JayMesawitz

The model is representative of just slightly older than you mention Ed, 1960 through late 60's. The kit actually depicts the 1966 bike of Mike Hailwood at the Isle of Man TT race.

My most recent completion! Look for it in upcoming kit reviews.

one after another after another... I got two done all last year with a third almost complete and you have four in the first month. I've been nosing around 1/43 autos on EB (smaller than I usually build but $$$) maybe I could get a few more on the 'done shelf' that way. Either way, Kudos my man! Keep em comin. I know you will.

I use paper automotive paint filters cut down like the one below. The actual filter portion is only on the tip so I cut them about where I put the red line and there you have a small disposable filter funnel. Automotive parts supply or paint supply. Last time i went to the auto paint supply store, I asked for and they gave me 20 or so free. I have found them online pretty cheap as well but have not needed to purchase any yet.

I drop 3-4 BB's in each bottle (ala nail polish) when I open a new one. Been doing it for years with good success. If the paint is so thick that I cant get the BB's free by shaking/banging the bottle it is trash. Which really brings a good point to mind. If I'm using any volume of paint (more than a 1/4 OZ) I pass it through a filter after thinning before it goes in the paint cup. Just because that buger sized glob us paint is broken up by what ever stiring method you use what prevents those smaller pin sizes globs from spitting out the end of your airbrush?

Another fine effort Mike! The plow blade is absolutely amazing. I don't know if I wish we lived closer so I could see your stuff in person or if I'm glad that I don't have to go head to head with you on the competition table. Either way Im a big fan.

This is great info. Should really go under Tips & Tech for future reference.

me likes !

glad the new technique is progressing. Careful...if you get caught shoppping in the cosmetics isle people might talk '~'

Mike, no flash. Ambient flourescent illumination

Thank you all very much for the pointers and centering my attention on details I had not noticed. I should be able to improve from here.

lower ISO darkened the shot. Is the bright white the noise you refer to?

So Santa came through for me with Canon DSLR (older model Rebel XT 350D). I have a standard 18-55 lens. In the pic below I used a custom white balance that uses a snap of the background to set the camera. The camera is mounted on a tripod, the shot taken with remote capture, I slowed the shutter to 1/20, narrowed the aperture to 14 and increased the ISO to 800 in an effort to gain reasonable focus from the front of the subject to the back. At this point I would like to have some critical advice on the image produced. I'm sure there are details that I will have to train my eye to catch in order to improve my photography skills. I also need to confirm that this is good enough for review images either for print in the journal or on the web. Image size 1024 x 683 (216 KB)

Looks better than the one in the Indianapolis speedway museum. They have a model display with every pace car to lap the track. kind of cool if you've never been.

makin' it look easy!

Crisp & clean as usual. What is really amazing is that your this far in after just completeing the 'Z' Always tuned in to your work, Jay

Very nice Mike!

I like it. This car comes with Calsonic markings as well. I have built two others versions with that livery. I need to get around to this one soon. Did I say I liked it?

coming along beautifully, Great paint!!!

Kevin, thanks for pointing me in the G11 direction. I have discovered further that this model does not support remote capture through the laptop software, the one really cool feature of Johns setup. However the G9 & G10 are supported but lack the ability to use RAW format from the software. Is this an acceptable compromise or is RAW format that superior?

This is all very good information and I have spent several days web searching the various aspects like camera models, software, diffusers, tripods lighting... but I have got to say this is a rather expensive avenue. I'm all about spending model money on tools vs. kits but it seems like it requires $1000 minimum to get any where near this setup. OUCH!

Both this and the USMC are outstanding. Thanks for sharing.

As requested here are the highlights of the process that I used. Image design: I used CAD to draw my image only because I am better with it than I am with other drawing programs out there. I can work in exact scale in CAD, so reduction guess work is not a concern, but any drawing program will do. Here is my art work printed on Pres-n-peel-wet image transfer paper. This stuff is great found at Electronix Express. Basically decal film without the film. You print from a laser printer and the plastic like toner transfers to your sheet metal with a couple passes through a laminator. This is a two sided design. One is solid and the other shows areas of relief for fold lines. My efforts to do a one side image were not successful. I struggled to find a suitable material to back the brass that would not lift off during etching. In the end, I could probably find the right tape or film but I am much more satisfied with the two sided results. Notice the alignment markers in addition to the basic image. These are for folding the paper and aligning the two images. Take some time here to ensure the mirror images align properly or you will have a double exposure result. Since the press-n-peel paper is white you can actually hold it up to the light and see the images overlay each other. Not 100% clear but not bad either. Transfer image to brass: (Ill have to get some pics of these steps) Next clean your brass sheet with 0000 steel wool on either side, sandwich it between the images and pass the whole thing through your laminator a couple times (preferably heated up for 20 minutes). Then, just like a water slide decal immerse in a water bath. DO NOT help it along, let the paper release on its own. When complete you will have a black image on both sides of you brass sheet. Pat dry, heat gun or hair drier but do not rub. The image can be damaged. This may not be a needed step however the sources that I read suggest that toner is porous and an additional resist barrier is required. This is dead easy to achieve with a product from Pulsar. TRF (Toner Reactive Foil). There is a special Green one just for printed circuit board etching. It is a thin mylar material coated on one side. To apply it, fold a strip over the brass to cover the image on both sides and pass it through the laminator one more time. Peel away the mylar carrier and your image is now green. The Pulsar site is well worth a look if you never been and where I purchased my laminator. Etch the Image: Ferric Chloride is recommended by many and even the chemical supplied in the micro mark kit if you go that route but it is slow and messy. So slow that the chemical leaches under the resist before any significant amount a material is removed. Heat and agitation can be applied to the chemical bath to improve the etching time but the heat required is a bit high and the bubbles from the agitation cause little splashes of brown staining crap all over the place. The plus side is it will etch stainless steel. As a cleaner and cheaper solution I found a simple chemical combination designed to etch copper. Since brass is a copper alloy it works really well. It is called cupric chloride and made by combining 2 parts hydrogen peroxide (like you put on cuts) with one part muriatic acid (pool supplies) Here is the complete chemistry info on the etching solution. As you can see in this picture I have my piece suspended in the etch solution. There is a fish tank aerator agitating the bath and it is sitting on a candle heater that takes the solution up to about 100F. This chemical will work without heat. Takes about an hour were as with heat the same size piece about 20 minutes where the other produced results in three hours without heat and one hour with. When the etching is done neutralize the chemical in plain water and remove the resist with lacquer thinner or acetone. Yea I know it's a different design but this engine vent is actually the reason I began my research. After screwing up the plasic area trying to relieve it from the back I needed a fix. this is where it took me.

Thanks for the comments guys. I worked form several online sources (not a kit) taking what I felt to be the best of each method. Here is the final assembly. I produced another fret of the same image this one without pitting on either side (one more step in the right direction). I am likely going to frame my first one, pitted and all.

Thanks Mark. Concidering you are one of the few members in this forum that actually build and post models and model related topics, I'll take your comments with high reguard. Having read some of the new BS being posted here in other threads my smile is gone and I wonder why I bother coming here. When I say new BS I really mean old BS in a new package or new BS caused by some reaction to old BS or just the same OLD BS. Thanks again Mark, Sorry I don't comment on your work more often. You get more done than I can keep up with. Keep it up.