peteski

Having custom decals designed and printed is not cheap, but then again, cost is relative to your budget.

Sorry Bill, no, go to the link I provided. Though the Sherline product name was taken from the first manufacturer in Australia, Ron Sher, the designer of the original lathe and accessory line was an Australian engineer named Harold Clisby. He went to electrical engineer Ron Sher for help in the motor application for the lathe. Mr. Clisby’s clever use of extruded shapes, as well as many of his other concepts, have been carried over into the Sherline lathes produced today. In a photo from the cover of Overseas Trading magazine from March 1971, inventor Harold Clisby of Australia shows an early version of the Clisby lathe. Nothing to do with Unimat, but maybe Mr. Harold Clisby's design was influenced by Unimat (since Unimat has been made by Emco since 1953, while Sheline was conceived in 1970).

Yes, Sherline makes really nice line of miniature machining products. I've own my lathe for about 30 years now. Later I also ended up with a mill. Quoting their https://www.sherline.com/about/ page: Sherline exists because of the strength and vision of Joe Martin. Born and raised in Rhode Island, acquaintances would notice that several decades of living on the West Coast never totally erased his New England accent. He was a self-taught entrepreneur who found his way to the business world by being a hobbyist who was never satisfied with the products available. Sherline was the perfect business for Joe. His love of machine tools is evident not only in his product line but also in his modern manufacturing facility. When Joe designed a new product he did it all. This included the CAD drawings needed for production, the method of manufacturing, and the design of the tooling if needed and then he wrote the instructions. I recall reading somewhere that Joe's design was inspired by some Austrailan-made mini lathe. I just found that info (it seems to be hidden on the Sheline website). http://www.sherline.com/about/sherline-history/

Exactly! That is the same opinion I posted in the first reply in this thread. I also have to admit that Steve's emulation of the texture has some merit too), but trying to accurately emulate the actual paint wrinkling is not really feasible in 1:24 scale.

Talcum powder is most likely the additive (flattening agent) in glossy paint which turns it semi-gloss, satin, and flat (depending on how the percentage added).

Or just ditch that activity and don't join that vast Internet wasteland called FB. Plenty of good reading here, and FB is getting desperate to be able to track their users by not allowing non-members to even view its webpages.

Interesting. I use Kapton tape (the transparent amber colored tape used in electronic industry) in my other hobby (model railroading), and while it is flexible and has a good adhesive it's not stretchy, so I'm not sure how well it will conform to the curvature of the tire's sidewall. The Washi-type tape (like Tamiya or I guess Crepe) is capable of stretching/compressing to conform to curved surfaces. I wonder if the Kapton tape you are mentioning is somehow different than the stuff I use.

Thanks for the info Frank. I've seen Washi tape (in craft stores) which is also similar to Tamiya tape, but Crepe masking tape is a new one on me.

Looks like you still have to center the mask by-eye. That is usually the trickiest part of this process. Is that Tamiya tape? I didn't realize it was available that wide.

Bryan, If you think about it, the wrinkly paint texture of 1:1 paint in 1:24 scale will be so fine that it would not really be discernible. Maybe it would be worth trying to emulate if the model was 1:8 scale, but not in 1:24. That's my opinion. Maybe some satin finish paint would work well enough, or many the Faux Fabric paints that Scale Motorsports offered would look convincing. Those have slight texture to their finish.

That is true that the direction of lighting makes a difference in how a metallic (or mica) paint will look. But as I mentioned, there are metallic powders with different size "grit" available for companies which custom mix paints (for model paints and for 1:1 cars, so the formulas can be tweaked to produce metallic paints with very fine metallic particles. If you ever looked at several cars (in a parking lot) on a sunny day you woudl likely even see the that the metallic paints on those cars have different size metallic particles. Your example does demonstrate pretty well how by using different lighting angle the metallic paint will look different but even in the photo where the metallic particles are more visible, they do not look out of scale. MCW is one of the companies that uses smaller metallic particles for mode paints. But for example most (if not all) Testors One Coat metallic paints have IMO metallic particles which are too large (out of scale) for model cars.

I do like the color, but also agree with others that the "glitter size" flakes are bit much for me. Actually quite a few model paints (especially a certain line of sprays for car models from Testors) have oversized flakes. This is often because the model paint formula is based on the 1:1 paint. But if you take those metallic flakes which look nice on a 1:1 car and apply them to a model which is 25 times smaller, you get the glitter paint effect. While this is not too objectionable when viewing the model in-person, that large flake size really pops out in the close-up photos. I'm my model club's contest photographer and I run into the oversized flakes on photos quit a bit. There are however model paint manufacturers who use much finer metallic particles so the 1:25 scale models painted with their metallic paints look like accurately scaled miniatures. But it's all a personal preference, so all it counts is that you like the look.

Adding small amount of dishwasher detergent or alcohol to decrease water's surface tension is commonly used in the model railroading hobby when gluing track ballast so it doesn't bead up and soaks into the dry ballast. Model railroaders call it "wet water".

Primer (especially etching primer) is a special coating designed to improve paint coat's adhesion and also is very opaque to provide a neutral evenly colored surface for the paint. Sandable primers have more body to them to allow some light sanding for smoothing out any small uneven spots. Actually primers are usually nowhere as "flat" as many flat paints. They often produce an eggshell (sort of satin) type of surface. If you really want to know more details see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(paint) Flat paint is any glossy paint with flattenign agent added to it to make it not glossy.

This is a different and known issue too. See the following post in that thread and also replies from Dave Ambrose. It explains the seemingly strange problem.

Around my area (in Northeast USA) the ones for grass are called weed-wackers. As for gasoline (um, petrol) powered trimmers, those are for really bushy out of control beards.

I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my preference of the original style nose. But since the pseudo-fastback body style was brought up, to me that also ruined the Fiero's look even more. Yes, from the plan view it looks pretty slick, but once you realize that those windows are fake and there is no rear window, that really spoils it for me. Yet, I like the '70s Corvettes with the "flying buttresses". Those were well done. Recent issue of Collectible Automobile had a good size article about the Fiero. As with most articles in that magazine it was an interesting read.

I'm probably in the minority but I much prefer the Fiero's original nose. It fit the car better than the rounded nose.

I have not uses embossing powder but I suspect that the problem is that the glue you are using is too thick (viscous) and too dry for the embossing powder to adhere. At least failed attempts are easy to clean up (unlike stripping paint). Maybe try diluting the glue with some water to make it thinner, then sprinkle the powder over that. But do not make it too runny.

Hmm, I guess there are pin vises and there are pin vises. Most of the ones I own have exchangeable chucks (total of 4 size ranges), which gives the vise a capacity of 0 to 1/8" (so the PC Board drills can be chucked in mine. For many precision drilling small holes in plastic I often hold the 1/8" shaft of a PC board drill directly in my fingers. That gives me much better control of drilling. BTW, I realize that both vice and vise are correct words for describing that tool, but to me "vice" seems more awkward, as my brain associates it with its other meanings, while I believe "vise" only has one meaning. I also realize that in the original English (British) language, "vice" is generally used to describe that tool. Oh well, I speak American English. You have that index, but not this one?

Probably the same way the package routing between facilities is determined: often seems random and inefficient to an average human.

I guess I missed the fad. Might have been more popular in other parts of the country. No big loss. Only somewhat related things I've seen around here (Northeast USA) was some nicely restored milk trucks painted for some dairy companies, and then there was official Wienermobile.

Fad? I never knew that (or seen many such privately owned cars). When was that? I guess the big wheel statement is a general statement because this particular car seems to have more or less normal size wheels.

To me the bumper sure looks like a typical kit's "chrome" (not paint). Grill and headlight bezels are noticably duller looking,. Not that it's a bad thing. Many modelers are of the belief that scale model chrome should be duller looking than chromed pieces on 1:1 vehicles. A belief that I do not subscribe to. For me chrome is chrome. It doesn't scale - it is supposed to be mirror-like smooth and reflective, regardless if it's 1:1 or 1:43 scale.

What you have here are typical TC (Tungsten Carbide) PC-board drill bits with 1/8" shanks. These have also been mentioned in the other threads.