by one of the 2 snipers who both bid few seconds before the auction ended. As I expected. Back in the days where any eBay user could contact another one, I used to get angry messages from the other bidders when I won an item by sniping. I found them amusing.

True! My usually magnifier of choice is Optivisor with a #7 lens plate, but nowadays I also have stereo zoom microscope.

While I built mine about 25 years ago (and didn't take any notes back then - this was before Internet groups ) I seem to recall that I screwed the screws into their "sockets" before assembly, then once they were screwed in I would heat the screw head with a soldering iron to create the threads in plastic. By pushing on the screw gently with the iron's tip you can tell when the plastic starts to soften. Of course try one first and see how the screw comes out when it cools. I might have pre-drilled the holes using drill bit tiny bit larger than the hole to make threading the screw easier. It was long time ago . . .

That sounds like clogged valve or plugged up siphon tube. Have you ever pulled the complete nozzle off the valve stem? The metal rod simply pushes down on the valve which is placed deeper inside the stem in the can.

Curious. . . If they are the same as the RMCoM's then they would likely be made by the same manufacturer, so I wonder why Norm's supplier could no longer manufacture them. Maybe Scale Motorsports simply copied their design to make their own. Norm's original rings were etched from nickel silver. I wonder if Scale Motorsports are also nickel silver, or stainless steel?

That's correct. When the rod is stuck in depressed position the paint keeps on spraying and you can't stop it.

I have to say that I also experienced the metal plunger rod get stuck in a depressed position. You must be lucky Steve, or couple of us are just unlucky.

LOL, in my case that model was build many years before Fireball even existed (or before I was on the Internet), and as you agreed, the technique is still valid. RMCoM also sells resin door handles, but again I don't think I knew about them. Plus in 1:43 scale, all those door 1:25 handles are useless!

Actually depleted uranium was used as a counterbalance weights in Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets, and for a more fun application Jim FitzGerald (founder of the NTRAK modular N scale system) build an N scale locomotive called "Cotton Brute" which used depleted uranium as weights to maximize its pulling ability. By Jim Fitzgeral from NTRak NewsletterSept/Oct 1983 The "Cotton Brute" and long trains. The origional goal was a 500 car train based on a N&W 500 car train that ran from West Virginia to Ohio when remote control mid train helpers were first used by N&W. The “Cotton Brute” was the star of a series of special locomotives that I built for long train tries. I did a word search for four and five letter words starting with "B". Other locomotives were Cotton Bell, Cotton Bull and Cotton Boss, all in SP / Cotton Belt scarlet and grey. The photo of the Cotton Brute is a composite showing the complete engine in the foreground and an exploded view. The long fuel tank/frame is indeed depleted uranium. Where I worked we had made some experimental gyros of the material. Other materials were easier to precisely machine. The top weights are machined from lead and completely fill the thin shell. The engine weighs 24 oz, 1-1/2 pounds and has a Sagami 1630 motor. The longest train with just the Cotton Brute on the head end was 560 Kadee (MicroTrains) two bay coal cars. The custom layout had 72" minimum radius curves in a folded dogbone shape. There were 560 Kadee two bay hoppers with modified Rapido couplers used for the long train efforts. The layout used was built just for long trains. It was single track with 6 foot minimum radius in a “dogbone” shape. There was one trailing point turnout from a siding used to set up additional strings of cars to add to the train. The modules were about 4’ long and made from 3/8” particle board. Sorry for going a bit off-topic but it is such a cool story.

There is a pretty nice resin transkit for 1949 Beetle made by Best Model Car Parts on eBay. It works with Tamiya's Beetle. I bought one for $65 couple of years ago.

Yes, that really improves the look of a model. I used small dental burrs similar to these for this task. I managed to do this on a 1/43 scale Corvette.

I bought mine from RMCoM (Replicas and Miniatures Company of Maryland) some years ago. They came on flexible black vinyl backing sheet. Not sure if Norm still stocks them.

How about adding some weight into the engine nacelles (right behind the engines)? While it will not make much difference, it might just be enough for the model to stay on all 3 wheels. Just make sure to add the weight forward of the main gear.

You can rinse them off if you still have running water, or wipe them off any any handy piece of fabric (bath towels are fair game). Licking is not recommend, but would work as a last option. Or have your dog lick your fingers clean (some dogs actually enjoy eating poopsicles).

Scam. There is no such thing as low-frequency broadcast of digital television. TV video and audio signal need wide enough bandwidth which low frequency broadcast couldn't handle. Broadcast authorities monitoring? There is no such thing (at least in USA), and even if they were there and monitoring, why not just monitor the "official" frequencies. This is so far-fetched, it isn't even funny. Fell free to try and report if I'm wrong.

The weird thing is that if anything, we as people should be hoarding things that are much more vital to our survival! TP? Really?! It is not like we couldn't make do with piece of newspaper, a large leaf, or in an emergency, our fingers. Ewwww?! It's not that bad. Our butts can handle that, and hands can be washed. We are so spoiled!