Ace-Garageguy

I feel really bad for you. There are few things that make a man feel more violated and helpless than to come home and find he's been robbed. The police typically can't do much and as you say, sometimes what the thieves get is just irreplaceable. My one-man shop was hit in 1977, almost certainly by someone I either knew or who had been in, and all my tools and equipment I needed to make a living were taken...uninsured. I couldn't even go out and get a decent job as a mechanic because I had no tools. One of the most infuriating things was that a lot of what they got were special tools I had hand-made to work on some oddball exotic cars, and I'm sure they went in a dumpster and only the pretty SnapOn stuff got pawned or sold. It took quite some time to recover, and I never replaced all the special stuff. If a man steals a loaf of bread because he's hungry, that's one thing...but someone who will steal the products of another man's honest work is about the lowest kind of trash there is.

I don't use clear over the enamels on engines and other non-body parts...shot right it glosses very nicely. As far as shooting home-store-type enamels for body colors, I've only got a few test bodies I've done over the years, and with enough paint on them, like i said, they'll polish up nicely IF they're dry enough, with no clear. BUT...I let the bodies I've test-shot with the stuff dry for months before I tried to sand and polish it, so you need to test. I don't know about where you are, but the home and hardware stores near me usually only have a VERY limited selection of lacquers...black, white and clear are just about it. The Duplicolor colors at the auto-parts stores are lacquer, but I don't have enough experience with them recently to give advice. I've used Plasticoat primers, as many recommend, and they're great. I haven't been able to get them locally, reliably, for some time...which is why I use Duplicolor now. Plasticoat is better and dries-thru quicker, sands better...if I remember correctly. Shooting big-can enamels, AND Testors enamels, you have to pay attention to the "recoat window" which is always listed on the can. If you ignore it and spray additional coats any-old-time, you risk serious wrinkling of the paint, requiring stripping to correct it. This also happened on 1:1 enamel jobs back in the '40s-'60s, before acrylic enamels came in. I've used the PreVals in 1:1 work for touchups in the field, and to spray mold release agents. I used to think they were great, but the last few times the pressure wasn't consistent and that made it impossible to get predictable results. If you DO decide to go airbrush, remember you can decant spray-can paint and air brush it. Sometimes you can find a used airbrush rig with an entry-level airbrush and a decent compressor for pretty cheap...but you gotta hunt. Roger also makes a very good point about the large cans having a LOT of paint for a model, so you better want to do several cars the same color. The stuff in the big cans CAN settle and clog internally so badly while you're waiting to use it that it just won't spray, period. Any money you "saved" by getting a lot of paint in the can gets wasted anyway. Donn Yost's advice for painting bodies with Testors bottle-enamels cut with cheap lacquer thinner is definitely worth looking at if you're even considering an airbrush.

From personal experience, I've found self-etching automotive primers like SEM to be too hot for most recent kit styrene. They will craze the surface badly, and take a lot of work to repair. On the other hand, they work exceptionally well on some earlier plastics, and flow out very smooth...as on this '60 Johan annual body (black self-etch SEM) The gray primer I favor is Duplicolor high-build (which will fill minor bodywork imperfections very well) and Duplicolor sandable, which is great if you DON'T need a filling primer. That's gray high-build on the hood, and it will also flow out pretty slick if you learn to shoot it wet enough. This is also Duplicolor high-build on the chassis, and it will slick out nicely, shot wet. It fills minor imperfections, but doesn't obliterate details...as the crisp scribed line shows. I've had very good results using Rustoleum and Krylon indoor-outdoor for engines and other parts. This is Krylon gloss hunter-green in the foreground. It gives a good gloss for mechanical parts without being too shiny. I'd stay away from hot paints like Krylon Fusion and similar products unless you TEST, as it has solvents that will often craze plastic and make a real mess. As far as the "spoon test" goes, that's good advice as far as checking COLOR, but the formulation of spoon styrene is NOT NECESSARILY the same as kit plastic. To be safe you MUST test the material you're wanting to use ON THE KIT YOU WANT TO USE IT ON. There are now vary many variations and inconsistencies in kit styrene, so testing on the backside of parts of the specific kit you're working with is mandatory if you want to avoid unpleasant surprises. Just about any big-can household enamel product will polish out to a very fine gloss IF you let it dry long enough, and have enough material on the surface to wetsand out any orange peel or other defects, but there are so many possible combinations of non-model-specific materials, you pretty much have to TEST every one before you commit to painting a model you care about.

This is another source I found by searching the answers to your question already posted on the forum. Many sizes available, VERY cheap. http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=70078419

Another member here recently turned me on to these. Scroll through this guy's other listings...he has several sizes. Hard to beat the price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-7mm-Polished-aluminum-looking-metal-velocity-stacks-injectors-tail-pipes-/231112657786?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item35cf634b7a

Even some of the better-stocked drug and grocery stores in my area have vividly colored transparent report covers in the school-supplies or stationery sections.

HO scale railroad stuff occasionally, 1/24 and 1/32 scale aircraft. Every now and then a boat or ship, and some flying RC models. I have a large-scale balsa Staggerwing Beech control-line model my father built before I was born that I'll be restoring next year.

As I've said before, we may never see the day that most modelers have 3D printers on the bench, but it's entirely reasonable to envision a world where most hobby shops have printers. Porsche has demonstrated the ease with which these files can be shared, so why not envision online-catalogs of available 3D-printable parts or kits? You pick what you need, forward the files to your LHS, HobbyTown, Michaels or whoever, and pick up your finished parts when they're done. It adds a nice little profit-maker to an existing business without having to stock a wide variety of oddball parts that may never move off the shelf. The scenario is not unlike the days when even a lot of businesses relied on shops like Kinkos for their copying and printing needs, before desktop printers became ubiquitous.

Well, not the answer to the question...but what I'd REALLY like to see is a parts-pack issue with nothing BUT good lenses and buckets. A lot of models that already come with separate lenses have them either poorly scaled, poorly engraved, or otherwise just not right. The old AMT bumpers-and-grilles pack came with a couple of pairs of buckets but no lenses, and those were always the parts I used first.

Thanks to Jesse, Pete and Dale for your input, and I apologize if I seemed unnecessarily abrasive to anyone. I think we can all agree that while the pilot of the Avenger actually caused the accident, the pilot of the RV MIGHT have prevented it, had HE been paying closer attention to aircraft in his vicinity too, and there were of course other contributing factors. But the POINT is that none of us, in cars or aircraft, or anything else we operate that is potentially dangerous, should EVER assume the "other guy" is doing everything right to maintain safety. Paying 100% attention to what YOU'RE doing isn't quite enough. You've GOT to be paying attention to what is happening in your environment, and try to think a few moves ahead. Have a plan where to go if the car in front of you slams on the brakes, for instance, and there's a semi behind you. I hope everyone on the forum...and I consider ALL of you as friends I just haven't met yet...stays safe. There are a lot more potential distractions during the holiday season too, so one more time...please pay attention. I have personally lost family and been told "I just didn't see them..." It didn't bring them back..

Man John, that's slick. The Jag looks like a natural in the T engine bay. Beautiful model. Hmmmmm....

Well then, I stand corrected. I'm kinda slow and I don't really understand how posts about Christmas lights, what irked you today, what people do for a living, musical groups, etc. seem to be any more "about discussing real and scale model cars and trucks" than pointing out (with illustrating photos that admittedly have shock value...that was the point after all...to get noticed and to get folks to THINK) the potentially tragic consequences of a moment's inattention, but I'll take your word for it. I guess my understanding of "Off Topic" is fatally flawed.

Ahh, but that would have required 1) thinking 2) presence of mind and 3) some nads. Apparently in short supply that day in that location.

Maybe you should have read ALL my posts, and specifically #7, prior to yours, that DID correctly explain the circumstances. That might qualify as paying attention too, ya think? It never occurred to me I'd have to cite the text of the NTSB report, which I'd already re-read, to refute some BS, but I had READ the NTSB report BEFORE writing the post, which kinda qualifies as "paying attention to what I write BEFORE I post it". Ya know, the POINT here was to illustrate how deadly and tragic a moment's inattention can be...to try to make anyone here who happens to see the post THINK for a moment...and MAYBE DO SOME GOOD...and some folks STILL want to turn it into an argument party. I don't effing get it. Check your facts FIRST, THEN post. Oh wait...I forgot...this IS the internet.

Ummm...no. Here is the full text of the NTSB preliminary investigation report. http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060804X01093&ntsbno=CHI06FA206B&akey=2 Excerpts: "(A) witness reported that he was walking in the same direction as the Avenger was taxiing, so the witness was focused on watching the Avenger. The witness reported that the Avenger was moving "very slowly and deliberately." He reported that the Avenger did not make any S-turns while it taxied on Papa taxiway. He reported that there were no wing-walkers for the Avenger while it taxied on Papa taxiway. " "The video indicated that the Avenger was taxiing straight ahead for about 9 - 10 seconds prior to the time of impact and was not making an S-turn. The video indicated that the Avenger pilot was looking forward over the nose of the Avenger as it was taxiing forward prior to impact with the RV-6. " The investigation further showed that the little RV was invisible to the pilot of the Avenger out to 170 feet. The Avenger pilot reported only seeing the aircraft that was IN FRONT of the little RV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where exactly did you get your information, Mr. Chavez?? It doesn't agree at all with the established facts. Why would you deliberately post something that disagrees with all the eyewitness accounts (except for ONE witness who said the Avenger made ONE S-turn long before the impact) and the NTSB prelim? Nobody "pulled out in front of" or "veered in front of" anybody. EDIT: A quick search of the NTSB database failed to turn up the final report.

I wonder if the guys on the "Word Usage and Punctuation Enthusiasts Magazine" forum have this much fun.

never mind.

...so glad I saw this AFTER Thanksgiving...

Aha.

Geez...I'm behind the times. What is a twerk? How does one twerk? I'm totally baffled. Sounds like a contraction of twinkie and jerk.

I hope it's "awesome". From the Urban Dictionary: 2. awesome A 'sticking plaster' word used by Americans to cover over the huge gaps in their vocabulary. It is one of the three words which make up most American sentences. The American vocabulary consists of just three words: Omygod, awesome and ######.

What is happening here is a case of language evolving. The popular usage of "flaunt" to mean "flout" has been going on so long, and is so widely understood to mean "flout", that it's apparently passed into accepted usage...as far as Merriam-Webster is concerned, anyway. Kinda like "chaise lounge" for "chaise longue". Different authorities have different opinions as to what's right at the current moment (and there are conflicting opinions as to correct spelling, punctuation, ad naseam all through English references today) and many word meanings have changed over the years English has been spoken. I'll stick with the old definitions, just in case I ever run into one of my old English teachers who were sticklers for "correct" over "popular". Another one of the reasons I prefer math and engineering to English...but there are those who will argue that 2+2 don't necessarily equal 4, too (two? to?). Sigh. Maybee inna futur i shud jus shuddup.

Who, me?? :lol:

Yeah, much better to be ignorant and proud of it. Yeah, much better.

No sir...not at all...and not what I said. I think he needs to find a COMPETENT mechanic, wherever that may be, who actually understands what he's doing, will charge a fair price for correct work, and who will stand behind it. I simply said that a trip to the dealer is no guarantee of competent techs working on the car. But then I've only been in the business for 40+ years, so what could I possibly know?