ColonelKrypton

Sounds easy enough. I will have to give a try - nothing ventured, nothing gained. Up till now I have struggled with using a silver Sharpie. Never like the look and have been hesitant to use one of the much more expensive chrome pens fearing that I wouldn't have gained anything over the Sharpie. I always liked the 66 Fairlane. It looks good in blue. cheers, Graham

me too cheers, Graham

very nice. cheers, Graham

Very, very nice. cheers, Graham

Chionodoxa forbesii Glory of the Snow More than 15 years ago these little purple flowers started to appear in our lawn. They are perennials and are always a pleasure to see in the spring; this year with our mild winter they are appearing even earlier than usual and what pleased me more was to see a honey bee working it's way around the flowers that have already appeared. Spring is here. cheers, Graham

I was thinking the same thing. Odd thing thou, a Hong Kong online seller having Canadian - Ontario licence plates. That was the only thing I was interested in and they are all sold out. cheers, Graham

razor saw, pin vise, number drills ( and others ) - those where the tools mentioned in the model magazines and I once dreamed of having those many decades ago. I miss the thrill of picking up the latest issue of the modeling magazines at the local news stand and the many hours of reading and dreaming that followed. cheers, Graham

Those plates look very nice. Did a search for Zoom on Models and found their web site but it is not clear where they are located. Anyone know? cheers, Graham

I didn't know these Saw Stop things where a "thing". I learned how to use shop tools decades ago in high school. Learned proper use and to respect the tools not fear them. Neve had any issues in over 55 years since. Interestingly, I did some searching around and the reported number of emergency room visits is a bit of floating number - 30,000 67,000 78,000 where three numbers I found. Gotta protect ourselves from ourselves. What's next - screwdrivers? Gotta stop those 100k+ injuries cause by consumers using screwdrivers as ice picks, can openers, hammers, chisels, and on and on.. When will the insanity end? When will they figure out that you can't fix or legislate against stupidity. Guess it's time to wrap my hands in bubble wrap so I can't do myself any more harm cheers, Graham

Inks are a good choice too. Liquitex, Daler Rowney, Higgins, Winsor & Newton, Dr PH Martin, Speed Ball, to name a few, and available in a rainbow of colours. Liquitex and Daler Rowney are acrylic inks, just like water based acrylic paint but much thinner, well like ink thin, and work well as washes. Not all inks are created equal. Traditional India ink and Chinese or Japanese inks are little more than lampblack and water and are not water proof. Many artists inks use shellac as a binder and are more water proof. The acrylic inks are typically much more waterproof however. cheers, Graham

No, but you might get away with it if you are lucky. If not lucky you might encounter the paint curdling, never drying or curing properly or flaking, peeling or not adhering properly, and so on. Water based acrylics ( i.e. Testors, Revell, Vallejo, AK Interactive third gen, Army Painter, Humbrol, Golden, Liquitex, various brands of craft acrylics - Apple Barrel, Deco Art, and others ) should not be thinned with alcohol or lacquer thinners, or enamel thinners, or Windex, or windshield washer fluid ( which may contain alcohol and ammonia ). Use distilled or deionized water if you can ( a gallon is not expensive and will last a long time ), better yet, use the manufactures own products ( in the case of hobby products like Vallejo). Tamiya acrylics are not water based acrylics and their thinner is about half and half water and alcohol and should not be used with water based acrylic paints. The best thing I found for thinning water based acrylics is either Liquitex or Golden brand airbrush mediums. They contain acrylic polymers which help preserve the paints properties when thinning. For washes I use the manufacturers own thinner or in the case of water based craft paints Vallejo airbrush thinner or AK Interactive 3rd gen thinner. Get the larger bottles, a little goes a long way when used only for thinning - use something else like tap water or something stronger as needed like, alcohol, windex, etc for clean up. That many get away with using witches brews like Windex or windshield washer fluid to thin water based acrylics is just plain luck and a testament to the quality of the basic paint itself. I can't count the number problems so many have had using and painting either by brush or airbrush trying to use these brews. Model kits and paints themselves are expensive enough but trying to cheap out and pinch pennies on something like paint reducers and thinners is just being penny wise and dollar foolish. cheers, Graham

Very nice cheers, Graham

I asked Bill for some details not too long ago. Perhaps it is time I join the group. cheers, Graham

Meant to ask @bytownshaker , are you a member of the Ottawa Model Car Group? I've never been. I used to commute every day to work in the Big City but since that need has past I don't often drive in just for the something to do. Although, once in a while I feel the need to visit Bill's store just to see what's new or interesting. cheers, Graham

Although I have lived longer in Eastern Ontario than anywhere else ( 30+ yrs ), I am originally from South Western Ontario ( Chatham / Sarnia area ) plus periods, some short, others a few years in every other province and territory except PEI. cheers, Graham

About the same distance but different direction from Ottawa in Embrun. For some reason I never stumbled across this topic before - always something new to discover. cheers, Graham

Very nice. cheers, Graham

I don't so much the cold or snow although too much snow can be irksome. Freezing rain Ice storms on the other hand are always irksome++ We usually get several every winter here in the Eastern Ontario / South Western Quebec / upstate NY / along the St. Lawrence Valley seaway area but this Winter Mother Nature was kind to us and we hand only one small one of note. The previous couple of Winters were particularly hard and damaging in this area with much heavy wet snow and freeing rain. It was nice to have a Winter with a bit of reprieve. I always remind myself that no matter how bad I think it is locally and I find it irksome, someone else, somewhere else is having a worse time of it than I. cheers, Graham

Surface tension works well for many such tasks. Using a small paint brush is a good tip. What you may be thinking of is something like this: https://uchida.com/products/jewel-picker has a sticky end. Some tools are double ended and there are several sizes. Also a wax stick ( bees wax ) is another. You will find this tools in craft stores, Amazon, eBay, your favourite hobby store, ( etc ) Not always easy to search for as they are called different things by different users. Wax sticks can be found by searching ( on Amazon for example ) for something like: nail art wax stick or nail art picker . cheers, Graham

Very nice. Those were the days of real drag racing, not the billion dollar "Sports Entertainment" it has become. cheers, Graham

I did miss it, thank you for posting. Lots of inspiration to be found there. cheers, Graham

That is common practice brush painting acrylics - several thin coats vs one heavy one. I am still learning, trying to break that "gotta cover in one coat" mentality. This is common subject matter for topics on Britmodeller. The focus there is primarily aircraft and military vehicles but the techniques of painting are all the same. This is a youtube link to someone who brush paints exclusively and uses Tamiya acrylics: And this a link to one such topic on Britmodeller ( there are many more if you care to search ) https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235136960-tamiya-acrylic/ cheers, Graham

Hard to say. Post a link to one of his youtube videos so we can have a look. Could be he is adding some retarder. Tamiya product number 87114 is the retarder for Tamiya acrylics. I would also use the Tamiya X-20A thinner as well rather than distilled water. Follow Tamiya's instructions. I found it made a real difference. cheers, Graham

Many decades ago, when I was decades younger, my favourite radio station was WWWW in the Detroit area. One day, overnight, they switched from rock to playing both kinds of music - country and western. I guess they couldn't compete with the then rising star that was WRIF in Detroit. Ya gotta go were the money is. I listen to all kinds of music including both kinds but the Canadian content rules have driven me to choose US based stations when given the chance as their content can be much broader based hence more enjoyable. I can't recall the last time I heard the Allman Brothers or Junior Johnson on a local station. My station choice these days is WICD in upstate NY. cheers, Graham

nicely done, very creative cheers, Graham