Schmitz

I think its more accurate that Testors and Rustoleum are both owned by RPM (a holding company specializing in companies that make paints, glues and other coatings). But that has been true for years (according to wikipedia, Testors was bought by RPM in 1984 and Rustoleum in 1994). I can imagine RPM is trying to unify products across the company lines (RPM owned the bondo brand for a while, and sold Bondo glazing putty as "Model Master Red Putty" - same stuff, same tube, different label, higher price), but I've heard from allegedly "knowledgeable sources" that Testors cutting the various paint lines is because they can't buy the raw materials anymore due to tighter environmental regulations.

Hi Phil, Thanks for the offer! I can get a ride to the airport with my friends, but I was trying to avoid getting up at 6am and spending a whole day at the airport. If you're leaving the hotel later than 7am I may look you up. Don

This made me curious so I looked up the National Model Railroader Association's convention info (http://www.2014cleveland.org/). Their national convention is in Cleveland next year, and early registration cost was $145. A "companion" registration was $60, which I think is meant for a friend/family member and doesn't include entry in the contest. That is on top of NMRA dues of $66. The info doesn't mention the cost of tours or banquet, but looking at the page from this years convention in Atlanta (http://nmra2013.org), those are extra, with tours costing around $30 and various banquets $50-75. Roughly $100 more than the cost of registering for the Colorado Nats. I'm wondering, how much that kind of price would hurt the turnout at an IPMS Nats? An extra $100 sounds like a lot, but when you figure in airfare, hotels, etc. it isn't all that much (I grew up with the inflation of the 70s and 80s, so it doesn't surprise me when prices keep going up and up). Don

I have a ride with friends from the airport to the convention hotel, but our flight-times don't match on the way home. Before I buy a $32 shuttle ticket thought I'd see if I could hitch a ride from the Embassy Suites to the airport sometime early Sunday afternoon. (my flight out of Denver is at 6pm, so leaving the hotel sometime around 1200-1400 would be fine). I'd be happy to share gas and buy you lunch for the trouble. Please let me know if you can help sometime in the next few days. Thanks! Don Schmitz

I pretty much agree with Ron. My family long ago decided that sitting in a hotel room in a second-tier convention town while Dad eats, sleeps and breathes models from dawn til last-call in the hotel bar, for 3 days straight, is not their idea of a vacation. My family did go with me to the Orlando Nats (twice), but even then they grumbled about the heat and when was I going to stop looking at models and go with them to the parks. For me (and many of my friends) the Nationals have become a long weekend away with the guys, and my family is happy not to be dragged along. The idea of having a fixed location breaks down for lack of members willing to provide slave-labor year after year; I think experience has shown that you need boots on the ground. One idea: every few (4?) years, we could have a "Mega Nationals" at some prime vacation city like Orlando. I'm not sure where else might work - you need a combination of touristy stuff, cheap air fares and lots of convention space - maybe Las Vegas? If it was a repeating event, we could schedule it many years in advance and (hopefully) better compete for prime dates and venues. A repeating event could also "reuse" previous planning, maybe making it possible for a remote chapter (or two) to host and just show up the week of the show to provide labor. Everything would cost a bit more and be done on a bigger scale, with the thought that these would be the must attend events, while preserving the current (smaller,cheaper,rotating) Nationals for the other 3 out-of 4 years. Don

Pete, I appreciate the message, but I don't see a link in this one either. Don

I was just about to send an order for decal paper to the bare-metal-foil folks and when I looked up their site with Google I saw a warning: "This site may be compromised." If you click on the warning you get a wishy-washy explanation from the Google folks that there "might" be something wrong with the site. I was wondering if anyone has bought from the site lately and whether you've had any problems? I would just call in the order tomorrow, but I can't find a phone number... Don

True scale plug wires would be about .015 in diameter, the only thing you can find that small is "wrapping wire". I think Radio Shack still sells it, it comes in a couple of colors, although the colors are too bright to represent real plug wires - plan on painting or at least dull-coating them. If you're not obsessive about scale, the individual wires in old fashion 4-wire telephone cable has more realistic colors (usually red, white, black and yellow) and is just a little on the too big side (about .030 inch diameter) for plug wires. Remember that real plug wires are "floppy" - whatever you use on your model will be way to stiff to drape naturally so be sure to sculpt in the effects of gravity. Radio Shack (and other electronics supply places) also have "hookup wire" in assorted colors - 20 or 22 gauge should be about right for a radiator hose. Some of the aftermarket guys offer wiring with tiny lettering that simulates the part numbers that are often printed on real hoses. You can also find fine gauge wire in the jewelry section of craft stores, but it is usually un-insulated so you'd have to paint it. Don

Just a heads up if you're in driving distance of Pittsburgh (PA); the annual Vintage Grand Prix is July 13/14 and 20/21: http://www.pvgp.org/ The first weekend is "big-bore" cars at a paved track north of the city, the second weekend are slower/older cars racing on park roads in the city. Also at the park are some big car shows and car club get togethers; just acres and acres of "Little British Cars", plus separate gatherings of German, Italian, Japanese, etc. Definitely worth the trip for old car fans (unless it rains :( ). Don

The human readable text is OK, but the underlying URL is missing a 'b' in the word "hobbies". Try: www.mustang-hobbies.com

I like seeing history, with lots of photos. I find myself more interested in people and their careers as opposed to a single event; the more colorful individuals often have lots of interesting stories that can inspire models, collections, etc. Not just aces, but lots of interesting people like Howard Huges, Chalmers Goodlin, Pancho Barnes - you can find books about them but usually not aimed at the modeler (you're lucky to get a picture or two of the planes they flew/built/etc). Not sure if Osprey has any interest in automotive subjects, but you could do the same things there: drivers who raced in many different kinds of cars (e.g. Mark Donohue) as well as car designers and team owners (e.g. Phil Remington). Don

Anyone know of an available 1/24 (or 1/25) kit with wheels like these (these are the stock 13 inch steel wheels from a Bugeye Sprite)? I'm building a vintage racer, but the kit wheels are designed for hubcaps and don't have any bolt pattern detail. I can probably scratch the detail for 1 wheel, but getting 4 to match is beyond my skills... Thanks! Don Schmitz

I'm primarily a car modeler, but I've got a couple of aircraft in the queue that need heavily weathered natural metal finishes. It doesn't seem right to do all the work with Alclad, etc. to get a polished metal look and then weather it over to look like an old galvanized bucket. Any advice for techniques, articles, etc? Even better if you can achieve this with acrylic paints... Thanks! Don Schmitz

Noel, I've never worked on a project with metric fasteners; after my first stint as a machine designer I ended up in the software business (that was mid 1980s, much of the manufacturing and design work was leaving the US then and jobs were hard to find). The "crapshoot" opinion came from an Israeli engineer and was probably biased by his experience working on US aircraft in a place where it was hard to buy industrial components. It may have been that the suppliers they had just weren't very careful about specifying what they were selling when it came to metric fasteners; my understanding of the ISO spec is that the thread-pitch is usually implied so suppliers may not have been careful about specifying pitch. Something like this shows up in US fasteners: a #6 machine screw is nominally 32-thread-per-inch, but 6-40 (fine thread) screws are somewhat common in electronics equipment, leading to ruined parts with cross-threaded holes... My Israeli friend simply avoided using #6 screws completely; if a 4-40 wasn't big enough we would jump straight to 8-32. We also used helicoil inserts in all the aluminum parts as standard procedure to prevent stripping - which proved handy as we took stuff apart and put it back together a lot more often than I had suspected. Don

Fresh out of school I had a job as a machine designer for a university lab where the only person with any real experience was a visiting Israeli aircraft engineer who taught me the ropes. When it became clear our machine shop couldn't handle metric dimensions (most of their equipment was WWII vintage) we settled on dimensioning drawings in both 2-decimal-place millimeters and 3-decimal-place decimal inches, but tolerances were inch-only. Our drawing machines had scales (rulers) with both mm and decimal inches (with 0.02 inch tick-marks), and it got so I could multiply or divide by 25.4 in my head. The Israeli engineer was perfectly happy with UNC fasteners; he said they used them all the time in Israel because they were readily available and were more of a true standard than metric fasteners (any 4-40 UNC screw will fit any 4-40 tapped hole, but order a generic "3mm machine screw" and the pitch and thread-profile is a bit of a crap shoot depending on the country and manufacturer they came from). BTW, either decimal-inch or mm rulers are great for 1:25 scale work; a 1mm tick mark is essentially 1 scale inch, and the 0.02 inch tick marks are half a scale inch (or at least close enough for most modeling work). Don

Just wanted to thank everyone that came - it seemed like everyone was having a good time. Our webmaster will get pix up sometime soon, but one of the entrants seems to have photos of most (all?) of the models at http://public.fotki.com/NWVMM/bobby-boggs/model-shows-2013/tricon-3-23-2013/ Hope to see you all next year! Don Schmitz

OK, I lied. This the final reminder: Pittsburgh's annual show is TOMORROW! Hope to see some of you there! Don

Arkie, I was one of the people on the "steering committee"; basically we made recommendations that the NCC reviewed - they may have tweaked some details but I think they adopted everything we proposed. Lots of people worked on this and I don't want to pretend to speak for anyone, so I'll leave it up to Dick Christ and the NCC to have an official position. The 2 all-new categories - Documented Replica and Automotive Technology and Culture are described on the 2013 Nats "Rules" page, items 11 and 12. I've excerpted those sections below. As to combining 1:43 and 1:32, that wasn't a change; 1:32 has been the dividing line for "small scale" for at least a while (that was the way the categories were set up at the 2012 Nats in Orlando and as long as I remember). Don Schmitz 11. Automotive - Documented Replicas. This category is for models built as a precise replica of a specific real-world vehicle. The competitor must also display documentation to authenticate the actual vehicle upon which the model is based (can include photographs, copies of brochures, magazine articles, etc -- materials should be collected in a standard 3-ring binder or file folder, for judges’ review). Evaluation of the model may include the completeness of the documentation and how well the model agrees with the information presented. As usual, the builder’s basic construction skills will still be the primary judging criteria. Adding more documentation will not make a poorly built model compete better than a less-documented better-built model. 12. Automotive Technology and Culture. This category is for models of automotive subjects that do not meet the definitions or requirements of the more specific auto categories. It can include: automotive toys, such as pedal cars; caricature or cartoon vehicles; small motorized vehicles not intended for on-road use and not derived from road-capable vehicles (go-karts, mini-bikes, quad-runners, powered skateboards, etc); ‘slammer-style’ models (models of a complete vehicle with painted-over windows and no interior or mechanical components); stand-alone engines or other mechanical components; cut-away/engineering models meant to show the internal construction / operation of an automobile or part of an automobile; wrecked or ‘junk’ vehicles that are no longer complete or drivable (e.g. driveline and/or body panels have been visibly removed); bicycles.

Last reminder: our 1 day show in Pittsburgh is just two weeks away - Saturday March 23rd. If you have questions that aren't answered in the online just let me know. Don Schmitz

Ed, You're right, a quick Google search turned up a few on Ebay (it looks like Monogram reissued it at some point). I was surprised that the 737s were flying before Aurora faded away; I don't remember seeing a 737 until the late 1980s, although Wikipedia says they went into service in 1968! This must have been one of Auroras last kits. My first flight was in 1982 (job interviews and then the occasional work trip), and it seemed like most every trip out of Pittsburgh was on a 727 (with a rare 707 thrown in for good measure). One of the scarier moments of my life was on a KAL 727 landing in Po Hang, South Korea, which would probably lead me to buy a 1/48 727 if it were ever kitted. For the curious: the airport was visual landing only and completely clouded over - we were circling for about 30 minutes - when suddenly a tiny patch of runway appeared in a break in the clouds and the pilot made a banking diving turn that made me think "roller coaster" - seemed like we were on the ground about 30 seconds later... Don

I just noticed that the updated auto categories are posted on the Colorado Nats web page: http://www.ipmsusa2013.com/index.cfm?mode=the_categories#auto

If they're old enough to have yellowed (and hard to replace) I'd suggest making a color scan of the sheet before you try applying them as insurance against them disintegrating when they hit the water. Once you have an image you (or someone with the right programs/equipment) can adjust the colors and print them on decal paper. Don

Ron - I've been waiting for this kit to show up on the vendor tables; the last show I was at in November the big local car-kit dealer said they were still "any day now". What markings are missing? I'm not sure Rob Walker had many sponsors (he was a privateer - albeit a rich one). The Gold-Leaf cars had much cooler markings, and there are aftermarket decal sheets for them on HLJ. HLJ also has a bunch of PE & detail sets available for these kits - I think if you buy them all I think its about $250 (for a $60 kit)! Any chance you all are heading to Pittsburgh in March? Don

Another shameless plug for the upcoming Three Rivers show - now less than 2 months away! Same location as last year. Here is the the time and contact info: March 23, 9:00AM to 4:00PM A. W. Beattie Career Center 9600 Babcock Boulevard, Allison Park PA 15101 Show Chairman Scott Scariot phone: 412-492-8378 email: trekmanscot@hotmail.com Vendor Chairman Brian Campitella phone: 724-325-4887 email: bac8859@windstream.com Additional details will be published as they're finalized on the club web-page/blog (go to www.tripms.org and navigate to TRICON or BLOG from the menu in the top left). Or go straight to the info package for the show at: http://www.tripms.org/ftp/TRICON_2013.pdf If you can't get in touch with Scott, feel free to PM me here and I'll do my best to answer your questions. Hope to see you there! Don Schmitz

Terry, I was one of the folks who put the proposal together, but when we were done it went to the NCC and I heard there was some final tweaking that I don't have any details of, so I don't want to say anything specific. Mostly we proposed breaking up the more popular categories, using the categories from some of the big car-only shows as a guide. I'll ping the guy who took the proposal to the NCC and see if I can get him to comment here. Don