Aaronw

I used a combination of a photo editor, microsoft paint (the freebee paint program that comes with windows), and Microsoft Word with an inkjet printer to make decals for several years. It takes a little while to get used to it, but once you get the idea it is not that hard to do. I used the photo editor and paint to make artwork, I used Word to resize (you can use the ruler tool so you can see how big the decal will be) to do stand alone lettering and to lay out the sheet for printing (use the tables to make appropriate sized boxes, and set the table so the lines don't print). The downside to using this method is all of these programs are pixel based (little dots), which limits how small you can get before you just have kind of a blob resembling your artwork. You also need to do the artwork close to the final size. Making you artwork 6x6" and then shrinking it will tend to distort the image, the bigger the size difference thet more it distorts. You need to check the paper you get, it will be made for inkjet or laser printers. You can not use inkjet paper with a laser printer or laser paper with an inkjet. It will just make a mess to use the wrong paper. These decals are also fairly transparant, even on the white decal paper, so you have to work over light colors and account for some color shift. Lighter colors are more impacted by the underlying color than dark colors. A red decal will be fine on a white car, but will be kind of orange on a yellow car and darker red to brown on a light green car. All of the decals will darken a lot when placed over a dark color. You have two options for decals on a dark model, 1) paint white where the decal will go (this can be tricky as to big will show around the decal), or 2) cut white decal paper the same size as your decal, apply one or more layers (how many depends on how dark the model is and how opaque the decal film is) of white decal film onto the model before applying your decal. The alternative to the photo editor/paint/word method is to buy a vector / raster based program like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator. This type of program does not use little dots, so you can make a nice big drawing then shrink it down to size without losing any detail. It will also allow you to print itty bitty lettering clearly (so small you need to use a magnifying glass to read it). However these start at $150-200 on the low end and will not do anything about the other decal issues (transparancy, no white etc), sometimes you can find a deal on an older version of the program which can make this a much more affordable option without losing much utility. The alternative to the printers is to get an ALPS printer which can print white & metallic colors, but these printers are expensive and fussy. New cost around $800 + shipping from Japan (another $100+), and the ink will cost you $5-10 per sheet as the ribbons don't go far. Used printers (ebay etc) are cheaper but are notorious for being damaged during shipping as they must be packaged in a very specific way that prevents the guts from moving around while the apes at the post office play rugby with the box.

For car models, I use Model Car Round up, Tower Hobbies and Megahobby. Tower almost always has the best prices, but Megahobby is usually close and sometimes cheaper. Both stock supplies and tools. Model Car Round Up is good for finding out the latest kits and such, also tends to have stuff I can't get at the other two. Generally a bit more expensive than the other two but not by much. Great service from all of them. http://www.modelroundup.com/ http://www.towerhobbies.com/ http://www.megahobby.com/ If you like aircraft or military kits Sprue Brothers is great. http://www.spruebrothers.com/

I was not aware any of the pre-painted kits were not snap kits. I'm certainly not putting down snap kits either, as many are actually quite nice kits. I started my son with simple kits and have been working up to full glue kits. I'm just wondering if people have found the techniques used to bring a child into the hobby work as well with adults. Obviously it should work in both cases but adults do usually come with more preconceived notions and egos to deal with compared to children or teenagers.

Logging equipment is just neat, feller / bunchers, skidders, log loaders etc, something very Terminator about them. Looks like you are getting a good start on this. Were you able to find some plans or are you just eyeballing everything?

I plan on being there, not sure what I'll bring though, as that would actually imply finishing something.

Wow Mark good stuff, I didn't see you post this before. Lots of good comments, as far. As for the starting with a pre-painted snap kit, I would agree completely when you are introducing a child to models but would you say the same thing about an adult? I know that it still makes sense, but I'm thinking the adult mind might be prone to reject such an "easy" kit. Thanks

Tools are good. I'll add it to the list, thanks.

You probably saw my other post looking for a good basic tutorial. Since there doesn't seem to be one lets make one. If you guys will post your ideas in this thread I'll play editor, and organize it into a post in the tips and tricks section. I will credit all the posters who participate at the beginning of the first post when I combine everything, but am not going to credit individual bits to each poster as I think that would make me go bald. Don't hesitate to tell me anything I write is wrong, if I could do this myself I'd write a book. I guess the first thing to figure out is what are "the basics" I'm thinking Tools Selecting a kit Research Preparation Glue Assembly Painting Decals Final finishing Anything I left out or something that deserves its own subject? Lets try to keep this simple, out of the box kind of stuff, no resin, no photo etch, no tape seat belts etc (the horror ). Don't worry about trying to write like a step by step, something simple like I like to start with 400 grit sand paper and work my way up to 1000 grit when I'm cleaning mold lines off the kit. Which rreminds me, some basic terminology is probably appropriate too. Flash, mold lines, seams what else?

I'm not really sure of the posters demographics, but I think it is an adult who wants a fire truck model, so I'm not sure suggesting a simpler kit will work, but its worth a try. Matt I'm sure that book is great, but its not easy to find or cheap. I was just after one on ebay and it sold for $130 (no I wasn't the high bid). Would be nice to see a reprint available. Marcos, nice site. Most of that stuff is a bit advanced but the primer tutorial may work really well for the paint. It is funny that I feel comfortable helping someone with a more difficult task like resin or photo etch parts but feel completely inadequate to explain the basics. I guess "the basics" would be a good project.

We have a brand new modeler over at the Scale Firehouse who wants to take on the AMT American LaFrance pumper. He needs some help on everything from paint to glue. I was hoping there might be a good tutorial of the basics out there I could point him towards. That isn't an easy kit to start with, but I'd like to see it be a first and not a last build. Thanks

Resin is a plastic like material similar to epoxy (2 liquids that react and solidify when mixed). Resin parts are made using silicone molds instead of high pressure presses. The advantage to resin is a "normal" person can create molds and produce parts which means you see stuff the model companies will probably never make kits of. It is similar to plastic but is not the same and does requires some special techniques, different glue etc. You can buy full resin kits that include everything you need, to individual parts like a hood or grill to make a kit into something different. You will frequently see resin bodies that are intended to be used with plastic kit, these are often a different body style (2 door to 4 door, hardtop to convertable etc) a different year, or a similar but different model of the car (like a Chevrolet Nova to a Buick Apollo).

I may just be hallucinating from glue fumes but I thought there was one in 1/20 or a similar odd scale, maybe Lindberg? I know they did the older square front style Ford Explorer which may have morphed into the Dodge in my memory, but I kind of recall seeing a Durango.

Not lies, just wishful thinking. You never know, but at this point I'll believe it when I start seeing actual plastic. It was nice to have the Rambler wagon and Plymouth Fury back for a little while at least.

Another thing, with the exception of a few very popular cars (most any year Corvette, 57 Chevy) you rarely get the option of who makes the best kit of X subject. Both companies have some great kits and some less than great kits, but you generally have to take what you can get. If I want to build a 48-50 Ford pickup the Revell Kit is my only option in plastic (very nice kit BTW), if I want a 72 Chevy Pickup I have to buy the AMT kit and live with metal axles and molded in chassis detail (still builds up nice though).

I'm not a lawyer so I won't comment on the legal issues, except that buying a copy of the photo does not transfer the right to transfer it to another medium and distribute it unless you specifically included that right in the purchase. If you buy a magazine you are not buying the right to scan it and email it to everyone you know, or to post it on a website, photos are no different. Copyrights are very specific too, many of the old TV shows being released on DVD have had to replace the music in the show, because the rights bought only included being broadcast on TV, not DVD. WKRP is one of the recent examples. I am on some photo hobby sites and common courtesy is to post the original photographer or photographer unknown (if unknown). Placing your own copyright on a photo you did not take or bought the rights to is at the least rude, as it is essentially claiming their work as yours. The one thing that I think protects many fan sites is the copyright holders like to see the material out there so long as it is not competing against them. For all it faults SA knows there are sites with their old articles on the web and so far has left them alone. I asked once if there was a chance of a compilation book of past articles and was told by SA staff that it was very unlikely but that an internet search would turn up sites with scans of past articles, so they know about them. I'm pretty sure other magazines have similar attitudes, since it wouldn't be hard for them to find the sites.

The Shuttle has been made in several scales from 1/72 to 1/288. This site might be useful, they have some stuff for the shuttle, no wheels but an email to them might point you in the right direction. http://www.realspacemodels.com/index.htm

Funny my first thought was the Hogan's Heroes guy. A drag racing guy makes more sense.

I posted something here http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14950

Thanks for the tip on the book, that one went a bit rich for my blood ($115) but I'll keep my eyes open, looks like a good book.

Come on Harry he lives near the beach, its probably a good day if he even puts on pants.

If you don't have a macro, but you have a zoom sometimes you can make that work, back off then zoom in. Another option is use the best quality setting, then when you edit, crop the photo close to what you want which is kind of an after the fact zoom.

You are about a month late for NNL West, not sure what else is going on around that time.

Kids are sponges, they learn from us a lot better than most would think. When my son was about 2 I lost something I had spent about 3 hours working on when the computer decided to have a little glitch, I slammed the key board and shouted a word that starts and ends with the same letters as Fire Truck. I get home the next day and my wife tells me that while I was at work our son climbed into the computer chair, slammed his hands on the desk, and perfectly repeated my cry of displeasure. That quickly taught me to clean up my act, at least when kids are around. Gregg, I don't think I've been guilty of anything more scalding than %#@& but I'll be sure to keep it clean from here on out.

What he said. Funny I'll be at work and get all excited about what I want to do with a build when I get home, but somehow at the end of the day all I want to do is eat, lay around and sleep. I usually manage to squeeze in an hour or two on my days off, but half of that is getting organised and by then its a toss up between actually building and taking a nap.

Another happy customer. Like Mark said he is just a vendor, the various resin ranges from ehhh, to really nice. If you email him with a list of what you want he will let you know what to expect.