Chief Joseph

Anybody building a new Challenger R/T Classic with the AMT kit right now? Or about to start one? If so, send me a PM. I have a swanky new item for that car but I want to try it out on somebody before I release it. Here's a hint: it comes in black, white, or red.

Well that's got my attention How quick do you want them?

Pro: you can mask complex curves & shapes more easily than with tape. Con: often contains ammonia, which will ruin un-sealed acrylic paints. Pro: less chance of bleed-under than with tape. Con: you have to wait for it to dry.

Autodesk Inventor. Parametric modeling, similar in function to Solidworks or Catia. It's totally useless for organic items, but for things like this it is excellent.

Well, about two months ago we moved from a house to a condo, which means all my casting work came to a halt. I'm working on getting a fume hood/paint booth so I can get back into the business of making parts for my models. In the meantime, I have plunged headlong into digital modeling. I'm working on a bunch of items to have 3D-printed, so when I get back to casting I'll have stuff to work with. I can make a digital master in a fraction of the time it takes to make a scratchbuilt master, but getting the digital files printed is an expensive proposition. I made this wheel for the 84-85 Buick Regal T-Type today: (Pic from GNTTYPE,org) I altered the design just slightly so the wheels can be cast in a one-piece mold. I wish I had done that with my Vector wheel... oh, wait... all I have to do is open up the Vector wheel file, make a few edits, have it printed ($), and voilà, I have a new version without the hassle of modifying a scratchbuilt master. Using the "power of computerized technology," I can make tire/wheel assemblies that match up very well: Now if I just had an Objet Eden printer, I could print these at home. If I had an extra $65K sitting around, I could pick up this one on eBay!

Maybe they were trying to avoid copyright infringement?

I use USPS almost exclusively for both domestic and international mail. It is an organization full of people, and mistakes will happen. The one biggest piece of advice I can give anyone using USPS is to use clearly legible address labels-- printed, not handwritten, and printed from a computer if at all possible. After that, make sure you package things securely in an appropriate box. Don't rely on postal insurance to cover any loss or damage, because nine times out of ten it won't.

+1 to that. Scott is a really good guy.

Ahem; see the link in my signature.

That is really steep for that model, but it is a very desirable kit for the people who build studio scale Star Wars models. Parts of that kit were used on several different Star Wars miniatures.

Aircraft Resource Center (www.aircraftresourcecenter.com) Hyperscale (www.hyperscale.com) Hobbytalk (www.hobbytalk.com)

For your own personal models you can make copies of whatever you want. Most molds are not that hard to make. The best mold-making material is room-temperature-vulcanizing (RTV) silicone rubber. It is available in several different flavors; the easiest ones to start with are the 1:1 mix ratio rubbers, like Oomoo from Smooth-On. That rubber is very easy to use, but the trade-off is it is physically weak and does not stretch well or yield many castings.

Cutting side. It doesn't seem like it would work, but it does. Wears the blade out fast, but it makes a nice, clean cut with no curling. Only thin gauge brass, of course. I've never tried it with anything larger than 0.005".

Still settling into the new digs, so my tools and stuff are still packed up for the most part. In the meantime... Digital Modeling!

You can score through thin brass with an x-acto blade, the same way you do with sheet styrene. Go easy so you don't break the tip off the blade.

Scratchbuilt: http://resinilluminati.com/showthread.php?t=13681 Limited Edition Assembled Model: http://www.galaxie-starwars.com/t1452-hollywood-collectibles-groupes-tous-les-proders-cinema

Looks kind of like a hobby shop blew up... It's nice and all in the classical, excessive American way, but I sure wouldn't want my kids to have to deal with something like that after I've kicked the bucket.

For every one guy who has the talent to scratch build parts for a model, there are 10 guys who can go to Hobby Lobby, buy a cheap resin casting kit, make crappy copies of someone else's work, and sell the copies on eBay. Steve, this a hard lesson that everyone in the aftermarket learns. You may have made that part, but the visual appearance of that part belongs to Chrysler. You have no right to reproduce it whatsoever unless you purchase the right from Chrysler. That pond scum who is selling a recast of your part is the worst form of life in the scale modeling hobby, but you have no legal right to stop him. In the modeling community, the best we can do is publicize the fact that your work is being recast and name the recaster. With that comes a responsibility-- you must provide proof that your piece has been recast. Sometimes that's easy and sometimes it isn't. The easiest way to show proof is to buy one of the parts, compare it to your original, and publish that comparison on the forums. Typical punishment for someone who is guilty of recasting is banishment from the online forums-- big whoop, because there's always eBay. A friend of mine runs a garage kit company and he only does models of original works where he secures the rights from the original artists. If anyone tries to recast his models, he has legal recourse. Someone making a statue of Batman or a grille for a '72 Demon has no legal rights, just moral rights to their effort and love of the craft.

I've used a Wacom Intuos tablet for years. Very useful for certain situations, but kind of clunky considering how far technology has advanced since I bought it. Wacom's newer interactive pen displays are truly the bee's knees when it comes to digital art.

Alps printers can do a metallic gold and silver color very well; some models can do a gold and silver foil also. They can do a lot of colors, but there are dramatic limitations due to their 600dpi resolution. A typical inkjet printer handles most tertiary colors much better than any Alps. The capacity to print white is the Alps "killer app." I have printed through a lot of Alps white cartridges over the last several years!

Go to Wal-Mart and look in the household cleaners aisle. It's usually on the bottom shelf-- "Pledge with Future Shine". One bottle will last you a long, long time. Future is not the same as clear acrylic paint or varnish, so it's worth the effort to get the real stuff.

A wet application, just like when doing 1:1 vehicle windows, is the best way to help prevent the film from trapping air bubbles.

I played with it last Fall and it is neat, but the detail you get on the 3D model is not very good. But the software's ability to map the object's texture is great, so the resulting 3D model would look good in a movie or game. I'm sure with a very good camera, very good lighting conditions, and a capture rig like http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbp4qcsGqX1r9kw4u.jpg, then you might be able to get something that you could edit and print. By the way, I got to see a couple of industrial 3D printers in action yesterday. They were cool.

Looks great! 442's are great-looking cars. One question: what happened to the side-view mirror on the driver's door? It's in the first pic but missing in the rest... did a 1/25 scale juvenile delinquent whack it with a 1/25 scale baseball bat??

Excellent work, even with the limitations in the material and process.