Ace-Garageguy

The hood on this is Duplicolor color and Testors "wet-look" lacquer clear over Duplicolor primer. At this point, it has not yet been color-sanded and polished. This is as-shot. Duplicolor clear will give similar results. Think it looks good enough?

Duplicolor rattlecan products, primers, colors, and clears, are among the most popular finish materials for model cars.

My thoughts exactly.

What's a "family"?

Masterful combination of traditional and computer-aided modeling techniques. Very inspiring. What isn't shown, however, is the very large amount of engineering and design work that had to occur prior to making any parts, and the trial and error that was surely required to verify parts fit, function, and procedures. There's almost as much scale-engineering in this as there is in building a full scale vehicle. Still inspiring, but not an easy project, by any means...and one that would take a lot of hard-fought skill development as well as raw talent. And you'll need a cat.

And...

I believe that may be a "hey ya'll, somebody hold my beer...okay, watch this..." moment.

Lotsa people paint with it. Cut with lacquer thinner and airbrush. There are some really cool colors available you'll never see anywhere else, and often one manufacturer will make so many different reds (for instance), you can hit exactly the color you want.

Yup, I have a couple of really cheap little 4.1 MP Nikon Coolpixes I use in the shop and the model bench. I bought one new eons ago when it was actually a pretty decent camera, and it was so good, I bought another one used fairly recently for about $15. One thing I really like about Nikon is that they made their (free) photo-editing suite compatible with even the littlest, old cameras, and they will run on Windows "legacy" systems too (XP anyway). Even though I have a more "serious" digital SLR, I don't bother to use it unless I need very high quality images...not really required here.

Nothing under my Christmas tree. Santa skipped me entirely. Not to worry though. I was a greedy pig all year, buying lotsa kits I'll probably never get to. Ho ho ho.

Well-stocked hardware stores often have a selection of tapered rubber stoppers too...

Auto parts stores almost always have a little selection like this... Same stores and Harbor Freight usually have bigger sets as well...

Another similar handling trick: put a drop of rubber cement on the tip of a toothpick. When it's dry, there's just enough sticky left to pick up a tiny PE part, which you hold down on the model with another toothpick as you withdraw the first one. This does require having the model supported solidly however, unless you're lucky enough to have three or more hands.

In all fairness, von Braun had been one of the leaders in rocketry well before the Nastis realized they were potential weapons. Von Braun, of course, had no option but to work for the government in his expert capacity, but he did so reluctantly and thought they were all a bunch of strutting fools. I wonder how many folks here would willingly face a firing squad if they were to refuse to help a war effort they didn't believe in.

Wow. Beautiful. My favorite real-world engine, too.

For the parts you mentioned, I like to use a tiny dot of PVA "white" or "canopy" glue. It contains no solvents that can inadvertently damage paint, it dries crystal clear, and it stays wet long enough that a part can be repositioned slightly for a few moments to get it dead-on. It also removes entirely with water when it's wet, if necessary, without leaving a mark on paint. Only downside is that, for instance, if you attach a side-script, you really need to have the model on its side as it dries, so the part won't slide out of position.

The Glencoe "Retriever Rocket" kit came in. Interesting thing about this one is that it's a model of a real 1956 von Braun / Disney concept (as are some others of the old spacecraft series).

^^^ What he said.

Got my first shipment of micro LEDs to test. Man, these things are small. Wanna do individual side-marker lights or instruments? These otter get it. Frankly, I don't expect all of 'em to work, or to last forever (so cheap, I don't see how they could) but damm man, they are SMALL. Working voltage is 2.8-3.4 DC (naturally). 20 for less than 10 bucks, including shipping. A bonus is that each little LED has two insulated leads of .011" OD, about 200 mm long. Perfect for old-school 7 mm ignition wires.

Beautiful work, no doubt. But then there's Gerald Wingrove, who takes it way beyond the next level.

If you mean what I think you mean, I know what you mean.

Dangity dang dang. Just before I took that shot, the little set was full of model cars. Must be aliens beamed 'em up, 'cause that hole in the roof wasn't there either.

I have one indoor/outdoor cat I rescued as a 4-week old kitten after it was abandoned under my house by a feral queen. I feed the outdoor feral cats, and have been getting them to trust me. Typically, by this time in the season, I've killed over a dozen rats that came in the house from the wooded lot. So far this year, no rats. I really wouldn't want to be the guy who shoots one of my cats. PS. I feed the birds too. Suet feeders in winter that squirrels can't get at and cats can't ambush. Seed on the ground or on the porch usually. With all the cats around, the squirrels stay away, and the birds are very wary and very quick. Cat gets a bird, well, it's a jungle out there. It's called "survival of the fittest". Only slow, stupid birds get eaten.

Always great fun seeing you bring one of these evocative builds to life. Big smile-maker here.