robdebie

It might be difficult to answer, but does the allergic reaction develop during the casting, or the sanding of the resin? If you know the answer, you can focus on improving your safety measures on that phase. Judging from the whole sheet of safety warnings on one of the components of the Smooth-On resin that I use, the casting operation is not without risk. The dangers of isocyanates are not to be underestimated. I know one Dutch seller who stopped PU resin sales, he couldn't take the responsibiliy anymore. Judging from modelers' stories, the sanding phase gives most problems, usually in the shape of nose bleeds that won't stop. Rob

A tip from a fellow user of Alps decals: I recommend lightly sanding the edges of the cut decal. It softens the sharp cut edge, and makes it look better on your model, with less of a visible step. Rob

Thanks for the linked video! It yielded a much better view of the 'White Power' sticker than I had ever seen before. I drew my decals based on a much worse screenshot from the movie itself. Rob

Haha, my favorite quote! The moment they lift from their seats due to zero G (how was that done??) , I start laughing, and then that quote on top of it, I nearly wet myself 🙂 I put the quote on the fictitious shop display that I made for my model. But hardly anyone here (the Netherlands) recognises the car, let alone that quote.. But it doesn't matter, I love it 🙂 Rob

Since you state that the part was perfectly clear after demolding, you can rule out that the cloudiness is internal. My first guess is that the material isn't hard enough to be sanded and polished, it's too rubbery. You can probably find the Shore-D value somewhere. Maybe you can increase the hardness by a postcure, only then you get the full material properties. Room temperature cured epoxy isn't 'done' curing. I've done some clear resin casting too, with epoxy resin. Shown below are the fuselage parts of the MPM 1/72 Fokker G.I Mercury. Epoxy is a killer for silicone rubber, shown in the second photo is the sixth casting, that came out cloudy. With polyurethane resin I get twenty castings. Rob

Here's a scratchbuilt example, for my 'Blues Brothers' Ford Pinto Wagon, quickly slapped together because of a deadline. It's three plastic parts: the mirror, the arm and the foot. The mirror was thick piece of plastic card, trapezium-shaped, sanded on the front side to make it slightly bulbeous. The mirror itself is canted like in the movie. It's not perfect but it does the job. Rob

Helmut, I'm a bit late to the party, but how would you modify the model to make it more correct? For starters, I think the cockpit should more forward quite a bit. Maybe the windshield is too long? Rob

Assuming you're using enamel paint, I would recommend a Paasche H. It's based on this video, showing the 'Donn Yost' technique. I tried it, and it works really well. All enamel paints came out super glossy and shiny, something I never achieved with my other airbrushes. You do have to crank open the nozzle for the final layer. It's a fairly cheap airbrush, give it a try! Rob

I used CA throughout. The first layer is difficult to do: you need to glue the 45 degree cut ends together, while not gluing the strip to the rim. Here's a photo sequence of another one I built. The rough ends were cut off with a JLC razor saw. Rob

Cheap it will never be, but that's also a consequence of wanting scratch-built 1/8 models! I cannot predict the actual costs, you'll have to give it a try and see. You can break it up in design costs and printing costs, to keep control. But I'm pretty sure you'll be hooked once you start, it opens up a world of possibilities. A club member printed some 1/24 truck tires in rubber on his filament printer, and that didn't look half bad. The route you mention is another good one. Personally I don't need tires to be made from rubber, I like them better in a hard material. Two examples below: an old Ertl truck tire cast in resin, the rear one flattened so the truck doesn't appear to be standing on its toes. And second a slick tire made by wrapping sheet styrene around the rim, and painted off-black. Everyone thinks it's rubber! Until I bounce it on the table, and you hear it's hard. Rob

I guess you'll get this anwer multiple times: 3D design & printing. I've done a few small '3D' projects, like the truck wheel and the tiny 1/72 airplane shown below. The results are excellent. But the usual barrier is mastering 3D CAD design. If that's insurmountable, maybe you can hire a school kid to do it for you. Rob

Thanks for the compliments! Here's one more with a car model. But not a Pinto 🙂 Rob

I built the MPC 1977/1978 Pinto Wagon, as the the Illinois nazi's car in the 1980 movie 'The Blues Brothers'. It started as a glue bomb. I don't consider it 100% done, MPC 'forgot' the chrome trime around the side and rear windows, I hope to add that one nice day. I made a fictitious shop display for it, that was shown along with 32 more fictitious shop displays at the IPMS-NL show ESM, see here: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/shopdisplays.htm Rob

I would say it's regular polystyrene sheet. The cracking problem is easily avoided by not using pink Zap, so the problem is not too bad. But it is fascinating! Rob

There's no brand on the polystyrene, only a small sticker with a bar code and a brief product description. If I could read the bar code, I would probably know the manufacturer too. To be clear, I did not use a kicker. Never used that in my life. Rob

A follow-up. I did a simple test: I bent pieces of 1 mm plastic card into an arch, and fixed the base ends with a piece of tape. Then applied a drop of CA straight from the bottles, on the arch's peak, the area that was most deformed. The pink Zap specimen started cracking within seconds, but nothing happened to the Colle 21 specimens. I bent all specimens identically, but the cracked specimen changed shape due to the cracking. On the left, the same specimen but upside down. On the right, an earlier test. Different cracking patterns. An amazing result! But I can't offer an explanation. It would be great if forum members could repeat this test with their CA glues. If you want to replicate mine: the samples are 80 x 15 x 1 mm, bent to an arch, the ends fixed with tape with a 20 mm distance. CA is applied straight from the bottle, tip against the top of the arch, approximately one drop over an area of 15 x 5 mm. Rob

I have a page showing 'Humbrol tin evolution': https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/humbrol.htm. It includes some details on the production locations. Production was in China for a number of years, but returned to the UK in 2012, outsourced to Rustins Ltd in Cricklewood. The China production was unreliable in quality, but the UK production did not improve it. Many modelers simply gave up after maybe 20 years of unreliable paint, including me. Many modelers here (Europe) move to acrylics, and sell their surplus enamels. That's probably the best source for older Humbrol paint, that's of good quality. You can identify the good quality tins by their labels. I'm still using the 'Authentic' paint from time to time. 40+ years old, shake it a bit, ready to go, excellent coverage. What a difference.. Rob

Don't make this a battle of who's right. I share my experiences, you share yours. Rob

My experience is the opposite: my CA glues do lose their adhesive power after (say) six months. It's usually the first signal the glue is getting too old. The second signal would be that it starts to form strings. I write the opening date on each container, and simply replace them after 6+ months. Almost every time I replace a container, I note that the glue works much better. The cost is minor. Rob

I would say six months, for a container that is opened regularly. Rob

Good point, you need a buck / master / plug. And that means more work. Here are two of mine. The first is for an A-12 Avenger, the resulting canopies are shown above. The second is for a Bede 5 homebuilt. I want to pull a negative mold from this master, because a piece vacformed straight over this master would be oversized. The model is so small that an oversized canopy would not work. I'm busy experimenting to laminate a glassfiber shell over it. Rob

I bought 0.5 and 1.0 mm (0.020" & 0.040"), and use both. It depends mostly on the size of the object to be vacformed, and the 'feel' of the vacformed part. Rob

PET-G will develop steam bubbles if heated too long. Here are samples with and without. Made on the very dental machine you're asking about. Rob

We bought one with a small group from our club, and have it's been doing rounds since then. The thing is clunky, but I would say it works well enough. The chrome ball knob needs to be in exactly one position, in my experience - I think the photo shows the correct one. And I never use the (what I think is) ball bearing holder, the first metal-colored thing from the bottom. Leaving it off gives you a flatter and slighter larger area to work with. Rob

Thanks all for the replies so far. A small update: I planned to do some experiments, with bent / folded plastic card strips, but I ran out of Zap thin CA, my prime suspect. The cracks in the tank trailer are repaired, and no new problems have surfaced. Rob