peteski

The picture doses have a look of a computer-generated image. Since it is not Photoshopped but rendered from some sort of CAD drawing, would that make it a model? Otherwise it is a strangely looking photo of a real car.

...and I thought that the Tamiya 1:6 scale motorcycle kits were large scale! This baby is quarter scale! Wow!

I take photos for Scale Auto Contest Annual, so I can't post them on the Internet. But I take few extras for our club's website - they usually show up on the website a month or two after the contest (depending on how quickly the webmaster updates the website). But there will be others taking photos and making their online albums available for viewing. I'll try to find some links and post them here.

Ah, that makes sense. I just never seen them sold under IMEX name.

The show is this Sunday - I hope to see bunch of you there.

No problem Joe - I just wanted to set the timeline straight. Looks like Art Anderson came through again with a nice writeup. Hopefully he will be attending the Classic Plastic show this weekend - he always has all sorts of goodies to show off to us mere mortals.

Interesting. But the few IMEX Harley kits I've built were 1:12 scale. They also made 1:9 scale ones? Bike kits made by Protarwere usually made in 1:9 scale too.

If you look harder, there are 8oz glass Coke/Pepsi bottles available, and almost every larger soft drink brand is also available in 8-packs of 7.5oz mini-cans. The mini-cans are especially widely accepted. All the supermarkets I shop at carry them. Whenever I need to fulfill my guilty pleasure of drinking a Coke on Mountain Dew, I go for one of those. Those sizes are all I have in my fridge.

You know, the above timeline kept bugging me. No that it makes any difference in the paint availability but it still bugged me. Then I dug up couple of Floquil model RR paint bottles. The one on the left is from the late 80s (it is the REV.1 plastic compatible formula) and the one on the right is from early 2000s. As you can see, both labels have the RPM logo and both still use the Floquil/Polly S Color Corp. name, and the NY address. This seems to indicate that Testors never actually acquired Floquil/Polly S Color Corp. It was RPM that already owned Floquil/Polly S Color Corp. back in the 80s, through 2000s, and all the way until it was discontinued. Floquil was not part of Testors at the time. Testors and Floquil seemed to be parallel product lines and separate companies owned by RPM all the way until demise of Floquil

I saw it with my own naked eyes. Checked it out when it was about half eclipsed then right as it was getting fully eclipsed. Very cool!

If you have used Smooth-On products to cast your own tires then you know at least the basics of mold making and casting. Smooth-On offers a range of Urethane resins for casting parts and Silicone or Urethane RTV rubbers for making molds. I would stick with Smooth-On and just get what you need. When I need to cast some parts (I use simple 1-piece open molds) I use Smooth-On products.

As with any highly reflective finish, it has to be as glossy as possible (and free of any defects). That is no secret or nothing new. The same applies to any other type of highly reflective silver surface. Whether it is this method, vacuum-plated aluminum (ChromeTech) or Alclad Chrome, or even real chrome on real car parts. If the base surface is not perfectly glossy or polished, it will not be mirror-like after the final coat is applied.

Um, not all strippers work equally well on all types of paint. That is why I uses several types. Also, what was the ambient temperature? ELO (well, all paint strippers) work best in warm environment. As far as staining goes, some paints do permanently stain plastic. Red is often one of those nasty paints - especially if it is a hotter paint which slightly etches the plastic. Do you know what brand of paint was used on those parts?

How does it stand up to handling (with greasy fingers)? Can it be clear coated?

That is a great primer! Smelly? Don't you know that the best paints are the smelliest?

Poison? No wonder we don't have many new young modelers joining out ranks. Geez!

Nice build Harry! If you want some really small and very inexpensive LEDs go to eBay and do some searches. The SMD (Surface Mounted Devices) LEDs are extremely small. I most often use size 0603 (which is 0.060" X 0.030" footprint) or 0805 (0.080" X 0.050" footprint). There are smaller LEDs like 0402 (0.040" X 0.020") or larger like 1206 (0.120" X 0.060") and many more sizes. You do have to have some good soldering skills to solder wires to them (I use thin magnet wire) but it is quite doable. For example if you search eBay for SMD 0805 amber LED (for your directional signals) you will see many of them available for sale (usually from China) with free shipping for really low prices. Something like 50 of them will cost you less that $10. For example, here is a listing for 50 0805 amber LEDs for less than $6: http://www.ebay.com/itm//111113907642

This is a big +1 for me. I found Bob's website extremely helpful in a pinch. I have contributed several instruction scans and if we could get more modelers to do that, the online instructions library would be huge!

Same applies to bottled water or even wine.

In Lawrence, MA. For more info and the entry form see CPMC Events Calendar

How about the Gunze Sangyo model (also sold by Airfix)?

ELO is specifically formulated for use plastic (styrene). It is not DOT-3 brake fluid, but it contains a similar chemical (plus other ingredients) I usually use it to strip N scale (1:160) model train bodies. I usually warm it up to about 80 deg. F (to accelerate the stripping action) and dunk the item to be stripped in it. The paint usually starts coming off after few minutes. But there are many types of styrene formulas used by different model companies - some of the kinds of styrene can be crazed by ELO - I am always careful to make sure not keep the parts in ELO for too long. Just like it is mentioned on the ELO's label. I also realize that there is no perfect stripper which will work on all paints. I use The Purple Stuff, ELO, Scalecoat Wash Away paint remover, and my home-brewed strippers which have stuff like denatured alcohol or 99% isopropyl alcohol and a little bit of acetone.

Maybe because they can? This is often the case with armor and and aircraft model kits too - full engine which will never be seen after the model is fully assembled, or full interiors which will not be seen once the fuselage is assembled. Pocher 1:8 kits have fully detailed engines but the parts are never to be seen once the engine is assembled. One reason is probably to be able to brag on the kit's packaging that those details are included in the kit. But I also think that the reason is to give the modeler an option to build those hidden gems either as a separately-displayed model, do a cutaway-view model showing the hidden parts, or simply (as with the engine packs) give a modeler source of miniature engine parts for a garage diorama or a junk yard. Also, nobody is forcing you to use those hidden parts (unless they are structural pars of the kit). Modelers often leave those parts out of the kit. I don't think that those parts were leftovers from some possible variation of the kit (since as you said, they would not be normally visible).

You can polish the paint but don't wax it. Decals won't adhere very well to a waxed paint.

No apology needed Joe - I just wanted to make the RPM story a bit more accurate. I'm also into N scale and I frequent a forum which is N-scale-biased: The Railwire . As far as the shrinking number of modelers goes, I am the one who should have been more accurate this time. What is shrinking is the number of craftsman-type of modelers who actually use paints and detail parts to detail their models or who scratchbuild their models. Those are the modelers who miss those discontinued paints. Sure, we have lots of new model RR models, but they are detailed and painted for specific railroad to the n-th degree. There are also lots of structures which are already built, painted and with details added a the factory (like the Woodland Scenics ones). One thing is that all those exquisite models are rather expensive. But any schmuck can plop them on their layout without much work involved. Same goes for automotive modeling - there are now lots of pre-built pre-decorated models available from many manufacturers. Many "modelers" just buy and collect those models - no painting or assembly required. I have a small stash of Floquil paints - hopefully they won't go bad on me.