Ace-Garageguy

For what it's worth, I've already noticed some deterioration of printed parts. One case in point is a Hilborn injection manifold. Beautiful part, still in it's original package (purchased so I'd have it if needed some time in the future), and it's warped to the point that it may not be usable. I don't know if the part can be corrected with the old hot-water treatment useful on resin and styrene, but it's annoying as all get-out to have paid for a not-cheap part, and see it become useless. EDIT: I came across it last night while looking for something else. It's definitely not more than 2 years old.

Wow. That is quite a model. Beautiful job my friend, and a great one for the final curtain. But I'll miss seeing your work.

In the real-car world, there is a somewhat "universal" very black black (no other color or metallic or pearl toners) and Duplicolor's black is a very good match. Recently I've been experimenting more with Tamiya paint, because of it's extreme ease of use and friendliness to delicate substrates, and I find that Tamiya's black matches Duplicolor quite well...both clean, dark very black blacks. While there are "blacker" blacks on the market for custom cars. you really can't go wrong with Duplicolor or Tamiya. "Scale effect" has more to do with the final finishing / polishing or clearcoat (or not) than anything else...IMHO...except for overly large metallic particles that render the bass-boat look most convincingly (and may be appropriate for paintwork that's s'posed to represent metalflake, rather than metallic).

I always loved Pininfarina's spaceships. You certainly did this one beautifully...as always.

It really seems like I've seen that cab available somewhere, but... EDIT: Yup...AITM did one: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/american-industrial-truck-models-ck-7-mack-b-61-standard-cab--1329937 Assuming there's not one out there, I think your best bet would be to find somebody to design and print a 3D master configured to fit an existing kit chassis, then find a reputable resin caster to make molds and produce the parts. That's basically the way it's been done up til now...cast resin retrofits for existing styrene kit chassis. Tooling to produce an entire kit in styrene, ar even 3D modeling an entire kit in CAD, would be prohibitively expensive for any but a major player like AMT/R2.

Missed this thread earlier, really like the little 2002 and it's six-cylinder siblings. Never owned a Beemew other than an Isetta that got away, but worked on and drove a boatload. Great cars...at least the earlier, simpler ones. Your model's looking really fine.

I agree entirely. For the most part, it's very nice indeed.

As noted above, I located a copy and bought it. It arrived, and I've had time to skim through it today. Though I've been making many different kinds of molds for decades, and though the 1952 publication references many obsolete materials, the essential techniques are the same, and the book is a good primer for anyone contemplating making molds for art, hobby, or industrial use.

Here's the problem. Think about it. Most "plastics" intended for consumer markets have "UV inhibitor" additives so they don't deteriorate so fast in daylight. SLA resins generally DEPEND ON UV TO CURE, so you can't really add a UV inhibitor, now can you? Maybe, just maybe, an SLA resin that cures when exposed to a very narrow part of the bandwidth of UV light could be developed, and UV additives that DON'T block the part of UV needed to cure, but DO block other parts of the UV spectrum that accelerate aging in daylight, could be developed for it. Sounds kinda tricky. There are other possible solutions, but until the problem is thoroughly and reliably sorted by somebody getting paid to do it, painting your 3D parts to protect them from UV is probably your best bet.

Yup. P-51 bubbletop...but the top of the bubble is broken. Look at the shapes of the windshield elements, the line of rivets under them, and the lower frame of the bubbletop. But the rails are later than '32. They lack the stamped "reveal" detail of the one-year-only deuce rails, and they appear to be longer. With the non-32 X-member clearly visible, the length, the front crossmember location, and the appearance of the forward ends of the rails, I'd say they're '41-'48 Ford.

My money's on the Terminator.

Still real pretty work, and I love the Abarth. Interesting about the asymmetrical wheel arches. I've encountered that on real "just restored" and customized cars too...along with as much as 7/8" discrepancy in wheelbase side-to-side. Sometimes makes for somewhat challenging handling...

1969 Ford Talladega, Monogram 1/24 scale. Really cheap. Some of the one-or-two-year "homologation specials" have always appealed to me from a historical race-car standpoint. When I find 'em cheap, they find a home. I also snagged a bunch of headlight reflectors and lenses in various sizes, enough to keep me going for quite some time. etc. The main reason I popped for these now was that the old Monogram 275P I'm doing for the Sebring group build has awful chromed headlights that are fine for a slot-car, but not appropriate for an effort-heavy static model. Having a selection of reflectors, lenses, and surrounds to choose from would ultimately let me achieve a much more realistic first-impression. The chrome taillights on that kit are pretty awful too, but there's no shortage of the correct Carello lenses out there, as they appeared on several Euro cars including other Ferraris, Fiats, Lancias, etc.

Maybe I'll see some of you fellers there. As this will definitely be my last year in the South, I'm trying to get a couple cars ready for the show...at least as far as the "primer" table, anyway. If you come, drive carefully.

Way back in the late 1970s, I was hearing a persistent rumor of an "old MG-looking" car that had been abandoned for many years on Pawleys Island. Finally somebody brought back a grainy Polaroid of the car surrounded by reeds and sawgrass, but the grille was barely visible, and it looked like an HRG. I made a road trip the next weekend, with a trailer, shovels, machetes, and come-alongs, figuring I'd pull it out and worry about getting permission later. Sure enough, it was indeed an HRG just like this, but having been exposed to the salt air for decades, there really wasn't anything left to salvage.

For what it's worth, the earliest good-quality "dropped" I-beam axles were made by re-forging of the ends of stock axles, into an S-curve configuration where the axle centerlines were raised relative to their original positions, thus lowering the car. Obviously, the process would slightly narrow the axle as well. The re-forging approach was popularized in San Diego, and early dropped axles were referred to originally as "diegoed" which was shortened to "dagoed"...and there's nothing ethnically disrespectful about the term. https://kustomrama.com/wiki/The_Dago_Axle https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bob-lil-axle-stewart-and-the-dago-axle.680666/

As yh70 said above, it's way too early in the game to have identified the long term issues. Consider that these materials were developed for rapid prototyping, not specifically for production. Prototypes don't have to last forever. Also consider the now-well-known issues with tire melt, some tires literally crumbling, old acetate bodies shrinking and warping and crumbling as well, some styrene kit plastics becoming brittle and crumbly...it becomes apparent that many problems with material degradation only come to light years or even decades after the parts were made, and artificial aging cycles simply do NOT duplicate the effects of time. And remember that many commercial products made from a wide variety of plastic resins deteriorate to the point of sticky, gooey uselessness over time, even if stored sealed in the original packaging. The facts that SLA resin is UV-sensitive by design, and is hygroscopic, both would hint at instability over the long run. EDIT: From my own experience, it appears that acetate bodies that have been painted both inside and out survive much better than those that haven't. It might be a good idea to paint the insides of SLA bodies as well.

PM'd.

Nize, really really nize.

They're better than that, on a par with Monogram's 1/24 scale '34 and '36 Fords and their '40 Ford pickup from the same period. The scaling and proportions are excellent, though the parts count is not high. But because of the high quality of the tooling, it's possible to build really beautiful model from any of them with a little effort. The separately-molded roof sections on the '30, '34, and '36 Fords do require minor filling to look their best, however. They were made separate because the original versions offered convertible build options too.

1/8 scale Pocher built-up '32 Rolls Phantom II for rebuild. Price significantly under market, and way under an unmolested kit Received a little more damage in shipping and lost a few more parts, but everything is available from various sources. Dirty and rough with some excess gloo, some sorry workmanship, but still a deal. (not mine, but almost identical) The plan is to rebody her, inspired by this Figoni et Falaschi example built for the Prince of Nepal. https://blackhawkcollection.com/project/1932-rolls-royce-phantom-ii-continental-berline-by-figoni-et-falaschi/ Though it's supposedly a commission build, in the event the deal falls through, I might re-engine it with a S.C.o.T. supercharged Ardun-equipped Ford.

Thanks a bunch! Perfect timing too. I cut the seats out of the glooey interior tub, started fabbing a new one from sheet, and was thinking about how to go about getting the right look at the doors. This will save one whole lotta head-scratching. Thanks again.

See my post above ^^^

While interior chrome on cars is sometimes the vacuum-aluminum-vapor-metalized stuff model cars employ...and Purple Power or oven cleaner will strip it...the stuff on exterior plastic parts is an entirely different animal. EDIT: I've used both these methods...and if you use the heat gun, I recommend an X-Acto chisel-tip https://www.amazon.com/xacto-chisel-blade/s?k=xacto+chisel+blade Try this: sodium hypochlorite Or this: a heat gun More heat gun:

Had several of these in various states of gloobombery, and a couple nice ones, but when this little cherry came up surprisingly cheap, I let it follow me home...