peteski

Same here. I thought the original question is a bit too vague. For airbrushing car bodies? Or other parts of the model (from chassis to small parts like a carburetor or a starter)? No favorites here - I just airbrush whatever paint I find best in for a specific job. And I have probably a dozen of different paint types (from various manufacturers). I do minimal brush painting, so most of them get applied through my airbrush.

That is very dependent on how badly you need that single part, and how much hobby budget you have.

If the slippery plastic parts you found could be very useful, you could make RTV rubber molds from them and then make urethane reins copies (which then could be handled like other resin cast parts), Urethene resin is glueable and paintable.

Plastic (Polystyrene, ABS) *IS* resin. So if you have been building model kits from companies like Revell or AMT, you have do have a clue how to build resin. What I'm trying to say is that if either of those bodies is something you're interested in building, I would say keep them and give them a try. Just don't try using any of the standard solvent-based plastic cements. That is the biggest difference between the polystyrene resin and urethane resin.

I didn't know that Polyolefin Adhesion Promoters existed. Thanks for your educational post Bill. Never too old to learn new things.

You hit the nail on the head. Polypropylene and Polyethylene plastics are not attacked by any of the strong solvents (like acetone or similar) used in paints. So paint will not fuse into them. But then we don't even know for certain what type of plastic we are dealing with. I'm just speculating. It could possibly be nylon or POM ( Polyoxymethylene ) which is pretty much impossible to glue or paint.

Since you quoted my reply, that looks like a photo of HEI ignition distributor, with electronic module inside instead of mechanical points. Since it still has a vacuum advance unit, it is probably an early HEI, but it still has a 4-pin electronic module to generate spark pulses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_energy_ignition https://www.chevyhardcore.com/tech-stories/ignition-electronics-efi/clearing-the-confusion-about-the-hei-distributor-shortcomings/

Vinyl (PVC) and Polypropylene or Polyethylene are different types of plastic. But feel free to experiment.

HEI type of ignition by default indicates an electronic sensor for generating spark signal. I guess we could argue what consistences "electronics". To me points and condenser are "non-electronic" circuit.

With a stock engine? Like Bill mentioned GM was using HEI ignition (the large distributor cap with integrated coil), which also had some electronics replacing mechanical points.

The other thing I mentioned in my original post was that pain adhesion. even if you can get the part to stick. what good is it of the paint will not adhere well? As far as I understand adhesion promoters, those are designed for using automotive paints on polyurethane (urethane) parts, not polypropylene or polyethylene. But I would be happily proven wrong.

Interesting . . .

Now that was silly too, wasn't it?

If it is one of those slippery plastics, no glue will produce strong bond. By slippery plastics I mean something like the waxy plastics used for Tupperware. Polypropylene or Polyethylene. Also, if the plastic is difficult to glue, paint will likely not stick to it.

In my browser under the "Go" menu I have an option to "restore previous session" which would bring all those tabs back if for some reason the browser comes back empty. I also have an option to "bookmark this group of tabs" which saves all the current tabs as a bookmark and will restore back to the original layout if I so choose.

How about a lunar eclipse? No special glasses needed. We had one in Jan. 2019. It was a full eclipse, but it looks boring. It looks more interesting just before or past the full eclipse. The brownish/orange glow looks really odd.

Doesn't exist. Moisture in the air causes it to slowly start setting. The thinner the CA is, the faster it will thicken. Some people put it in refrigerator to extend the life (because air is dry in there), but I have a way to extend its life, but it takes work. When I buy a new bottle I don't cut off the tip of the spout. I have another older empty clean bottle where the tip is opened. I pour just enough of the glue in that empty bottle to last me for a month or two. Then I make sure the seal of the original bottle is clean and I reseal it quickly. I also plug up the tip of the in-use bottle with a piece of wire tightly sitting in the hole. When needed I dispense the CA from the 2nd bottle into a small depression in a dental mixing cup and reseal the 2nd bottle. I then apply the glue using a forked needle applicator. No, I don't use large quantities and what I do to extend its life I suspect is way too much bother for most modelers, but it works for me. Using this system I often get few years of usable CA glue from the single bottle. As you can see, I also put a date code on my bottles so I know how old it is. Yes, I'm "different". But it eventually every CA thickens up. It is best to buy smaller bottles, even if they cost more per ounce than larger bottles. If you buy larger bottle, you'll end up tossing half of the glue you paid for anyway. Also, no glue remains usable forever. I have some really tightly capped old Testors orange tube cement and the tubes are hard as a rock. I need to toss them.

Are those past the testing stage and being used over the road?

Yes, but not in "Amurica". I'm sure that you know that the American railroad network is nothing like European or Asian network, but also there are very little electrified part of the railroad. Diesel locomotives are what is used. They still belch stinky exhaust. And those Diesel-powered trains do transport lots of new cars to various destinations in cars likely much larger than the European counterparts.

It is nice to see such a lively discussion about this subject. If this tread was shunned then that would indicate no interest or future in electric cars. But there is plenty interest (bot positive and negative views). Carry on!

While I see the irony, there currently aren't any viable fully electric tractors for this type of hauling. Baby steps . . .

While the current prices for those trucks appear to be crazy, have you compared price of an average house today to what it was back in the '80s? Or the price of groceries? I think you know where I'm going here. Inflation. And today's trucks are appointed like luxury vehicles, not the basic workhorse trucks from the '80s (with manual windows, no GPS or fancy entertainment systems, bench seat, etc. etc.). You need to compare apples to apples.

When I (in USA) had to use money orders, I got them from the Post Office (not a bank). Not sure how different that is from any other money order issued in US Dollars. I would imagine that if they are issued in US Dollars, they would be ok to use, but I would confirm that with Norm.

As I mentioned there are several brands of CA accelerator. When I first started, Zip-Kicker was the only one available. That one is very aggressive, and IIRC, it is acetone-based so it will attack paint and plastic. Then at work I found some other industrial use accelerators from Loctite. Those smelled different from Zip-Kicker, did not attack plastic, and were not as aggressive in setting the glue. But that was couple of decades ago. Then I found Bob Smith Industries (BSI) brand line of CA and accelerators. This accelerator has very low odor and will not instantly attack paint or plastic. It is also not as aggressive as Zip Kicker (which I ditched). Now it's the only one I use. But remember that the thinner the CA glue is, the faster it will react to the accelerator.

Sorry, I don't. But even some 1:1 touch-up paints in aerosol cans have finer metallic flakes. But there is no good way to tell unless you spray it out of the can.