peteski

Ron, Model Master was a line of modeling products made by Testors. So when Rustoleum took Testors over, they also acquired the Model Master brand. So your Model Master branded bottle is likely the same stuff as the glue in Testors branded bottle, since it is produced by Rustoleum (not by the "old" Testors company). I have that glue in my arsenal. Mine is probably over 20 years old, and it is still probably 80% full (that shows how little I use that glue). It has a hypodermic applicator tube, and it came with a piece of stainless wire to ream the tube if it clogged. But even then Testors was under the RPM company's umbrella (along with Rustoleum).

Exactly. If you Google image search for "decal silvering" you will find lots of examples. Here are some: You will find mostly military subjects because those are usually painted using flat finish paints (when silvering is most likely to occur).

If those decals were available in a kit, you could post your request in the Wanted section of the forum. Someone might have a spare set. As an alternative you might want to check Rays Decals offerings. He might have these available already. https://rayskits.com/ https://public.fotki.com/RaysKits/

Jack, if you did a forum search you would find this type of info mentioned more than once. Here, I did such search for you (and yes it is my own post).

That's exactly my point. this world is becoming more and more like the old Wild West. Everything goes with no accountability. even when caught, you get a slap on the wrist, and continue to brake the law.

Well, not quite that easy. If there are any white decals, obviously your printer can't do that. You are also correct with the colors being off. There is some loss of color accuracy in the scanning process itself, but the biggest problem is that consumer printers print using translucent inks which for the correct color rendition require white base (the paper they are printed on). If you print the scan onto a typical transparent film decal paper and apply the decal onto any surface that is not white, it will skew the way the colors look. For example if a yellow decal is applied to blue surface, the yellow decal will look green. If applied to a dark surface, all the translucent printed colors will almost disappear. Many factory decals are printed using silk screening process where each color is actually opaque ink or paint applied separately to the paper, as where a home computer printer makes up all the colors using very small dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. It will never look as good as the original decal. There are workarounds for the problem (like printing the color decal images onto a white decal film, then trimming the feel around the decal image, but that is a hassle. For the best quality a decal should be scanned, converted to a vector format, then printed using a printer which can print white and a white ink/toner, and also has the ability to apply the white under each color image. There are specialized printers which have those capabilities, but usually very expensive, making them out of reach for average modelers. There are decal companies which custom print decals for you, but it is not cheap, especially if you don't provide a print-ready artwork (as vectorizing and cleaning up a simple decal scan takes time). As you see, it is nowhere as simple as scan them print on your ink jet or color laser home printer.

Well, a related question is why do manufacturers think up and make these "accessories" in the first place? Probably because they think some people will buy them. And we have come a complete circle. Most people enjoy standing out in the crowd, and that can be done to various degree. I actually think the more subtle "angry looking" Jeep grilles look cool, but like everything else, it can be overdone, and instead of standing out, it gets freakish. But it is all individual point of view. Speaking of Jeep accessories I thought that the rules stated that only white or amber lights are allowed at the front of road vehicles, and I see plenty of Jeeps with green, red, pink, purple, blue "halo" ring lights around the headlight. I guess either the rules have changed or cops are too lazy to bother with them. I remember when "blue dots" in taillights were illegal too. That was subtle compared to those halo lights.

Sounds like that when we paint we should wear those disposable Tyvek full body suits used during hazardous substance decontamination, on in clean room manufacturing facilities.

Thanks again for the demonstration. Now I see that the supports are not right on the thin edge of the slats, but a bit higher on the wide surface. I'm learning all sorts of things without owning the printer, or using the slicer or CAD software.

Very interesting and educational Rob - thanks! Also interesting that few of the louver supports appear that they aren't attached to the back edge of the louver, but in other places. Or maybe they are still attached to the rear edge but at a different angle?

Very nice. Could you post a rendering of the successful grille with the supports on it? While I don't do any 3D printing, I'm always open to learning how others succeed in printing some amazing objects. There is a lot of science and even maybe art (and multiple tries) involved in successful 3D printing.

Nice! Looks like that method will work quite well.

I still have one, but it is dried up/hardened, and I never bought a fresh tube as I really don't find any applications for it. But we all use different techniques, so if someone finds it useful - the more power to them.

Jeff, while I don't know about this specific kit, model kits often have wrong engines in them. Especially older kits. They would use the same engine in several kits. It might be accurate in some kits, and not in others. As for the decal, Monogram probably replicated actual car's decals even if the kit has a wrong engine in it.

I'm enjoying this thread. As for those brass rings, they seem too loose on the plastic rod. If they weren't so floppy on the rod, they would stay in place for you to glue them. I was thinking of maybe wrapping the rod with some typing paper, but that would probably make it too thick. How about "painting" some CA over the rod and letting it harden. That would increase the diameter slightly, hopefully enough to steady those rings. Depending on the CA's viscosity, you might have to apply more than 1 layer. I'm also assuming that you are gluing one ring at a time, not trying to glue them all at once. That way each ring can be aligned separately. You should also be able to reuse the rings from failed attempts. Acetone dissolves CA glue (and also styrene), but you can likely find replacement styrene rod.

If the publisher allows for downloading the electronic copy (maybe in a PDF format) to you computer then you do own it. That used to be the case in the past, but nowadays they probably don't offer that.

I think that a coat of 2K clear would result in an award-winning skull.

LOL. Yes, I have heard that too and I believe it is true, but I still like my bar soap! We all have our idiosyncrasies.

Because times they are changin'. Most hard type floors today (which in the past would need to be rejuvenated) are made from vinyl, and often have satin or flat finish to begin with. You don't want to put glossy clear over that - it would ruin the look. And the glossy vinyl floors have very durable finish which does not need to be clear coated. So there isn't much market for floor coatings or waxes. If it doesn't sell, well, the stores don't carry it. Some thing is happening with bars of soap - the younger generations are all into liquid body wash. Look at the variety of body washes vs. bar soap variety. And even nuttier is that now shampoos are being phased out by 2-in-one body-wash/shampoo. I like my bar soap and shampoo separate, thank you. And just plain shampoo. I don't want that stinking conditioner in it. Plain shampoo (not the shampoo/conditioner combo) variety is also shrinking. We sure live in strange times. Rant over!

What is my favorite adhesive? Well, whichever glue is the best suited for the joined material. I don't play favorites. I have about half a dozen of different adhesives. Epoxies, Cyanoacrylates, Contact Cement, Hypo-Cement (for watch crystals), and solvent-type glues (MEK, Methylene Chloride) for styrene, ABS, and acrylic. However I often favor the CA glue and accelerator. I however don't use the typical hobby tube-type cements (like Testors orange-tube). I have left those behind with my childhood.

Can you provide a link to it, or at least a Micro-Mark catalog number?

And worth every penny! Welcome to the crazy world of eBay!

Use a hot knife or even a fine-tip soldering iron to melt the plastic mesh instead of cutting. That might actually be beneficial to stabilize the edges. But I agree with others that seeing the actual shape might be helpful in providing ideas.

Ron, how can a 3-jaw lathe chuck be a precision drilling tool (like a pin vise)? That was the original question here The chuck itself is bulky and probably weights couple pounds. Even if the chuck could hold small drill bits (#60-80), I can't see having good control or gentle touch while drilling a #80 hole in a some part of a plastic model. The chuck also has individually adjusted jaws, which means for every size drill bit you would have to go through a centering routine, or the drill bit would wobble. This chuck would probably be good to turn down model rims and such, but not for precision drilling! What will you use it for?

You know, there is a sticky thread about this topic in the Tips and Tricks section of the forum. Hard to miss. If you look at few of the recent posts in there, you'll find some alternatives.