Alan R

Yesterday in Bristol, A pristine Red Sunbeam Alpine with the BIG fins at the back. Absolutely smashing. Cheers, Alan.

I feel your pain. The pipes on the Tamiya VFR750 (RC30) are tortuous! Cheers, Alan..

That's a shame! It was about the only think that I could find that removed Halfords' paint without damaging the plastic... Cheers, Alan.

Shame about the paint. I have used Fairy Power Spray to remove Halfords' paint before. Smells a bit gross, but does the job. Who would have thought that a detergent was strong enough to strip paint! Cheers, Alan.

Where did you get the cool brain-bucket? Cheers, Alan.

Looks a lot like Bostik or Evo Stick (Evil Stink as we used to call it). Cheers, Alan.

Hi Chris, It all depends on how visible the smudge is and how much damage to the clear part you have. If the damage goes deep, it may be better to get a spare from the manufacturer, or just ignore it and chalk it up to experience. I also have made this mistake in the past and found that it is possible to almost completely remove the smudge. I start by sanding the offending mark with 240 grit wet-n-dry, usually wet. It stops the sand-paper from clogging too quickly! Don't worry if it looks a mess, all scratched up. This is just the first stage. I then repeat the same with 600 grit wet-n-dry, The scratchy bit hopefully will look less scratched. At this point it should look fogged rather than scratched. I repeat this again with 1200 grit, followed by 2000 grit. By this time the fogging should be almost gone along with the smudge. You can repeat this with ever finer grit abrasives, but after 2000 grit, I usually start polishing it with tooth-paste. Dab on a very small amount of toot-paste on the affected area and buff with a soft cloth, not tissue paper as this may be too abrasive. Buff the affected area with the cloth until the surface should be free of the smudge. Some people will then coat the clear part with Klear/Future (or whatever it has become) Obviously, this will be a lot easier with the clear part removed from the body, but it would appear that you have cemented it in already. I doesn't make the job impossible, just a tad more difficult. Others may have even better ways of removing such marks. Cheers, Alan.

I needed a satin light grey for the leather seats of a Revell BMW 750iL I was working on. I mixed XF19 (light grey) with X-20 gloss varnish in equal measure, thinned it with Mr Color Levelling thinners and sprayed the seats with that. I got a really good satin light grey that looked like leather... So mixing flat black with satin varnish (Maybe a ratio of 4 parts varnish, 1 part flat black?) might work? BTW, I always find Tamiya X-18 too glossy for satin black. Cheers, Alan.

My father used to work at a builder's merchants. And timer was always sold then (late 60s- early 70s) in metric feet (30cm). Cheers, Alan.

Goo save! Cheers, Alan

I have used High Tack adhesive I bought at Hobbycraft. It's a strong PVA glue. You can find it on Amazon. Cheers, Alan.

Neat little jig. Cheers, Alan.

Again, Just stunning. I love those 1/6th Tamiya bikes, but your custom has come out so well. Love it! Cheers, Alan.

That is stunning! Cheers, Alan.

I watched this from the start. You have made a really spectacular replica! When Hiroboy re-opens, I'll have to get me one of these... Cheers, Alan.