ipmsusa2

This sounds great, especially for some of the standard colors we can't get any more. Spent some time on their website and here's what I've figured out so far. All of the enamel colors are mixes of solvent based acrylic enamels from the automotive industry. This is fairly obvious if you spend any time on the website and look at their printable order form. Fortunately we won't need the order form since there are 'add to cart' buttons for Fed Standard and RAL colors that go directly to a Paypal shopping cart. Spend some time with the application guide and you're left with the assumption that we're going to have to learn a new approach to painting. That may change when we start using the stuff. Finally, given the range of FS colors available, anyone planning on converting to Scalefinishes exclusively had better have an excellent relationship with their banker!

Consider a mystery I described in my free ebook on Krylon paint changes. The old Krylon Acrylic Lacquer now has to be bought from an industrial supplier in case lots (six cans per case). AND you must have either an active account with that particular company OR a federal hazardous materials permit. BUT Dupli-Color Acrylic Lacquer Primer can be purchased from O'Reilly's Auto Supply or NAPA Auto Supply in single cans with no questions asked. How come one is classified as hazardous material and the other isn't...despite the fact that both contain the same exact chemicals?

Yeah, but you have to keep one thing in mind. The current chemistry of Model Master enamel paint is such that if you buy several bottles for your stash. Two or three months later, when you open that second or third bottle, you run a fairly decent chance of the paint already gelling in the bottle. I had someone at Hobby Lobby tell me that they've had some brands of paint go bad in the bottle before they could sell it. It appears we are going forward to the past in that we're going to have to learn how to mix colors again. Problem there is that you need primary colors to do it right and those ain't easy to find either. Bottom line is that we're being not so slowly being squeezed into acrylics.

Mike and Gil, the missing Journal hit my mailbox on February 8. I contacted Marie on February 3, she replied the same day and also got John Shimek involved. John put it in the mail to me on February 4 and it arrived here...as I said...on February 8. And that is with a weekend sandwiched in between. Marie and John also kept me informed with emails on a blow-by-blow basis. Big kudos to both Marie and John. Marie, you are a worthy successor to M.J. Kenney.

Gil and Mike, I've received both the Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec Journals. Only one missing is the July/August issue. Mike, I'll be emailing Marie momentarily.

I'm aware of all our problems, including M.J.Kenney's passing, transitioning to a new office manager and the missing laptop. However, the July August 2015 Journal still hasn't found its way to my mailbox. Anyone else having the same problem?

Michael, Your very logical and common sense solution is exactly what is needed. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen since the more economical a product is, the less profit a company makes on that product. Tamiya offers both a 23ml and 10ml size (3/4 and 3/8 oz) for $3.90 and $2.10 respectively. While the 23ml size is slightly more economical (you save $.30 cents), many brick and mortar shops only carry the 10ml. Thus the customer returns more frequently and the shop makes slightly more money. Of course, as anyone reading this knows, ordering online obviates the problems discussed in this thread...except for the larger size economics when no larger size is offered.

Kevin, You got that right!

Dick & Joe, While your comments concerning the new labels are quite true, the purpose of my post was to make anyone who hasn't run into the new labels aware of the change. As for my comments re: the U.N. and the EPA, we can kick that one around on a political forum somewhere. However, before Testors was a part of Rustoleum, I had several conversations with them over a period of a few years regarding changes in the paint. The EPA was blamed for a lot...not all...of the changes and I wasn't the one assigning blame.

Since I have multiple hundreds of bottles in my paint rack, I've just now begun running into the new labels. Unless you care to trust browsing customers...never mind employees...to put the paint bottles back in the correct slots, we'll all have to carry jeweler's loupes or magnifying glasses with us when we need paint! Incidentally, if having the United Nations behind the GHS labeling system ain't bad enough, consider this from Rustoleum. Had a problem with a can of Testors paint, (for those who don't know, Rustoleum owns Testors and technical problems go to a Rustoleum number) so was talking to one of their techs. He told me that they're constantly being pushed by...drum roll, please...the EPA to increase the amount of thinner in their paint. You know what that means. The more thinner, the worse it covers. Are we having fun yet?

Dave, Nope, this is the first time about the July/August issue. Richard

Who has stepped up to try to fill MJ's shoes as office manager and how do I contact them? My July/August issue of the Journal is still missing. This might have had to do with my renewing at the last minute in June, but I still need to track down the missing Journal. Help!

The next time you need to buy a bottle of Model Master or Testors paint, you may want to take an Optivisor or jeweler's Loupe with you so you can not only read the label but find the color name at the same time. Here's why: They are in the process of changing labels so that the front is nothing more than a warning about the dangers of the product. The color name is on the back in a very small font. Here's the old, familiar 1/4 oz bottle. The red band at the top says "Enamel/Email/Esmalte" (by the way, Email is Enamel in Spanish). Below the band is "Warning! Flammable. See sides." in English, French and Spanish. Below that is a fire emblem inside an octagon with "Danger Peligro" below that. They do manage to tell you the bottle contains 1/4 fl.oz or 7.4 mL. The Model Master Enamel and Metalizer labels follow a slightly different but similar path. The front of the label, where we used to find the actual name of the paint now warns you about how dangerous the product is. The name? It's on the back in small print, just above the bar code. When you look on the Testors website, you find that even Acryl is getting basically the same treatment, though it isn't considered flammable. What's the bottom line? Unless you know where to look, you have to select your color from the color chip and name on the paint rack...and that's assuming the employees put the right color in the right place to begin with. Makes you wonder what the next change from Testors will be, doesn't it?

Got mine as well. Agree that identifying the base kit would have been helpful.

Those of you who were familiar with the aviation art of Tony Weddel will be saddened to hear of his death. Tony passed away on August 2, 2015 at the age of 73. He had been in a nursing home in Glen Rose, Texas for the last ten years or so as the result of a stroke and heart attack. Most of his prints are no longer available, although a few show up from time to time on ebay. Other than that, eight different prints...including 2 P-38s, a B-17, an Me-410 and a UFO...can still be seen and purchased from http://scalepublications.freeyellow.com/art%20tn.htmlas long as the supply lasts. If you've never seen Tony's work, you've missed a tremendous talent. He was my friend. I'll miss him.

Just curious. Has everyone...or at least most of you...gotten your latest Journal? If so, then mine is missing in action.

Gil, try the 60s.

Michael....gentle, rolling laughter!! And Amen, too!!

BTW, does anyone know if Brownie is still around/alive? He was/is IPMS/USA #1.

I resemble it too!!!

John, despite the fact that I use all the modern technology...including ereaders and online shops...I agree with you in a lot of ways. Jim, scratchbuilding has suffered for many as the result of the aftermarket for many, but it's nowhere near dead. After all, it takes scratchbuilders to produce the patterns for the aftermarket products. What HAS suffered is the disappearance of scratchbuilt plans of ships and other subjects that used to be found in Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated. The plans were produced using the enlarging squares method. Robin, I know what you're saying. Not every kid on the block had the same kit because there weren't that many available to buy. Dave, I remember the days when I could sit down at a bench and build a 1/100 Tamiya kit...complete and ready for the showcase...in four or five hours and it looked pretty darn good. Today it takes five hours to open the box and go thru the parts.

Jim, that wasn't my point. However, there are some modelers who have done exactly that.

Kevin, et al, y'all make excellent point in regards to the first Golden Age of modelbuilding (the late 50s to 80s) versus the second Golden Age (late 80s to present time) of modelbuilding. Those of us who experienced both have a completely different perspective than those who are only familiar with the second one. Each have their strong points and weaknesses. Besides the modeling tools and kits that we all miss from the first Golden Age, there are other things gone by the wayside no one thought would ever vanish. Typewriters, for example. Until thirty years or so ago, I couldn't conceive of typewriters never existing. Today? All my writing is done on a computer, emails have put a major dent in the postal service, ebooks and photographic CD-ROMs have replaced many reference publications and specialist publications for the modelbuilder and we frequently spend more time on the computer than we do actually building a model. Returning to the old, familiar (at least to some of us) typewriter, most twenty-somethings wouldn't recognize one if they saw it in a museum...which is about the only place most people will see one these days. Are all these changes wrong? Not at all. Time marches on and things progress. But I'd suggest that some of the things we wax nostalgic about...particularly simple modelbuilding techniques that have been 'improved' and overcomplicated by the application of technology...need to be not only remembered but retained. Sometime the old methods work better than the new ones and sometime a 35 year old kit produces a better model than one released this year at five times the price.

Jim, you are so right on all counts. As for the hundreds of hobby shops, I live in Fort Worth (Tarrant County) Texas. We used to have all kinds of full service hobby shops. Today? There's exactly one from the old days and he gets very little business. Can't complete pricewise with the online shops. How does he get by? Framing, fishing worms, tomato plants under grow lights, throws the local newspaper (or did). Oh, yeah, one other thing. He owns the building. If he didn't, he wouldn't exist. What else do we have? A couple of full service model railroad shops, three...or maybe four...Hobby Towns. One is fairly close to being a full service shop, but the others are heavily into toys. There's also a hobby shop that focuses on radio control, though they have now added a decent selection of plastic kits. And, of course, there's Hobby Lobby, but you know what you have there. Do any of them have the old environment where several modelers would stand around swapping stories and techniques? Maybe the railroad shops, but if more than about three people try to congregate at the same time, you're stepping on each other's toes. The shops are too small. As for the rest? It's a new age. Enter the shop, find what you need, pay for it and leave. Those who have no knowledge of the 60s..even 50s...through the 80s really are living in what they consider the golden age of modelbuilding. Those of us who experienced that time period know better. We've lost more than we've gained, don't you think?

Sounds like a broken record in some respects, but: Floquil Pactra MicroScale/Superscale Profiles Monthly magazines besides Finescale printed in the U.S. Aurora kits (some of'em) Comet kits (some of the plastic ones) Monogram kits Testors kits (some of'em) Williams Bros. kits (the original company) Hawk kits (some of'em) Original singlespeed Dremels with external speed control box. You could pull those down to 100 rpm. 35mm film cameras Ilford HP5 b&w film I've been in this game so long that I shudder to think how long this list could wind up being. And one more thing: In spite of this being a relative golden age of model kits where detail and huge parts number are concerned, I miss the good ol' days of kits with 80 or 90 parts that could be built into National prize winners. How many of us really want 1/48 or 1/32 single seat fighters with 400 - 500 parts? Worse, half the parts replicate detail fitting inside the fuselage where all that detail will never be seen again!