E St. Kruiser50

Macro shots are great . Don't need a new camera now Door's won't be opened on this one John. I hope for it to be done next month, as we are havin' an inter-club challange, and I'm bulding it for that mini-contest. PIZZA and lies - what fun .

Hey Bernard It was great to meet you and visit with you too. Hope you had as much fun at the NNL as we did. Hope to see you again - dave

Me too - YES brake fluid works.

Hey Mathew Each didcipline has a learing curve, not just in the building , but in out mindset's and how we think, especially when we meet a new challange and it makes our stomach's churn' or our heads hurt. Most of us have a natural resistance when we meet something new and overwhelming. I've learned over time not to let these feelings influence me to not move forward. I think we all feel those "sorta walls", that we run up against, but have to push through them and practice 'til we get it right, as MR> OBSESSIVE would say - PRACTICE PRACTICE AND MORE PRACTICE is great advise, and each thing you try and go through, they will always get better and easier, by my experience. Scratch-building to me is by far the most dificult of discipline's, but by far for me the most rewarding. There is no timeline for me when I build. Perfection in my own mind is the goal, and being that's a "relative term", is always different in each different person's mind. Sometime's it takes me 5 or 10 years to build a car, but so what - It get's done eventually - and that's MY goal.

What kinda polish do you use ???

I think that's a fairly common choice. BMF doesn't work well on compound curves, like bumpers and such, but the Alclad works great on them and on other seperate pieces, especially those with rounded or uneven configurations.

Hey Erik It was great meeting you, and the "Other Christine" . Great models and a lot of fun visiting with you both - dave

YOU'RE RIGHT HARRY - CERTIFIABLE - BUT LOVIN' IT ( By the way Harry - Being "Certifiable has it's benefits. I won Peoples Choice and Best Theme this week-end at our local SABA NNL )

This is always fun when it comes up I think many of us here are "Artists First", like Peter Lombardo, and Raul Perez, Mr BIGGS, and myself. For me I know it's a God-Given gift and talent, and HE get's the credit for what I do. I'm one of those people that is very intense and passionate about life, and intentionately choose to enjoy every moment of living that I can, when it doesn't "Suck" . We've all been there). I find so much personal satisfaction from my interests and accomplishments. Over the years, I have learned more and more, to enjoy each stage of the building process, from shaping and sculpting the body fillers, to painting and foiling, designing and all the intricate detailing, and of course the "BIG TIRES AND WHEELS" , and the multi-color contrast's for the interiors and bodies. There's always a challange or new discipline to learn, that seems to be never ending. The other aspect of my building is that we get to make friends. I'm a people person. Even more than model building, I have learned the value of friends and people in general. Like Bob Paeth was, there are no strangers in my life .

AHHH YES We had our NNL this week-end too. TIME FOR THE PLASTIC WITHDRAWLS TO BEGIN

You must be Egyptian

During several years of my career as a Tooling and Design Manager, I learned the benefit of keeping as much as we could in-house, for repeateability of quality, and accuracy for our products. The water-based chrome system I use, I could never justify the cost, but I knew what kind of repeateably controlled quality I wanted, and was definetly up for such a huge challange. Something I always enjoy. Kinda my "Goofy Nature" . These "Snaps" were taken several years ago with a "Film Camera" BD ( Before Digital ), and then just recently scanned and downloaded into my image hosting account. NO - I WON'T RE-SET EVERYTHING UP SO YOU CAN SEE BIGGER PIC'S YES - I'M INSANE - AND LOVE IT :blink:

Hi Harry As you've probably figured out by now, I'm a fairly intense and dedicated builder. I have a 5X10 walk in spray booth that is lit heated and vented and has air cond. available to use if needed ( In Oregon ??? ), a complete machine shop, a photo-etch system, several paint urethane systems, and several chrome systems, including the "Commercial Water-based Chrome system" I mentioned. I guess you could call me an "Enthusiast" . The water based chrome systems chemical package was "Several Thousand $$$$" to purchase and set up, and then all the guns I had to purchase and some I had to design and create. A full size commercial system ranges in price between $7500 - $15,000, plus $2800 - $5,500 for the chemical packages. I had to design and build a double nozzle air-brush, and a dual nozzle HVLP 4 1/2 oz. gun, and re-formlate all the chemical ratios mixtures, as this has never been done with an air-brush before, to my knowledge. Non of the commercial manufacturers could help me, as they had never heard of scaling down their chemical process from a dual nozzle 3 gallon system, to a 3/4 oz. custom made dual-nozzle air-brush system. You have to shoot a particular over-lap spray pattern during the chroming process, and available equipment for miniature model part's didn't exist, so I basically invented one. It took me 2 years and probably over a thousand hours to get where I was satisfied with the result's . I continue to perfect the system and add more capacity, while maintaing the same nozzle's. The system takes 7 dedicated guns for each of the four steps in this 8 stage system. I ended up buying over 20 guns, experimenting to see which gave the best result's. There are 13 chemicals, including the four that are shot all at once, combining in the air, from the dual nozzle guns. There is also a special water that all the chemicals are mixed with. The water is charcol filtered using a reverse osmosis process. I use a special testing device called a TDS meter to check the quality of the water. Every critical step in this 8 stage process requires fresh chemicals, the right timing between stages and steps, proper air temperature, and correct air pressures for spraying, to guarantee maximum sucessful result's. Several of the stages I either re-designed or re-invented, and added an extra urethane base color to bring up the clarity, and used a different color tint in the top-coat for more "DAZZLE". There are 3, sometimes 4, catalyzed urethane systems also used in the process. Everything is water clear, so it's really amazing to see the incredible chrome appear like majic as you spray. It takes 4 days, and nearly 40 hours from start to finish, to complete the process. Here's the spray set-up Here's all the chemicals and supplies And here's some finished parts.

Hi there I've used the HOK Tangelo, that I get at an auto parts store here in Portland. It gives beautiful results. Remember though, that' a more traditional, Dupli-color/Plasticote style acrylic lacquer based paint, not the urethane product more associated with the "REAL" brand of HOK. Only one chain carries it here that I know of. I've heard it can be hard to find. Get in touch with "VALSPAR", the manufacturer, and they'll tell you about a store closest to you that carries what you need.

I've tried several other colors, but am most "Satisfied" with the black, not only with the Alclad, but also using it with my water-based chrome system. "Satisfied" being a "Relative Term", it's always good to experiment on sample pieces to see what results you may get with other 'Glossy" base colors that could happily surprise you. It's fun to step "Outside The Box" periodically, as that's what helps this hobby move forward and grow. All the best - dave

WOW BOY DID YOU GET MT ATTENTION WITH THIS THIS IS JUST TOO WAY CRAZY COOL

There will be a bunch of OUR GUYS there this week-end. Have lots of fun with everyone AT THE NNL EAST and tell everyone DAVE SAID "HI" AND WISHES HE WAS THERE TOO .

THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT

Hey Peter You changed your AVATAR to the CYBELE ( I CHANGED THE SPELLING ) car. LOVE THAT CAR.....and the dogs...OH MY GOSH

Sorry to hear about your hand. We'll miss your builds and comments. Have a speedy recovery my friend, and we'll see you back here soon - dave

(You get the same as Harry)

Hey Peter This will be a more "Traditional" style build for me with the "BIG wheel/tire combo. The interior, I THINK, will be a tri-toned combo. A "cordova" color, which is a reddish brown, that took me 4 colors to mix, and it really came out nice. There'll also be carpet, the lower part of the dash, and seat inserts painted a custom mixed urethane "BUCKSKIN" color, and the door panels will be woodgrained like the "Retro-Vette. The body, which will be one color, is a custom mixed urethane that I'll spray a gold highlighting pearl over. What color is it ??? . You'll see hehehe VEWY VEWY SEEKWATIVE

I use an industrial rated "Squirrel Cage" motor from GRAINGERS and had it fo nearly 10 years and IT'S still "SQUIRRELIN' .

Here's an earlier post Harry - to confuse you more