Monday at months end.....
Posted by Dr Diecast at 4/28/2008 6:44 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
What a wacky month it has has been too. I won't waste time recapping that's what the blogs history is for, LMAO.
So Friday I got 2 cars clear coated, Saturday I got them sanded but only one polished out and yesterday I clear coated 3 more cars. Though it seems things are moving along they are not moving at the speed of Ashley Forces record winning run becoming the first female to win a Top Fuel drag racing event in history.
Don't know why I typed that bit of info but hey, shes cute, I like her dad and well she's faster then I build cars, LOL.
So yesterday I decided to crank up my ALPS printer. For those who don't know.... this was (no longer made) the end all be all if you wanted to make decals years ago. It is, I believe, the only printer that will print white on clear decal paper. Inkjet nor Laser printers will do so. Basically its a printer that is NOT like a normal printer.
See..... these work off an old typewriter style. They have cassettes.... with a ribbon type material that the actual ink is on. The printer I have is their last and most involved type holding 7 cartridges in a total of 8 slots. Each color is layered as needed and while printing a sheet (8.5x11) of decals on an inkjet normally take 1-2 minutes the process on the ALPS take 6-7 minutes. But the other thing besides printing White is the fact that it prints Gold foil and Silver foil. These were used a lot by people wanting to do wedding invitations.
Anyway..... I have not used mine since moving here some 11 months ago. These are very finicky.... very delicate and pretty much a PITA to use sometimes. I do however have some 6-7, 57 T-birds to repaint so I thought I would crank it up and print the emblems for them on it.
Well..... figures after all the time spent I can't print any since I'm out of Black. Mind you I have Econo Black but not normal Black. So....all that, all the time readjusting alignments and such and for nothing, LOL. Oh well...... now I need to search for a Black cartridge. See the fact that these are no longer made means all the ink and other goodies for them are harder and harder to come by and bring a premium price. Guess we will see.
So todays plan is to get some cars polished out and shipped. I need to reshoot the Eleanor convertible. Color layed fine...... car looks great but his real car was shot with a mixture of colors so there was no real paint code. It's not the Eleanor Pepper Grey, its lighter. I mixed the color and thought it was fine but to me it is still a little dark. I will remix some Grey and dust coat the car so its closer.
I did get some work done on a 59 Chevy hardtop conversion. I will post a pic tomorrow but this is going to be more involved then I thought. I will explain with the pictures. Still though it will be the ONLY 59 Chevy hardtop built in 1/18 scale diecast when I'm done.
So I did have a rant .... I'm not posting it but I will give you the bullet points.
#300 woman about 25 years old wearing clothes WAY too small for her
4 kids, 3 unruly, 1 in diapers
Self checkout line at Walmart
Cheapest food she could buy (Tuna, Hot Dogs, Toilet paper, Diapers)
3... yes 3 credit/debt cards rejected by the machine
EVERY OTHER person in other lines checking out and leaving while I stand there.
Lastly... her pulling out a $100.00 bill and paying the $12+ change amount.
UGH....... idiots and morons.
OK...... Im out !
So Friday I got 2 cars clear coated, Saturday I got them sanded but only one polished out and yesterday I clear coated 3 more cars. Though it seems things are moving along they are not moving at the speed of Ashley Forces record winning run becoming the first female to win a Top Fuel drag racing event in history.
Don't know why I typed that bit of info but hey, shes cute, I like her dad and well she's faster then I build cars, LOL.
So yesterday I decided to crank up my ALPS printer. For those who don't know.... this was (no longer made) the end all be all if you wanted to make decals years ago. It is, I believe, the only printer that will print white on clear decal paper. Inkjet nor Laser printers will do so. Basically its a printer that is NOT like a normal printer.
See..... these work off an old typewriter style. They have cassettes.... with a ribbon type material that the actual ink is on. The printer I have is their last and most involved type holding 7 cartridges in a total of 8 slots. Each color is layered as needed and while printing a sheet (8.5x11) of decals on an inkjet normally take 1-2 minutes the process on the ALPS take 6-7 minutes. But the other thing besides printing White is the fact that it prints Gold foil and Silver foil. These were used a lot by people wanting to do wedding invitations.
Anyway..... I have not used mine since moving here some 11 months ago. These are very finicky.... very delicate and pretty much a PITA to use sometimes. I do however have some 6-7, 57 T-birds to repaint so I thought I would crank it up and print the emblems for them on it.
Well..... figures after all the time spent I can't print any since I'm out of Black. Mind you I have Econo Black but not normal Black. So....all that, all the time readjusting alignments and such and for nothing, LOL. Oh well...... now I need to search for a Black cartridge. See the fact that these are no longer made means all the ink and other goodies for them are harder and harder to come by and bring a premium price. Guess we will see.
So todays plan is to get some cars polished out and shipped. I need to reshoot the Eleanor convertible. Color layed fine...... car looks great but his real car was shot with a mixture of colors so there was no real paint code. It's not the Eleanor Pepper Grey, its lighter. I mixed the color and thought it was fine but to me it is still a little dark. I will remix some Grey and dust coat the car so its closer.
I did get some work done on a 59 Chevy hardtop conversion. I will post a pic tomorrow but this is going to be more involved then I thought. I will explain with the pictures. Still though it will be the ONLY 59 Chevy hardtop built in 1/18 scale diecast when I'm done.
So I did have a rant .... I'm not posting it but I will give you the bullet points.
#300 woman about 25 years old wearing clothes WAY too small for her
4 kids, 3 unruly, 1 in diapers
Self checkout line at Walmart
Cheapest food she could buy (Tuna, Hot Dogs, Toilet paper, Diapers)
3... yes 3 credit/debt cards rejected by the machine
EVERY OTHER person in other lines checking out and leaving while I stand there.
Lastly... her pulling out a $100.00 bill and paying the $12+ change amount.
UGH....... idiots and morons.
OK...... Im out !
Sorry to say it, but you actually made me feel sorry for the 300 pounder in Walmart. She is obviously struggling, and so far out of your world that the only place she and you would cross paths is in that line. Just think, she will never hold a fine diecast in her hands, never know the difference a bit of craftsmanship can do to the ride height of a 1/18 GMP Mustang Cobra, and will never know what you go through in your day. I bet she will never know that she was the star of your blog LMOL. But if you are an ass man, like you profess to be, Walmart is the wrong place to look, as was so blatantly shown to you on that visit LOL:
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You know Doug, you are correct. Instead of making her the star of my blog I should have had more compassion for her. We have all made mistakes in our lives and im pretty sure at times she feels she has made some and while I complain about people criticizing me for the time it takes to create cars and how they need to walk a day in my shoes I should have thought about walking a day in her shoes.
As I reread your comment I really should have been a better person and actually bought her food for her. Not because she can't afford it, I don't know that, but just to be a better person. Sometimes its the little things you do that make the biggest difference.
Thank you Doug for reminding me just how lucky I am. I get to play with toy cars all day. While I will never get "rich" doing this and I do have my problems I do get to put my passion and talent to good use to create what some call miniature pieces of art.
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