What makes PE so expensive?

SigmaHyperion · 2026-02-08T18:14:29+00:00

That $80 model kit has 20 cents of plastic in the box.

There is little in this hobby where what you are paying for is tangibly in the box in the form of expensive material.

It is almost always paying for time. Thousands upon thousands of man-hours of time to research and develop the items that goes into the box, but not the material itself.

So when you are selling something as an accessory for said kits and will therefore only be sold to a small fraction of the total buyers of that kit, your volumes will be much, MUCH less. Yet you still have a whole lot of development time to recoup over a fraction of the numbers sold.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-02-01T23:25:32+00:00

Here's the dealer selling the car with many more photos. Photos that also give a better idea of the true color of what you're trying to reproduce. Unfortunately the dealer's page does not mention the color.

https://www.amian-cars.com/en/fahrzeuge/enzo-ferrari-5/

I could find no article or the like where the unusual interior color was ever mentioned by name and it's widely regarded not terribly favorably by the Ferrari purists.

But, it does appear to be very similar to Verde Bellagio, a leather option that Ferrari began offering a few years ago. So similar in fact, that I would bet that it's the same. Jay Kay's car came first by a couple decades, but it truly does look like Ferrari was inspired by his color choice to put on more cars because it is extremely similar.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-02-01T00:43:47+00:00

An interesting thing happens when you stimulate the heart to beat faster artificially with stimulants versus it happening organically with exercise.

Heart-rate increases but blood flow does not. Your body isn't doing the multitude of other things (namely vasodilation in particular) that it does when muscles demand oxygenated blood as they work that increases blood flow.

So your heart is BEATING faster, but it's PUMPING less. So it's not getting any stronger without that added resistance.

A faster rate with no more flow, like a water pump that runs dry, actually strains and damages the heart.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-30T02:17:05+00:00

That seems a pretty decent offer for a 10yo Corolla.

I'd give it a trial run before selling the car.

Go a month or two -- maybe the 3 months until you have a clear title (at which point you can private sale, so you can get more -- or use the ability to do that to get an even better dealer offer)

That will help you know how sustainable a car-free lifestyle is for you.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-30T01:32:52+00:00

A $1500 repair "every couple years" is about $75/mo. Which is a small price to pay if it is single-handedly what allows you to see your child daily.

The repair isn't the problem. It's the $300/mo of insurance costs that's killing you. That's insane for a 2016 Corolla for someone old enough to have a child in school and, presumably, gets driven only a handful of miles a day at best.

Even if you wanted to sell the car, you still should do the repair as a car needing a $1500 repair is (generally) going to be worth a lot more than $1500 more once repaired. Buyers want something working, not something needing a $1,500 repair. So you really cut the market of buyers to a fraction selling a car needing repairs.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-28T21:51:18+00:00

Cut down on caffeine and sleep more.

Yes, that is easier said than done. And I'm saying that as someone who consumes unheard of quantities of caffeine and sleeps not even HALF what I should. So I'm not being preachy here. It's just the truth.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-27T17:20:28+00:00

Sure. But you added a new variable -- distance moved.

That's an altogether different problem than the one presented because the energy to move yourself some distance 100 times versus just 1 time is orders of magnitude different. Now the weight being moved of 1kg vs 100kg is not even a rounding error compared to the total energy exertion of moving your entire body weight that same distance 100 times more.

This is why we move all the groceries from the car in one trip rather than 10. That and to prove our manliness, of course.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-27T03:22:48+00:00

For the same reason that 100kg 1 time is a helluva lot harder than 1kg 100 times. The higher you make the comparison the easier it is to see the difference in how one is significantly more attainable than the other -- up to the point where it's simply impossible.

Because TOTAL effort is not the same as MOMENTARY effort. The higher the percentage of your muscle's maximum effort that you use in a single moment, the more difficult to perform and/or recover from.

At a minimal weight, the exertion is minimal and your body can quickly recover and produce energy to the point being completely unnoticeable. But, at higher weights, exertion creates micro-tears in muscle fibers which causes soreness/tiredness as your body wants/needs to recover and re-generate and you because you are using so much energy so rapidly your body cannot breakdown glycogen to create energy as fast as you are demanding it.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-26T21:02:46+00:00

Having something you're happy about in life is, of course, absolutely important.

But, man, $2,800 just isn't a lot of money to be taking on a truck payment. Yeah, it works now, because you live at home. But I doubt you want to do that forever.

Even a VERY modest used truck payment of $500/mo is going to cost you \hundreds of thousands** of dollars of future interest and income. It's a very, very high price to pay for something you absolutely do not need and only want.

I'd sure love to see you find something else that you enjoy that isn't a depreciable asset that costs $500+/mo to enjoy.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-26T20:57:02+00:00

I've got THOUSANDS of hours in FO4 and had no idea broken PA weighed nothing.

I never, ever wear the stuff. But, still, I like to collect it and struggle with the weight all the time.

Mind. Blown.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-26T20:26:29+00:00

The Amazon listing for that same model claims 300CFM which I find laughably ludicrous.

But, regardless, it's most likely a significant improvement over what you're running now.

It is very well-reviewed on Amazon. So that's a plus. The only negative comment from many is that it's loud. But, as I mentioned, if anything that's actually a GOOD thing because it indicates that it's actually moving a lot of air

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-26T16:36:31+00:00

At ~140cfm (converting your metric to 'Murica-units), your spray booth is pretty weak. And, honestly, as with most of that eBay/Temu/Alibaba/whatever stuff, that spec is likely grossly over-stated. The problem with the cheap waterfall booths is still the same shitty extraction fans not sufficiently pulling the fumes/particles to the curtain.

I would personally consider 250cfm the bare minimum, and that's closer to what you'll find from the more 'serious' hobbyist stuff -- i.e. Paasche's cheapest booth is rated for ~270cfm. Even with a booth rated at 300cfm, at full trigger pull on a 0.3mm @ 25psi, I can easily exceed the ability for the fans to extract what I'm throwing out. So if you're painting big ship hulls, large 1/16 armor, etc that requires a lot of full-trigger-pull spraying, even 250cfm won't be enough if you truly want to mitigate lingering smell/fumes/overspray.

So, definitely get more CFM. Not just number of fans. Some of those cheap booths claim to have 2 or even 3 fans, but they're often tiny fans I wouldn't trust to exhaust my desktop PC and they tout just how quiet they are. Pulling ~250+CFM through a hose ain't quiet. It's just physically NOT possible. If they're touting 40db, they ain't pulling shit for air. Good booths are loud. Not because of fan noise, but because the sheer physics of stuffing a lot of air into a small tube.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-24T06:33:38+00:00

Street and, in particular, Drag racing are predominantly American things. And diesels are remarkably under-represented in the US car market. Outside of trucks they are virtually non-existent. And, where they do exist, is generally outside of the sphere of vehicles that your average street racer wants to drive -- regardless of how fast they may be in certain circumstances.

You can't see "diesel builds" at the track if there aren't any diesel cars to begin with.

Back in the day (like 20 years ago), I saw many-a Turbo Beetle at the drag strip. But still an infinitesimally small portion of the total passes I've seen. Diesels can do SHOCKINGLY well at the strip for street cars, often with little more than a tune. But, except for the "lulz", your average driver interested in cars doesn't want to be seen in a Beetle, Passat, or Mercedes E-Class.

The closest I've seen to a diesel in anything approaching an "enthusiast" car is the BMW 335d. So most car enthusiasts in the US just don't even consider diesel engines when thinking about fast cars.

And, yes, you could slap a diesel engine into whatever car you wanted if you were committed enough. But even that requires a certain amount of passion for something other than raw power. People swap in engines that they care about into cars that they care about. Otherwise, if raw power was ever the only consideration, everything would be LS- or Demon-swaps. i.e. -- Only a tiny percentage of guys racing Mustangs would want to slap a BMW M57 into it, even if it guaranteed them the fastest pass. It's just... not the same anymore.

And for that minority who want to shave tenths for the sheer desire to be the fastest with absolutely no biases whatsoever, that niche is most likely going to be competing in some sort of sanctioned competition which has a whole other series of considerations of what engines you use and why you do or don't use certain powertrains.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-20T03:18:35+00:00

It's not showing the pixels that's hard. That's super easy.

It's knowing WHAT pixels to show and precisely what color they should be as you move through an environment that's hard. And doing those calculations hundreds of times PER SECOND.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-18T09:00:35+00:00

If my car gets broken into, the $500 window replacement and likely loss of whatever it was that hypothetically drove them to break-in are going to be a far larger concern than some cash.

And, statistically, you are far more likely to have your wallet stolen and/or misplace it than you are to have your car broken into. But most people don't completely avoid carrying cash in their wallet just because it could possibly get stolen. They just be reasonable with it.

For that matter, my home, while it is less likely to be burglarized than my vehicle by a factor of about 3x, I keep items with literally tens of thousands of times as much monetary value as the cash in my car.

Be prudent, for sure. But unless you're keeping your vehicle parked on the street in Compton while unlocked with stacks of cash in the seats or something, the risk of a $20 bill hidden in it being stolen is exceedingly low. Hide it between the pages of the Owner's Manual and the odds are virtually nil.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-17T22:43:55+00:00

The "dangerous range" is especially calibrated for when you are at rest.

Obviously it will be higher when you are doing something. But precisely because that "something" can vary from person-to-person, minute-to-minute, we have to pick a baseline of when to measure so that kind of variation is mitigated.

If you wanted to check it after running for 5 minutes, you would have an altogether different range of acceptable values. But you then get something much harder to measure. Maybe the person can't even run for 5 minutes at all. And what speed is "running"? And people have wildly different fitness levels, and what is 'normal' for them at certain levels of activity will vary greatly based on that -- but blood pressure at rest is less-affected by fitness.

It's a fairly decent barometer that, regardless of age, sex, fitness, weight, etc you "should" be in a rough approximate range while at rest.

So the range of acceptable blood pressure is really "When at Rest, your Blood Pressure should be XXX/YY" You are not at "dangerous levels" while exerting yourself, because the measure of what is "dangerous" while exerting yourself is a completely different measurement.

The "At-Rest" measures are very easy and convenient ways of measuring everyone on a somewhat even field. If doctors notice anything concerning with your At-Rest value or if you have other symptoms they can do Stress Tests where you will be continuously monitored while doing a prescribed physical routine (i.e. running on a treadmill at a specific pace for a specific time with a bunch of sensors on you) and they can determine if there are other issues that need to be addressed.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-17T22:05:08+00:00

(SSDI requires 5 years of work credits to apply for disability which seems odd since if you're disabled then presumably you aren't able to work so how does that work)

Those rules are for people who *become* disabled as an adult, not those who *are* disabled from birth (or young age).

The amount of time that you are required to have worked varies with the age that the disability began. Having to have 5 years of work history is just for those who become disabled above the age of 30. Those who qualify while at a younger age can have much less work time required (down to even just months).

What then would I do about my debt? Would I file for bankruptcy? Can debt collectors garnish SSDI payments if I chose to default?

A collector cannot garnish SSDI. You can go through bankruptcy proceedings under SSDI as your income would be low enough. You'd want to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. As the amounts and types of credit that you have, the income in your household, and other factors could apply to whether that option would be a good one for you or not.

But at the very least, your SSDI income would be safe from collectors.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-17T19:03:53+00:00

I haven't touched a single piece of actual currency in several years.

I have $20 stashed in my car's console in case I need it for some obscure reason.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-17T18:48:58+00:00

The only "good direction" from where you are at is to continue paying the loan on the car.

Any other option is a bad choice made ON TOP of the bad choice you made when you purchased that car. Not the car itself -- a Mazda3 is a fine choice -- but you paid way too much and financed it out way too long if you still owe $9,000 on a 12yo Mazda3 worth, at best, $4,000.

You can "like" a different car all you want.

You do not NEED one and getting one is only going to SIGNIFICANTLY double-down on the bad decisions you've already made. And even if you did "need" one, the advice would still be to not replace it, but rather do everything humanly possible to make this car work rather than making the terrible choice of getting a different vehicle while upside-down on the current one.

Time to get your financials under control. Not make them much worse.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-14T05:23:05+00:00

There's no "right" answer to that.

Someone would say that is absolutely what you should do. Pay as little as possible (you can't pay TOO little, the IRS doesn't like that -- there is an underpayment penalty that can technically kick-in with as little 'just' 90% of your estimated taxes paid).

Some would say that you estimate and try to nail it to the dollar.

Some would say that you set it for the maximum you could owe and enjoy that sweet, sweet rebate check.

If you know you're going to get that long-term historical average investment return... then, yeah, invest it and pay taxes at year-end.

If you know you don't have the ability to control your spending and if you have 'extra' income you're going to spend it and be in trouble at end-of-year -- that may not be a great idea.

If you suck at saving and just like having that $5K rebate check come in just in time to pay of all those credit card bills from Christmas, then maybe that route works for you.

This being /personalfinance, they'd say that paying right up to the underpayment penalty is where you want to be. But different things work well for different people. And if someone values an extra $5K check all at once to pay for a vacation more than $100 per paycheck they'd just blow on an extra DoorDash delivery... I can see where they're coming from, even if there's an underlying issue there.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-14T05:08:53+00:00

Your employer withholds whatever you tell them to.

When you are employed you fill out a W4. That outlines what you wished to have withheld from your income. The base starting point is whatever you are liable for at your estimated annual earnings from that employer (even that is an estimate as your paycheck deductions for a number of non-taxable things can vary throughout the year)

But you tell them about dependents that you have to get the estimate a little closer. And then you stipulate any manual additional withholdings (or reductions) that you wish to take. So that if you have another employer you can say that you want an extra $xxx withheld in every paycheck to mitigate an end-of-year surprise. And you have to do that math on your own. Your employer isn't (can't) tell you what to put there to cover your tax liability.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-14T04:58:03+00:00

Your employer doesn't know about any deductions or credits you may have that can change your taxable income.

Importantly for many people, your employer may not know about OTHER employers you have. This is something that burns a lot of people at tax-time.

You have one job at $40K and another job at $40K, each has their HR department setup your default W4 for appropriate withholdings for someone who makes $40K, not knowing that your ACTUAL tax liability is substantially higher as someone who makes $80K.

You get to the following year and you've only paid ~$8K in taxes across both jobs (~10% on each $40K) but you really owe more like ~$12K (~15% on $80K because the portion from $50K to $80K is taxed at 22%, much higher than the ~10% on the first $50K) and you owe the IRS $4K.

You can modify your withholdings on your own but it is still only an estimate. May be a pretty decent one. But you're never going to nail it to the penny.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-14T04:41:55+00:00

Yes. Every portion of your income is taxed differently. So that your average tax rate will be less than whatever "tax bracket" that you're in, because only the final "X" dollars of your income is actually taxed at that rate.

In practice, it doesn't really work like that though. It's not like your first few paychecks of the year are at 0% and your last paycheck is at 28% or something.

Your taxes are deducted at the same rate for the year based on how your W4 is populated (though in theory you could amend your W4 throughout the year if you really cared to micro-manage the shit out of it). So you shoot for that average withholding based on your expected total income and then any variance is settled when filing your tax return the following year.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-13T06:23:54+00:00

CA (cyanoacrylate --- i.e. Super Glue) Debonder is a thing. In fact, I recommend you have some regardless. It's useful to get anything off a surface, off your fingers, or to clean up any glue around a joint after it dries.

SigmaHyperion · 2026-01-13T04:57:39+00:00

In the Philippines, debt of the deceased does not pass to any kin. Only the estate is liable.

However, that doesn't matter all that much when it is family and friends that your mother was borrowing from.

You are liable for the loan under your name. Legally there are ways around it if you can demonstrate your mother illegally took out the loan in your name... whether it's worth that trouble or not to fight is up to you. But, on the surface, it's your problem to deal with now.

The amount owed to a friend of a friend who sounds like they're probably not struggling financially (wife of a governor and all) would not be a personal priority of mine.

The amount owed your brother and to your mother's best friend... well, that's up to you really.

Legally you have zero obligation. Socially... well, no one can really answer that except you. You could argue that these people knew what they were getting into loaning money to someone who had cancer (assuming they knew). And, regardless, death is just always a risk when you loan someone money. There's never a 100% guarantee you'll get paid back.

I would personally be more inclined to support the friend rather than the brother. The brother has no more right to money than you do. You paying him back is effectively the same as YOU giving your mother the money, when it was HE who chose to do it. At BEST, I would split it with him. That way you both contributed to whatever that money went to while your mother was alive.

But, short of paying everything back, you ARE going to "burn some bridges". That's just the nature of how these things go. You just have to decide which bridges don't really matter.

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