peteski

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.

It is a nice color, but to me the metal flakes in that paint look out of scale, unless you are specifically going for that metal-flake effect. Looks like glitter. And I realize that it doesn't look so obvious when viewed directly, but it really pops out in photos. I take the contest photos for my model club and I often see this exaggerated size metal flake. When I look at the model I photograph it looks ok, but then when I look at the photo it looks like something you would see on a bass boat or a dune buggy. I think the vendors who specifically mix automotive pains for the model market use smaller metallic particles to make the paint look more in-scale. Of course the vendors who just mix paints to be used on 1:1 cars don't know to do that. But then the line of Testors One Coat Lacquers also had that problem. Whoever came up with their paint formulas did not consider the flake size to be a factor.

As I see it it is a fad done for looks. It often goes alone with narrower low-profile tires stretched unrealistically onto wide rims. It's a "bad boy" image. It wrecks the tire and ride qualities. The handling is likely not very good either. I don't shake my fists or yell at those - just roll my eyes. But whatever . . . if it makes those guys think they are cool, so be it.

DO you know the actual diameter of the 1:1 wires? Once you know that just divide it by either 24 or 25 and you will have the scale wire diameter. Then find the wire that close enough. There is a range of "scale" ignition wires available out there. One will be close to what you need.

I used it couple of times (on non-model items). Smells like CA glue, and when hit with the UV light it sets very fast (like if it was hit with standard CA accelerator). When I was looking for it (on recommendation from a friend), none of the hardware stores seem to carry it. I ended up buying it on eBay. But I have seen it recently in Lowe's in the adhesives section (in USA).

Greg, this is actually UV curable CA glue, so it should stick to those surfaces as well as any standard CA glue.

I do my own etching (both parts and electronic circuit boards). You still have to first design the parts (produce the artwork) to be accurate and look good.

That's good. For me it is "why tempt faith?" After I spend 3 months building a model I don't want the glue joints start oozing after few years. Accelerators are not very expensive and a bottle last for a very long time.

Norm is an awesome guy! One of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. Years back he did offer full detail engine kits for Ferrrari 250s. Awesome mutimedia kits (he included fuel lines an ignition wire. I was bummed out when he stopped offering them, but I can see why as those looked to be very time-intensive to produce. He also sold excellent sports cars steering wheels. Real wood rim and photoetched center. Perfect for Ferraris. Too bad those are no longer offered, but again, I can see how they would have been difficult to make. Then there are the photoetched "wizard Os" and Ferrari scripts. Also not listed in the current catalog. As for shipping, have you tried to send anything through the Post Office lately? If you haven't check the limited choices of services and prices. $12 to me is totally reasonable! Some of you guys still live in the '80s, or use amazon prime! Not a fair comparison!

I would highly discourage anybody from using bakign soda ad CA accelerator. I have seen too many issues (like it oozing out of the joint in some humid climates). Not worth it on your precious model. If using CA glue, use accelerators specifically made for setting CA glue. There are multiple brands on the market. If you need to use a filler with CA glue, use plastic shavings, talcum powder, microbaloons, or some similar inert powder. I prefer BSI brand of CA glue and accelerator.

Yes, those are GM and Bars Leaks turds are the same stuff. GM had them repackaged in a GM-branded blister packs. I have both versions (since I own a 1985 Eldorado). Sctually the slang name was "dog turds". They are a bit large for lizard droppings, unless you mean Komodo Dragon.

Cool! I saw them in the photo of your car so I included them on the decal.

Looks great Pat! Are you going to use the LEVI'S and Hurst decals too?

You think that's odd? The early '80s Caddy Eldorados with the HT4100 engines had lots of problems with coolant leaks through head gasket and porous aluminum block. Solution? GM officially sold "coolant supplement tablets". They were made from ground up ginger root and walnut shells. Might have been some Turmeric in them too. They were compressed into what the Caddy owners called "turds". They were brown things that looked the part. I'm not making it up. As I recall, ginger root fibers expand when they dry, so when they lodged themselves into the voids, they dried up on the outside, expanding and sealing the leak. Kind of like a Dutch boy sticking a finger in a dyke leak.

Funny that the car had integrated bumper in the early '70s, then the 5MPH bumpers were mandated, so "steel rams" were tacked onto pretty much all cars, and yet contemporary calls all have integrated bumpers. Like the adage goes, what's old is new again.

Problem to me with Testors silver (which has been available for probably 50 years) is that it never seems to fully dry. Plus it is nowhere as "chromey" as the kit's "chromed" parts, or even BMF. It is satisfactory to touch up small flaws in kit's "chrome", but I would not use it to paint a while bumper. But we all have different standards.

Are the ingredients listed on the label? Usually chemical bottles have those listed. It is probably what we call Odorless Paint Thinner. It is petroleum based and still has a slight odor. Can likely be used for solvent based enamels (like Humbrol and Testors PLA enamel). I don't airbrush acrylic water-based paints because they are difficult to clean out of the airbrush.

Very well built models. I have the Indian - hopefully I'll build it someday.

Weren't Probes just rebadged Mazdas?

That came out great!

I love the bumper sticker!

Sellers do get creative.

Sure, but you aren't paying hosting fees like Model Cars Forum does. I've been involved with computers for a long time (my first computer came with 1 kB (1024 bytes) of RAM, and I have always been striving to minimize storage use. Nothing wrong with that.

@Dave Ambrose I'm a big proponent of resizing photos to a size that is "forum friendly". I usually use 1200 pixels across, and file size is usually much less than 0.5MB. Whenever I see a thread when a newbie is asking how to upload photos to the forum, I suggest resizing them first. I've seen some photos uploaded here with large enough resolution to print out a poster size print. It is not really necessary, and it eats up the server's storage space. I also realize that not everybody is tech-savvy to easily resize photos, or doesn' want to be bothered to do it. Does the forum software have a feature which would automatically resize photos to a forum friendly size? In a long run that would lessen the amount of server's storage space used up by photos. Another forum I frequent also hosts photos locally and has the automatic resizing feature enabled, it also increases the compression ratio on JPGs, so that further reduces storage requirement, and the photos still look decent. We are now here at half of Tera Byte. How long til we get to 1TB? Something to ponder . . .