Ace-Garageguy

Sadly, that is the nature of a lot of folks, period.

It would be nice to be able to sell directly to active modelers, and avoid the whole eBay fees, doofus buyers, and jacked up shipping thing. But an enforceable e-signed agreement that participants could not hold MCM in any way liable for deals going south would probably be prudent.

Just my personal opinion: I think very fine close-grained wood like basswood makes for a more scale-correct appearance than balsa or some veneers. For a free source, coffee stir sticks are often made from close-grained wood that looks great for pickup-bed planks, but they have some thickness that may be a deal-breaker for some modelers. I think it was Sig that used to make beautiful 1/32" close-grained plywood, but I haven't seen it in a long time. CORRECTION: Apparently it's still available https://sigmfg.com/products/sigpw001-plywood-1-32-x-6-x-12-3-ply 1/64" too: https://sigmfg.com/products/sigpw035-plywood-wingskins-1-64x12x12

"Money can't buy happiness, but it CAN buy tools...which is pretty much the same thing."

A point about the front-engined Scarabs: the rear wheels shown on most period photos are not the same design as the more typical "kidney bean" Halibrands on the front.

Her beauty may have been somewhat overrated by those attempting to curry favor with the Queen...

I don't ridicule AI in general, as I fully embrace (and have for decades) that machine consciousness is possible and machine intelligence will inevitably surpass humans by orders of magnitude. But see, there's this thing called "nuance". What I've said repeatedly is that the current state of most consumer-grade AI is a joke, and people who don't apparently know any better act like it's fully developed and ready to take over the world, which is laughable. However, even Googli's cute little AI occasionally draws the right inference from the information it accesses prior to responding, and it's only fair to give it credit when it's right...which seems to be becoming more frequent as it learns to better separate the wheat from the chaff, particularly on subjects where the web isn't awash in ignorant but endlessly rebleated gibberish concerning more common topics.

IIRC, there was indeed a photo limit per-post on the "other magazine's" now defunct forum.

That's funny. Even Googli's AI gets the reference: "To state that your first computer was a single flip-flop can be interpreted as a playful exaggeration that emphasizes the fundamental role of flip-flops in computing, particularly in the context of building early digital circuits. Here's why this statement makes sense in a metaphorical or foundational way: Flip-flops are the building blocks of digital memory and logic: A flip-flop is a bistable circuit, meaning it has two stable states (representing 0 or 1) and can store one bit of binary data. It is essentially the smallest unit of memory in a digital circuit. Early computers were built using flip-flops: Before more complex integrated circuits, computers were built using individual components, and flip-flops were crucial for creating registers, counters, and memory elements that processed and stored information in binary form. For instance, the Colossus computer used in World War II to break German codes, incorporated flip-flops. A single flip-flop demonstrates the core principle: Even a single flip-flop can be considered a "computer" in the most basic sense – it stores a bit of information and can change its state based on input, according to testbook.com. This highlights the essential function of storing and manipulating binary data, which is at the heart of all computing. So while a modern computer is incredibly complex, a single flip-flop serves as a powerful symbol of the basic element that underpins its ability to process and remember information. "

My first computer was a single flip-flop.

I finally got a shot of Tigger that's not blurred by his lightning speed (), but I'll have to wait to post it until I upload the current set of work pix to the desktop. I sincerely hope y'all can wait...

"Type" is something I wish now I'd mastered in high school, 'cause the old-man one-finger hunt-and-peck method is really short-circuiting my aspiration to become a master hacker.

So let me get this straight...you don't want to see the ads that generate income for the site when you look at it, but you don't want to have to pay to be ad-free either? OK...

Today's gripe, more of the dumbifying of everything, everywhere. One of my e-mail services used to be searchable several ways, including alphabetically by sender and subject. Very useful. But apparently the entire concept of alphabetization is almost unknown today, and emails can now only be searched by date. Close to useless. If I knew when the thing came in... I'm so sick of global stupid dragging everything into the lowest-common-denominator hole along with it.

Times are changing, in part because today world IS full of scammers. Still, "customer service" nickel-and-diming people doesn't go very far to engender repeat business. Which is the reason I tend to expect less and less of anyone I have to do business with, and am pleasantly surprised when a company gets it right.

Unfortunately, even welding items to be shipped in a steel box may not always guarantee the postal handlers don't work their magic. I once received a shipment where the tines of a forklift had very obviously been driven clean through one side of a box, through the product, and out the other side. Pretty impressive, to say the least.

If I were paying for access, I certainly would have NO OBJECTION to seeing ads for models or related products, including other genres and some products not specifically aimed at scale-modelers, but very very useful to a variety of hobbyists including us...like Cricut and Sherline, for instance. Limiting the number of photos per post makes sense too. Seeing two dozen fuzzy phone pix of every miniscule piece of work from every imaginable angle is a huge waste of resources and takes forever to load for some people, depending on their ISPs, internet speeds, and other factors. Educating users as to quoting etiquette might be nice to try, as endlessly repeated photos are another unnecessary resource hog taking forever to load sometimes too. But good luck with that one. I understand some forum software has a "click to expand" photo option that can improve page loading times, but I'm not an IT guy, so I'll leave it at that.

Some cool stuff, and I can hear the big Pontiacs calling "save me" from here, but I'll have to pass. Last thing I need at this point is more long-term projects. But I hope they all find good homes.

"Qualified" to run at LeMans is a major accomplishment in itself, no matter whether a car finishes in the money or even finishes, period.

It bears mentioning at this point is that the whole reason the PhotoBucket debacle happened is that so many "free" users were running ad-blocking software that the site was losing money. No business can offer a "free" service indefinitely while continually losing money on it. The well runs dry eventually if "free" users violate the implied agreement to see advertising to offset the expense incurred by providing the service. In return for using PhotoBucket for "free", advertising was shown during the upload process, and said advertising generated income for the service. PAYING users did NOT have to sit through the advertising, and as I run ad-blockers, it seemed to me to be the right thing to do to PAY for the service. And because I'd been a pay-to-play user from the beginning, I did NOT lose access to my photos when the site revised its business model (which is not to say I agree with the way that site handled the transition). But back to the point: simply put, using an ad-blocker while accessing a "free" site that makes its income from users seeing advertising is cheating, no more, no less. All the proposed paying tier here is intended to do (as I understand it) is to allow users who hate ads (and have a conscience) to avoid them without cheating the system.

The people who run the forum seem to be reasonably fair, so... I'd expect the "free" part of the forum to remain as inclusive as it is now, for just the reasons you state. I'd expect any additional "tier" benefits or content to be material or features NOT currently available on the all-free forum. So free users would lose nothing, and paying users would just get a little extra. This is what I'd expect, anyway, but it's not my decision... EDIT: And as far as "fair" goes, the way I see it, a pay-to-play tier is not to punish free users, but rather to allow those users who HATE advertising (like me) to directly support the forum while running an ad-blocker, which otherwise would deny the forum revenue for that user's exposure to ads on the forum.

I gotta be honest...that's something I really enjoy. That virgin old kit smell really takes me back in time.

Load whisky in that thar wagon in the back, and I'll folla her all the way to Tucson.

"Why" was never a word I used in the same breath as "whisky".

Hmmmmmm...sortof a "reverse ignore" button. I like it.