Harry Joy

I am very nearly done with Photobucket. I've been using it since it was brand new. Early adopter and all. But now it will not work unless I tell my adblocker not to block it. Photobucket is running scripts and programs now that abound in pop-ups. Usually within a minute or so of my uploading new pics to it, it locks up completely. And of course, when it locks up it locks up my browser. Pretty fed up with the site now. It was bad enough over the last few years that they fussed and fussed with the interface to force you to "hover" the mouse and guess where links were hiding. And the fact that user sharing is entirely secondary to PB trying to convince me to use all their other services, such as printing. Yep, pretty fed up. If someone wants to sell me on this other site Fotki, go at it. I'm listening.

The plastic would be so thin you'd poke holes in it, and you'd have to have an atomizer to paint it. And a little bitty sewing machine for the seats.

Future may not be cheap, but I've been working out the same bottle for a dozen years or more. Maybe next week I'll show my latest project. I installed the windows today. Before I dipped them in Future, they looked like they'd been rolling around in a box of gravel for 30 years. All it took to bring them to a showroom shine was a rinse at the sink, letting them dry, then one "treatment" and drying for a day. And I attached them with CA, no worries. But that's what works for me. The guys at the car modelling club in town thought there was some special trick to this. There's not. And that $7 purchase all those years ago has gone into a few hundred model kits by now.

Looking at your post again, your concern was to protect the metallic finish from rubbing off. So you know, that's not a danger when using Alclads. I know the Testor's Metallizers are very fragile, as are some other older systems, but you don't have to worry about that with Alclad. Especially if you are painting it over primer.

You can clear over it. It just deadens the finish, which is kinda NOT the point of using Alclads.

+++ for truthiness. In my short car modeling career, I have already firmly decided that I would rather build 100 of the old classics over 1 modern uber-kit. But then, my preference in airplane models in recent years has been for old Monogram and Revell kits, and my all-time fave Hasegawa never goes for high parts counts.

Mercury Grand Marquis. I believe this is a '75. On I-40E near Watkins, Memphis.

I guess all that really matters is I had to buy a second one of each, so my wife can use them on her nails. (I finally had to hide my Squadron sanding sticks and put a pile of nail files I bought from Sallys on the hobby table just for her to swipe when I'm not looking.)

Yeah, I haven't used a knife for sprues in 20 years at least. I just couldn't think of what this one on the left is called:

Yeah, not casting a vote. I used nothing but rattle cans for years, then I used nothing but airbrush for years. For my airplanes, I use an airbrush for most of the model, but still use Tamiya cans for things like propellers, and anything in shades of black or yellow. For cars, I've been using cans for chassis parts, engines, and most interiors. The exterior finishes depend on what I'm doing. The Ford truck I just did was almost all can, but most of the cars on my shelf are finished with airbrush. I use the tool I need for particular applications, even if it's painting. Think of it as asking - do you separate parts from trees with clippers or knives? It depends.

I've pointed this out a few times to guys at the shop, but if some old fart like me followed those directions, they would get lost. All the kids today use GPS though, so they won't have any issues.

I would have supposed the big surprise would be seeing a Citroën 2cv going 70mph.

Guess what I saw today? On Highway 78, heading to Tupelo. I wonder if it could be the same fellow?

When my LHS gets parts boxes, they'll set them out, and typically let folks grab what they want for free. The parts boxes don't last long.

I believe this is about a 1973 LeBaron Imperial, on I-55 north of downtown Memphis: And a few hours before I saw that one, I chased after this 1970 Buick Wildcat in Whitehaven, the south side of Memphis: I followed that fellow to the sidewalk, and he told me it was his dad's car, all original, with only 55,000 miles. Offered to let me peak under the hood, but I was expected elsewhere and running late. It was cherry - and that engine sounded nice. If I see it again, I'm looking under the hood. For years and years, one thing I've said about Memphis is no one throws away old cars.

I use CA glues for all windows. But if you are having issues making a mess with other glues, I don't recommend it. (I dip all transparencies in Future before installing, so fogging is not an issue.)

Very nice. I like it a lot. But it begs the question - what happened to all the passengers? Was there a bomb threat? Accident? Struck by alien people-snatchers?

Very nice - liking this a lot.

Correct, or as you often find it on store shelves today, Pledge with Future Shine.

Francis Ford Coppola would top my currently alive list. Also, Luc Besson, Terry Gilliam, Josh Whedon, Jim Jarmusch, Craig Brewer - they pop to mind immediately too. There are plenty others. But Coppola would top it.

I'm building an old kit right now where the glass sat loose in the box for probably 40 years. All scratched up. My usual method is a dip in Future, then if that doesn't work I wash the Future off, polish, then Future again. For the kit I'm currently building, as bad as the scratches were a simple Future dip was all it took.

I like my Zona sprue cutters immensely, and stopped using other brands ages ago. My only issue is that as one of my most used tools, they do wear out, and finding new ones is never easy. My LHS keeps them in stock, but the slim nosed ones are always harder to get.

It looks fine. That said, I love Alclad's metallic colors, but you are better off spraying your base coat, if needed (and you do for chrome), with a spray gloss black. For that, I prefer Tamiya gloss black spray can, but other folks have their own faves.

My local hobby shops gets 95% of my hobby dollars. I'll pick up hard to find stuff online sometimes, but my LHS is my first resort, and usually all I need. They cater to plastic modelers, but also RC cars and airplanes, trains, slot cars, games, D&D, fiction and non-fiction books, all kinds of stuff. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. They have a huge inventory that is always changing, as they pick up collections all the time. I have followed this shop ever since I moved back to Memphis in 2000, and they have changed locations three times (all within about a block of each other), mainly to keep moving to better corners and bigger locations. When I first started shopping here, they had about five parking spaces out front. Now they have dozens. When I went by yesterday, every one was filled. It's a great place to hang out and chat, people-watch, and yes, to shop as well. Over the years, the shop manager became one of my absolute best friends, and he even introduced me to the woman I married a few years ago. When people say the hobby is dying, I wonder what their local shops do to draw people in. My LHS is always packed because they answer to almost every whim. They'll even barbecue out on the sidewalk in the summer. I have visited hobby shops from the easy coast to the west, and from the deep south to the upper Midwest, so I speak from personal experience when I say there is not a shop anywhere else in the US kind of like the one we have here in Memphis.

Oh for the love of.... I just wrote a five paragraph love story for my local hobby shop, only to have this forum eat the post.