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Posts posted by peteski
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18 hours ago, Flat32 said:
Danbury '32 roadster on right, molded plastic. Danbury '32 3 window coupe on left, real wire spokes.
Fair enough. I'm not a die-cast model collector and I have never seen any of the "Mint" models with nice real wire spokes like that.
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18 minutes ago, Flat32 said:
I know they do. Just not what I need to fit my rims. I suppose you could say I want a real tire at 1:25. I see no reason why we can't have Danbury Mint quality level spoked wheels on the beautifully hand crafted models I see on the forums.
Fireball Resin tires are depict tires on modern vehicles. So you are planning on making tires for antique cars? As far as as the diecasts from Danbury or Franklin Mints go, I have couple Danbury Mint '30s cars and I don't consider their spoke wheels to be particularly well made. The spokes are fairly out-of-scale molded plastic. Maybe you've seen some that have photoetched spokes? Those look much better, but the best ones are hand-laced using wire.
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Ray,
Like you, I am very curious about manufacturing processes. I would love to hear some "war stories" from kit designers and die/pattern makers who worked in the model kit industry. But unfortunately they don't hang out in model forums. Well, there are some industry insiders here, but not many. This is more of a builders forum. Thankfully (as shown in some references in this thread) more and more of this type of info is accessible on the Internet. But still, I think it would be really cool to have some of the old-timers sharing their experiences on this forum.
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The topmost sticky in this section of the forum has hundreds of posts about stripping model paints and lots of hints as to what works with what and other special things that can be done to successfully strip paint. While it will take a while to read through it than just posting a new question about the same old paint strippers, that lengthy thread is very educational. Just sayin' . . .
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On 12/1/2017 at 6:05 AM, Flat32 said:
I'm investigating making my own tires by casting and I'm certain soft black RTV material or polyurethane is available from Alumilite or Smooth-on. There are also 3D printable soft and flexible materials, but I don't think good enough for tread and sidewall markings details.
Fireball Resin makes several types of tires cast in soft (urethane?) rubber material.
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On 12/1/2017 at 11:19 AM, Daddyfink said:
Da, Komrade!
Wow! I grew up in Poland in the '70s and I don't recall seeing that one (the writing is in Polish). That is a really poor drawing of the Space Shuttle. The boxart looks home-made by some teenager.
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3 hours ago, zenrat said:
Thanks Mike.
I had always wondered.
I had a whole heap of the soft plastic 1/32 Airfix soldiers which for a number of years fought out almost daily battles on the playroom floor. Green Team (Aussies, Brits and US Marines) vs Blue/Grey/Yellow Team (Wehrmacht, Russian and Africa Korp). Support by Britains diecast artillery (54mm scale* i believe), diecast armour (Dinky amongst others 1/32?) and my pride and joy, an Airfix 1/32 Stalwart (prebuilt - not a kit. Unboxed and beaten up so worth nothing today but I wish I still had it).
* Another can of worms - Wargame scales. And lets not mention HO/OO railway and the different N gauges...
Yes, model railroads have their own scale problems. But it is a scale, not gauge problem. N gauge is always 9mm but it can be used for several scales (like 1:148, 1:150 and 1:160). Same with G-gauge track -it can be used fo several scale models
Then there are "box scales". In the '60s kit manufacturers were using standardized size boxes. So they made models (usually aircraft or ships) to fit the standard-size box. That resulted in all sorts of odd scales. Then there are Matchbox diecasts: those were also scaled to fit in the standard-size box, resulting in a wide range of vehicle scales being used.
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On 11/30/2017 at 8:06 AM, echoxrayniner said:
Company called Rothko & Frost, accidentally stumbled upon them a while ago cause they offered what I initially wanted the most: medium 9x19cm sheets with metallics and full CMYK for less than 25 euro, so I could just craft up my stuff for funsies and use it myself for whenever the kit(looking at you AMT) would be missing certain decals/details, but they got rid of that small sheet option and now only offer A4-sized sheets exclusively so I thought, what the hell, lets go big.
Thanks for the info. Your artwork looks excellent! What graphic program do you use.
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I bought some full extension drawer slides and some wide laminated boards at Home Depot and built myself a paint cabinet. The drawers were designed to hold few hundred of various brands of paint bottles and spray cans.
I also built a smaller cabinet for my tools (under the workbench). It is on casters so I can roll it around the workshop.
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I learned a lot here - thanks guys! And I totally spaced out on all the 1:20 F1 kits (I even own few myself). I still wish that instead of having 3 scales fairly close to each other in the twenties (1:20, 1:24 and 1:25) all the manufacturers just picked one of those and never made models in the other 2 scales.
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15 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:
The Olds set is deeeefinitely printed by an ALPS, you're 100% right! Weirdly enough they still have alignment marks on the edges of the sheet, maybe for their conveniences sake
Ah, so that makes sense now. Who in UK printed these for you? Precision Labels & Decals?
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16 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:
Yeeeaahhh I have done a similar thing on a '92 Firebird(although I half-assed it something fierce, yours looks pretty dang good) earlier this year, so for me its also too little too late but... Hopefully can help people out from here on out hah. Also, the Hurst/Olds sheet's here, hooray! A bit too little red on the Hurst/Olds logos but they were both 2px at best and black wins over red for prominence so... learning experience.
These do look very nice (especially with the metallic silver and gold).
Funny - going by the sheen of the inks (and by the faint line across the pair of black license plates with the Oldsmobile logo) to my eyes they look like they are printed on Alps MicroDry printer.
This photo doesn't show the corners of the sheet but if there are alignment marks (usually thin crosses) for all the ink layers than that would be a good indication that they were silk-screened. I do see a small color swatches on each set of decals. If you look at the swatches under a strong magnifier, is the color made up of individual dots (like what you would expect on an ink-jet or color laser printout) or is each color perfectly solid with no dots at all?
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This thread got me thinking about this oddball scale. I have built automotive model kits in 1:8, 1:12, 1:16, 1:24, 1:25, 1:32, 1:43, 1:87, and 1:160 scales, but I have stayed away from 1:20. Why in the world someone decided to produce plastic models in that scale?! What were they trying to accomplish? Which company was the first to produce 1:20 scale kits?
It seems to have never caught on because there are very few models made in that scale. Another oddball is 1:18, but that is, AFAIK only used for pre-reassembled diecast models.
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15 hours ago, stitchdup said:
try cutting one or two slice on the wheel where the axle goes in, it should relieve the pressure and let it come out easier.
Or heat the remaining axle with a soldering iron (or a torch if you are adventurous). That should soften the plastic surrounding the axle and you might be able to pull it out.
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The ends of the metal axles are usually knurled and press-fit in the wheel. I had some luck taking the tires off then twisting each wheel in opposite direction while pulling them apart at the same time. But at this point looks like you used "plan B".
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17 minutes ago, Classicgas said:
Each to their own opinion. I and many others like VW bugs.
I didn't say that I don't like those cute little buggers. But as cars go, they are unimpressive as compared to let's say a more impressive car like a Ferrari. One can like unimpressive vehicles. I for example like Henry J. , Nash Metropolitan, and many European Eastern Block vehicles (like Trabant, Syrena or Warszawa), even though they are all unimpressive vehicles. I like VWs too.
Unimpressive doesn't mean unlikable. We both know that Volkswagens (especially the vintage ones) have a huge following, even though they are cheap wheels. Remember, VolksWagen (people's car) was a a basic econo-boxes designed for the masses. It was Hitler before WWII who decided to make a car which pretty much every citizen could afford. He engaged Ferdinand Porsche for this task and the rest is history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen
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12 hours ago, curt raitz said:
Brad...the guy who did is photo-etch stuff passed away...so Norm will only have leftover photo-etch stock for sale.
So Norm was just buying the etched parts from an outside source, then casting the rims, tires and the assembly fixture?
Was the guy that passed away etching those himself or having them etched by some metal etching company? If it was a company then they still have the artwork to etch more sets of those etched frets (if we had some info about the company and the guy selling these to Norm). These are rhetorical questions.
That is one of the bad things about cottage industry like this - the production falls apart when one of the outside suppliers disappears. No "plan B".
Norm's wheels are/were very nice. I should call him up and see if I can get more info about this. Getting parts etched is is not that difficult nowadays. Maybe we can get Norm supplied with more etchings?
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Since we have now branched to non-automotive subjects, pretty much all the box-art from the now-defunct VEB Plasticart (kit manufacturer from East Germany in the '70s) had some beautiful artwork. Those were some of the first kits I built as a kid and the artwork still looks beautiful. Here is a bunch of examples.
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Yes, some brands of metallic model paints have totally out-of-scale size of metallic particles. Testors is one of the worse. Those paints look really bad on a model in photographs. Like others said, there are paints with much finer metallic particles, but it is also a bit of a compromise of what looks good and what would be properly scaled.
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5 hours ago, Junkman said:
I find it uninspiring, bleak and depressing.
Now what?
The "real" VW Beetle convertible is a very unimpressive car. So why should the model be any different. The only thing going for it is the fact that it is a convertible. To me the box-art looks perfectly fine and the model looks to be well built. It shows what is inside the box. Nothing depressing about it.
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9 hours ago, Brian Austin said:
And black vinyl for the most part looks like...black vinyl. :-)
Well, the rubber tires in Japanese kits have a correct look. But yes, vinyl tires don't look very realisitc. But little rubbing using scouring poweder or some Dullcote makes them look like rubber. And of course if one models a car at a show with shined-up tires, shiny vinyl works just fine.
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On 11/23/2017 at 6:35 AM, Classicgas said:
I sent magazines via media mail.
You're not the first nor last to do that. Other restricted items also get sent via Media Mail.
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26 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:
They could mold them in black styrene.
:-P
And they would look like they are made from black styrene. They are molded usually in neutral colors (like gray or beige) because that is what military modelers prefer and they are on the same tree as other parts. But even if molded in black , they would still need to be painted to properly represent the color and surface sheen of rubber tires.
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The pressure question is not a one-size-fits all. It depends on many factors. What type of paint, how viscous it is, what type of surface you are painting and how large it is, and what size nozzle is being used are just some variables. You will find yourself changing the pressure, paint flow and distance to the object being painted depending on the specific scenario.
Decal problem
in Model Building Questions and Answers
Posted · Edited by peteski
That is an important clue. Sounds like the decal got wet, decals slid around and the glue layer (which is also impermeable to the liquid clear film) dissolved off the paper. So when you painted a layer of the liquid decal film the water soluble glue was not there acting as a barrier and the liquid decal film adhered to the paper. You basically sealed the decal images to the paper backing.
You might still be able to trim the decals right to the images and if there is still enough adhesive left under the images you might be able to slide them off the paper. The alternative would be to scan the decal, create artwork and print a new copy.