peteski

THANKS!

Are you sure that this is rosin core and not acid core? Rosin is usually amber color and inert. That looks like acid residue. If it is rosin, it can easily be cleaned off with some 91% rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. If it is acid, then you are probably SOL.

If you are talking about the factory chrome (vacuum-deposited aluminum), and not the Alclad II chrome, then it should be safe to clear coat it with Future or even regular enamel clear. Many kits with factory chrome parts already have clear coat applied over the metal layer (to protect it from oxidizing and fading away). The metal layer is so thin that if left unprotected even the moist sweat (salty water) from your hands left on it would eat away the thin metal layer after a while. There is also another factory "chrome:" out there: It is used in Trumpeter kits and many of the factory-build diecast models. Those plastic parts are electroplated with copper and with real chromium. The metal layer is much thicker and chromium is very durable (just like on 1:1 cars). No protection is ever needed.

Excellent, excellent!

I'm a happy customer too. I have bought several tools and the pair of sprue cutters I received had poorly ground cutting surfaces. After couple of emails (with close-up photos of the problem area), a replacement sprue cutter was sent to me - no charge and no need to return the defective one.

I picked up one of these at NNL East (I couldn't resist the $16 price, and also the fact that I was in love with that car and wanted one like it as my first car - I ended up with a 1976 Camaro instead). But the shallow-dish mag wheels in the rear really bug me. Without going through 12 pages of this thread, does anybody know a source of the wheels which would have deeper dish for the rear wheels? The other thing which could have been done differently is the front parking/directional lights. But I can deal with that.

I started a Tamiya Mazda MX-5 Miata (modified to be the M-edition) for my girlfriend who used to own the real car. That was in 1997. I got as far as getting the Merlot Mica paint, BBS RG wheels and photoetchign the emblems. I'll finish that model someday . . .

What was old is new again. Funny how things seem to go around in circles. Whether it is fashion or gasoline blends. I remember seeing the first modern retractable-top on a concept car (in the '90s, IIRC it was a Nissan) touted as something new and I immediately thought that it has already been done in the '50s (Ford Skyliner).

If you attend NNL East, they have this problem solved. They have crew walking along the long line collecting admission charge and stamping your hand showing that you paid. They also give you a goodie bag with the raffle ticket and few other items. They also give you model registration forms so you can fill them out while waiting in line. Registration forms can also be downloaded from their website before the show and filled out at home. When the doors open, everybody just goes right in.

Harry, sorry if I missed your reasoning in some earlier post: You seem to be really fixated on whether you can safely used this fuel in your fairly late-model car, but why do you want to do it? How much less expensive is it when compared to the standard 10% ethanol blend? Is it really even worth consideration? I'm also still puzzled with the the word "unleaded" in its name. Just call the darn thing E15 or GAS-85.

Funny how they are calling E85 Unleaded15. As if we wend back to the '80s when Regular (leaded) gas was still available. I really had a chuckle: to me it seems to imply that the other types of gasoline sold at the gas station are leaded. Sounds like a silly marketing ploy. I really wish that they would go back to "full strength" gasoline. After all the price of crude oil is again so cheap that it probably costs more to blend gasoline with ethanol. Plus I wouldn't have to worry about long term effects of using the 10% ethanol gasoline in my older car and lawnmower.

While I enjoy Doo Wop, I always thought that Rock-n-Roll originally evolved from R&B music with some other additional influences (as described in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll ) Doo Wop is also mentioned in that article but as a branch of Rock-n-Roll.

I just saw someone in another post mention "testers" when they meant "Testors". GRRRRRRRR! That one drives me nuts (and I don't want to hear "auto-correct" as an excuse - this mistake has been made long since before schmart-phones were around). If you use a company's product, learn how to spell the name correctly!

You've piqued my interest. I never used flocking in my models as I always thought it was way out-of-scale looking in 1:24 or 1:43 scales (but it looked fine on the floor of the 1:8 Pocher Mercedes). I just painted the carpeting using flat paints. But this embossing powder looks interesting. Is there a good tutorial on how to apply it?

There is about a dozen of different decal solutions out there in the hobby market. Some are based on acetic acid (have vinegar smell) while the others (stronger ones) seem to be based on some sort of alcohol or another similar organic solvent (again based on their smell). A good primer on using the Microscale decal system is available in http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/graphics/Instructions/MSISysteminstr.pdf . While I don't use ink jet decal paper I'm pretty sure that you will need to seal the printed (water-soluble) ink before immersing the decal in water. Otherwise the ink will run when it gets wet.

Looks like Todd made a duplicate post (using very vague subject line in both threads). I posted my opinion in his other post on the subject. Using a subject line like "Using epoxy as a clear coat" would have made things much clearer.

Maybe they referred to https://www.eti-usa.com/envirotex-lite/ as that is a 2-part epoxy compound used to encapsulate items, and it has a high-golss finish. But not only the coat of that stuff is so thick that it would make your model look like it was coveredy by ice, it also takes 12 hours to set (so it wold simply just flow off your model before it set. There are also epoxy-based paints (which could be used on a model), but I never seen an epoxy-based clear paint. I would also discourage anybody from using epoxy as lenses for model car gauges. Some of the stuff (like the one shown in the initial post) has amber tint to it, and in my experience epoxy adhesives will yellow (or even turn brown) after few years.

Why not just plain plastic wrap or even thin plastic bag material? PNS has pressure sensitive adhesive which comes off fairly easy. Now add some solvent from the paint and the adhesive will most likely dissolve and stick to the lip on the jar. Not something I would like to see on the lip of my jars.

Yes, you've captured what I was thinking but couldn't describe.

He will probably need some nipples too.

I also heard that modelers use this stuff and like it so I decided to give it a go. I tried once and never again - still have the roll in my workshop. While it worked well as a mask for large areas, after it was removed it left plenty of the sticky adhesive on the model! It was a mess! The funny thing is that I didn't even use it for masking paint - I simply applied over the model to protect it from fingerprints while I was handling it. So it is not like the paint was not dry, or the solvent from the new coat of paint somehow permeated the wrap and dissolved the glue. I say: stay away!

Does it really matter whether the problem is mechanical or electronic when the car is unable to run? Nope! It is broken. All that goes under the overall reliability ratings. Then regardless whether it is mechanical or electronic failure, there are repair costs. See where I'm going with this? The failures might have have shifted from mechanical to electronics, but they are still failures.

That sure is an unusual design. I'm not sure if I like or hate it. The B-pillar hinged doors are neat.

I use as few of the paint layers as possible (to improve model's realism). I often shoot plastic-safe paints over clean bare plastic. I use organic-solvent-based paints like Testors or Tamiya sprays. Those solvents do not craze plastic but have enough "bite" to firmly adhere to the plastic. Or whatever they have (as I think this "bite" think is just something modelers made up). The binder material in the paint bonds to the model's surface on a molecular or even atomic level. No solvent "bite" required. If you think about it, even the shiniest surface is really rough when you look at it under extreme magnification. That is where the bonding occurs. Primers do have their place when the painted surface will be made up from multiple materials (such as mix of plastic, putty, or resin parts). Then the primer coat provides a uniform surface for the paint over all those materials.

As for glue, you can use epoxy or CA glue.