peteski

Yeah, it is on late night on MeTV. I watch it sometimes. I agree, nicely done model.

I enjoy following your progress and I can fully relate to just how small these are. I like building small models too. Like these scratchbuilt (cast resin and photoetched) dodgem cars in N (1:160) scale. I hope you don't mind me posting a photo.

A bus? That could probably go in the trucks section?

Yeah, these look like ground-based companions to the Egg Plane kits.

Well executed - I like the color too.

Well done! Amazing how these crippled planes were still able to fly and land.

Plastic soda bottles are made from a different plastic than model kits and will not be a good indicator if the paint will attack polystyrene or ABS (from which most kits are made). Bot if the goal is to verify how the paint covers and its gloss level, a plastic bottle will work well.

I agree that silicone and modeling (especially the painting process) do not agree. While it does seem to be fixing the deformation now, I wonder if it will start leaching out of the tire after some time period.

Interesting. I pulled out couple of older Tamiya kits that were easily accessible to me. Ferrari Mythos from 1991 has the chrome pieces (wheels) molded in red (same color as the other parts of the kit). Mercedes Benz 500SL also from 1991 has its chrome pieces (wheels) molded in clear. Rest of the kit is silver plastic. I wonder if the clear is simply the same plastic they used on other parts without adding the metallic powder?

My Gunze Sangyo 1:32 '57 Chevy was a really fun build and it could be considered famous (the car on the BMF packaging). It is a great little kit and the proportions look "right" to me.

In my experience with chrome parts trees they are usually molded in one of the colors of the other (bare) part trees. Sometimes they are some oddball color, but I have rarely seen black plastic used for those (unless the other parts are molded in black). I build all sorts of kits (motorcycles, passenger cars. trucks, show-rods, etc.). Could you give some examples of which specific brands and models use black plastic for chrome trees? In what chat color are the other parts of the kit molded? If some company goes through the trouble of specifically using black plastic for chrome parts that might be for the same reason chrome paint manufacturers recommend glossy black undercoat: to maximize the reflectivity and depth of the metallic coating.

Sometime in the '70s model companies stopped using soft vinyl, and for few years used the nasty hard plastic which was difficult to glue as the tire material. The tires in my kit seem to be made from the same material as those nasty 2-piece hard plastic tires in other kits. If those tires were initially designed for the Billy Carter's pickup (and molded from the hard plastic) I would imagine that the kits produced later (after the vinyl scare passed) would have been molded using the standard soft vinyl. That's the reason I asked of any other kits (hopefully produced later) which used the same tires had them molded in hard or soft material.

I did look at them and as I said, they are made for larger wheels (and the tread pattern is off). If I could find a better version of the original Revell tires, I would be happy. I would like to know if any of the other kits I listed have them molded in vinyl or in that hard plastic. As for the lettering, I am making decals for that.

It does look a bit too large, but not terribly so. I don't really know what diameter would be used on a real bike. Maybe you can find smaller tube, or even solid rod. In that scale it probably won't matter that the exhaust pipe is not hollow. You can painted the end black, or even drill it out slightly.

I did - He has newer version of those tires (different tread pattern and for larger wheels). I wish he made the exact ones I need - I would buy them in an instant.

I'm doing research and gathering parts/materials to build the Revell Billy Carter's Redneck Truck (GMC Scottsdale 10) pickup. That model comes with the appropriate tires (matching the box art photo of the real truck), but the tires are molded using that hard and slippery plastic (polyethylene?) model companies used for a while. Plus, the molding quality is terrible. I don't know if the molds were too cool when they injected the plastic or whatever the problem was, the tires have all sorts of swirl and flow lines on the sidewalls. Not usable. I did some research to find out if those tires were used on other kits and it appears that this is the case. Among the online info I found was an excellent thread here: Revell Squarebody Pickups While the tires of the models in that thread are not described in that much detail, the box art seems to show that several kits used the same tires: The Ice Patrol, Big Red, Sneaky Pete, Midnight Cowboy, and Alley Rat might be using the same tires. Can someone confirm that? Also, are the tires in those kits molded in that nasty hard plastic, or are they soft vinyl? Are there any other kits that I missed which had those tires in them? Of course if someone has a spare set of those tires (hopefully molded in vinyl, or molded better than mine), I would be interested. I'm also redrawing the decals to be correct (the kit decals aren't quite right).

While no doubt the kits and dioramas are old and dusty, I don't think the glue has just yellowed. Going by the copious amounts and the stringing on the engine, I think it is a brown rubbery contact cement.

Nice to see progress. Hey, if you have to build one just for the learning experience, so be it. It is great to see someone buiilding this tiny kit! That looks like a bottom part of a Testors liquid cement bottle it is resting against (good size reference).

Yes, the propellant cans are similar to the ones which came with airbrushes years ago. To add to what has been said, you have no control over the air pressure (and that is a very important factor when airbrushing). When the can is warm the pressure is high. As it cools down during use, the pressure drops.

Yes, I also use BSI (Bob Smith Industries) adhesives. I especially like their CA accelerator. It is almost odorless, and does not attack styrene like some other accelerators do. Which adhesives to get? Whenever will suit the job at hand. I have thin, thick and gap filling versions (for various tasks). I also often use the odorless CA for gluing clear parts (it does not fog them as regular CA does).

Don't know exactly, but he was in his 60s.

That was a very sad and surprising news (I'm a member of the Classic Plastic Model Club) and I just saw Del at the meeting we had week ago. He conducted the meeting as usual and even presented a lengthy show-n-tell about his latest model. We knew about his illness but he seemed to be doing ok. Now he is gone! When we elected him the club president, we jokingly made him president for life. He lived up to that bargain. He was by far the best club president (and a friend) we had, and he sure lived his life to the fullest! And as as you guys know, he was a great modeler. He will be dearly missed by all of us. R.I.P. Del! I hope that where you are now there are lots of fast cars and lots of model kits.

Fine leather might work for larger scale models, but is way too thick for the 1:24/25 or smaller scale. Painted masking tape could be used. I also have some antistatic bags for electronic circuit boards. Those are made from rubbery black plastic which can be cut into strips which has the "leather look". Electrical (vinyl) tape should also work. You should be also able to find it in brown color if needed. Just remove the adhesive (Naphtha works well for that), and you have thin flexible strip which can be cut into scale straps and belts.

I have learned to use all sorts of ways to hold my parts or painting. I sue masking tape, double-sided tape, pieces of wire insulation or heat shrink tubing, and often I drill and glue brass wire to the parts, then attach them to a handle for painting. Here is a sample of a tiny fire engine mounted for painting. It is a photo-etched brass kit but I do the same with plastic parts. For full resolution see http://micronart.com/Wisniewski_images/Paint-prep.jpg

While I do use an airbrush, I do not sand, polish, or wax my models. This one was painted with Tamiya Fine White primer, and few coats of nail polish. Stripes are painted using AccuPaint (model railroad paint similar to Tru-Color paint), and there are few coats of Testors Wet Look clear. All airbrushed with a Badger 200 airbrush. I have spot sanded/polished boogers on few of my models, but that is rare. Never the entire body.