Ace-Garageguy

There's a slight possible flaw in the heat-during-transport theory. "Styrene" has a Tg, or "glass transition temperature" (where it starts to flow and deform permanently) of right around 100 C, which is 212 F. That's boiling water. It's doubtful temps inside containers ever reach much over 160-170 F, so there's still significant margin for safety...unless something is physically squashing the boxes, and that's not being reported. It's more likely that the parts are being pulled from the molds before they're adequately cooled, which has also been suggested. Pulling parts from molds early is either 1) sloppy procedural controls in place or 2) trying to cycle the molds a little faster to squeeze a few more rice-grains of profit out.

If they get enough returns of the FUBAR ones, some little bell will go ding-ding-ding-ding in the chief bean-counter's office, and the problem will get investigated. "Dilbert, WHY are we having to give away and ship free bodies for 50% of these kits? It's beginning to seriously impact the bottom line. Look into it."

Simple. Just the government embracing the popular "not in MY back yard" attitude, along with "but it's entirely OK to totally screw the other guy". See? Completely logical.

Ooooo...weld splatter. Nice one. And those sharp little things that fly off of a grinder disc. Been there, done that, got the medical bill to prove it.

That goes for pointy things too.

Apparently there are some safe places to be for the coming apocalypse. I don't know if it will include zombies or not, but you better prepare anyway. Judging from the map in the video presented below, I'll be safe...or not. So, on with the show.

You rebellious scofflaw, you. I hope the EPA or CARB or whoever has jurisdiction over this doesn't come swooping down on you a dawn in their black helicopters (powered by hydrogen, of course). Remember the famous words: "When lacquer thinner is outlawed, only outlaws will have lacquer thinner!". Just kidding.

Thanks Rob. Yup, one of the reasons that i rarely actually finish anything is that most of my work IS a lot of custom stuff, and things like this inevitably crop up. I'll often just shelve a problem build...sometimes for years... but I'm so close to getting this one looking like something, I think I'll press on.

I made a stupid noob mistake, and it's costing me plenty of extra effort to fix it. While getting this ready to paint, I rushed the final sanding just a bit so as to get on with the project. After the first 3 coats of paint, I needed to sand a little peel out before shooting more. In the process, I went through the paint into primer in a couple of areas I SHOULD have got straighter BEFORE I ever started painting. So, when I re-coated the little car, on the areas I sanded through the paint acted much like enamel rather than lacquer, wrinkling around the edges. I can't just bury it in mist coats, as there's fine detail I don't want to obliterate. Nor do I want to strip it, because that will eat into my carefully done bodywork and really make a mess...further delaying the build by weeks. Yes, I'm irked that my own impatience to try to finish SOMETHING has bitten my behind...as I knew it probably would. I will now have to very carefully sand the entire body AGAIN, re-scribe all the body lines, and then TRY to shoot three more coats dry enough to avoid more lifting / wrinkling, but wet enough to flow out enough to avoid a LOT of finish sanding. Lesson: Shortcuts rarely are. Stick to what you KNOW works, even if it takes a little longer.

I made a stupid noob mistake, and it's costing me plenty of extra effort to fix it. While getting my '29 scratchbashed dry-lakes roadster ready to paint, I rushed the final sanding just a bit so as to get on with the project. After the first 3 coats of paint, I needed to sand a little peel out before shooting more. In the process, I went through the paint into primer in a couple of areas I SHOULD have got straighter BEFORE I ever started painting. So, when I re-coated the little car, on the areas I sanded through the paint acted much like enamel rather than lacquer, wrinkling around the edges. I can't just bury it in mist coats, as there's fine detail I don't want to obliterate. Nor do I want to strip it, because that will eat into my carefully done bodywork and really make a mess...further delaying the build by weeks. Yes, I'm irked that my own impatience to try to finish SOMETHING has bitten my behind...as I knew it probably would. Lesson: Shortcuts rarely are. Stick to what you KNOW works, even if it takes a little longer.

Wow. Again, that's what I love about being out there. A start to the day like that always made me feel like getting up early to see it, and always made me feel like getting going and accomplishing things.

Then you're missing out on a lot of products that are for the most part very GOOD quality.

Just a reminder that it IS possible to turn out world-class results with pretty common tools...and as you say, a lot of patience. Speaking of foam...my approach is often to start with 2'x2"X8' planks of urethane foam cut on a table saw into flexible strips, and to apply them to an armature; in this case, the backbone and ribs were made of common house-insulation boards, the whole thing assembled with hot-glue. The "styling bridge" was a set of carefully built interlocking tables with cabinet-grade plywood tops, and a sliding adjustable pointer (up / down, in / out) that could be aligned with dimensioned tapes on the surface of the tables. The foam is built up and sculpted to within about a quarter-inch of the final surface and then fiberglassed. That creates a rigid shell, just as in the video above, that can be final-finished with bondo. Molds are made at that point, and the laboriously constructed "plug" is broken up and thrown away...or in the case of the little vehicle just above, stored behind my home until I can get back to finishing it.

One man's cheese is another man's rotten milk.

Talcum powder, eh? I've heard this multiple times, and all I can say is that I've been making parts for product-development presentations using the same materials used for making resin models and silicone molds for same...as well as high end 1:1 prototype and limited-production composite parts for cars and aircraft...for over 40 years. My parts required a professional-looking finish right out of the mold, easily paintable, etc. Parts also were often molded in specific materials, colored, or of varying hardness to simulate actual production values....so painting was out of the question. I've only used the mold-release agents recommended specifically or supplied by the manufacturer and...surprise...I've never had any problems IF I read the instructions carefully and followed them, using a modicum of common sense. In the OLD days, we'd use multiple coats of wax. Absolutely and completely obsolete with today's mold-release agents. I've seen guys use PAM, vaseline and olive oil too. I'll pass. NOTE: I'm NOT saying Mark is wrong. It's just not the way I do things.

Here's a chopped '55 Windsor. Not really necessary to channel one when you can bag it, get it just as low, keep the interior room...and actually drive it home.

I've found that often to be the case, and very often among insecure men who think they have to be loudmouthed macho bullies to prove that they're tough.

Excellent idea. This was me then... ...my own design, in progress in full scale in the old shop... ...maybe soon to be resurrected for a class LSR attempt.

This is pretty cool. I've been using an almost identical technique for more than 40 years to make prototype aftermarket car and aircraft parts...but I don't work quite this fast. PS. The same system also works for model parts.

Must be havin' trouble with the drone delivery system.

Tom's right. This is an old thread, and a lot of newer members don't have any idea of who some of the old farts are. A lot of the old-timers already know I own a company called Ace Garage (currently in limbo) and I'm a guy. Pretty clever, huh? I change my avatar about 1/25 as frequently as I change my socks, for much the same reason.

Here's another excellent video on making 2-part molds specifically for model car bodies. This one focuses on the PlatSil line of casting silicones from Polytek, many of which I've used (as well as those from freeman). This is also a very worthwhile video, even if you already know something of the process.

My last significant other was a gray-eyed beauty from the great frozen North, and taught me the joys of fish cured with lye.

You really don't understand very much of anything, do you ? And do you actually BUILD MODELS, or just sign on here to see if you can continue getting away with poking the bears with a stick?