TOPIC:

I am building up a collection of radios etc for when I can no longer drive and get stuck at home. i have the cars to build and or restore ( the more the merrier). Most of my radios are 29Mhz AM but three are 29Mhz FM.

Are the crystals interchangeable (AM crystal in FM Radio) or is it strictly AM to AM, FM to FM.

Can you give me a simple explanation of the difference between Enamel and Acrylic paints. If a shell is ABS not polycarbonate which is the appropriate paint from a bottle?

Cheers Vincenzo

I've never really delved into AM vs FM radios, all I can really say is most of the 27mhz gear I've had has been AM, but none of the components from the one 27mhz FM set I had worked with anything else, which makes sense as (simplifying things drastically) if AM is up-down, FM is left-right...


Enamel vs Acrylic - either are correct for "hard" bodies, but you can't mix the two, and even overpainting one with the other may cause an ugly reaction ... enamels also get called "oil based" & need a solvent ("white spirit" in the UK) for brush cleanup, acrylic brush paints are often called water based, though that is a little inaccurate, they can be cleaned up with water (& a little washing up detergent).

I think it depends on what you're used to, back in the 1970s/very early 1980s I used brush on, Humbrol brand enamels (mostly on 1/72 plane kits), and to a lesser extent, cellulose auto aerosols because that's all the choice there was, but coming back to modelmaking in later life I switched to Tamiya acrylics (and auto aerosol acrylics) & have found the results to be superior ... but how much of that is down to the paints being better, and how much due to having more patience I'm not sure.




edit:

... possibly should have added what I do with ABS bodies:

- primer, colour, clear: all automotive acyrlic aerosols
... unless I want a colour/effect you can't get out of a tin, in which case airbrushed Tamiya acrylic

- detail painting, weathering: Tamiya acrylic

Thanks Jonny - exactly what I was after in regard to paints. I used the humbrol paints 50+ years ago, so acrylic it is then.

As for the AM v FM - I may have to do some experimenting in a big quiet open place. In Oz, cars are allowed on 27Mhz, 29Mhz and 36Mhz. Wings and rotors are on different Freq. I also have a 40Mhz and 72Mhz 4 channel radios to control the F350 and MFC 02 once it is built.

Cheers Vincenzo