peteski

Roughly about half way between Boston and Concord, in Tyngsborough, MA is an excellent hobby shop: Hobby Emporium. They have very large selection of paints and hobby supplies. They carry all sorts of models (Cars, planes, ships, military, and railroad). Then if your wife or you like a bit of gambling, there is The Nash Casino in Nashua, NH, which is basically across the road. It is located in the large Pheasant Lane Mall. There are also several restaurants in the area. There is a small hobby shop, Hobby Bunker in Wakefield, MA (closer to Boston), but it is mainly geared to military modelers. Of course Boston itself is chock full of points of interests. USS Constitution (oldest commissioned Navy ship) is there, Museum of Science in Cambridge is also fun place to visit. I highly recommend Duck Tours where you can see many of Boston's points of interest and also take ride in the Charles River. Last time I took that tour, I got on at the Museum of Science. There are also many other museums in Boston. If you would like to get a bird's eye view of Boston, there is View Boston observation area on the top of the Prudential Tower.

Well, I tried it when it first become available and unfortunately I had an opposite experience. Yes, it removes paint well but it also attacks (softens) plastic to the point that it can be easily dented or otherwise damaged. I let them know about this. They still continue selling the product which is basically their relabeled wood furniture stripper. On their website you will also now see this warning: IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT USING QCS MODEL SAFE PAint Remover: QCS Model Safe Paint Remover is safe for most plastics, but it should not be used on 3D printed items. QCS Model Safe Paint Remover can be used to submerge the items being stripped, but should not be left unattended for more than 15 to 30 minutes. Check your items to be sure that no damage occurs due to over-exposure. Stripwell is no longer part of my mode paint stripping arsenal. I'm glad to know that it works for you. Here is some additional info:

Again, if you just pickup up the phone and say something that puts you on a "live" list which other scammers will use to bother you some more in the future. Best thing to do is not to pick up the phone when you don't know the person calling you. If the are not scammers and really want to get in touch, they will leave a message. With no message, you know you just avoided a scammer. Just giving them your piece of mind, even though it makes you feel better, doesn't matter to them. Getting abused over the phone is their job - they expect that.

That's too bad. While I have not dealt with him personally, it seems that I've been seeing his classified ads in model magazines forever. Only honest, good, and friendly businessman can last this long. That just reminds me that none of us are getting any younger or healthier.

Yeah, it has been a while KT - you've been a member since 2006! Welcome back!

I highly doubt that AI is involved in this type of a scam.

That just lets scammer know that you are ripe for receiving more scams. They know they are scammers. I know it makes you feel better, but never reply to scam texts or emails. Delete texts, block them, and report as Spam/Scam.

I also dislikke sloppy writting. After all you are not addressing bunch of uneducated yahoos here. You are addressing your fellow modelers. I'm far from perfect when it comes to my writing style (English is a second language for me), but I do try to make my posts reasonably clear, with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. With automatic spell checkers this is quite easy. I would venture a statement that their writing style is often related to a person's intelligence level.

I think that is because Japanese thought of those simply as children's toys to be played with rather than detailed static scale replicas which sit in display cases. Actually kids in USA also played with those early full-detail kits, but often blowing them up with firecrackers. However I think that motorized kit lasted a bit longer in Japanese kits' hands since it could actually ride around.

You must mean "antisocial media".

Yes, it is a beauty! Gunze Sangyo made a very nice curbside model of it in 1:32 scale. It was the 1st model I used BMF on.

Plasterboard? I thought that in your part of the world most multistory buildings (most residential and office buildings in general) were usually masonry.

I have used few times. It is very thick so it needs to be thinned to be airbrushed. the 1:1 ratio mentioned above is about right. I used PPG Medium Temperature reducer to thin it. Yes, this is a "hot" lacquer so make sure you use a good primer and always do a spoon test spraying to make sure it will not attack polystyrene.

In my experience pretty much every road tire out there has uneven tread pattern to prevent the whine or resonant oscillations. The variation might be small but if noticeable if you look carefully.

If it is the Can-Do wrecker, why not use the included "rope"? I used it on my build and to me it looks good. If you find it too fuzzy, ship model builders use a trick of running the thread through a block of beeswax or even candle wax. That will eliminate the fuzz and slightly stiffen it. I don't think the metal picture hanger wire will look realistic or in-scale. The twists are not as tight as what scale cable would have (although that could likely be tightened up) and the wire is too stiff to be able to form it into realistic shape. But I suppose it would be worth a try.

When I paint very small figures (1:160 scale) I just drill into the foot/leg and glue in a small diameter brass wire to pin them to some surface with a hole also drilled into it. I can't use any of the soft putty solutions because the foot area of those figures is too small and they would deflect as I was painting them. Putty should work with larger figures but they could still deflect a bit while they are getting painted. It seems like maybe painting the top and bottom half of the figure separately might also be something to consider? Paint it up to the belt line while holding it by upper body, wait for the paint to dry, then paint the top half while holding the bottom.

I suspect the reasons for all those curbside Japanese automotive kits are: 1. As mentioned, many early kits were made as motorized toys with accurate bodies/wheels/tires, but with no engines, and shallow interior to make space for the motor/battery. 2. Keep the cost down since it is expensive to produce tooling, engine and chassis details add significant cost to produce molds for fully detailed kit. 3. Even most contemporary Japanese modelers (who are the main target of those kits) aren't really all that interested in full engine detail. Why? who knows, but they seem to be happy with just accurately modeled exterior features. Sure there are exceptions, and some Japanese modelers very fastidiously build full detail models, often superior to what the U.S. modelers build, but there seems to be a low percentage of those modelers. Besides, that is why there is an aftermarket for making all those details not included in the curbside kits. If you notice in Tamiya kits for example, the full detail kits have well-made but simplified engines. Many engine parts which are separate in American model kits are molded with the engine block or combined other ways. Again, the Japanese manufacturers do not consider engine details as very important. Japan has a very different culture and customs compared to the Western countries, so they do things differently. Same goes for other hobbies, like model trains. For example Digital Command Control (DCC) is quite popular outside of Japan, but almost non-existent with Japanese model railroaders.

None of you guys seem to get the point. Regardless of what the solvent in WD40 is, the elephant in the room is that WD40 is a lubricant, and when its solvent evaporates, the greasy film of that said lubricant remains behind (which is why WD40 is useful as a lubricant. It *IS* a lubricant). If you use Naphtha (a solvent/thinner, not a lubricant), there is no greasy film to remove. Whatever . . .

Steve, my pants aren't bunched at all. I was just having some fun. Why do you think I used smileys?

Sure, why I didn't think of that Steve. Call me silly. My WD40 is actually downstairs in the basement (not lucky enough to have a garage). Let me go and lube up my model. But wait, I also have a quart can of VM&P Naphtha which is on a shelf in my hobby workshop, and also a gallon in the basement. Oh what a dilemma! Which to chose? A lubricant, or a solvent. Man out hobby can sometimes get complicated.

As I see it, in the current version of the forum software the compose window pretty much shows what the post will look like after it is posted.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Everybody's a clown. 😜

Well Mike, I never had any problems with Naphtha in Ronsonol leaving residue, but I guess it's possible. I also discovered the "other" Naphtha, and specifically mentioned it in this thread, just three posts above yours: The full name of that solvent is Varnish Maker's & Painter's Naphtha, and it is pure Naphtha.

What's that Luke? Something that gives you ability how the post you are composing will look after it is posted to the forum?

Donny, this thread seems to be asking very similar question you asked in Bottom line is to select the model you want (not based on brand name, but on the subject), then ask opinions about the kit, like its quality, how easy it is to assemble, how accurate it is, etc. Many subjects are are only covered by only single manufacturer anyway.