Derby Talk

You did an excellent job, regardless.

I was referring to products like Microsol and Microset. Between them, they pretty much dissolve the decal and allow it to snuggle down over compound curves, raised details and the like. When building models, they result in decals looking like they were painted on, even over raised rivets on armor, p...

She looks great. Did you use any setting solution or solvent on the decals?

Stay away from the Harbor Freight frictionless chassis impregnating machine, though. The domestic units work much better than the Chinese knock-offs.

I was thinking more like curvy, spindly legs or wafer thin roofs like on the Lil' Coffin. Another upside besides adding strength is that the epoxy does a great job of filling the grain. We've used Bob Smith Industries 20 minute Finish Cure as a sealer for the last 10 years.

Have any of you ever used any more exotic materials in order to reinforce thin parts or anything else? Carbon fiber, fiberglass or anything else?

Any feelings on this?

If you use paper to skin your center airfoil, you can try soaking the paper in thin CA (super glue) to stiffen and seal it. Launch Pad used to use this little trick on the fins of their larger rockets. Another alternative would be to use 1/64" plywood from your local hobby shop. It weighs a lit...

It did look good, but he wasn't happy that his friend was beating him. I think that next year, he'll want a sleeker car. We can do that.

Here are our cars for this year. The pictures are a little washed out because the sun was very bright this afternoon. I'll try taking some inside with a posterboard background. This is the car that my 9 year-old Wyatt designed and ran. It didn't do so well, but was a last minute construct and didn't...

But there is no rule that says all 4 wheels must be on the car. If the 4th wheel is in the top of the body, then it won't work to keep the car on the track, which is the purpose of the guide pin. I would have to use a guide pin anyway. I know that our district has a rule that the car must have 4 whe...

The best way to make the car legal would be to have the 4th wheel mounted in the top of the body, flush with the surface. Rules saying that you couldn't use anything that didn't come in the box would technically mean you couldn't glue, paint or lube them and would be completely unenforceable. All th...

Use the 1/64 Plywood sheet over the tungsten. A screw on each corner will allow you to remove it.

When you buy the pipe cleaners at a smoke shop, make sure you don't get the ones with the wire bristles mixed in with the fiber bristles. I'm pretty sure that they would destroy your bore in seconds.

Use epoxy to seal it before painting. I always use the 20 minute finish cure epoxy from the local hobby shop. It is quite thin and runny and gives enough working time to apply it to the whole surface. When it cures, you can wet sand it and get it extremely smooth. After it has cured, you can spray e...

You could use the Great Stuff if you used a tube over the outside of the inner hub. If coated with a mold-release wax or oil, you could trim the foam flush with the inside edge of the tread and then give the tube a twist to break it free and remove it. This would prevent marring the hub with whateve...