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peteski

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Posts posted by peteski

  1. 6 hours ago, bobss396 said:

    I buy a lot of 3D parts. My main gripe is that distributor holes and also those in master cylinders are often too small for even a .016" wire. I use a lot of braided lines that measure .020", good luck opening those holes even by .002-.004". In thin sections, the material is quite brittle.

    Are we talking about 1:25 scale?  0.016" ignition wire would scale up to 0.4" in 1:1.  That's rather thick for spark plug wires. Maybe some specialized high-performance wires?

  2. On 10/2/2023 at 5:56 PM, harti20 said:

    When I'm at the studio the next time I'll take some better pics of my setup and create a thread in the Tips and Techniques section

    Thanks Urs, that is (and will be) very informative.
    I never thought of using black reflective surface, but it makes perfect sense with white backdrop illuminated by an umbrella light. You have some professional photographic equipment at your disposal.

  3. 3 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

    He probably would not have used 3D printing in his scratch built models. The reason being that clients for his models would be paying thousands of pounds for each of his models, and therefore having an expectancy that each of his models be artisan made from metal along with other more traditional materials. 3D printed models that would effectively be plastic models by definition because of the material used would simply not cut it with his clientele, no matter how well 3D designed and made.

    I was not talking about the entire model being 3D printed, but just some of the model's small detail parts.  But I also see your point, and we will never know anyway.

  4. Excellent model and superb photography! Looks like you have the model placed on a front-surface mirror, which is a nice effect. But how did you achieve the nice seamless neutral background and very even lighting?  Is there some Photoshop trick to it? Maybe you could take some photos of you photo setup and post them in the Tips and Techniques section? I would love to see what it looks like.

  5. 14 hours ago, Big John said:

    I am also a great fan of Mr. Wingrove and am inspired by his books on model building, and deeply respect the work of those who are so gifted.  I hope only to aspire to a fraction of that ideal.

    I would think that if MR. Wingrove was around and building models today, he would surely embrace and utilize CAD and 3D printing in his scratchbuilt models. Actually he was already using CAD for in his model making. People, it is just another tool in your scratchbuilding tool arsenal.   You need to get over this aversion of using computer as a modeling tool.  Back in the day handheld calculators were banned from the classroom. Nowadays, calculator is built into every electronic gadget and nobody even notices when it is being used.

    I really think that at this point this thread has ran its course.

    • Like 2
  6. If you are building a model of that specific car then yes. :) But if you are asking if blue interior, or blue interior in a silver/black exterior color is correct for a factory stock color, then I don't know.  Someone knowledgeable on Corvettes will likely chime in and tell us.    I assume (by the colors) that it was silver convertible car with blue interior and black roof). Silver car with blue interior doesn't seem like an odd combination, but I would think the roof would be blue too.

    • Thanks 1
  7. I would not leave it (perpetually sticky) under decals or under another layer of paint.

    You can try using paint thinner (like Testors or even hardware store brand) to remove it.  If that doesn't do it, try 91% or stronger Isopropyl alcohol.  Neither should attack the rubber or vinyl tire.  If that wont' do it, try lacquer thinner (but first test it on the back side of the tire).

    • Like 1
  8. On 9/30/2023 at 12:21 PM, Bugatti Fan said:

    Because I am a normal human being with just as many faults and shortcomings as anyone else Pete.

    I was surprised because you seem to be a regular reader of the forum, and the Revell Chrome thread is quite active.  Latest post was on Friday (2 days ago), and before that few more posts were made last Wednesday, and Tuesday.  So it shows up on the first page of the topics list, or in unread posts. But I guess I really don't know how you read this forum.  So yes, I posted a link to let you know that the topic is being extensively discussed.

  9. On 9/30/2023 at 12:52 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

    Yeah, I don't know what "scale effect" means.

    A black car is a black car, and a dark gray one is a dark gray one, no matter what scale it is.

    Sure, there may be different blacks with a little bit different tints or what have you, but that's just a matter of personal taste.

    Color scale  effect is something some (usually military) modelers subscribe to.  Basically think of a scale model (because is it smaller than the actual 1:1 vehicle) as a 1:1 subject viewed from a distance. Due to factors such as haze in the air, the farther away the 1:1 subject is, the more washed out (or lighter) its color will be.  Think of a scene where you are seeing some mountains close to you, and some farther away.  The distant mountains will seem lighter, more washed out in color.

    So, the smaller the scale of a model it, the lighter its  color should be (up to a point of course).  I know you usually don't "waste your time" looking at external links, but for the benefits of others, here is some additional info:
    https://leavenworthmodelersclub.org/member-articles/the-scale-effect-of-color-and-other-considerations/  
    https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/13/t/2385.aspx
    https://www.scale1-72.com/scale_color

    Personally I don't really think that 1:24/25 scale model cars should be painted using the scale color theory.  The models are large enough to represent 1:1 vehicles from a distance short enough that the haze in the air would not affect their color.  I'm also not a subscriber of  this entire scale color theory.

  10. Very nice build Bruce!  Those cars have such classic lines.

     

    On 9/24/2023 at 12:48 PM, vamach1 said:

    Very nice build.  Interesting that Italeri sold the molds to Testors only a year later or perhaps just bought the branding rights.  Have the kit ever been reissued since 1988?

    From what I read on this forum (from people who know more about kit manufacturers than me) is that Testors never owned any molds. All their kits were just repackaged kits from different manufacturers.

    • Like 1
  11. 15 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

    As an aside, the professor had a habit of noting scales as fractions of an inch, but in an odd way:  1:48 was "Quarter Scale", 1:96 was "Eighth Scale".  Made me wonder what he would call 1:8 scale.

    That is an old way to refer to scales. I see it used in the RC model airplane circles and sometimes in model railroading.  You probably know that it refers to what fraction of a a 1:1 scale inch represents one foot in 1:1.   It is a bit  weird.  As you implied, it would not work well for 1:8 scale as in that scale 1.5 1:1 inches represents 1:1 foot.

  12. Yes, since the '90s when the sealed beam headlights stopped being required on American cars, we started having this problem. Acrylic (or Lexan) plastic headlights aren't as durable as glass.

    There are kits available with all that's needed (including protectant) to renew the lenses.  But on my last couple of cars (bought new) I have applied headlight protective film to them and they stay clear for years.   The film is a self adhesive stretchy thick clear vinyl.  It is a bit of a pain to apply (especially on lenses with complex curves, but well worth the effort).  I use https://www.headlightarmor.com/

  13. In a simple explanation paints consist of the solvent (liquid which evaporates as the paint dries), pigment (the actual colorant), and the binder (the liquid resin dissolved in the solvent, which when dry contains the pigment - the actual body of the paint).

    Normally the binder resin remains dissolved in the solvent, while the pigment often settles to the bottom of the paint container and needs to be re-dispersed (by shaking or stirring) back into the binder before paint is applied.  But if you have shaken and stirred the paint and it is still clumpy, that means the binder has began to gel, and cannot be made liquid again. This is unrelated to the pigment that settles in the bottom of the container.

    The way you described the problem seemed to me like the binder has gelled.  But if you can keep on shaking and stirring and the clumps get liquefied into a homogeneous liquid, then the paint is still usable.

  14. Enamel not only dries by solvent evaporation (like lacquers do), but it continues to cure (harden by chemical reaction) long after that. At that stage, you cannot just add some thinner to revive it.  If your enamel has clumps, that to me indicates that it has beyond drying out, and it has started to cure.  Not much you can do - chuck it.

    That is the difference between lacquers and enamels.  When lacquer dries, it is dry and hard.  But enamels first dry, but remain soft, and it takes them long time to fully harden.

  15. On 9/22/2023 at 9:38 AM, ModelcarJR said:

    In my old age, I have finally determined what makes European models so different - they have discovered how to take something simple and make it very complicated as can be seen by the first page of instructions.

    John, it is the modelers themselves who request that kits have more and more details.  These are not those simple kits that MPC, AMT, Revall, or Monogram made 50 years ago which cost $2.  I have no doubt that model companies would much prefer producing model with fewer parts (as it takes less design and prototyping time for them), but then modelers would complain that they produced a brand new simple kit.

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