peteski

If you revert back aren't you where you just were, not where you want to revert to? This one is one of my peeves.

Emoticons (or now we also have emojis - thank Japanese culture for this really cutesy stuff) have been around for a long time. The above Wiki link has a good explanation as to why they are used: As social media has become widespread, emoticons have played a significant role in communication through technology, and some devices have provided stylized pictures that do not use punctuation. They offer another range of "tone" and feeling through texting that portrays specific emotions through facial gestures while in the midst of text-based cyber communication. I also think of emoticons as shortcuts. While you could convey your thoughts purely through words, using emoticons is much easier and faster. As for the current use you can thank early computer geeks for them. The original emoticons go way back to the days of dial-up bulletin boards where they were written the old-fashioned way using ASCII characters like :-) . Of course as computers got more powerful, cutesy graphics replaced the ASCII text emoticons. That's progress for you. Even if you dislike those smiley things, I highly recommend that you read the Wikipedia entry I linked to at the beginning of my reply: you might just learn some very interesting things. But as with everything else, there are serious emoticon abusers out there: those who end each sentence with an emoticon, or those who just spew lines full of them across the message like this: Like it or not, this is the new way of computer-text-based conversations. You don't have to like them or use them.

I have also seen Michael Smith's work in the past. I recognized his work right away. But what to me gives it away is the chain-link fence. It doesn't look like real chin-link pattern but more like veil material. chain-link has square openings where this stuff is more like a parallelogram.

Super-realistic build. Very impressive! I have one of those Protar 1:9 bicycle kits (different than yours) in my stash and I am also planning on redoing the spokes. BTW, were the markings dry transfers instead of the usual waterslide decals? If yes, how difficult were they to apply?

Nicely done model! You also use unusual lighting technique for your photos. I'm not saying it is bad (the pictures are clear and in focus), bit it is just different.

This to me looks like a perfect candidate for a natural-brushed-metal dash. I would sand the plastic dash smooth then take some real aluminum duct tape (not the cheap stuff). Use something like 400 or 600 grit wet/dry paper (before you apply it to the dash) and using same-direction strokes make it look like brushed aluminum. Then stick the tape onto the dash and trim it. It will look just like the 1:1 in the photo above.

Most Tamiya kits I have ever worked with are like that. This looks to be a fun build!

And I expected pics of the sticks being discussed here (not the finely buffed model body)! On a serious note, most of those sanding/polishing things can also be purchased at beauty shops which cater to the hair and nail salons. While probably not as cheap as Walmart, they are still cheaper than the hobby shop versions. Those stores also carry acrylic nail resins and hardener. That stuff can be used to make small castings or for non-shrinking body filler. But the hardener is fairly aggressive and it might craze some styrene.

I wash my in-progress models probably way too often and I have never ran into this problem. Very interesting. Did you just let the water droplets naturally evaporate from the model or did you towel-dry or use compress air to try to dry the body after washing? Also, what type/brand of paint did you use on that model. Barkeeper's Friend is a mild abrasive, so you are correct. And it didn't leave any residue which . . . needed to be rinsed off?

If you click on each material featured on hat page, it will give you detailed information (including cost and the printing process) about each material. But metals are printed at much lower resolution than the resins, so their usefulness for small scale models is limited.

Shapweays can print your designs in several different metals. That technology is already within hobbyist's reach. http://www.shapeways.com/materials/

Yeah! You should see the expression on the face of a teenage cashier when the total is something like $4.48 and I give them $5.03 (or even better, $5.53)! They look at me like I have three heads (and I only have two).

Model. There is one very visible clue (at least to me). But the modeling and photography are superb.

Well, I can see Snake45's point about future being an inferior top clear coat for model cars. While Future results in a decent glossy finish, it can't be sanded and polished like standard clear lacquers or enamels. Many modelers strive for a mirror-like glossy finish. They get there by first building up a thicker layer of clear, then spend hours sanding and polishing it until it shines like glass. You can't build up a thick coat of Future and then sand/polish it to the same level of shine as you can with other clears.

Looks like in this example the decal was applied over flat paint. So, it was barely stuck to the surface, making the removal easy. Most modelers apply decals over glossy surface while also using decal-setting solution. Those are almost impossible to remove. Also there are different thickness of decal film (depending on the manufacturer). The thicker ones woudl be easier to remove than the thin ones.

Do it yourself. Simply drill a hole in the mirror stem and glue in a piece of brass rod. 0.010" rod is a good size (for 1:24 or 1:43 cars). I always pin the side mirrors to my models. I pin most of the small parts which are designed to be glued to the surface.

All these variations in color make me think that maybe the color depends on when the car was made during production run? Could that be a possibility? Maybe some had a body color pan while others had light beige or gray pans? I'm no expert mind you, and I don't play one in the online forums either. But I own one of those (still unbuilt) models.

I don't think that the small producers of cast resin parts or kits need to buy a 3D printer. There are several companies which offer high-end 3D printing services. As long as they are provided with the appropriate 3D drawing, the can print the item which then can be used as a master for resin or metal casting. There are several kit producers which do this already. I have a recent Tameo kit of a 1:43 F1 car and many of the white metal castings have very faint striations on them (indicating that the master was 3D printed on a high resolution printer). Showcase Miniatures vehicle models also have metal-cast parts which under magnification show some faint artifacts of 3D printed master.

So, it was that car after all. It just seemed way too easy.

With all this talk about autonomous cars all communicating with each other or cloud computing power, nobody has raised the possibility of hackers breaking into the car's computer systems or into the entire inter-car communication system and creating havoc (maybe even causing accidents). If we look into any current computer devices, they are all prone to hacking - even the super-secure government network. The problem to me seems that the size of the software (in millions of lines of code) has become way too complex to manage properly. There are many people or entities creating various pieces of the code and then someone else integrates them together (or uses set of libraries from another source). This is just ripe for back doors or vulnerabilities. I don't want someone hacking into my self-driving car's computer and forcing it to slam into a bridge abutment at 60 MPH! Even now (remember Toyota's self-acceleration bug?) cars have buggy software for their non-autonomous systems. Imagine a system 100 times more complex. . .

Interesting - thanks for the tip. So the liquid rubber is more viscous than typical liquid resin (so it doesn't just pour out of the mold half when you tilt the molds to join them together)?

WOW! How you you avoid air bubbles trapped in the mold? Especially in the ridges of the tread.

Silly question: is the airbrush really clean? The chrome paint needs to go on almost dry - that is why they recommend very low pressure and spraying close to the model. When I do it, when the paint first hits the model it looks like matte aluminum, then as it dries, the little metallic platelets align with the surface of the model and it becomes "chromey" looking. You can actually see it turn into chrome finish right in front of your eyes.

Very impressive! Even the surface finish looks perfect - not too rough and not too shiny. It looks like rubber. Do you pressure-cast? BTW, tires have tread, not thread - easy mistake to make.

Could the bottle of the chrome paint have simply gone bad? I have had Polished Brass go bad where it started clumping no matter how hard I shook or mixed the paint the clumps would not dissipate. Are you keeping the airbrush nozzle open wide enough for the metal flakes to go through it?