Dave Ambrose

You can chrome plate plastic like you do metal car parts. They apply a conductive coating to the plastic before the first plating step. The electroplating process uses lots of toxic chemicals, and is probably why the EU banned it. "Chrome" parts on plastic models are actually vacuum deposited aluminum with a clear overcoat. It doesn't use toxic chemicals, but does need high vacuum systems and plating chambers. This type of vacuum system is something of a black art, and difficult to maintain. It doesn't surprise me that nobody wants to pick up the mantle when people leave the business. It's hard. We have a similar contraction in the world of telescope mirrors.

They're probably harvesting the images, and selling them. Where did you find your images?

Yes, you're getting the Chrome notifications because push notifications are turned on. Apparently, when you turn those on, email gets turned off.

Unfortunately, we can't do that. You can order back or current issues from Burbank Hobbies, Spotlight Hobbies, and Hobby Round Up.

I looked at your notification settings, and when you activated push notifications, it deactivated the email notifications. Just go back and reactivate the email notifications, and you should be good. Let me know if you need help with that.

You used to be able to tell a lot about a person by their bookshelf. (mine still work that way) E-books don't afford you that opportunity. Have to say they take up less space and won't get lost in a house fire.

As much as I'd love to, I cannot claim credit for the phrase. I first encountered it in an article about books. Apparently, avid readers have the same problem we do, just with a different medium. I realized that the same thing could be said about our kit stashes, so the term stuck in my head and I've used it ever since.

PM sent

Send an email to subscribe@modelcarsmag.com and they can answer that question for you. Be sure to include your mailing address.

My canary copy came yesterday. I'd like to think the USPS delivery will be okay for this issue.

We got this yesterday with a request to pass it on: March 5, 2024 Dear Friends and Customers, Due to a greatly increased workload, advanced age of the machinery and its operator, the Little Motor Kar Company is closing the model car rechroming operation after twenty-eight years of operation. Therefore: Any orders received postmarked after this date, March 5, 2024, will be returned unprocessed. Any orders already in house will be completed and returned as soon as possible. This abrupt notice is necessary to prevent a long and lingering shutdown that has happened to others in the past. We will, however, continue to deal in the sales of promotional model cars, updating the Price and Color Guide, and participate in regional toy shows. In the last several years I have encouraged numerous others to take up this business but, to date, no one has accepted the challenge. Now is your chance. Your understanding of this decision will be greatly appreciated. Dale Horner Little Motor Kar Company.

My stash is fairly unorganized right now. I have cars, model railroad, scifi, aircraft, and real space subjects. It complicates everything. Plan is to pull the entire thing out, and take inventory. I'll keep that inventory in a Google sheet. That way, I can access when out shopping so I don't pick up any unintended duplicates. Probably set up several areas and track that in the spreadsheet too.

Polystyrene, the typical kit plastic, is not resin. It's polymerized by a different process, then mixed with other chemicals to give it flexibility (aka plasticizers). The molder gets it in little pellets, and they heat them to inject them into the molds. Resin sets via a catalyst, which is why it's two part. Resins aren't generally vulnerable to solvents like plastics. You have to use super-glue or epoxy to bond it.

Negative camber, used wisely, can be your friend. We used to have a lowered Miata. Speed bumps were not our friend, but the undercarriage liked to get friendly with them. It also had mild negative camber all the way around, but it was right at the limits set by the factory. That car handled like it was on rails. Best $5k I ever spent on a car, that's for sure.

My goodness. This is a veritable NorCal reunion. My wife was born and raised in Marysville.

My wife and I saw the eclipses in 1979 and 2017. Also the annular eclipse in 2012. We're traveling to see our friends in Texas. They're in the path of totality, but we'll try to get closer to the centerline for another 2 minutes of eclipse.

I'll make it official. This section is a catch-all as many of us do not live by model cars alone. Trains, both finished and in-progress, are fine. Looking forward to seeing your builds. I'm a bit of a McCloud River Railroad fan myself.

Wow! This is simply amazing. Which ship is this?

One of my favorite beverages. I think there will be some mixing and fixing this evening.

The rat chewed the Stearman box, but didn't damage the contents. My cat has gotten too elderly to patrol that area anymore. We have a couple of new ones that are still getting settled in. Hopefully, one of them will take up the mantle. Otherwise, I'll just have to keep building models so I go up there and find them when they move in. They usually chew something toxic long before they get to my model kits.

A few months ago, we discovered a rat making a nest in my model stash. I had to pull a bunch of models out to clean out the nest and delete the rat. Those models found their way inside, and looking at the stack, I reflected on what a cool hobby this is. That pile was stocked with all kinds of neat stuff. Our stashes say a lot about ourselves in a nice positive way. That doesn't happen very often. So, at the risk of revealing my eclectic tastes, I give you the rescue pile.

Chances are that they misread the meter. Although our electric meters get read automagically, the water meters are still read by hand. Sometimes they make mistakes. Last time I encountered that, I just called the water department and asked them for their latest meter readings. They cheerfully provided it, and we got things ironed out.

We wanted to have the possibility of including forum content in the magazine. For that, we need high resolution photos. If we resized the photos down, we wouldn't be able to have Forum Finds in the magazine. In this day and age, storage is pretty cheap, and if we need to go back and compress the photos better, we can.

Once upon a time, we had that recommendation ourselves. Forums get to an awkward size where they don't fit well with any of the "mainstream" hosting platforms. We went through this a long time ago. Had to move our hosting platform several times within a few years. We're fortunate to be able to support a dedicated server. That expenditure gets supported by the ever so obnoxious ads. We have 500GB of content now. That presents a few challenges too, but we can readily meet them.

Very good news! Congratulations.