Nick Filippone

I am so jealous of those of you who are so facile with the graphic technology. In the time it would take me to learn it, I could build a 1/2 year's worth of projects or more! What his hobby needs is a service that will make INDIVIDUAL (not 1000 ) custom decals at a reasonable price. Even a service to simply copy old decals sheets would be most welcome. If someone is already doing this, I would be very happy to know about it.

For us Baby Boomers, indeed no website is intuitive. We have not grown up learning from computers. We learned from Dick and Jane readers, lessons on a chalk board and maybe even an abacus! Eric and the E-Board do a great job providing us with these services, but they are as constrained to use modern methods of communication as we are baffled to understand those methods. I was educated with books that had tables of contents and indexes. Computers are a second language for me and I will never be as facile with their use as my daughter has been since she was ten. Rember there was a time when people thought that they would be electrocuted if they made a phone call. So thank you again Eric for doing a job I could not begin to know how to do for very little money. Oh, yeah! That's right! You don't get paid at all! Think about websites like a relationship with the opposite sex. Push the wrong buttons and your getting nowhere. Push the right buttons and you will be rewarded for your patience and effort. You just gotta figure out which buttons are which! It has only taken me 40 years of marriage to figure this out. I told you I was a slow learner! Nick Filippone

Ok. Thank you. Great job on the Nell. Nick

Gil, Hi! In this thread, you mention using a mixture of baby powder and superglue as a filler. How precisely do you do this? I just tried it by putting a little shower powder on paper and added some gel superglue. It immediately solidified! What did I do wrong? Thanks. Nick

Martin, Thank you for the reply. I will be placing an order when I return from vacation next week. Regards, Nick

Mr. Cohen, If I have missed this point, I apologize. Do you have to prime under your metallic colours or can they also go directly on the plastic? Thank you. Nick Filippone

I truly admire your enthusiasm for taking an old kit and doing such a great job with it. I have nothing against rivets except they get destroyed as seams are cleaned up. There are several projects I have wanted to do but have been stymied by this rivet problem. You have parted the seas for me. Thank you! Regards, Nick One more question. What technique did you use to make the rivet strips stick? Thanks.

Alan, I am impressed and intrigued by your use of the Archer rivets. I have never used them, but I have used theis straight panel lines. I found that the carrier film was hard to disguise. I assume the rivets come in rows on carrier film as well so how did you make this film disappear, especially on a natural metal model? Regards, Nick Filippone

Only as a hobby consumer can I comment. I have always been more than satisfied with MM enamels. They are less expensive than other lines and readily (up to now) available. Most importantly to me - and, presumably, some others- years of working with them provide the comfort of familiarity with their strengths and weaknesses, as all paints have. When you add in the nuances of the individual modeler's tecnniques, his or her equipment and the environment in which they are used, (temperature, humidity, etc.) the calculus has almost infinite variations. One brand or type of paint that can work well for one modeler simply can't be made to work for another. Any poor painting outcomes I have experienced are almost always due to my own mistakes. I recently have dramatically improved my results with MM enamels by thinning more and lowering the pressure at which I operate my compressor. On the other hand, I have not, of late, had such good results with acrylic paint. I suppose I can apply myself and could learn, but that is, for me an aggravation I would prefer to do without.

Ok! I admit it! I am a chicken, after all! I took the advice of Clare and Rusty and started stocking up on MM enamels. I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but I never did like change anyway!

While we may take some comfort in the remaining availability of other brands of enamels, it must be recalled that these seem to be much more expensive than Testors Model Master. Maybe that is why they were losing money on them. They weren't charging enough!

I just had a most pleasant and informative conversation with a representative of Testors. She herself is a modeler. She quite candidly offered reasons for this decision. (Some we already know.) She reiterated the fact of poor sales, but went on to describe the causes. She indicated that, for example, overseas sales have suffered because of increasing difficulties in sending enamels through the mail. Concerns about safety and the increasingly strict regulations regarding clean air (something with which I myself would not argue) have limited sales in such states as California and others. Being a modeler herself (and a Testors employee for 27 years) she too had to make the switch to acrylics when the apartment she moved into in Wisconsin would not permit her to spray enamels. I guess we modelers will just have to accept that the demise is enamels is as inevitable as smoking in public places. We modelers are quick to criticize these businesses for behaving in a business like way. Yet we often forget that they are supposed to make a profit, not generate loss. All we care about is having fun! Those are two frequently incompatible goals. If they were making money on a product line, why would they discontinue it? And if they are losing money, who in their right mind would expect them to continue? The very nice woman and modeler I spoke with had to make the switch to acrylics and did it successfully. Yes, she allowed that there is a learning curve as with any new technique or product. But she is now getting equivalent results. My friend uses MM acrylics exclusively and gets better results than I do with enamels, so it can be done. Change is always painful. It is also a constant in life.

What was the source of this announcement? Is it possible to view it anywhere on the Internet?

I think it was rotated manually from inside the fuselage by means of a crank passing through the fuselage top decking. I suppose they may have been power operated later.

1/72 divided by 1/48 equals .6667 or did when I was in grade school!

Tim, Hi! Wings Palette shows several 27th PS P-36 schemes that might be what you are looking for. Regards, Nick

Despite being told that Alclad can be masked with impunity, I too have been disappointed when trying to mask it. I used yellow Tamiya masking tape, left on only 24 hours. It pulled off the Alclad that had been dry for days. Bill, do you have a source for SNJ? I loved that stuff. I have some powder, but do not having any of the paint. Thanks. Nick Filippone

Mr. Davenport, I posted your Re 2001 today. Regards, Nick

I will get this into the mail as soon as I can. I will let you know when I have mailed it. Regards, Nick

Mr. Davenport, Hi! I may be revealing my ignorance, but I believe the Re 2002 has the same wing as the Re 2001. If that is so, I have an Italeri Re 2001 that I would be happy to give you. Let me know. Regards, Nick Filippone

This was a great show. Nice venue, great vendors! Lunch on site. Excellent models on the table- including some great paper models! I picked up a few awards to boot. Outstanding job- as always- by Al LaFleche and his fellow Wings and Wheels crew. Nck Filippone, President, IPMS NENY.

You can wash the Detailer off any time, no matter how long it has been on. Just sayin'

I think the main landing gear is raked too far forward. Photos show it should be at right angles to the profile of the aircraft. Is it too late to adjust it? Nick Filippone

Ray, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume this posting is not a put-on, despite the fact that it apparently seeks an inappropriately pithy response to a question that would ordinarily takes pages and pages of text and profiles to elucidate and despite the fact that you have illustrated it with a photo attachment of a P-40 of the United States Army Air Force in early WW2 markings! And being, again, apparently, new to this hobby, you probably do not have the kind of hard copy reference library that I have assembled over the past 55+ years. You do, however, clearly have access to the Internet. If you Google RAF Camouflage, you will find more references than you can shake a stick at including links to articles, profiles, colour chips, colour standards and even links to model paint manufacturers such as Humbol, Testor's Model Master, Tamiya and Vallejo. Not only will you learn how to paint this Spitfire, but you will learn how to paint future projects as well. ' If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he can feed himself for the rest of his life .' Nick Filippone

James, Hi! Were you referring to Detailer when you asked if it is a Vallejo product? Regards, Nick