Aaronw

I wouldn't say its so much new cars are not user servicable as much as they don't need much servicing except for big stuff you wouldn't trust to a shade tree mechanic anyway. Fluids, spark plugs, cap / rotor and ignition wires, on the newest cars you can drop cap rotor and wires. I compare the work I NEED to do on my '69 Land Cruiser to my '96 Tacoma. Adjust timing? 69 yes, it will wander with time, 96, not unless the computer dies. Adjust valves '69 yes, '96 self adjusting, brakes '69 yes (mechanics run and hide whan I mention brake adjustment, major PITA), '96 self adjusting etc etc. Like most old cars I need to do continual maintenace on my Land Cruiser, that is just part of the deal. The Tacoma just runs and runs and runs with an occasional oil and filter change, it has only been to a shop twice in the 9 years I've owned it, once to have a spark plug re tapped (stripped threads at 220,000 miles, did the valves and timing belt while they were in there) and once to have the brakes re done (bad timing, had to be done now and I just didn't have the time to do it myself). How many cars built before 1985 (or so, not sure when the computer thing really kicked in) will go 100,000 miles without any major maintenace required? I'm not talking break downs, just scheduled adjustments. Most of todays cars maintenance consists of oil and filter changes and keeping the fuel tank filled. A trip to the shop for preventive maintenace is tyically a few belts replaced and talking to the computer to make sure everything is still happy. They recommend getting the timing belt replaced around 100,000 miles. That is about it unless something breaks. If you want to tear down and rebuild your motor you can, only thing you really can't play with is the computer and from what I've seen neither can the shop, they just slap in a new one.

As long as they think it is the brand that sells cars instead of the car itself they are doomed. Rather than kill off historic names why not make each unique as they were way back when. Don't sell essentially the same car as Prozac under Chevy, the Zoloft under Buick and the Viagra (with trim to make it appeal to the youth) under the Pontiac name. It would make more sense to group your sporty cars under one (Pontiac?), your economy cars under another (Saturn), your midsize grocery getters under another (Chevrolet), the upscale sedans under another (Buick?) and finally your luxury cars under Cadillac. Sell SAAB back to the Swedes, nice car but it has no historical ties to the US, or perhaps keep it to target yet another demographic. Consolidate all of your dealerships under the GM name, it is a stupid extravigance to maintain redundant dealerships these days. There is a benefit to having multiple brand names when it comes to import restrictions, frequently each brand counts seperately against the number imported. That is where we got the high end Japanse luxury brands. If Toyota imported all of their cars as Toyotas they bumped against import restrictions, by splitting off their high end cars it basically allowed them to double the number of cars the could import. George I understand where you are coming from but I have to ask, is it really better to buy an "American" car built in Canada or Mexico, than to buy a "Japanese" car built by Americans? My Toyota Tacoma was built in the US, in fact in my state (the plant is in Fremont, California) while the Ford F150 I drive at work was built in Canada. Ford builds (built?) them too. Both gave away a ton to the government and I can't say I'm impressed with the quality of either. My understanding is they gave them away because they count as production raise their overall fuel mileage ratings.

My nearest hobby shop is over two hours away, so I buy most of my stuff online. I have been using the following online shops regularly for the past several years. Model Round up, mostly cars and trucks, also some aftermarket stuff. http://www.modelroundup.com/ Tower Hobbies, they carry everything from models to paints, plastic & glue. They tend to focus on the big name brands (Revell, Tamiya etc), very little selection from limited run kit makers. They have a flat rate for shipping so it pays off to make big orders. I generally find Tower to be the fastest of the three. http://www.plastic-models.com/ Megahobby, has a wide selection of stuff. They also have a better selection of models from the smaller model companies than Tower does. http://www.megahobby.com/ All three have similar prices, and I generally have my order in a week or less. I think the fastest was 2 days and the longest 10-12 days. Unlike several venders I've tried I've never had an issue with any of these three saying an item was out of stock when the website showed it in stock.

Interesting, I talked to one of the CHP guys at the show where I took the pic. The way he was talking it sounded like it was a dozen or so cars, I had no idea they were looking at 100-ish cars. Of course with the CHP 100 cars is just a drop in the bucket. I want to do one of these in the National Park Service, white with green stripes. I haven't seen any yet but I'm sure its just a matter of time.

Steve, I knew I had a CHP Charger pic, looks like you got it perfect. The kit is going to be issued with a variety of decal options, each with the appropriate light bar. The exception will be the plain white kit which will include all of the light bars (7 or 8).

CHP only bought a handful of Chargers for evaluation purposes. They don't like them because they don't have all the space of a Crown Vic, it has been the same problem with several cars CHP has evaluated. The CHP carries a lot of stuff compared to most police agencies so until someone starts making another full size sedan, or Ford drops the CV you won't see much variety in CHP markings.

FSM is nothing like SA, so no one can blame Kalmbach. FSM is a much more forgiving less judgmental site, and yes you can post your builds even if they have swastikas. Nudity is the only time I've seen a "build" issue become an issue to the mods. Builds with nudity (nose art and figures primarily) are allowed as long as the photo is edited in strategic locations.

You would have to build the hood and fenders from styrene. I want to do one of these myself someday, Ford had a similar looking truck in their N model. I saw Evan's GMC dump truck at NNL West this year. I wish the resin cab was still available, it looked good. He had a Ford F700 I'd love to get a hold of too.

I'm sure you could sell some as a custom, but I think there would be more interest in the stock version. I know my interest would be for a stock cab.

That works too. Seriously if you cast it, I will part with some money.

I'm not even going to count but it has to be in the 20-30 builds range. I'd love to see one of these done as a deadhead mobile, growing up next to Berkeley I used to see a lot of them. Sadly my airbrush skills are not even remotely up to the project.

I believe that is a rule of modelling. When you take on a major conversion or scratchbuild project someone will issue a kit shortly before you finish your build. Thanks for taking the hit on this one, I will enjoy the inevitable Diamond T kit that arrives.

There are many variables in "black" besides gloss, semi-gloss, satin and flat which simply refer to the shine of the paint you also have verious tones of black. Black, very dark greys, very dark browns, very dark greens, very dark blues etc. Just take a look at all the black paints in railroad and military colors. It might seem nit picky but all these shades are great when you are painting something like an attack helicopter cockpit, they are a coal mine all black. Using a couple variations (official or home brewed) provides some subtle differences to highlight detail instead of just slapping black paint all over the place. If you look at a 1-1 car with a black interior it is not all the same color, fabric is a little different shade than plastic, and the soft plastics like the dash are different than the hard plastics like shift levers and such. Some surfaces are glossy, some flat, some semi gloss or satin.

I consider kit bashing the use of basically unmodified kit parts from multiple kits. Scratchbuilding is use of raw materials, to make items. I would include major modification of kit parts as scratchbuilding. Then there is that weird grey area where a kit is heavily modified and kit parts are added to modify it, but nothing new is really made. Conversion to a convertable comes to mind, lots of work removing the roof, but nothing is really made assuming a lowered top is used from another kit.

CA glue fogs clear plastic. If you don't already use Future give it a try after the sanding and polishing. Future does a great job filling small scratches and imperfections, it protects the clear parts and makes them appear thinner because it makes them more clear. I've saved some pretty bad clear parts in limited run kits with a simple dip in Future.

I'll take a look at the Olympus, but I've also got a 35mm Canon Rebel so there are some lens recycling benefits to staying with Canon as well as being familiar with the camera operation.

Don't base if the parts are resin or not on the color, resin commonly comes in white, tan, gray and a yellowish color. High quality resin can be hard to tell from plastic if you don't have experience with resin parts. As far as not having the skills to widen the parts, you can wait until you do, or just try, you might surprise yourself. It sounds like you may need to widen the parts 3-6mm. That is only 1/8 to 1/4", split the part, insert some plastic to fill the gap, then use putty to make it pretty again. People get all psyched out about scratch building and resin. There are some new techniques to use, but really its just extensions of the skills you already use when building a kit right from the box. Just work slowly and double or triple check everything you do before making any cuts or gluing a part.

I have a Canon S3IS (older version of the S5IS) and can add my support for the series. I've had mine for a couple years now and have been very happy. It is a nice well rounded point and shoot camera. I am looking at getting a DSLR though, the Canon Rebel XSI is currently at the top of my list. You should probably decide if you want to go with a DSLR or a point and shoot, it will really cut down how many cameras you have to look at. Some of the point and shoot cameras are very good, DSLRs provide more options but come with much higher price tags.

Are you sure it is resin? If it is there should be some instructions for working with it. You can check by trying to glue some scrap or an area you won't be able to see. Regular model glue has no effect on resin, so if it glues its plastic, if it won't its probably resin. If it is resin you will want to prep the surface to remove any mold release or oils that occur during the resin casting process. Westley's Blech Wite is a tire cleaner available from most auto parts stores that many use to clean the resin. 70% isopropel alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and TSP are also popular cleaners some use instead. Generally the resin is soaked in the liquid for a few hours or overnight to remove any release agent used when making the resin part. Clean with soap and water after removing the parts from their bath. Prime and paint with what ever paints you usually use. I have found several light mist coats when priming works much better than a few heavier coats. Resin will often get minor fisheyes, so I find the mist coats will bond better and it gives the later coats of primer somethng to grab onto eliminating the fisheye issue. For glue you can use regular CA glues (Crazy glue, Zap a gap etc) or 5 min epoxy. The epoxy is nice for parts you may need a little woking time to get placed just right vs the nearly instant bond of CA glue.

It really makes one understand what people mean about a weak dollar, I was lucky and hit one of the best exchange rates in the past 2 years, that probably saved me $400 compared to buying one today. One of the nice things is with the current printer you can use USB cables and drivers for Windows XP are available. No more having to use a 10 year old computer just for the printer.

David I know there are a lot of conflicting stories, I'm on one of the ALPS yahoo groups and it seems like every month there is a new tale being told. The general story held by those far more knowledgeable on the subject than me is that ALPS are still in production, but there is no actual ALPS factory. Production and demand for the printers is relatively small so they are just a small piece of a larger production facility. It could be a big load of hooey, but it is a well coordinated load if it is. Really the only absolutes I know for sure is when I bought my printer last year it was sealed in a box from ALPS, it is new with a warranty and it shipped from Japan not New Zealand. If Mr ALPS is sitting on a warehouse full of printers he cranked out before ceasing production or is really still making them I have no way of really knowing for sure one way or the other. ALPS supplies in New Zealand definately seems to be the source of information and ALPS stuff. While some dealers and people on Ebay are playing up the lack of availability along with asking high prices, he seems to have everything in stock at decent prices. For anyone looking at ordering a new ALPS it will run $1000-1500 for the printer, 2 or 3 sets of ribbons and shipping. Price varies considerably with the current exchange rate (the exchange rate has made the printer almost $150 more for a US buyer than it was last year). If you only occasionally use special decals it is probably not worth the expense, if you do a lot decals than it might be. I like to make my own decals and have an awesome wife so it was a possibility for me. If you want special decals to remain available though I can say it is worth trying to keep them in buisness with orders. Like resin you may find what is here today may not be available tommorow. ALPS printers were not made for commercial use and only have a life expectancy of 2000-3000 sheets. That is probably a life time for a home user but really not much if you sell a lot of decals. I don't know this decal maker, and to be honest knowing he is using the money from orders to make the repairs would scare me. On the other hand it might be worth the risk if you want to see the decals remain available. Like most aftermarket there is not really a lot of money being made by these people because the raw materials eat up most of the purchase price.

Nice to see you getting back to this, it should really stand out from any other aerials it is displayed alongside.

You can use white decal paper and make the decal background another color to make white lettering but that only works for something like a bumper sticker. It is very hard to match the color of the paint well enough to really make stand alone lettering like that. Your alternatives are a dry ink printer like an ALPS (not cheap), dry transfer letters like you find for model railroads, or have a custom printer make them for you.

ALPS still make printers, they just stopped marketing them to the US. Their latest printer is the 5500 which is supported, the older 1300, 5000 etc are not. They are not cheap, particularly with the exchange rate and shipping but they are still fully supported. ALPS supplies in New Zealand offers the printers and supplies along with good service. http://www.alps-supplies.com/ There are a lot of rumors about ALPS one of those being the halting of production.

That is right, most printers require a clear coat for home made decals. I don't see why a dull coat would not work as well as a gloss coat. I'd try it on some decal you don't need first though just in case. You will also probably have to cut the decal very close or you may get a weird dull coat blob around the decal.