Ron Bell

I've had the problem of lack of "grab" as well. I've been able to fix it a couple times. Close the tweezer and hold it up to a strong light so the light shines through the tips. You may find that they touch before the very end and then the very tips splay out. I used a set of pliers with no knurling on the face and re-set the tips so they joined correctly. Unless you have surgical grade stainless steel, any tweezer may eventually splay out like this and even they go eventually.

Peerless Mac kits are nice, but they are very fiddly. Many, many parts and structures sometimes broken down in odd ways. Also, a lot of clean-up with mold seams, sink holes and knock-out marks. When they're done, they look nice, but its a labor to get them to that state.

THAT'S IT! I knew you guys would know. I'll file this along with the Private Ryan T-34/Tiger that's at Duxford.

I'm not an a/c guy but I think I know what a 747 looks like. Hump back top, four engines all on their own pylons on the wings. Right? If not, stop me here. If so, proceed. I was watching Top Gear, the English car show, and in one segment they tow an aircraft with a tractor. The aircraft sure looks like a 747, except the inboard engine pylon (you can only see one side) has two engines mounted on it like on a B-52. Mock up? One off? Test bed? Bad eyes? Got any ideas?

Gil. Your ideas are good, with one caveat. In 1/700 scale if you put the entire fret over heat, with the delicacy of 1/700 scale railings et. al, I'm afraid you'll get a melted, molten mess. Most pe for that scale are brass or some brass alloy, and is pretty soft. Anealing may not be needed due to the thinness of the parts.

Hey, I actually built that AIRPLANE! Fun old time build OOTB. Looked great. One problem. The lighter colors on the decal sheet were translucent and showed the 'stuff' underneath. And that's all I have to say about that.

Weedeater is correct in that if there is any sort of clear coat over the decals, then the only fix is what he recommends with the Future or in removing the decals and the only way to do that at this point is sanding and that runs the risk of damaging the paint, which means re-painting. However, if there is no clear coat, I'd say start with your normal decal solvent and soak the decal until its soft. Keep the model in a plane where the decal is laying horizontal. That, of course, means you can only do the decals one plane at a time. (Not air plane, surface type plane.) Get a cooton swab and dampen it with the solution and when it's soft, start pushing the decal down over the detail. Work easily and gradually, It may take several applications and 'pushes" with the swab. Try rolling the swab over the decal to roll it down as well. If the solution doesn't soften the decal, work your way up the solution chain with gradually more aggressive solutions repeating the process each time. As to removing the decal, sometimes its not necessary to get it all off. If you have another set of identical decals, it may be possible to place them over the old ones. Get some 600 grit wet/dry sand paper, wet it and then in circular motions gently sand the decal and only the decal. It will thin gradually and possible flake off in some spots. Try to feather in the edges so they blend in with the surface. Work gently and slowly to avoid damaging the paint. Then, when you've got ass much off as you are going to get, gloss coat the surface and put on your new decal right over the old one. That's a lot of work for dubious results, but short of re-doing the whole model, may be your only course of action.

I stand (or sit) corrected. It's Polly Scale. Whatever. it still stinks. My favorite paints were the Floquil Military Colors, which are now long gone. Very fine pigment, sprayed beautifully. Like all good things, they were gone too soon. Second best is Humbrol. Same deal as the Floquils, but those d**n tinlets are such a pain. I know most people will say decant them into bottles, but that's more work and bottles to buy. I've got Humbrol paints that must be 15 years old that after a thorough stir still work beautifully. Polly-S, Polly Scale or Pollywanacracker. I don't care. It all stinks.

I just sprayed some Polly S on the underside of a trainer aircraft. What a pain. But, I've calmed down now, so I can write this without too much vitriol. Here goes. I don't like spraying Polly S paint. There, I said it. Now here's why. 1. It dries on the tip of the airbrush and spits off little flakes that spoil a finish. 2. It dries on the tip of the airbrush and stops the flow of the spray. 3. It has no tooth, so when it dries on a model, if you've masked over it, it pulls up in chunks. 4. If you're spraying over another type of paint, it would rather stick to your masking than the undercoat and, if the masking is removed when its dry it pulls up in flakes and if the masking is removed when its 'damp', it strings out like rubber and makes a mess. 5. Its a pain to clean up. Water clean up, my a**. That only gets most of the liquid paint out, but anything that is even remotely dry has to be scrubbed. I've used water, alcohol, lacquer thinner and even liquid cement to clean encrusted airbrush parts, and don't say I should clean my airbrush more. My airbrush is scrupulously cleaned after every use. Its this furshluginer paint! And then if you missed any, it comes out later in rubbery chunks! I've tried it with high air pressure and low. Thinned it with several types of alcohol, water, their thinner, even used acrylic brush cleaning fluid. It's either the consistency of maple syrup or water. No in-between. And none of them stop any of the above cited problems. If you have solutions to any of these problems, share them for the others, but for me, I'm going to live the rest of my life without spraying Polly S paint. Venting over. P.S: I don't have these problems with other acrylics, just this #$%@^*! stuff. P.P.S: I only used it this time as it was the closest to a British Trainer Yellow I could find locally.

So, I proved my point. Like I said, I don't know aircraft. It's the A-37 instructions I need.

Due to involvement in a club group build, I need the instructions to a Monogram T-37. My end of the project involves a vacu-form kit that is adopting the cockpit and landing gear. I've got the parts, but have no idea how they go together. Go figure. I can put together a 200 piece suspension on a tank, but not a 10 piece cockpit. A scan would be fine. Just so I can figure out what goes where. Thanks to anyone who can help.

I know they are popular, but I never liked the look of MV lenses. They almost look too clear in these scales. Headlights, when off and viewed from a distance, are not clear. You could argue they are silver or maybe even white, but not clear looking. I always thought vehicles with MV lens headlights had a "deer in the headlights" look, if you will.

Not an aircraft guy, but didn't Emhar have one as well?

Another problem I have experienced with vinyl tires is that over the years they dry out, shrink and crack! As to paint on vinyl, check with the fantasy figure people. This is a problem they have been wrestling with for years. I had the problem on a toy elephant that I "converted" to a Honda Element. I solved it by coating it with dull coat. That seemed to eliminate the tackiness. Only of the paint, however, not the project itself.

Here's a good use for old spru. Just stretch a bunch of it out to various thicknesses over a candle. Trim it back to whatever thickness you need for larger or smaller amounts of CA. When the end gets dried glue on it, cut it off. When the end gets too thick, stretch some more.

Interesting difference in color in the red in the two shots of the Dog. One is "orangy" the other more red. If it were real, it could spice some debate as to which is the correct color by the "paint police" at some contests. Just goes to show that photos aren't very good references for colors. Oh, and nice build, Mike.

As a possible alternative, many of such shrines are whitewashed white. Start with white, then "distress" it like a furniture refinisher with drybrushings and washes of various greys. Remember, do it until you think you need just a little more, then stop before you do that, because its probably too much.

Very nice build of a not very often seen a/c. My aircraft collection is full of Airfix kits. It's amazing how good you can make them look with a little work. Ok, they may not be the most accurate or have state of the art slidemolding or whatever, but when you build them you really get the feel of actually making something and when done, they sure look like whatever they are to suppose to be on my shelf. Oh, and they don't cost $50 each.

Clutch Cargo. Sheesh. That show set animation back 30 years. It was more like bad stop motion drawings than animation. And the lips were real peoples' lips superimposed on the faces so they didn't have to animate the face moving. With all the differences in perspective and angles, the lips never changed and looked ridiculous! I seem to remember he had the usual whiny kid sidekick and a dog named, why I remember this I have no idea, Paddlefoot.

Not 100% sure, but it looks like a modern version of the Shortland Armoured Car, which was based on a LandRover chassis. This one almost looks "Toyota-ish" doesn't it? There wasn't a kit of the original in injection and I'm pretty sure in anything else either. There were conversion articles in various modeling magazines back in the 70's and 80's. Anyone else got better info?

One logistical point with those tubes. Try to keep the threads clean. If not, the cap will become welded to the tube and be a pain to remove. (Experience talking here. I've had several twisted and ripped tubes as I tried to remove the dried on cap.) Try putting a little Vaseline on the threads the first time you open it. It will keep any residue from clinging to the parts.

Dave Knights, Martin Luther took care of all that a long time ago.

Interesting with the acrylics. I've tried those and had bad experiences. It seemed where ever they dried, they stayed, and that wasn't always good. Even with oils, I could remove them carefully with mineral spirits or whatever, but acrylics were down for good. It must either be the undercoat or that dishwashing fluid that makes them more 'movable'. Just make sure if you use them, that you do it just as was explained. Any other way and you may wind up with a splotchy model. Oh and to Dave Knights, if you have an "in" at the Vatican, I may need it in the future.

I use tube watercolors. The pigment is very fine. I thin it with a mix of water and a dollop of acrylic brush cleaning liquid to break the surface tension. I don't apply it over paint, only over dull or gloss coat. That way it doesn't 'stain' the paint, but gathers in the recesses. What Dave said about pooling is true, but I get around that. With this mixture and putting it over the dull/gloss coats, you can use a damp brush to remove wash from where you don't want it. When you've got the effect you want, lock it all in with another coat of dull/gloss coat. Until you do this, its very forgiving, to the point of almost rubbing off. But that's why I like it, because if anyone's models needed forgiveness, its mine!

I fight that same battle with silvered decals in this scale as well. One solution I've found works well for smaller decals. I make a small puddle of Future and then soak the decal off the backing sheet. I remove the decal from the backing with fine pointed tweezers, and touch the edge to a damp paper towel to remove excess water. I then float the decal on the Future to coat the 'down' side. Try not to get Future on the upper side. Pick it back up and touch the edge to the damp paper towel again to remove excess Future. Place the decal in its appropriate location. I try to arrange the model so the surface the decal is on is level so the Future stays behind the decal and does not run or collect at the botom/top or where ever. At this point, either leave it alone for quite a while so the Future dries (hours because its under the decal) or you can add decal setting solution as a drop over the decal and then leave it alone. Don't touch it as the Future will get sticky in a bit and you risk lifting the decal or worse. The Future dries and fills the area under the decal and eliminates silvering. It dries very thin, so the decal blends in as usual. If you still get some silvering on the edges or in bumps or bubbles, take a fine pointed brush and dip it in some Future and touch it to the offending edges so the Future runs behind the decal. For bumps etc, prick them with a pin or slit them with an exacto, and add the Future. This works well with smaller decals, but can be pretty tricky with larger ones and not at all with large ones. But in 72 scale, it works just fine.