peteski

Speaking of the gas prices, they spiked after the huricanes hit Texas (and affected the refineries there), but they still haven't really gone down to pre-hurricane prices. Funny how that works . . . I bet the next excuse will be that they are switching to the more expensive "winter blend". Um, but wait, isn't the "summer blend" the more expensive blend in the Spring?

Thanks Pete! I never ran into these on Sherline's website (but I don't visit there often since I have most of the accessories I need already). But I should go there more often because they always add more useful and innovative accessories.

That is one of the projects on my list. I like the Tamiya body proportions (and the taillight lenses) better than Revell's.

The engine looks good (I especially like the air filter decals - nice touch), but there is one thing that bugs me: the line where the bell housing halves meet. On the real car that area is smooth.

I had an old Nikon stereo-microscope similar to yours. Very handy. I got it when they were getting rid of it at work (about 30 years ago). But then I bought myself a new zoom stereo-microscope from AmScope. It is Chinese-made, but pretty good quality and relatively affordable. That one is even more handy since you can adjust magnification. I find it indispensable in my hobbies. I usually use it wit a 0.5x Barlow lens which doubles the working distance while sacrificing magnification. But even then with the x10 objectives the magnification is 22.5x. That is plenty of magnification for modeling. I know you will enjoy using yours. It is so nice to be able to see the really small items you work on.

I think I have a Hot Wheels model that looks very similar. Ugly thing!

Yup, the world around us is changing fast (and not always for the better). You are right about Polly-Scale - it was very thin and wasn't' very opaque. The original Polly-S was a much thicker paint. They "improved" good paint to make it cr@ppier and then killed the line.

Ah, a Sheline mill with some cool accessories! Are those chuck jaws custom-made? I don't recall seeing them in their catalog.

Yes, Radio Shack was at some point part of Tandy corp.

As others had said, when we use embossing powders to simulate carpeting in model car kits we are not using it for its intended purpose. That is why we do nto use the conventional way to get it to adhere to the plastic model. Craft people who use embossing powders for scrapbooking do need to use het to melt the powder into paper. But we use the powder cold and use an adhesive to make it stick to plastic. Modelers are a very creative bunch. For example, many of us use Future Floor Finish (or whatever its name is currently) as a clear coat for paint, for making clear windshields even clearer, and as an adhesive for small parts and photetched scripts (just to name few modeling application). But if you asked your wife about the Future Floor Finish, she would tell you that it is for making the kitchen floor shiny.

I agree with others about the cause of orange peel. The spoon thing (too small to get your technique perfected) might also apply here. Find a larger test object, install the larger nozzle, crank up the pressure to 20 psi and open the needle wide while spraying (to increase the paint flow). You will most likely also need to move the airbrush further away from the sprayed surface. Like it was said, to get a smooth layer of paint you need to spray on a wet coat.

I own one of those Badger sandblasting guns and have used few times for projects. The problem is containment of the blasting media. I ended up using a plastic storage container to blast into. Then the blast media needs to be sifted to be reused.

I am also into model train hobby (N scale). Yes, RPM International is a giant chemical manufacturer (they don't just own all the hobby paints). DAP and Rustoleum are just some of their brands (along with Testors). Here is a round-up of just their consumer brands. But Floquil has been owned by RPM for decades before they killed it off. I have some old Floquil bottles with the Amsterdam, NY address where the label states that it is "an RPM company", so it is not like the giant swallowed all the paint companies and killed them off quickly. I think that the hazardous-material-panic as you called it (and all the government regulations) are big part of them discontinuing those hobby paints. But Polly-Scale was a water-based acrylic paint, not like the smelly Floquil. So I don't know if its demise can be contributed to the above mentioned panic. It is a pity to see this happening. Others are trying to fill the niche, but it is not quite the same. For example True-Color paints has a wast line of model railroad colors and they are even getting into automotive model colors. And more and more modelers are now using the inexpensive water-based acrylic craft paints. I have not adjusted to that yet.

I like the overall shape. The only thing that bugs me is the taillights. They just don't look right. I know that they are play off the headlights but the tiny round lenses with even tinier lights inside don't fit the rear end. Just like the headlight openings are blended into the car's shape, something similar should be used in the rear.

Few years back RPM (the parent company of all of those model paints) killed off the entire line of Floquil and Polly-Scale model railroad colors. Looks like they keep on cutting their hobby paints lines. Maybe this hobby is dying after all. If it is true what they said then the hobby shops are simply not ordering enough paints to make it profitable for RPM? Sure, other brands of hobby paints keep appearing, but it is too bad that the old standbys are disappearing. New paints mean we have to learn new techniques and figure out compatibilities between the new lines of paints. I don't like what I'm seeing.

I looked at the ingredients list on the Plasti-Dip can and used some of those chemicals. IIRC, it was Naphtha and acetone. Then I poured the thinned stuff into a small diameter glass test tube (about 2" long) and I dipped my metal spring in it multiple times (letting the previous coat dry). It took some experimenting for arriving at the right viscosity for dipping.

That's true. I forgot that when I go to the NNL-East and need gas I don't have to get out of the car. My mom lived in NJ for several years (in the '70s) and her take on the cheaper gas was that NJ is chock-full of oil refineries, so the gas stations get their products locally (thus it is cheaper). But I'm not sure how true that is. There probably is more to that than just cheaper wholesale gasoline. It is probably also related to the added-on local taxes or something like that.

Well, Trevor, you just ruined this for all the others trying to guess. But you are new on this forum so you just didn't know any better, and Michael didn't include the usual instructions in his post. Normally you PM your answer to him and then at the end of the week he posts a list of members who provided the right answer.

I always try to fix (shave off or sand) as many flaws in the body when it is still unpainted plastic. That reduces the number of primer/paint coats needed to finish the model (and the thinner the paint is, the more realistic the model will look).

Nice model, and timely too.

Trying to determine colors from color photos (and especially when viewed on a computer monitor) is really difficult and can fool your eyes. There are so many variables which can affect the color. Here is an example of what I mean: I took a screen capture of both of the model photos in the initial post and also of the color chips. I then created a blank (white image) and pasted the snippets of the color chips. Then I took a swatch of the model from both photos and placed it next to the color chips. The swatch of the model's color on the right side of each pain chip is from the top model photo while the left swatch is from the 2nd model photo. They are not even close to either of the 3 color chips I chose. The model color swatches look almost neutral gray. But the model in those photos does have a green hue. So I copied the swatches from the left side of the image (against white background) and copied them on the right side, against a rectangle which has a color of background from the model's photos. Against that warm-hue background now the model colors sufddenly show that green tint. And also neither of those color paint chips is very close to the mode's color.

Many Japanese automotive model kits (current and older releases) did not include either any engine details, or just included a rudimentary plastic insert with the top of the engine compartment molded on it. Many snap kits also do not include engine details (just whatever is molded with the under-body). Those kits are curbside by design. I know an excellent modeler whose models often wins trophies at contests (with super-detailed engines). He sometimes builds the most basic curbside models (perfectly-painted bodies) with nothing more than black-tinted windows and a flat piece of styrene for the undercarriage with the wheels simply glued to it. I guess he sometimes needs a break from detail modeling.

I agree on both counts.

Well, even if that story is true, looks like he did what he wanted to do - eBay is no longer a flea market, but it is now more like Amazon Jr., full of ByN sellers.

To me Skyline Blue seems closer to the model's color.