peteski

Nice curves!

If you think that the kit you are building has too many parts you should see some of the 1:35 scale military vehicle kits - many of those have between 2,000-4,000 parts! More modeling time for your buck! Many of those parts are for the track which is built one-link-at-a-time. But seriously, some of those are a bit of an overkill.

Looks great, but how does it stand up to regular handling that the door panels see in everyday use? For example, doe the silver color rub off and get smeared onto the brown vinyl? How about when you clean those door panels or use some sort for protectant (ArmorAll or whatever you use)? Does it affect the shine or make the solver coating spread to the brown panels? As far as the reflectivity of this stuff goes, it is just like any other shiny finish (including the real chrome). It will only be as reflective as the surface it is applied to. Real chrome is usually applied over very smooth layer of copper plating. Alclad chrome needs a glossy undercoat. To maximize the reflectivity of the Molotov stuff, it should be applied over smooth glossy surface.

Never heard of Super Clean? You have to read this thread !

I know what it is but finding the specific make/model took more time than I was willing to spend. It will be interesting to find out who made it.

That is Shapeways, not Shapeway. There are zillions of 3D printed items available there and if you know how-to, you can design your own items and they'll print for you. As far as how those take paint, it depends on the material they are printed with. Some materials are very porous, others (like FUD or FXD) have a waxy coating which has to be washed off before painting.

Mixing them with water? Why? Did you look at this post earlier in this thread? It sure shows "how to".

Those are really nice! And I can appreciate that this is not only done using metal bodies (not plastic) but also in 1:43! Well done!

Ouch! That is terrible! You might want to contact the forum administrators directly. There is a link on the bottom of the page for contact: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/contact/

Is there really some law out there which makes it legal for someone to use somebody else's work as long as there is 15% difference (however that could be measured)? That doesn't seem reasonable.

Really?! Paint commonly used for models? So all they are doing is repackaging the good old Testors Chrome paint from the little square bottles, calling it Molotov and selling it for mots of money? The stuff that never really dries? I'm joking of course, but I just found their statement funny.

Well, AC induction motors (which are also brushless by design) have been widely used for all sorts of fan applications for many, many decades. From tabletop fans to exhaust fans. Many power tools (like bench grinders, band saws, etc.) also use them.Those are very simple (no electronics required to drive them). They just need AC power (which is widely available everywhere). Not sure what real advantage a DC brushless motor has over the AC induction motor. Maybe they use slightly less power than the SC motors but the AC motors are dead-reliable (since they are very simple and robust). One disadvantage is that their speed depends on the frequency of the AC on which they run, so speed control is not easy to accomplish. But that is ok as in the applications they are used for, speed control is not required. AC induction motors have been around as long as the AC household power has been around. (that is over 100 years!).

It wasn't meant as a put down - being an old fart is something to be proud off. Like you said, it is a fortunate thing to be still alive, and to have a perspective on how (much better) things were in the past.

Just making a statement like this makes you an old fart! Ah, the good ol' days when things were much better than now. . . Don't worry, I feel the same way.

Seems like everybody is waiting for the other guy to try it.

That photo got me thinking. Actually it appears that the scales are pretty close after all. I took the 1:25 model and enlarged it to 104%. It is pretty close to the size of the Monogram 1:24 scale model. The angles of the models in the photo and the spoiler on the 1:24 car are a bit distracting, but even then, the enlarged Revell body is very close to the Monogram 1:24 scale body.

Flat finish is from the paint surface being very rough (on a microscopic level). That scatters the light hitting the painted surface making it look dull. That rough finish makes the surface fragile so can be scratched or stained easily, even by just handling it. The less flat paints (satin or semi-gloss) have smoother surface and are more durable in handling. Just like others said, flat paint can be clear coated, but the result will not have the same sheen as the original paint surface.

Your post reads like something would say Yoda. There is a section about decals over Alclad (and lots of other helpful hints) at http://www.swannysmodels.com/Alclad.html

While informative, the above webpage does not mention whether Mike is still with us or not.

Yes, it can be cleared. It is a thin metal foil - lacquers or enamels will not attack metal. What you might have heard is that the chrome-like paints (like Molotov chrome pens or Alclad II chrome) will dull if clear coated. That is true.

That looks to be more than the supposed 4% difference.

As we New-Englanders say: Wicked pissah! It is really shame that they replaced these awesome smoke-belching monsters with Diesel locos (except for occasional steamer run).

Yeah, something doesn't add up. Is it possible that the model was fairly close to the heating elements? Even if it the thermostat is adjusted for 110 degrees, the heating elements will get much hotter as they warming up the entire oven. Id the body was close to those elements it would have melted. Dehydrators use much lower power elements which are further away from the drying cavity, so there are no hot-spots. I use a dehydrator which is running around 110 degrees F and I have no problems with polystyrene deforming.

Jim, is there really that much visible difference between a 1:25 and 1:24 scale model to make you dislike a 1:24 scale models? Percent-wise it is only about 4% difference in size. I don't worry about it myself, but it would have been nice if all the automotive model kits were made in the same scale (either 1:24 or 1:25).