Ace-Garageguy

Well, it's different, see? A LOT different. They weren't just MARKING UP somebody else's product. THEY HAD TO MAKE MOLDS AND MAKE THE PRODUCTS. The molds have a finite life too, have to be replaced regularly to keep the quality up. Yes, much of their work was BASED on production parts from a variety of sources, but it wasn't just re-sold and marked up existing stock by people incapable of doing the work. Far from it. But I guess it's another of those not-so-subtle distinctions that seem to be too difficult for many to grasp. EDIT: I'd also wager Modelhaus was paying at least nominal royalties to produce facsimiles of parts and designs that obviously originated elsewhere, but that the original manufacturers had no interest in continuing. We live in such a greedy, grasping, petty and litigious world that this MUST be the case.

Yup, and I really don't like the idea that the Modelhaus folks are probably doing a significant amount of their final work so some no-talent buy-low-sell-high something-for-nothings can make a fat profit on their effort. Call it whatever you want.

Yeah, I KNOW how it is and what it's called. Like Van Gogh died penniless, but a year ago some fat bastard who probably can't paint a cabinet paid some other fat bastard who probably can't paint his toenails over $66 MILLION for his L'Allée des Alyscamps. Yeah, that's just as it should be. Nah.

Yup, there's always plenty of maggots willing to make a profit on SOMEBODY ELSE'S hard work and reputation.

No. I'm running Win7. What browser are you using?

OK. It's easy to find completely useless trivia on the net.

I prefer any of the PVA white glues...polyvinyl acetate...that are packaged specifically for doing clear parts. These include Micro Krystal Klear Testors and Pacer Formula 560 Elmers Glue All is the same stuff, and will also work. There are other useful PVA glues too, of differing viscosity. The downside to these is that they have almost zero wet strength, so you often need to fixture windows in place until the stuff dries. Windows also need to fit well, as these glues aren't very strong on non-porous materials like plastic. The upside is that they dry absolutely clear and disappear entirely. Absolutely no fogging of headlights or other clear parts.

Bugger. Procrastinated too long. Oh well.

Those are some fine looking illustrations. Very professional. They look like very well controlled watercolors. I assume water-based markers, water-soluble pencils and you did the blending with a wet brush. Correct?

There's things that can kill you or make life painful everywhere if you aren't careful. I live in the swampy SE USA and a friend of mine here went into anaphylactic shock after being stung multiple times by wasps, probably would have died without medical intervention. We have brown recluse and black widow spiders that have very toxic venom. I once caught a young eastern diamondback rattler in my shop. Lotsa other unpleasant things too. But usually if you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you. They bite when they feel threatened. And if the bugs and snakes don't get you here, the rust, mold and mildew will. Give me the desert any day.

Nice little P-40. Congrats on getting the decal off without damaging the covering tissue.

For the few of you who try to get the period details right on your older hot-rod models, this is an excellent online resource. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/evolution-of-the-hot-rod-1930-1949.925033/

Same thing happened to me at Barnes and Noble on Monday afternoon. But she was not American. Interesting accent, maybe Brazilian Portuguese.

Just don't ask any recent high-school graduates to make change from a dollar.

I have to agree entirely. I once noticed they were playing something I recognized from another environment where "Christian" music was the norm, recalled the ownership and the fairly recent controversy, and the fact they're not open on Sunday, and happily went about my business of buying art supplies. The store I patronize is well stocked in that area, also has a ton of craft items that are useful for modeling, and not much selection in model-car stuff; the 40% coupon (and I don't even have to show a church card to use it ) is a very welcome saving...usually on things I wouldn't buy otherwise. Until someone in the store actively tries to influence my own spiritual position (or lack thereof), or supports violent acts in the name of religion, I just don't see any issue. I also seem to recall something about "religious freedom" and "free speech" being two of the principles this country was founded on. It might be good to remember those freedoms apply to people we don't necessarily agree with, too. And by the same token, at least as it stands today, anyone has the freedom to shop there or not, or to work there...or not...for whatever reason they may find to be in line with their own way of thinking.

Maybe it's time to beat the stampede out of town...and sell your house before its value plummets. Residents Abandoning Chicago: Is It Following in Detroit’s Footsteps? http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/25/residents-abandoning-chicago-is-it-follo

Walking out the door for a long walk before it gets too friggin' hot. Need to loose the lard I've packed on over the past two years.

Depends on the season, my mood, the time of day, and the subject I'm working on. Instrumental vintage jazz, classical, '50s-'60s rock, big band, club / trance, samba / bossa nova, etc. Usually only instrumental though. Voices break my concentration, interfere with being in the zone.

I mentioned earlier the need for hardening the systems against malicious hacking, and the fact that it's not even really understood fully what it's going to take to do it. System vulnerabilities are rarely all known until well after systems are in operation. You're right. It's a very real problem with potentially deadly consequences and not one that should be taken lightly.

Oh, the humanity.

I enjoy several other aspects of life, and I have several vehicles with automatics...but thanks for the advice.

The catalyst will usually last for several years. It will separate, but can be readily mixed again into a nice red homogeneous liquid, as you note. When it remains 'grainy' after mixing, it's toast. The small plastic tubes often crack and split before the material goes bad. The filler itself is usually good for anywhere from 6 months to a couple of years. A lot depends on how long it was on the shelf before you bought it, how it's stored, and what packaging it's in. I have some 801 in the metal tube that's two years + and still OK if I stir it with a stick prior to use. (The clear 'resin' component will come out of suspension on almost all of the inert-material-filled polyester products), but the same product in the larger plastic container (391) has dried out and become too stiff to use over the same 2-year period. In general, if you can still stir the clear component of the filler back into a nice creamy gray paste, it's good to use. If it's stiff and hard and lumpy, forget it. Some VERY old catalysts I've had have failed to initiate polymerization, but I don't think you'll ever face this particular issue.

If you had spent a large part of your life working with greasy fingers on machines, you'd know that this is pretty much the way things already work, to an extent. It's called OBD II (Onboard Diagnostics) and constantly monitors many of the vehicles mission-critical systems and reports to the operator, through the "check engine" or "service vehicle soon" warning (and will report specifics through the OBD interface port to a suitable reader). The problem is that in real life, inept maintenance often doesn't show up until a system failure is the result. For example, you can have correct fuel pressure (which the sensor reads and relays to the computer) even though a fitting is not torqued correctly. There is no "prediction" (other than statistically) of WHEN that incorrectly torqued fitting will loosen and spray fuel all over hot exhaust manifolds and incinerate the car and its occupants. Failures of vehicle systems due to unknowable poor workmanship (and downright stupid design and material selection) happen constantly every day. There can not possibly be enough sensors ever placed in a vehicle to monitor EVERY DAMM THING. It just doesn't work that way. And electronic systems are NOTORIOUS for failing intermittently, or suddenly, and the onboard diagnostics have no clue as to what the problem is. Spend 20 years under hoods, and you'll know this. Another LARGE part of the problem we see with vehicles of every description from almost every era and every manufacturer is that they were designed by engineers who'd never spent any time with tools, under cars, with barked knuckles. Some "engineered" stuff I see defies belief in its inept stupidity, as do many of the "repairs". It will make you ashamed to be human, and I sometimes cringe when I'm identified as an "engineer". The problem gets worse and worse with every generation of vehicles. Stupid, poorly-thought-out over-complication combined with insane cost cutting, with clean-hands dweebs doing all the design and management without ever having input from highly skilled AND critical mechanics. Of course, you can find a lot more clean little mediocre middle-managers and computer-console "engineers" than you can find competent and articulate mechanics. There's no reason to expect things to change, especially as long as most management types refuse to even acknowledge these problems exist. They build their retard carp, they get their paychecks, they play all day on social media, they neither know or care they're making junk. The consumer sees shiny new things with all kinds of bells and whistles and never thinks beyond that.

Yes, and you have to remember the stuff was invented for and is made for easy body-shop use, where the typical practitioner wouldn't measure anything even if it WAS necessary. It is nothing more than a fine-grained bondo, chemically identical. The original "Bondo" catalyzed polyester filler introduced in 1955 was made to get around the high degree of skill required to work with the lead fillers previously used. There is a wide latitude of mix ratios that will "work" just fine, specifically because it's aimed at 1:1 users who are, let's say, less than precise in their approach to life. But the problems people have with the stuff come from failure to mix the catalyst (and resin if it settles) properly PRIOR TO MIXING THEM TOGETHER, failure to mix the combined components properly, and failure to stay within the mix-ratios that will give acceptable performance A little practice is all anyone needs to get consistent results.

Excellent, and much the same way I use it. The separated "soup" is the actual MEKP component of the catalyst, and it's imperative the tube is thoroughly kneaded prior to dipping out your material, as you note. There actually IS an ideal mix ratio when dealing with this species of polyesters, which in this case is about 1%-1.5% catalyst to resin. Because of the thickeners and inert components, it's difficult to get this ratio consistently in small quantities by measuring...which is why the manufacturers added the colorant to the catalysts. "Light pink" is without doubt the post-mixing target to shoot for. (And there IS a lower threshold of catalyst below which the material will NEVER cure properly).