peteski

I suspect that his one is a result of auto-correct many people have enabled on their smart and not-so-smart devices. Still, that doesn't make it right. I do roll my eyes whenever I see "spruce" used for describing a parts tree. Actually I believe that the sprue is not the parts tree "frame" but the small plastic tabs connecting the part to the parts tree.

This world is *REALLY* messed up! People are nutz!

You're using a PC. Good. Well, next question is: what Browser are you using? In using Windows 7 and Firefox and the MCW site looks exactly like DJ Mar's. I just went to the main page: https://mcwfinishes.com/ No hamburgers anywhere. I though hamburgers were usually seen in smart phones' browsers. Can you take a screen capture and post it here? I'm curious about what you are seeing.

Yes, the usually besides brass, phosphor bronze, and nickel silver, stainless steel is often used for photoetched parts. These parts do like like stainless steel (the other similar color metal would be nickel silver, but it has a much warmer, yellower tone to it, and it is softer). That sure looks like an amazing kit. I've built a much smaller and simpler "naked" photoetched airplane kit. No glue required.

Something can be futuristic without being gaudy. But then again, it is all in the eyes of the beholder.

I would say that in most cases decals are much easier to deal with. No need to drill all those holes making sure they are perfectly spaced. Decal comes with rivets already aligned on the clear film and no holes are needed.

It is not really your fault, but I find that having at least some knowledge about chemicals and coatings I use on my models makes me a better modeler. Actually, I think that hobby paint manufacturers are to blame for getting modelers on the path of calling all water-based paints "Acrylics", even tho acrylic binder is also use in organic-solvent-based paints. Wikipedia has some fairly easily digestible (to a non-chemist modeler like me) info about paint coatings. It breaks down the paint's components and also describes various types of paints. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint Of course there are also hybrid-type paints like Tamiya's X line of paints which use alcohols as solvent but you can still clean it up with water. While I do use the water-based acrylic enamel paints for certain applications, I stay away from them when painting car bodies where high gloss is desired. Water-based acrylic enamels in my experience don't dry (and cure) as hard as the "stinky" paints, so different regiment of sanding/polishing will be in order. I suspect someone will chime in with their experience.

The misspellings and bad grammar in SPAM emails has been around for decades. What's changing is what the scammers are asking for. I have also been wondering why spell them so badly and I'm starting to think that is done in attempts to fool the SPAM filters which look for correctly spelled keywords. I could be way off, but it is something to ponder. I am probably giving too much credit to all the scammers.

There is no cure or detox for the model collecting fever. It might be more expensive than drugs but it doesn't ruin your health, and models (unbuilt and built) can be sold 2nd hand.

Modeler's paint nomenclature is another source of confusion and often inaccurate or ambiguous. For example what do you mean by "acrylic" paint? Do you mean organic-solvent (read: stinky) acrylic enamel or lacquer, or what modelers colloquially call the low-odor water-based acrylic enamels?

Archer shut down their business few years ago, but it appears that someone else restarted the company. Rivet and other details decals are now on https://www.archertransfers.com/pages/surface-details

Donny, sounds like you have what it takes to be good automotive modeler, but you will still need to practice things like painting to get to where you will be happy with your work. It will not happen overnight and expect some models where you are not fully happoy with the results. Nice glossy paint jobs will likely not happen overnight. I'm also a model railroader (N scale which is about half the size of H0) so I am familiar with miniature precision builds, and yes, that helps with my larger scale automotive models. Here are N scale bumper cars. I fabricated the master and resin-cast them. I also photoetched the steering wheels. I repainted N scale Mercedes Sprinter, designed and printed the decals and it also has working lights. I also a added the antenna over the windshield and photoetched the door mirrors. This was a photo-etched brass kit from MicronArt. The pinstripe are decals I printed and I also added many scratch-built parts. Here is a larger (1:43) model of 289 Cobra. Plenty of kit and added-on details. And I also build 1:24 scale kits. The reason I showed you samples of my work is to let you know that I have been actively building models for over 40 years, and I consider myself a fastidious person. My early models did not look like any of these.

I thought I explained the effect fairly clearly. My statement wasn't a question - I was stating a fact. But feel free to scratch the primer coating to expose the full color plastic. Primer isn't exposing anything. It is an opaque coating. The color dye in the plastic leaches out and gets absorbed into the liquid primer (before it dries). Not all of the dye leaches out, so the primer will have look slightly more pastel (lighter) than the plastic underneath it. Maybe I didn't explain this well enough first time.

Like any paint coating, primer has thickness (body) to it. Did you think it got absorbed into the plastic surface or evaporated? Virgin polystyrene is normally clear. But to make opaque parts, a filler and dye (to color it) are mixed into it. The color dye (red in your example) when exposed to solvents in the primer starts leaching out of the plastic and absorbed into the wet primer. Red dye and gray or white primer end up looking pink. The coat of primer is still there, just tinted with the red dye. If you were to scrape or strip it, you will expose the original plastic.

Donny, you didn't mention how experienced you are in model building. If this will be your first model, I would not expect the paint job to magically turn out "great". There is a learning curve involved in the prep/building/paint process. Your character traits (like fastidiousness or lack of it) will also play an important role in your build/paint quality. Your expectations are also very personal. What you consider "great" might not be the same as what someone else considers "great". Some modeler spend months building and finishing their models, others are happy with a quick (sometimes sloppy) 2-day build.

You should be able to read kWh the display on the meter itself to see if it is close to what is shown on the bill. You could start keep tracking those readings yourself.

I have the same exact saw blade, but I dont' recall who made it or where I got it (it was many years ago). Nowadays there is a variety of photo-etched stainless steel saw blades made for modelers. I also have never seen a short Exacto knife handle, but it should be easy to cut down a full length aluminum handle with just a hacksaw, and then use a flat file to smooth out the cut. If you need a very short handle, this might work for you: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/crafting-and-sewing/products/craft-knives-and-blades/fingertip-detail-knife-loop-design-163050-1001

You have good weathering skills!

I find it laughable that a Ferrari has an 85MPH speedometer. What a joke! Silly '70s government regulations. I guess when driving a Ferrari you don't need to know how fast you're going.

There is nothing "little" about 1:6 scale models. They are BIG gems! But seriously, these do look like gems. Amazing what some people can design and 3D print on their own! Just like what is happening with AI, easy access to advanced CAD and 3D printing has totally revolutionized the model hobbies.

Mark, you make sense. But moderators (there are only about 3 of them) can't look over every thread or post made on the forum. If you feel this strongly about this, contact the mods with your reasons why this should be done. Every post (including the initial post of this thread) has a "..." symbol in the upper right of the post. When you click on it a menu pulls down. One of the options is "Report". Then just fill out the report, then "Submit Report". That will be seen by moderators and they can decide what to do. At that point you've done all you could.

Well with English being my second language, maybe I chose the wrong word. Maybe I should have used "ambiguous", "confusing" or just "doesn't making sense" would have been better than "contradictory". As I understand it, the first part of the sentence was contradicting the second part. If *ALL* red plastic *DON'T* bleed color, how can "SOME* bleed? "All" excludes any exceptions. Illogical! So sue me.

That statement sounds contradictory to me. How can some (red?) plastic kits bleed colors while all red plastic kits don't?

Yes, that is a good idea, but for water-based paints I recommend glass beads instead. BBs (either lead or steel, or even other metal) will react with the water and can discolor the paint. I learned this less on the hard way. Metal beads should be safe to use with organic-solvent (stinky) paints, but I have settled on using glass beads in all types of paints. After all, the agitator balls in rattle cans are also glass.

Price and quality go together. Sherline to me is a prefect balance of good quality and reasonable price. Also, if you were to search the forum ,there are multiple threads with your type of question. Here are couple. I suggest reading the info already posted to reduce duplicity.