peteski

True, since the entire nose (including bumper) just butts against the body, your method seems the best. I mostly use CA glue and accelerator, so there would be no need to hold it until glue dried. But elastics would come in handy for keeping the pieces aligned while applying CA from the inside.

True. Could be related to the "How about a laugh" thread in the off-topic forum.

That is a clever and inexpensive way to get very believable l results, but to me the embossing process using an eraser seems a bit tedious. I wonder if a sandwich could be made of the plastic treadplate, foil and some semi-soft rubber material could be placed between 2 stiff metal or wood plates, placed in a vise, then tighten the jaws to "stamp" the aluminum onto the plastic treadplate? I have a sheet of EDPM rubber material leftover from a rubber roof installation. It is a sheet of rubber about 1/16" thick. I think that would work really well in this application.

Interesting and clever technique but I much prefer pinning parts which have no clear locating points. Yes, a bit more work, but it works well. I don't mind the extra work. I actually enjoy it.

That is weird! Clear lacquer dries glossy by default. Flat clear is achieved by adding a flattening agent to gloss clear. Can't be done the other way around. If your had your clear lacquer in a glass container, it it was glossy, the liquid would be water-clear. If the lacquer was a clear flat (or any non glossy finish like semi-gloss or satin), the liquid would be cloudy, and in a day or two the flattening agent would settle to the bottom of the bottle with the rest of liquid appearing clear. Just like what you see when looking at bottles of Testors Glosscote and Dullcote. If yours is a spray can and it dries flat, I think it is mislabeled. I just can't see any excessive humidity causing a clear lacquer to dry totally and evenly flat. But does Duplicolor does even make a similar lacquer in flat finish? Also just using relative humidify (RH) as a sole determination of whether it will affect the painting is not really useful. 58% humidity when the ambient air temperature is in the 60's Fahrenheit is perfectly safe for spray painting. But if the ambient air is in the 90s, then 58% humidity will likely cause issues like blushing. The dew point temperature is what you need to consider. That is a combination of RH and the ambient air temperature. Dew point of 50 or lower should be safe to spray paint, but higher than 50's should be avoided. If you local weather does not provide dew point temperature there are online calculators which will give you dew point based on RH and ambient temperature. Can you decant some of that clear into a glass container and see if it is cloudy or clear? That should answer the question of whether it is a mislabeled flat clear, or there is something else strange going on.

Building Gundam kits has become a popular hobby. Enterprising businesses are taking advantage of that by making handy tool sets and packaging them as Gundam-specific. As I see it, it's simply a marketing strategy. I'm pretty sure the tools are low-quality because like others said, they are used on soft plastic. You will get what you paid for.

The old-fashion "stinky" (not water-based) contact cement should not wrinkle cardboard or paper. Also any spray adhesives that are not water-based should not wrinkle cardboard or paper - they are designed to be compatible with paper. If you are worried, try it on some similar type of cardboard or even paper. As far as carpet tape goes, unlike masking or duct tapes it has a very strong and permanent (read long-lasting) adhesive. Should be permanent.

In my experience Bondic hardens to slightly rubbery hardness (never as hard as plastic or urethane resins). it also has very poor adhesion to anything smooth (like plastic).

Regular users cannot delete posts or threads. It is an "admin" thing, but it is not done often. Theoretically you have the ability to edit your post for few days, delete its contents, and replace it with the word "deleted" to let everybody know why the blank post. But after few days the editing is disabled.

Looks great, but as you said, the dark interior color hides all the details. Thanks for the "lessons learned". I have this kit and those are very helpful. You confirmed what I was afraid of - that the separate chrome trim will be a pain to deal with. I also bought the transkit with full engine detail and the 3D-pritned door panels, so mine will be even more complicated (when I eventually got to building it). I'm thinking of painting mine light metallic blue with tan interior.

I had two (red and green ones, with woody sides).

I had a hard time finding it too. Found it on eBay. I believe this is newly released product (not discontinued).

Cute. Looks somewhat like Ford Pinto Squire Sr. Father of the Pinto Wagon.

Very nice!

Just when I thought I've seen it all . . .

Is the hood resin cast, or 3D printed? Can you post a photo of what the paint looks like? Yes, dishwasher detergent and warm water should be used. I would even go as far as using 91% isopropyl alcohol (it will not damage plastic or resin). But I would also not expect wrinkling on contaminated surface - instead I would expect fish eyes or patchy coverage.

Blue dots were owner-added accessory (not a factory installed option). The were small blue glass "gems" in a thin chrome bezel. You drilled out a hole in the taillight lens, and installed the blue dots. They are barely visible on the 1:1 car unless the taillights are illuminated. In 1:25 scale they will probably be around 0.030" in diameter. That is small. You could try to simulate that feature by drilling the kit's lens with small drill bit and installing a piece of clear styrene. Then dab a small dot of transparent blue paint on the clear styrene. Or even simpler: paint a small dot of chrome paint (like from Molotow pen) over the taillight lens, then when that dries, dab a dot of transparent blue paint over the chrome dot.

The "WARNING" Extremely flammable . . ." on the bottle is also a good clue that the stuff will likely attack polystyrene.

Yes, I'm a long time Alps owner and user. If you are looking for assistance with these ancient (but very handy) printers, I recommend you joint https://alps.groups.io/g/ALPS Rob and I are members there.

That is why I posted a warning in the 2nd post of this thread. Always test first. If a debonder shows a list of ingredients, that can also be helpful in figuring out whether it will attach polystyrene or not. The BSI debonder likely uses different solvents from the Z-7 stuff. I'm always cautions because CA glue is basically acrylic resin (Acrylic is Plexiglas). In my experience, anything that dissolves Plexiglas could likely also melt polystyrene. Maybe there are exceptions.

I believe you used incorrect term. "Soluble" means they will totally dissolve in liquid. Like when you put sugar crystals in your tea and stir it. The crystals totally disappear because they dissolve. Pearls powders do not dissolve. They stay suspended in the liquid. That is why the liquid with pearl powder in it will remain sparkly. Same with metallic paints - the particles do not dissolve in the liquid paint.

Also, while a single spoke is very thin and fragile, all the spokes combined result in relatively strong wheel. Just like the 1:1 scale wire wheels. They use thin steel spokes to support the entire car and withstand rough roads, and the forces of cornering. As for sagging resin, yes some resins have been known to lose integrity in time, but other resins are much more stable. Once can hope that the wheels (and other 3D parts we buy) are printed using the more stable resin

There is such a thing, but UV light cures it similarly to a standard liquid accelerator. Try it. J-B Weld Super Weld Light Activated Instant Glue.

Any lye-based liquid should not only strip the "chrome" (actually aluminum), but also the clear coat under the metalization.

LOL! Well, AA is not really naughty. It is just a Alcoholic's Anonymous group helping people to quit the addiction. We on this side of the pond also have American Automobile Association, and the acronym is AAA. ? These simple black decals should be easy to make yourself using some basic graphic editing program and print them on decal paper.