peteski

I think "decent" is a very relative term. We all have different modeling standards. Even on this forum I see a wide range of model build quality. My models are better than some and nowhere as good as others. It is really your decision to what level you want to build your models. As for visual quality of "paintless" model bodies, it mainly depends on the plastic itself, and the color of the plastic. I have seen some polished bare plastic white or black cars that look like they were painted. As I mentioned earlier, major factor is how opaque the plastic is. If it is not fully opaque, it will not look "right". You really need to consider things on a model-by-model basis. Or if a somewhat translucent polished plastic body looks ok to you, then just use that technique for your models. After all, you are building for your own pleasure (at least I hope). Painting the car body pretty much assures that it will be opaque, but of course painting introduces another set of possible issues.

Yes, typical Japanese->English translation. Just think of it as "decal sheet". Doesn't have to be plural. And yes, I know you are just being humorous. If you think about it, there are other Engrish phrases. Like "gull wing doors and rear cover can be opened and closed". Isn't that a bit silly? If they can be opened, they can certainly be closed. It would have made more sense to state "opening doors and rear hatch" That implies that they can also be closed. That will be one sweet kit!

Yes, I was hoping for a pedestrian street version (short nose no air dam).

Actually CPMC is based in Massachusetts (meetings and contest venue), but they are both stone's-throw from NH border. As far as food goes, first few years we used the Elks hall, they had their kitchen open ans serving lunch, but that stopped. We were lucky to find a really good roach-coach to provide food for our show (he is hired by the club, bot by the venue). Everybody loves his food.

I think this idea will never fly.

I wonder if they will eventually make a standard factory-stock version with LHD?

In my experience some formulas of the red plastic used for molding model bodies are somewhat translucent. If you shine a light trough it, you can tell if that is the case. That translucent plastic will not look realistic when polished. Red needs to be opaque to look like painted metal car body.

I think that is the older mold making material to make impressions of the mouth, to make plaster casts. Since Agar mix contains a lot of water, it will shrink and dry up if not used immediately. I don't think dentists in USA use it anymore. I had multiple crowns and implant done in the last 10 years, and the dentist uses some sort of 2-part RTV rubber for taking those impressions.

I just slipped short pieces of wire insulation onto the tips of my tweezers. Not as pretty as those factory-dipped tips, but they do the job.

Years ago a friend of mine who used to work at a medical supplies distributor used to bring expired supplies (like rubber gloves and other items that were being discarded) to our model club. He gave me several disposable scalpels with plastic handles. The handles were full length, but I noticed that they were much lighter than the standard metal handles. That to me seemed ideal for some very delicate work where light pressure and precision was needed (like trimming BMF on the model). I ended up shortening the handle, and I also modified it for the blade to be replaceable. I do use if for trimming BMF, and it works really well. That's a nice find. Like you mentioned, these seem like they would also be good for this type of a task.

Maybe that was not the best example, but I was basically trying to say that if you want something bad enough (especially if it is very desired or top quality), you might have to go through some of those proverbial extra hoops to get it.

Since you yourself communicate trough email, you likely know how unreliable that type of communication can be. While the email process itself is reliable, Spam filters often "eat" legitimate emails or send them to a Spam folder full of real unwanted emails. Having said that, and realizing that you're dealing with a very small one-man (plus wife and maybe sometimes a helper?) operation, super-busy casting superb quality parts the old-fashioned way (not just plugging in a 3D printer and spewing dozens of parts at a time). I would not give up so quickly. I suspect some legit order or info request emails get lost in the shuffle. Norm focuses on the production, rather than sifting through Spam emails. It would be different if he could hire a dedicated person just for customer relations, but that is not realistic in his business model If you really want those parts (and from personal experience with Norm's product I know they worth the extra effort), I would try emailing Norm couple more times (possibly from different email addresses if you have them). Clearly state your purpose in the subject line (something like "RMCoM info request"), and give some time for the response. Not sure if a phone call would be feasible for you, but that would be another avenue to explore. To put it bluntly, Norm doesn't need any more business - he is already super busy filling his orders already. That is why the customer that really wants Norm's products, might have to go through extra hoops to get it. Think about this like what people do to get the newly released Xbox video game console. People camp out at the store the nigth before to get a chance to get it. Same here: you have to be persistent trying to get what you want. If not, oh well . . .

Thanks! Here is another photo. I was in my early 20s and had lots of fun with that car. Back then the Night Rider series was on TV and I designed and built my own computer for my car. If you look behind the grille, there are 5 lights there. When I turned them on, they scanned back and forth just like the red lights in the series KITT car. I could select different flashing patterns too. The tinted headlight covers were removable (attached with Velcro (working 2nd shift I did a lot of nighttime driving, and cops also would also not be fond of them whenever they pulled me over).

Yes, those are sharp looking cars and fun to drive around topless. My neighbor down the street owns one of those convertibles. As a bit of a trivia, one of those was used in the Hart to Hart TV series.

But Lei, windshield washed fluid actually has alcohol in it. Especially in the winter blend (where it is uses as antifreeze agent). Go figure.

My mom owned one of those back in the '90s. It was metallic gray with very plush gray velour interior. Very comfy car to drive, but watch out for static electricity when getting out of it in the winter! ZAP! It was very painful. It was so bad that I eventually I figured out a way to drain the static from my body before getting out. That elegant body style was similar on many GM cars from the first half of the '80s. My '85 Caddy Eldorado has a similar body style, and those Centerline wheels look like they just came off my '76 Camaro (I drove in the '80s and '90s).

That is where the naming gets confusing. Testors ACRYLIC paint will not play well with mineral spirits or similar solvents. It is what I call a water-based paint. Alcohol might curdle it. Try on a small amount of paint to see if it will work. I would also try plain distilled water or maybe Windex. Best would be to use Testors ACRYLIC paint thinner. None of the thinners (or paint) mentioned above should harm the kit's chrome.

Those are some really nice restorations. If you were able to use powder coating then you sure have access to some professional equipment. Those restored models are probably better than new!

If one uses resin to make truly realistic looking colored lenses, the resin itself can be colored with color tints. I use SmoothOn brand 2-part crystal clear resin and I also use their tints. You add tiny bit of the tint to the resin and the entire resin (not just the surface, or the reflector) has the correct color. The tint does not affect the smoothness of the surface.

Not to start an argument, but Tamiya clear red applied over a clear resin casting will be at least as glossy as your rotary beacon.

Marcus, I was specifically responding to your method which uses colored reflector with clean resin lens. But as you mentioned, the surface of a clear resin lens can be colored with some transparent color paint or ink. Like you mentioned, Sharpies dry to a dull finish. That is why I use transparent paint from Tamiya. It dries to a glossy finish.

I like the mudflaps, but the wooden trailer doors (if that is what they are) also looks "interesting".

That is a good and easy method fro when the lens is thin and flat. But it will not work for many taillights on passenger cars where the lens sticks out away from the body.

Well, did you put those 2 word within quotes? If not, as I mentioned the default behavior is to look for Any of my search term words, so it will show you matches of either single occurrence of those words and of course if both words appear in the same post (together or separately).

This is not unexpected. If you did a similar Google search, it would also result in matches which have both or either word in them. What you typed in was Ferrari OR Daytona. Like someone else mentioned, if you put that 2-word phrase in quotes, that will give you results of that exact quote. This is what the default search criteria are: https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/search/ . By default it searches entire forum for match to any of the words. But even if you select "all words", it will show matches where either of the words Ferrari and Daytona are anywhere in the post (not just next to each other).