peteski

Well, at least the door handle is pitted. As far as rusty chrome goes, if it was done right, it should not be rusty, even on an old rusty car. Same goes for aluminum trim (for obvious reasons). Dull, maybe - rusty? No. I don't quite get this new fad. But I guess things go in cycles. People are tired of seeing all those prefectly restored old cars - they want to stand out in the crowd. This is one way of accomplishing that.

I use nail polishes for painting models. Sinful is one of the brands I have used. They have lots of really wild (and not-so-wild) colors available. And they can sometimes be purchased for like a buck a bottle. And since the nail polish is fairly viscous, a bottle can be thinned to at least a double its volume for airbrushing.

Tom, you're an awesome modeler! Not only a scratchbuilt and weathered trailer, but the figures too! That's amazing. And I love the show (still watch it sometimes on MeTV).

Don't we call them "Darwin award winners"?

This thread seems like deja-vou all over again. I seem to recall a similar thread not too long ago (in this forum too).

While I really don't like the PB user interface (including the fact that they use Flash to provide links to the photos), I have no problems with the site or with getting the links to the photos. I am still using Win XP, SeaMonkey (an oddball browser based on Mozilla, like Firefox), Older Java 1.7U51, Shockwave Flash 11.3 r300, NoScript AddOn, and my AdBlocker is active (as you can see by the sad puppy picture on the right side).

While I really don't like the PB user interface (including the fact that they use Flash to provide links to the photos), I have no problems with the site or with getting the links to the photos. I am still using Win XP, Seamonkey (an oddball browser based on Mozilla, like Firefox), Older Java 1.7U51, Shockwave Flash 11.3 r300, NoScript AddOn, and my AdBlocker is active (as you can see by the sad puppy picture on the right side).

To me that interior looks like pearl white. Slightly warm pearl white. There are many nail polishes out there which look very close to that color.

Don't ask. Better living through modern chemistry.

As it has been said, Tamiya paints in litle glass jars are colloquially known as water-based acrylic enamels. But in reality the solvent is not water but isopropyl alcohol, which is a mild solvent. Those paints in my opinion they are more like a lacquer than enamel. Spray cans OTOH contain "hotter" lacquers based on stronger solvents like acetone. Because of that, the hotter paint applied over the milder paint will most likely cause problems (as you witnessed) because the hotter paint's solvent can re-dissolve the milder paint. As far as what brands of paints I use, I have been in the hobby for decades so I accumulated a large stash of paints. Testors and Model Master, Humbrol, Pactra, Floquil, Polly-S, Accu Paint, Tru Color Paint, Tamiya, Gunze Sangyo, Alclad, Metalizer, and several other brands I can't think of right now. I also have cans of household spray paints like Rustoleum. I have hundreds of bottles/tins and dozens of spray cans. I prefer airbrushing so most of the spray can paint gets decanted for airbrushing. Here is my paint cabinet. All the drawers are full of paint bottles and the larger lower drawers hold spray cans.

Now you are just getting silly. Streamline the bloat! Don't get me started.

Cling wraps have some sort of substance on the surface (plasticizer maybe) which gives them the clinginess. Sounds like it affected the paint surface. If the paint is not completely dry, fuzzy toilet paper can also leave paper fibers adhering to paint. I use Parafilm to cover larger areas. But if the paint is not fully hardened/cured, any type of mask or clingy covering can leave marks. In my experience Scale Finishes paint never fully hardens (it is dry, but soft) and it is prone to ghosting if not clear coated. I think that Scale Finishes paint is a 2-part automotive paint sold without hardener. Unless you get the hardener, the paint will not fully cure.

ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) is a type of styrene-based plastic fairly similar to Polystyrene (which modelers coloquialy call "Styrene"). ABS is also sometimes used for more recent plastic model kits. Both types of plastic can be welded using solvent cements used by modelers (even though the instructions on the bottle do not specifically say that). If you want a specific solvent which mentions that it can bond both ABS and Polystyrene then use Plastic Weld from Plastruct. Of course CA glue will also work well on both of those types of styrene.

Ammonia applied to Alclad? No I have not, but I know ammonia is a caustic chemical, and that is why I stated that it "might" and not "will" affect the metallic paint. The "might" part is a clue that I'm speculating and not speaking from personal experience.

There are many photo hosting sites out there. I originally started on Imageshack.us. It was free, then they went subscription-only and I declined, so I lost access to my photos and moved on. I went with Photobucket. One thing that bugs me about all the websites is the fancy coding on the webpages. I miss the really simple Web interface with just plain HTML. No fancy flash pull-down menus and other silly BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH which makes it slower to navigate the pages and extract links for the photos. I don't need all that bloat - just give me a simple page with bunch of thumbnails and links to the photos.

This looks familiar. I think I saw a model of this rod at a local model car show few years ago. Either MassCar or Classic Plastic show. But maybe it was just a dream.

In order for a model to be a 100% accurate replica of the real vehicle, you would have to take the real vehicle and shrink it at the atomic level. At this time this is impossible. The model would be made out of metal (not plastic) and would have everything which 1:1 vehicle has (like a working engine and electric system, hydraulic brakes, climate control, etc.). As you can see, this to me seems like a silly question. A plastic model of a real vehicle can only be an approximation of the real thing.

By now all (or most) RFID cards have been taken out of circulation. New cards either don't have the RFID circuit (plain cards) or they have the new "smart" chip on them (with the matal contacts visible on the front of the card. Those new cards cannot be read remotely - they have to be physically inserted in the smart card reader. Those metal card wallets are no longer needed or useful. it ssme that banks realided how easy was to skim the info from RFID cards so they dumped them. RFID card will have this symbol on it (and won't have any metal contacts on the card): The smart chip cards will have metal contacts on the front like this: Both types of cards usually still have the old-fashioned magnetic strip on the back which also cannot be read remotely.

Another vote for Sally's -that is where I get my multi-grit polishing boards. They also sell acrylic resin powder and liquid hardener (used for artificial nails) which can be used for lots of hobby applictions. And non-acetone nail polish remover in gallon containers.

Future (or whatever it is called nowadays) should not dull Alclad Chrome (or maybe only very slightly). But if you apply Future, I would not recommend removing it afterwards. Not only that the Future removal process (rubbing it with a Q-tip or similar) might damage the Alclad, the ammonia will probably do something nasty to the shiny metallic finish. I think that Cato was thinking of foiling over the Alclad areas. Foil is more durable than Alclad.

WOWski!

My favorite decal paper is Bare Metal Foil paper for my Alps MicroDry printer. I use laser paper with Alps and I don't have experience with ink jet stuff. BMF does also make ink jet decal paper.

I would also not buff it. Alclad is a very delicate finish.

The problem with flat clear coat is the same as with the flat new car paints (Not sure if those are still the cool thing): Flat requires very special care. If you aren't careful it can be easily scratched or repeated washing will polish the flatness out of the finish. Of course you can't wax it either. If you want to see what I man, take some Dullcoted part and rub it with a towel. It'll loose the flat finish and will polish out.

I love the "chain link fence" on the upper deck!