peteski

Looks good! Nice job! You need to take a photo of it sitting on a dollar bill, on couple of coins, or some other easily identifiable item - like a #11 hobby knife blade (for size reference).

Thanks for the followup - I'm glad things worked out for you. I figured that if the problem was with the clear coat (Future), another coat might smooth things out. You had nothing to lose. . .

That stand (except for the holes in the vertical part) looks just like the stands included with model airliners made by VEB Plasticart (East German model company) back in the '70s. Growing up in Poland at that time I've build bunch of those.

As long as the additional month of Summer doesn't include hot and very muggy tropical weather. I would like that extra month to be in late Spring or early Fall.

I should have been clearer. No, I 'm not implying that the admins here are on salaries. I'm pretty sure that they are all unpaid volunteers. They do pretty darn good job, but as the saying goes "you get what you paid for". What I'm saying is that unlike a well-oiled-machine, without paid support and admin staff, this forum will experience glitches and sometimes fixes will take longer than one expects. After all, the admins have things other to do than constantly watch over the forum or spend long hours fixing bugs or problems. If the IT departments in your experience were problem-free then you are very lucky. Like I said, I support iSCSI storage arrays and I see all sorts of horror stories. Granted, I only see the bad stuff (since nobody opens up service tickets if their stuff is working), but I still roll my eyes about the ineptitude of some of the IT people I deal with. Some don't even know where the equipment is in the data center! The most common problem is lack if proper data backups. The storage array goes down with a multi-drive failure (a RAID set can only withstand certain number of drives dying) where it is not possible to bring the array back online (basically they have to replace the disks and reset the array), and they have no backups! Or some partial backups months old! So the entire company (or a large portion) is down. Sometimes they can sent out the key disk drive to a data recover service, but that costs a lot of money and not guaranteed to clone the drive to get it back into the array and get the RAID back in degraded state. I see this in companies as small as some attorneys office, and all the way up to large corporations where thousands of employees are affected by the outage. My reply was to your post: It seems to be giving advice without really knowing of how many Admins they have here. And if you think that they are having problems due to lack of admins, I thought that you might want to volunteer to get things moving faster. That's all.

Probably an American car that is not too new or too old - just right from the group's demographics. It looks familiar to me too, but I don't feel like doing the research.

Shapeways does not recommend any harsh chemicals for cleaning the 3D printed parts. IIRC, they recommend a bath in warm olive oil and them rinse in Dawn dish detergent and warm water. In my other hobby (model railroading) we have been using Shapeways-printed parts for several years, and the modelers developed their own cleaning methods, better than what Shapways recommended. Using IPA is not one of them. Bestine is the most commonly used washing agent, but there was a period of time when it was not available for purchase. Naphtha is a similar chemical, so it was being used when Bestine was not available. It works almost as well as Bestine (and neither will attach the parts, even after extended soaking).

Is that something new? Does Alclad recommend this method? As I understand, Alclad chrome only requires a smooth gloss black undercoat (some people using gloss gray dark blue). Why put clear over the gloss black it the black is already glossy? The important thing is that (just like chrome) the base surface needs to be glass smooth for maximum reflectivity of the chrome paint. But gloss black should be glossy enough by itself.

That is all well and good Steve, but who will pay their salaries? IT admins don't work for peanuts. Looks like Dave is dealing with a technical problem, not just watching over the forum for bad language, trolling, or threads in the wrong sections. Finding volunteers willing to do IT work for free is not that easy. It also takes knowledge to do some of the technical work needed to administer the forum's database, the front end, and web servers. Plus if you have multiple admins, things can end up badly (especially when they don't communicate well with each other). I work in tech support and I see all sorts of horror stories (even in large companies) because the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Talk is cheap - are you volunteering?

Bill last visited here on August 6, and his last post was on August 5, in that thread about locking threads which turned pretty nasty at the end. Maybe he is tired of some of the attitudes here, and simply is taking a break from the forum. Or at least I hope that is the case, and he's otherwise ok. I like his assertive (suffer-no-fools) personality and usually find the knowledge he is sharing with others here very educational and right-on-the-money.

That is a very sad news. Thanks for letting us know Skip. I hope that they all get well soon.

If these are rendered in FUD of FXD (or whatever name Shapeways uses today), the waxy residue can be safely cleaned off with Bestine Rubber Cement Thinner (Heptane), or Ronsonol lighter fluid, or VM&P Naphtha. Those chemicals will not damage the parts.

I like to give a shout-out to Jeff (gotnitor?) for sending me those air horns! You rock man! Thank you!

Gee, you're welcome. Could it be that everybody who viewed this thread simply doesn't have the answer you are looking for? I looked here and I can't help you. Does that make me a bad or a lazy person?

No different than eBay and Amazon sellers. The sellers are hoping for fools who will buy those overpriced items. If you look on Amazon for specific item (with real cost of $20) you will often find it priced by various sellers from $20 to $200! It is crazy!

Interesting. Here is a link to the info about this adhesive: https://www.rapidonline.com/pdf/87-4030_v1.pdf It is not a CA glue - that is correct. It is a moisture-cure glue (the Polyurethane adhesives from Gorilla Glue are also moisture cured) but this one does not seem to be urethane based. To quote the above mentioned document: - Solvent-free, odourless, safe to use - High strength – lifetime bond - Extreme temperature resistance EVO-STIK Serious Glue is a high performance; single component, moisture curing, Modified Silane (MS) Polymer based adhesive. It will bond most surfaces even if both are impervious. The product will bond damp surfaces and may even be used underwater. It has very low odour, cures to form an elastic rubber, with almost no shrinkage and low hazard; it does not contain any water or solvent, making it ideal for bonding foam polystyrene. EVO-STIK Serious Glue bonds to most surfaces including wood, concrete, brick, plaster, glass, ceramics, metals, rigid pvc, grp, fabrics and foam polystyrene . It is ideal for fixing and repair jobs inside and outside the home, in the garden, for cards and boats and for hobbies and crafts (EVO-STIK Serious Glue will not bond to polyethylene and polypropylene materials). I might just add this one to my already-extensive arsenal of adhesives. I wonder how it works in really dry climates (since it needs moisture for curing)?

FYI, Alclad has been selling similar paints for few years now, although I can't find them on their website. For example ALC 203 is Gold to Green and ALC 201 is Green to Blue. I have both, but haven't used them on a car body yet. Pearl-X also has similar color shifting powders (those are available in craft stores). Those have to be added to clear lacquer for spraying.

I do what you don't like doing (mask the plastic before painting, scrape the paint off, or pin parts), so I don't have much advice to offer. When using CA glue on painted surfaces, use BSI brand accelerator (applied with a precision applicator, like a Microbrush). If the CA glue doesn't set on the painted part for a while, it will melt the paint and not make a good joint. The bottom line is that no matter what you try, the strength of the glue joint will only be as good as the weakest area in the joint (usually it is the paint). There is no magic trick to make gluing painted parts easier. Edit: Actually, I forgot epoxy (because I don't use it often). But since Steve mentioned it in the post below mine, epoxy it also good adhesive for painted parts. It will not melt the paint, but it takes a while to harden. I'm ore of a CA glue and accelerator addict - I like my glue joints to be instant (in most instances).

Sounds to me like the ratio is for adding flattening agent to a gloss clear. The sheen of paint would not be changed by different ratio of hardener.

Brian, I'm curious as to what you are planning on using this paint on.

I agree that using liquid cement which will melt and "weld" the plastic parts into a single piece is the best option here. It doesn't really matter that one piece is clear and the other is solid color. Polystyrene all starts as clear resin - dyes and fillers are added to color it or to make it opaque. But using this method make sure to let the liquid cement (solvent) fully evaporate from the joints. I would give it at least a week. If you sand the joint too soon, some of the solvent is still trapped in the styrene and it will shrink slightly after sanding, producing a ghost depression at the joint. If you wait long enough, that shrinkage will be minimized. Then after sanding smoothly and priming it, give it another several days in case more shrinkage still occurs. If it does, take care of it before painting the car body.

Thanks Joe! And go 4 it!

You reminded me of something I used do back in Poland when walking (with couple of buddies) back home from grade school. (yes, we walked couple of kilometers, with no supervision, or school buses ,or crossing guards). Anyway, my Grandma used to pack lunch for me, which usually consisted of couple of small bulkie rolls with smalec (lard). The lard had skwarki (little pieces of bacon leftover from the melting process) in it for a bit of a crunch. I didn't eat them at lunch break. I kept them until about half way back home where there was a little vegetable stand. Among other things they had an oak barrel full of delicious sauerkraut! I would ask the lady for about 2 pennies worth of sauerkraut. She would put a piece of wax paper on the old fashioned scale and with wooden tongues put down a pinch of the kraut. I woudl then take it off the scale, open up my lardy rolls and make them into a lard and kraut sandwich. Those were delicious!

There is Microscale "set" and "sol". "Set" is acetic-acid based (smells like vinegar) and is the mild solution which should allow you more time for repositioning the decal. "Sol" is the stronger stuff Art mentioned and it smells like alcohol. That should be used when the are extreme raised or depressed surfaces under the decal. Did your solution smell like vinegar or alcohol? If you want some slippery liquid to allow you extra positioning time then use your saliva. Seriously - it works well. Just don't eat anything like chocolate for a some time before using your spit. You need it clean and clear. Art: I have heard or read somewhere that the decal adhesive is actually dextrose, a type of sugar, not gelatin. Just lick your decal paper to verify.

Quite few Polish dishes also show German influence (especially in western Poland, since it was under German occupation for quite some time).