peteski

I would go with Alclad II polished brass over gloss black or gray undercoat. It is similar to their chrome, but of course with brass color. So it looks like polished piece of brass. Airbrushed of course.

My '85 Caddy Eldorado has a factory-installed audio system (radio/cassette) made by Bose. Each of the 4 speakers has an amplifier built-in, and it sounds pretty good. As I understand the speakers were tuned to the car's interior. BTW, the "real" German company called Balupunkt is gone, and the trade name was bought up by a Chinese company that sells cheap electronic gadgets (like dash cams). I bought one without realizing it, and it was really crappy. I ended up returning it to the store. That's when I looked up Blaupunkt on the Internet and found out its fate. Similar fate happened to many other respected names (at least by the older folks). Fuller Brush and Bell&Howell are some of the trade names that ended up being own by Chinese vendors of cheap stuff.

Those knobs were handy when the power steering took like 5 turns from stop to stop. With rack-and-pinion the number of turns is greatly reduced. BTW< in my neck of the woods, it was called a "suicide knob". I like your version better. I still see blue-dots on some older cars at the cruises. Nowadays, with LED taillights (many tiny light sources in the entire lens - no single bulb to place the blue dot in front of), it wouldn't really work. Yes, those were illegal, but the aftermarket lighting on many of today's cars is blatantly illegal (green, blue, or purple halos on headlights) and blinding LED headlights, both factory installed, and aftermarket are magnitudes more annoying than blue-dots, and cops seem to ignore them all.

100 miles? Even for the 1998 vehicle with probably just an early OBDII ECM/ECU? How about taking extra round about way to get from point A to Point B? Even if caught, there is a chance that if carefully explained, the cop would understand and let it slide. It makes no sense to junk a perfectly good vehicle because of this stupid requirement.

What nutty laws! Aren't you the owner of the vehicle? So why not get that 1-day permit and drive it "to move it" from point A (where it is now) to point B (where the smog test is done)?

That sounds useful, but it seems that American and European kit manufacturers use different method for every kit. The only semi-standard wheel mount are used by most Japanese manufacturers (Tamiya, Fujimi, Aoshima, etc.) they use standard post on the inner side of the wheels, and a poly-cap where the wheel plugs into on the brake assy.

I suspect that it was a one-of from Bill - not a new slang. Unless he is trying to start something new.

But not so many that the model looks like it is dipped in honey. That ruins the realism.

Yes, this was a fun read. Thanks! And now, almost 50 years later, this is all done on computers - no wooden buck needed. Models are designed in CAD programs, and the prototypes are usually 3D printed before molds are cut (also by computerized equipment). There are humans involved too, but most of the machining is automatic.

Jason, it is great to see you join this forum! I have some ideas for you, and will contact you directly.

It depends. If the parts are printed on SLA printers (which are getting very popular - those often are shipped with printing supports which have to be cut off), then treat them as any plastic kit parts (I wash them in water with dishwashing detergent). If the parts are printed by Shapeways and are milky translucent color, those sometimes have waxy film on them which should be cleaned off. I use Naphtha (Ronsonol Lighter Fluid) to clean them.

Yes, if those pieces are molded on the body I would also try to foil them, then maybe apply some washes. The painted area on the narrow stripe will be very narrow. For the lower molding, you might be able to cut a strip of some colored decal film and apply to it (as the stripe is wider). Or before foiling, mask around the lower trim, paint the trim color, then apply and trim the foil so it only shows on the chromed parts of the trim.

Those look like 3 dimensional moldings. Not sure if just a flat decal would look good enough.

Not at all Mike - I actually welcomed revisiting this half-finished old project. Not sure when, but I will eventually get the artwork finished and printed. I have no problem printing extra copies for the interested parties. I guess this thread is good place to post an update when the decals are finished.

I saw the dim orange Sun here in Massachusetts yesterday. It was weird. But the smoke never made it down to the ground level. Today it was back to almost normal. While weird, and even inconvenient when the smoke gets down low, I really feel for all the people in Canada who lost everything! Last year we had bunch of very large forest fires in U.S., it seems that this year Canada is burning up.

The process is also called "chemical milling". Some historical and technical info is on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_milling also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photochemical_machining Some companies which do this have websites with photos showing examples of the process. Here is a very nice example https://www.ppdltd.com/the-process.html There are also home-brew etching kits available (or you can roll your own, once you learn about the process).

If you are that worried, why not use coating made for plastic kits (like The TS line of Tamiya paints)? Or even Testors enamel paints? Those should be safe. But as you said, there seem to be many different grades of polystyrene used by model companies over the years, so I can't guarantee that they will be safe. Well, the old Testors enamels in my experience never affected any plastic surface. As for testing, why not do a test on some surface of the kit which will not be visible? Like the bottom of the interior tub, or top surface of the floor?

Don't worry about it David. Just ignore the message. It is not critical to have all the profile info filled out.

Thanks Mike. Actually you made me dig out my decal tests and look at the artwork. I started it back in 2011!! I do my own printing on the old Alps MicroDry printer, so I can do metallic inks. The artwork design is what takes the longest. There are many hours of time spend in Corel Draw creating that artwork. It is a hobby unto itself.

Retro in someone's eyes doesn't have mean that they have to be automatically discounted, or that one can't use them in a contemporary model. You can even tout the fact that you are using "retro" wheels on it. What's old can be new again. Everything seems to happen in cycles.

Oh, but . . . but . . . but, they are just trying to do the right thing to save those poor baby animals that cannot possibly fend for themselves. How can you possibly be upset at them? Lets blame this on the the Internet, video games, smart phones, and poor educational system in this country. Yes, this country is full of clueless citizens.

Yes, that irks me too, and the only excuses can think of are that phonetically you say "ten dollars" and not "dollars ten", or that in many other countries the denomination symbol is placed before the numerical amount. Maybe we can blame the globalization, and the Internet (we can blame everything on the Internet, right)? The globalization also shows up in $20US, $30AU, or $40HK. At least those make sense.

Up until few years ago standard VGA interface was the most widely used. But in the last few years the HDMI connector became pretty much the standard. If your monitor has the HDMI connector in the back, then it will work fine. if it only has a VGA connector, then there are inexpensive HDMI to VGA adapters available, but those might give you the best quality (and resolution) video. Monitors have come down in price. Just last week my GF bought a new Dell 27" flat screen monitor (with HDMI interface) and it cost around $150.

LOL Mike, I have too many hobbies (and projects)! Started the decal project several years ago, but it competes with other projects (I'm a bit "look, a squirrel" kind of a person), so I can't give you any timeline when I'll have the project completed. Actually most of the artwork is done, but I wanted to add few more items to the sheet (beyond what was on the original). Let me see if I can revisit the project and see what I can do. I dug up some early test prints (before I resized the corner scrolls).

Jeremy, How about considering changing your painting technique? When I airbrush my models, I lay the paint rather heavy (except for the initial coat). That results in nice, even, glossy coverage with no orange peel. I open the nozzle rather wide, and use fairly low air pressure (around 20-25 psi). This is my Monogram Ultimates 1:43 scale 289 Cobra. I used Tamiya Fine White Primer, nail polish for the body color, and Testors Wet Look Clear for clear coat. This model has not been touched by any polishing cloths, rubbing compounds or waxes. Just bare clear. This is Gunze Sangyo 1:32 scale '57 Caddy. No primer. The paint is Testors enamel (I built it around 30 years ago, so I don't remember the specific color name). No clear. Again, it is bare paint. I notice that most modelers are afraid to lay the paint on thick, so that creates sub-par finish. I just go nutz! Is my finish perfect? No! But it is quite good (and all those cars placed in model contests in the top 2).