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peteski

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Posts posted by peteski

  1. Great lighting on that truck. Any suggestions, products to buy to light this diorama up? Links to product to that will suit this diorama as well as tips on how to get everything working perfectly would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks Charles!

    Since I have electronic background I pretty much buy my electronic components from industrial suppliers and then I make my own circuits.

    But if you do a Google search for LED lighting kits for models you should find many sources of modeler-friendly lighting kits.

  2. The worst example of bad tires I have seen,are the ones in the re-issues of the MPC 1/16 Petty/Baker Dodge Chargers. I opened the baggy, and was greeted with a very strong oily chemical smell from the release agent used. I had to scrub the tires with hand cleaner and dish soap to get them clean. Same procedure, stuff the tires with Kleenex. I have had tires go south, and it's frustrating.

    If a clear oily fluid which oozes from the soft material used to make the tires it is not a release agent - it is a plasticizer (which is what makes the tire material soft) leachign out of the tire. Not only it is nasty to deal with, it usually makes the tire shrink and stiff.  I see that often on recent (Chinese-made) models of automotive subjects, from 1:64 to 1:18 scale. I suspect that the formula those manufacturers use is unstable (due to crappy materials being used?).  I have also seen tires which turn "frosty"  - the surface looks like it is coated with a thin layer of candle wax.  The oily liquid can often soften any plastic the tire comes in contact with (similar to the "tire burn" which used to happen with the old kits from the '60s and '70s).

  3. Just like others I use the Tamiya transparent paints in the little glass jars.  But sometimes I feel that I need to spray them on too thick to get the desired darker shades of red or amber.  I have just recently picked up a set of Alclad II transparent paints to try (but haven't yet). They seem to have much denser colors and should go on very thin.  But Alclad II is a "hot" lacquer so I'm afraid it might craze the more delicate clear styrene. I'll be sure to try them on a piece of clear runner before spraying any actual parts.

  4. You will have to agree that over the past ten years eBay deteriorated to a mongtard infested legal minefield 
    and the powers there be are apparently rather indifferent about it.

    I think it jumped the shark quite a while ago.

    I've been mostly buying (but some selling too)  on eBay since 1999 and I agree with all you mentioned.

  5. Not for much, but I  won two auctions from same seller; when I sent a request for a combined invoice I instantly received an red eBay announcement that stated this seller doesn't offer combined shipping.  That's fine, but if that's your policy then state that in your auctions.  This one will go on my "Do Not Deal With Again List", they got my first and last business.  Seems like most of the time when I hear buyers complaining about getting bit on eBay it's almost always over shipping charges, combined shipping or something else to do with shipping like hefty handling fees or something like that.  I've both bought and sold on eBay, so I don't understand the no combined shipping thing especially when it saves both parties a dime or two.  Just one more thing to watch out for on eBay.

    This happened to me few times recently.  Even on a listing where seller mentioned that he does do combined shipping.  It is probably no seller's fault but some eBay glitch.

    What I did in all those instances, instead of asking for combined invoice, I went to one of the individual listings and contacted seller through "ask seller question" and asked them for combined shipping. They had no problem sending me a combined shipping invoice.

    The EBay is getting weirder and weirder - try contacting the seller like I did and see what happens.

  6. There is no fixed rules for airbrushing (like paint viscosity, pressure, nozzle size, distance from the surface being painted, etc., etc.).  There are too many variables (including the model of the airbrush).  Some people use 40psi, others use 16psi (and many other pressures in between). It can even change depending on a particular paint job or paint.  Sometimes I even change the paint pressure during a painting session (lower the pressure to get the paint in some tight corners, then go back to higher pressure for the larger flat areas). To me every airbrushing session is different.  That is what makes the task of airbrushing so flexible (unlike using a spray can).

    The way I see it, in order to become good with airbrushing you need to practice and determine what works best for you. Sure, you can pick up some tips from other modelers, but in the end it is really you who will choose the technique which works best for you.

  7. The problem is that we cannot guarantee that your account in Photobucket or even Photobucket site itself will always be there. I lost bunch of photos when ImageShack decided to shut down their free photo accounts.  I didn't actually lose them since I had local copy but all the posts I made to forums which included imageshack photos now show up as broken links. No, I cannot edit those posts to point them to another photo hosting site I now use.

    That is why when I see something worth keeping on the Internet, I copy it to my PC (and of course I have couple of backups of my PC too).That way I'll have the info regardless whether the ModelCars forum or Photobucket are there or not.

  8. That is a great thread. The only possible problem I see is that since the very informative photos aren't hosted locally on this forum, in a year or a few there is a good chance that some or all of the photos might disappear. That will make that thread useless.  I have seen this happen in threads on many forums. I would recommend to save all the photos and the text on your home computer for future reference.

  9. I kept getting a hospital bill for an under payment of .25 cents on a $4,000 dollar bill and I just threw em in the trash every month,for about 4 months, then I got a REGISTERED letter from a collection agency for .25 cents. So I called the agency and asked what they got out of it and the guy told me we get to keep half of it! On the reverse side, J.C. Whitney send me a refund ck for.09 cents! Crazy world

    Books have to be balanced you know! :D

    As far as the teller in the first post of this thread not budging on a penny, unfortunately some people working in customer-facing professions are not the right people for the job.  If she was a right person for the job, she would have gladly chip in a penny of her own money.  Many places I shop at have a take-a-penny-leave-a-penny holder on the checkout counter.  I often take and leave pennies there as needed.  But I wouldn't expect to see one of those penny holders in a bank.

  10. As stated before, modern technology is destroying our simple quality of life.

    That is also what they said after the industrial revolution started in the 19th Century.  A similar sentiment is also in a Twilight Zone episode staring Buster Keaton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(The_Twilight_Zone)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(The_Twilight_Zone)

    But after having mentioned that, I also feel that our lives are now way too hectic - we now have more info then ever at our fingertips (on the Internet) and we can instantly communicate with the world,  but that somehow didn't make our lives easier, more relaxed, or uncomplicated - it made our lives more hectic.

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