Aaronw

I hate flourescent lights. I wasn't a fan of LEDs either, they were bright to look at but didn't really put out much light. The past few years they have really improved. I got some LED headlamps for work 2 years ago and they are great, a real 90 foot+ lightbeam and we get 6-12 hours (hi / low setting) on a set of 4 AA batteries which is about 4x what we got with the halogen bulbs. I can believe the use 75% less energy since so much of the power used by incandescents goes into heat. Incandescents actually make great little heaters. I've worked in many places that have used a lightbulb to keep small building like well houses from freezing.

You misunderstand shaded pole and explosion proof. Shaded pole is also known as a squirrel cage, these have the motor seperated from the airflow (round water wheel looking blower attached to a shaft that goes to the motor). It has nothing to do with a rheostat controller. Most bath fans and range hoods are not shaded poles, they are axial fans that allow the fumes to run right over the motor. If wiring of the motor becomes compromised theoretically you could get a spark and a fire. Since the motor of the squirrel cage is out of the air flow it does not get exposed to the fumes, should last longer and is less likely to create sparks that could meet up with fumes. Explosion proof is a completely different issue, that is a certification that the motor and switches are sealed allowing use in a flammable atmosphere. Explosion proof is complete overkill for a hobby spray booth, you would find them in a full size automotive spray booth or fuel bunker. As you mention the cost puts them out of reach for most hobbiests. A squirrel cage is the preffered style of blower but many use the more common (and cheaper) axial type, most of them never have a problem.

Dry transfers can be hard to apply to the many curved or otherwise odd shaped parts. If this becomes a problem for you I've seen guys apply the transfers onto a sheet of decal film (nice and flat so easy to apply), then apply them as a decal.

Well these are always fun to watch even if I never seem to get around to actually building something. Sure Mad Max had lots of shiny cars, and then in The Road Warrior they ran out of wax, and by Thunderdome they ran out of gas.

That is Dark Star by John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon. The beachball monster scenes inspired Dan O'Bannon to later write Alien. George Lucas' THX-1138 was more of a Logans Run style dark future sci-fi movie. Lucas has slipped some variation of THX-1138 into several of his later movies and it loans its name to his THX sound system. Supposedly the ships and the deathstar in the Star Wars movies were made by bashing a bunch of model kits with other interesting bits and pieces.

I don't beleive I ever met him, but I have enjoyed NNL West the past several years, so a belated thank you is due. RIP

In the Clint Eastwood movie In the Line of fire, the badguy (John Malkovich) is shown buying model supplies to build a small resin pistol he intends to use to assassinate the president. There is an episode of Burn Notice where Micheal's mom finds a box of his old model airplanes. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal supposedly play Warhammer. Unless they just buy all the figures and such built there is alot of model building involved.

I used to work at Camp Parks, and at the county jail next door where the Mythbusters had this experiment go wrong. It is a large open area where both the military and police play with their toys, rifles, grenade launchers, bomb disposal etc. While lawyers will try to get millions I think they are going to have a had time showing any negligence. Unfortunately the public has been allowed to build homes right up the the boundry of an active military base.

What's all this talk about being 4 cylinders short, I've always associated the dart with the slant 6. I'm going to be in the market for a high MPG commuter car soon, if they offer the diesel in this I would take a look. 140 hp in a compact car isn't bad and 62 mpg leaves the hybrids way behind.

The Junkman already kind of did this, but lets break out the math blocks they use in my son's school. If you have a cube that is 25 blocks tall, 25 blocks wide and 25 blocks deep you will have a total of 15,625 blocks total. If you scale that down to 1/25 scale you will be left with only 1 block. You have to divide each side by 25 (25x25x25 = 15,625 / 15,625 = 1 block), not the total number of blocks by 25 (15,625 / 25 = 625 blocks). Not trying to be demeaning by using counting blocks just seems like the easiest way to explain it. Trivial yes, but I have actually seen people try to calculate the scale weight / volume (tank size etc) so it is actually useful to know how it is done.

Good resin should not do that. If you can't get the parts replaced brushing on some MEK might make them salvagable. It can sometimes get semi cured resin to cure the rest of the way.

No I am sorry but you only took it to 5 decimal places, it is sloppy work like that, that is ruining kits.

Think about volume. A 25 foot truck is only 12" (1 foot) in 1/25, but while any single measurement is a linear 1/25 reduction, the volume / weight has to take into account that all three dimensions are shrinking. A 1/25 5.0 liter engine is not a 0.2 (5 divided by 25) liter engine it is a 0.00032 liter engine (5 divided by 25x25x25 or 15625) because it is 1/25 of three dimensions. A 0.2 liter engine would be like a small weed wacker motor or large RC airplane motor.

Very nice, we don't get to see enough old Internationals.

Happy Birthday Ed, since I'm 3 days late I'm guessing there is no more cake.

That is good news, but wouldn't Round 7 have been a more appropriate company name? As far as re-issues go, they still have a lot of desirable old kits to bring back that haven't been seen in awhile. I also think some of you are only looking at you own little niche, checking on on their blog from time to time it looks like they have been more focussed on their sci-fi line which is apparently where historically many of their big sellers have been.

American LaFrance built 2 fire engines and a ladder truck powered by a Boeing gas turbine in 1960-62. Only 3 built so not sure I'd call them production or not, but they were in regular service in San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA and Mt Vernon, VA. Not a success though, all had the turbines replaced with gas engines after a few years of use. ALF tried again in 1972, this time using a Detroit Diesel Allison gas turbine. After an extensive publicity tour it was converted to diesel power and sold since there were no buyers interested in a turbine. There were some attempts at marketing gas turbines in semis too, but I'm not as familiar with those and don't know if they got past the show and tell phase or not.

We have a lot of these in California too. A couple years ago I passed a bunch of trucks in I-5 hauling a windmill, I think 3 for the blades and 2 or 3 more for the tower and related assemblies. They don't look that big a mile away on a hillside but they are impressive up close.

Talked to the guys at the post office. What they suggested doing was to purchase stamps through the USPS website. To get to Canada you will need an $0.80 stamp. It is also going to cost you a dollar or so for postage to recieve the stamps.

Hopefully the fact that Revell of Germany followed up their Neoplan bus with the London double decker means it sold well enough to be a viable subject. Personally I'd love to see a kit of a GM fishbowl. A GM old look or Crown would find a place on my shelf too. The Lonestar seems to have done well too, so here is hoping for a new wave of commercial subjects.

I had not looked that far ahead. Maybe mask, paint black then foil? Black Sharpie?

No plan, missed it. I did the foil on this and the Hudson back to back must have been getting foil madness.

On the clear parts? I'll have to look for that, thanks.

Got a little more work done, the Model T is almost done, got the headlights mounted, and the fire plate on the grill. I made a little tire bracket for the side mounted spare. Still need to make up some license plates and arrange the supplies in the back. I also got the 59 El Camino repainted (3rd times a charm ) and foiled

I've got the body painted and finished the foil. Between this and a 59 El Camino I almost wiped out a whole sheet of BMF. I need to go back and buff a few spots that got scuffed during the foiling. The color is Krylon Dark Hunter Green