Ace-Garageguy

Just finished my last plateful of leftover turkey, stuffing, taters, gravy, and biscuits. In an hour or so, the last slice of warm mincemeat pie smothered in heavy cream will follow it down the pipe. SO glad I can cook...well.

OMG OMG!!!!!!!! That's SO offensive to drunks and sailors, not to mention milkmen. OMG!!! OMG!!!

Great idea. I always enjoy seeing "what if" specials. I have a few in the same general vein.

Finally bought my first brass locomotive, this HO scale NJ Custom Brass Pennsy S2 turbine 6-8-6. Notice the lack of cylinders and valve gear. It was a one-of-one experimental direct-drive steam turbine built by the Pennsylvania RR to test the concept. Though it was thermally-efficient at speed, better than conventional steam locomotives, it was a real steam-and-fuel hog accelerating, and was scrapped after a few years. I knew nothing about this locomotive prior to seeing the listing, but after researching it, I had to have one...and this one was pretty "affordable". These can be spendy if still in "like new" condition, unpainted, with the box. This one needs a little TLC, but I think she's already happy in her new home, and fits well with the theme of my envisioned layout. Also snagged this gorgeous pair of Proto 2000 NIB Alco PA/PB diesels in AT&SF "warbonnet" livery. I think this is one of the best looking diesels ever, and sure wish they were still in service instead of mostly scrapped. These Proto 2000 models are really beautiful. Speaking of Proto 2000, this EMD GP9 in AT&SF "tiger stripe" colors found its way here too. Having dynamic brakes represented, it makes an effective switcher or road engine. Again, NIB. The high-hood Geeps are among my favorite diesels, one from Lionel being my very first model train...which I still have. This little (older issue NIB) Atlas EMD GP7, without dynamic brakes, though not as finely detailed as the Proto 2000 version, is a fine runner and will make a great yard goat in a DC-DCC isolated part of the layout...and there's plenty of room inside to upgrade to modern DCC electronics.

Warping of flat parts after gluing together is pretty much a given, even on not-so-big parts. If I was trying to fix that, I'd first weight it (or otherwise hold it flat...maybe screws and little tabs around the edges) to a flat backing, and pour just-under-boiling water over the whole thing, give it a minute or so, then follow with cold water. WARNING: Model kit "polystyrene" supposedly has a "plastic transition temperature" of right around 100C, which is 212F, where it deforms permanently, so CAUTION is in order, maybe working up from 160F, and see what happens. If that didn't work, I'd get more aggressive with the heat, possibly using a heat-gun on it while holding the ends with leather-gloved hands (you may need to grow another one, as 3 are often required.

The board "search" function was never all that great anyway. Much better results doing it this way:

It's used extensively in the real-car refinish biz.

I think stripping, re-primering, and repainting is the hot setup. HOWEVER...I personally wouldn't use the "2n1" primer, as it tends to obliterate fine surface details like emblems and scripts. The standard "sandable" primers will fill 400 grit scratches easily, without too much film build. Sealer over that is an option, but I have zero experience with Duplicolor sealer/primer. Some guys swear by it, though. Far as the Scotch-Brite pads go, though they're widely used in the real-car refinish biz, I find they have drawbacks for model work. The big bugaboo is that they don't get into model-sized crevices or details. I also think the gray is a better choice for model work, if you insist on using them, than the red. The best bare-plastic surface prep I've found after considerable experimentation, is a hot-water scrub with something like Comet and a toothbrush. Not only does it scuff the surface uniformly without scratching it, gets into all the tiny areas (like next to emblems) that scuffing-pads or sanding-pads just ride over, and it also removes any "mold release" or other possible contaminants from the manufacturing process. I always follow that with a last-minute wipedown with 70% isopropyl just prior to paint, using clean white paper towels, as it will virtually eliminate the possibility of "fisheyes" if done carefully. EDIT: I started doing the iso wipe while painting real aircraft, where a fisheyed fuselage side or wing can cost literally thousands of dollars in labor and material to correct.

Not necessarily. "Flow lines" showing up from uneven mold-filling during the injection process may only show on one part in the entire kit, or may not occur at all on the same part made at a different time. That said, the magnified image does indeed appear to be the result of some kind of paint-surface disturbance, not a problem with the plastic itself.

Much of the "activity" on my main profile page has magically reappeared, but not all. Interesting. Anyway, the "topics" I've posted are still accessible through the "see my activity" link (far right of screen, within the bar adjacent to the photo), so it's still easy to access older build threads for updates...which was all I was really concerned about. Otherwise no issues...either on Chrome or Firefox.

I just checked your "activity" on your profile page. Everything is gone except this post.

IF (big if) no sanding was done to either the body or the primer, the ONLY thing it can be is "flow lines" from the molding process being attacked by the solvents in the clear. I've seen similar effects over the years. During the molding process, uneven mold filling can result in eddying and lines from the flow "stuttering" if the injection shot falters for any reason, or if the mold isn't evenly heated. This can result in artifacts in the molded part kinda like tide-lines on a beach, but often invisible to the naked eye until something with a solvent hot enough to aggravate them is applied. The material within the lines is not uniformly hard, so solvent soaks into softer areas. Local poor solvent resistance is also more of a problem these days with the increasingly cost-engineered styrene that offshore manufacturers seem to be using. I would tend to think the best fix is to strip it, then shoot the body with a catalyzed primer that has better "hold out" than what you used previously...though I've been able to "hold down" ghosting with successive coats of automotive primer-surfacer, sanded in between. This is a somewhat similar problem for illustration. The light areas were swelling that occured AFTER the hood peak, an emblem, and some sink marks were sanded out. The work cut through the uniformly hard surface, exposing a softer under-layer...which swelled when lacquer primer hit it. Fortunately, the problem did show up just after the first primer coat, and I was able to kill it prior to color...using essentially the same procedure (as above) I relied on to deal with real-car substrate-swelling back in the lacquer days. Final hot metallic Duplicolor, with zero trace of the disturbed surface showing through. Some kind of sealer might also work, but in general, I try to stay away from them.

Why on earth would you WANT to read, when you can become an instant expert on ANYTHING by watching a 3-minute YouTube video? Reading to acquire in-depth knowledge is for geezers who don't know how to internet. And reading something printed on paper? Man...don't make me laugh.

Actually, it's not a "rack". What looks kinda like a "rack" is actually a hydraulic steering damper, like a shock mounted sideways. While it is possible to retrofit a torsion-bar Bug front end with rack-and-pinion, that ain't it. The actual steering box appears to be represented by blob number 8. Top view, LH drive torsion-bar Bug, below:

Not everybody's cuppa, but I like it.

Check your profile page. All your "activity' seems to have disappeared (along with many others) since the upgrade (from my perspective).

Check your profile page to see if your "activity" is still there. From my perspective it's gone except for this post. Mine's gone too.

Check your profile page to see if your "activity" is still there. Mine's gone except for the last few minutes' posts. Yours appears to be gone if it's more than 8 hours old.

Check your profile page to see if your "activity" is still there. Mine's gone except for the last few minutes since I logged on this AM.

All my "activity" has disappeared from my profile page...so there's no way to view reactions without clicking the "notification bell". EDIT: Looks like it's affected everyone...everyone I've checked so far, anyway. EDIT 2: Not EVERYONE apparently. Of the ones I've checked "Slusher's" activity still shows on his profile page EDIT 3: "Activity" can still be accessed by clicking "see their activity" (or "see my activity" if it's your own page) in the far right of the bar adjacent to the profile pic, so at least the data hasn't disappeared, just one access path.

A fat cold turkey sandwich on pumpernickel. Nothing but turkey and mayo. Fine, fine, fine. The prospect of nuked turkey, dressing, and potatoes with gravy this evening has lots of appeal too.

Modern 3D scanning technology could, of course, be used to fast-track injection-molding tooling development, at least for the beautifully scaled bodies of most of their vintage offerings that are gone forever. Licensing, and possibly designing/tooling modern well-detailed underpinnings is another whole set of huge expense-makers, though. I'm still not on board 100% with commercially-produced 3D printed plastic anything. I just popped a fair chunk of change for a fully-printed kit, and it's already warping...just days after I received it...much worse than ANY traditional "resin" parts I've ever bought, even from some of the well-known third-rate bottom-feeder vendors. I'm not impressed.

...as Hollywood struggles mightily to come up with an original one.

Really sorry to hear you're having so much grief with the newer stuff, as your foil work is some of the straightest and most precise I've ever seen, anywhere.