Dave Ambrose

You would think that in a metropolitan area of 2.5 million people there'd be one good hobby shop. but no. We have a couple of OK independently owned stores, Michael's, and Hobby People. There are also a couple of good train stores in town. Sometimes the good weather here is a detriment. Our local hobby shops have big RC selections, and quite frankly, that's where they make their money. RC cars and planes are expensive. They crash. you buy, repair, and repeat. One of the mom and pop shops has a good selection of models, but most modellers in San Diego build armor and aircraft. Not too surprising with the big military presence. Car modelers are actually a bit of a rarity. But, none of our local shops compare with the shops I visited in Toronto. Man. Not big in square feet, but stacked floor to ceiling with kits, and a good stock of detail parts, tools, and finishing supplies. They'd kill and eat any shop in San Diego. I try to shop our local stores first, but they can't always get what I want, so I either have to mail order or drive an hour and some north to Pegasus Hobbies who seems to have just about everything, especially in terms of detail parts. I'm not complaining tho. The owners are nice, and try their best. I just have esoteric tastes.

I use 30 ga wire wrap wire. I have a lifetime supply from when I was an independent electronics tech. I think you can still get it at Radio Shack. I use it both with the wire in, and using just the insulation after stripping it off the wire.

I checked #4. I've been building a lot of sci-fi models lately; Batplane, Orion Space Clipper, and am getting set to start on something else sci-fi-ish. This interleaved with various cars. Over the years, I've build planes, trains, automobiles, and ships. I like cars a lot because I can let my creativity run wild. Besides, who'd ever think a purple plane was something serious. I did paint the batplane a deep metalic blue. Shiny paint drives aircraft modelers crazy. I still have a few planes in my stash and I intend to build them.

My attitude is pretty simple: So long as my builds are on an upward trajectory, I'm happy. They're never perfect, but they can look pretty good. I have, on occasion, bitten off more than I could chew. On the other hand, if you don't push the envelope some, you don't grow either, and personal growth is important to me. When planning my car builds, I pick a couple of new things to try, and keep it at that. It's a strategy that seems to be working for me, though I haven't finished any cars in a while. (self-employment is not the right choice for those who love free time). I find that building other models helps me regroup and feel like I'm getting something accomplished. This is mostly because my personal standards for sci-fi space ships and airplanes isn't nearly as stringent as for my model cars. So, I get reenergized ready for another model car build. And that's cool. My current interest area is paint. I seem to have paint drama with almost every build. Now, I'm to the point where I don't get frustrated by it so much. Just accept it as part of the learning experience and keep moving. Almost anything can be fixed with some sandpaper and patience.

I love Bug-eye (Frog eye in the UK) Sprites. That's the nicest model of one I've ever seen. Thank you......

you should have seen my early paint jobs. On second thought, maybe not. It takes practice. I still run into paint drama with almost every build, but now I know I can fix it with some sandpaper and a couple more coats of paint. I use the blue 3M masking tape. But, more importantly, I use a burnishing tool along the edges. It was originally used for dry transfer lettering. Not sure where you get them now days. You might find one at an art supply store like Blick's. The burnishing pretty much eliminates bleeding. As for spraying, with either airbrush or spray can, I found it very helpful to actually stop spraying the paint at the end. So aim the can beyond the model, start the spray, and move the spray across the model. When you get past the end, stop the spray. I don;t know exactly why this works, but my paint jobs improved a lot when I did. You can get a cardboard box and a cheap can of Krylon or something from Wally World, and just practice on the box. Work on getting even coverage with no drips, runs, or sags. I still practice on some newsprint when I'm not feeling confident about my paint mix or painting conditions. It helps a lot. .

As a contract engineer, I more or less live by my resume. I found a few things that seem to work well: Dynamic verbs and flowery prose is a little like hot sauce. Some is good, too much is inedible. Remove the objective section. You don't need it. Anyone other than your spouse, claiming to be concerned for your career development is lying. Stick with chronological format. Functional is very useful, but so many people have used it to hide things, that it almost automatically sets off a red flag. If you have valuable skills and experience from volunteering outside of work, list them. I've seen people list them as if they were jobs (they usually are), and get a good reception. Just make sure that they say volunteer position when appropriate. Most resume's are found via computer search. If you can get a hint of the keywords they're searching for, and they fit your experience, make sure they show up on your resume. Don't worry about keeping it to a single page. Keep your network going. This is one good reason to get out to lunch with former coworkers. If you put your resume on a site like monster.com. Be sure you "update" it every couple of months. For some reason, companies don't search older resumes. OK, that's more than a few. Sorry, I can get long-winded sometimes. It's also important to keep active during your unemployment; volunteer, learn something new, Just stay active and be prepared to talk about it.

Welcome. This is a good place to be. I came from the model train world, so I can assure you, all types of modelers are welcome here. There is an "other models" section for when you go screaming bat-brained crazy and build something other than a car. I seem to be building about 1/2 cars and 1/2 other stuff these days. There's also a chat room that's worth visiting.

I'm also a very satisfied One-coat customer. I've never seen anything like that, though I have managed to put down some paint that would have an orange calling it cousin. I have a couple of ideas -- First, don't put the body in the dehydrator. Lacquer paint dries plenty fast on its own. The warm body may be driving the solvent out too quickly. I've also seen the gas used to pressurize the spray can stay dissolved in the paint long enough to bubble up on the surface of the model. The paint needs to stay liquid long enough for the bubbles to reach the surface.

I'm a dinosaur. I use enamels. Some people think I'm sick. There, we got that out of the way. I use the sniff test to determine dryness. If I can still smell a lot of solvent on the model, it's not dry. Barely detectable is OK. Sometimes it takes a couple of days in my "bake box" to get adequately dry. Enamels skin over, and dry slowly after that. Your reward for your patience is a nice, smooth, paint finish, even without polishing. Once you get your airbrush back online, you can use lacquer thinner when you spray enamels. This completely alters their behavior and they dry fairly quickly, even without a bake box.

My German might be a little rusty, but this is an Austrian creation. The interior rises on hydraulics to give a full featured, modern DJ booth. To borrow a bit of phrasing from the article; Es ist sehr coolen! Ich sage, ausgeseichnet!

I see an armor kit in my future.....:

Nice looking build. Those louvers are a keeper.

Wow. Nice pictures. I swore I was going to go this year, but work prevented that. Next year fer sure.

This ain't your father's roach coach. Food trucks are a big thing in LA.On our visit to the Miracle Mile district, they were lined up and serving some really good food. We seem to have a good rotating set at my office here in San Diego, including one that serves excellent sushi.

I love Morgans. That one is beautiful.

This brings lots of adjectives to mind, but if I used them, I'd have to ban myself. Let's just say it's an epic build and leave it at that.

To me, a clean build is one with no obvious flaws. It goes back to the archaic term "sanitary" to describe a clean, well-executed mechanical assembly that will function well in its intended purpose.

More time between coats shouldn't be a problem. The solvents in lacquer will bond it to the coat underneath no matter how dry it is. unlike enamels, lacquer doesn't "skin over". It uniformly dries.

I get good results from my General, even with the tiniest bits. The top of any pin vise should swivel. Otherwise you're gonna need a lot of mole skin.

No motor mods to ours, but I like the idea of adding the 323 turbo. IIRC, they both use the same basic motor, so shouldn't be a problem, except in California. Someone in my town has a Miats with the Ford 5 litre conversion. It's wicked fast, but you need some fat rubber to get that power to the ground.

Great work! It really looks nice.

Welcome back. I understand about hotel living. After way too many years, I finally figured out that I can bring a model with me. Fitting and brush painting is not problem, but spray painting is problematic at best. Building makes the evenings much more pleasant.

Sounds like it's time for a "bake box." Take a low wattage work light. The fluorescent types work well. put it in a cardboard box with the model and turn it on. Close the box and wait. I find that the paint hardens within a few days. Hopefully, you'll get the same results I do.

We have a similar problem in San Diego, but not as bad. It's the good weather. People don't particularly want to build models when it's warm and sunny outside. I visited a couple of hobby shops in Toronto, Ontario that would kill and eat any shop we have in San Diego, Then again, we don't have 6 months of winter either. I get by with the occasional trip to Orange County or LA, online, and the fortunate fact that my local hobby shops carry a lot of paint. I buy from them when it makes sense, but there are a lot of things I want to buy that I can't get from them, even on special order. So, I go online.