Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

How deep are these lines, and what is the kit? If the trenches are huge, gluing in some stretched sprue has worked well for me, followed by some Nitro Stan/Bondo-NOT the 2 part polyester stuff/ Acryl or other solvent based glazing putty. If the grooves are fine, just glazing putty by itself should w...

Two things to think about- 1) The Mattel is more than 30 years old 2) It is drawing a lot of amps to power the heating plate, and at first thought the usual electric shaver power converter might not be able to provide that. I'm happy with the Mattel for making 3 or 4 pulls a year, but for production...

For punching holes bigger than the Waldron punch can do I use a set of gasket punches. Good ones are available from Sears/Snap-on, etc, and perfectly adequate ChiCom tools are at Harbor Freight or a flea market near you. I also get a lot of use out of an inexpensive pair of machinists 1-2-3 blocks. ...

Yep, through the whole part or assembly of parts, from whatever side is most accessible. A #70 pinhole is easy to fill.

Or just glue the part in place where you want it. then drill a hole with a small bit in a pin vise, add a bit of rod stock, glue, and fill the tiny hole. Once you have the parts where you want them to be, pin them in place. For me this beats the frustration of predicting where you want them to be on...

A good source for perforated metal for the top of a vacuformer is the door of an old microwave oven- check an alley or back of a parking lot near you!

I'd scrape or sand the old glue off, use wood glue, and make sure you clamp the bejesus out of the the assembly. If you don't clamp the parts in place you are wasting your time. But glue + clamps should work just fine.

Continuing this topic, I recently found some "Exo Bonz" at the thrift shop. Not the most obvious bunch of spaceship parts, but they are made of ABS/styrene. For 3.00 US I can't complain, and the 3 year old likes playing with the "bug blocks". Most useful bits may be the round joi...

Ammonia should do the trick, or any other paint stripper.

I've just braced the inside of larger vac kits with a spiderweb/ Hong Kong scaffold of lengths of sprue and the results are surprisingly rigid. I just shake random lengths into position and use some liquid cement to secure them. This doesn't deform the vac pieces but adds a lot of strength.

Elmers Glue works well for me. Stretch a thin membrane of it across the opening and it will dry clear. A dab or clear enamel paint after that will make it shiny and glassy.

Well, not really time-critical enough to be an alert, but I picked up a neat little building toy at the thrift store today- the Anatomics dynamic building system dinosaurs master kit, made by Inhabit Toys. It's a collection of struts and ball-and-socket joints which are thankfully molded in ABS! The...

Chuck a straightpin or that guitar string into your Dremel and it should work just fine. I use a toothpick on styrene for rough shaping.

Another good source for surplus is Herbach and Rademan-\
http://www.herbach.com/
Selling geeks weird stuff for 74 years.

I'd use aerosol lacquer- dries fast, sands out easily, and it's shiny. It does have fumes, but use it outside or wear a respirator. Shellac can work well too, with fewer fumes- it's thinned with alcohol, and they squeeze shellac out of bugs. Again, sands down easily between coats. Add a top coat of ...

PlastiKote, or whatever the auto parts store sells. There's regular primer for just an even color, sandable primer for filling in some minor imperfections, and scratch-filling primer for doing just that. I haven't boought hobby store primer since I can remember, and have a strong suspicion that most...

There's a good thread at: http://cs.finescale.com/forums/350912/ShowPost.aspx which covers most of the basics. There is also a good ship board at http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/index.php and the SeawaysShipmodelingList at groups.yahoo.com I have some drafting linen I'd swap for just about anything...

I'm looking for some help in constructing a hexagonal pyramid- something like the engine shrouds from the 2001 Discovery- http://www.palantir.net/2001/tma1/pics/mission02.jpg or a WWII German flakpanzer- http://www.achtungpanzer.com/flak4.htm The tricky part (for me) is calculating the angles and le...

I've cold formed some up to about an inch in diameter from sheet styrene with a dapping block and punch. Here's a random link with a picture- http://mechanicalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2008/03/harbor-freight-dapping-punch-and-die.html I've made some blisters, astrodomes, radar dishes and landing gear...

Wipe the cap and threads off, and for the real Cadillac job, drop in a couple of stainless steel nuts, wipe on a thin layer of vaseline, and cinch that cap down tight!

Over at the What-If modelers forum there is a really nice build of an abandoned aircraft-panels open, stripped for parts, left to rot in the tropical sun.... All kinds of good techniques are well described:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php ... 037.0.html

For the price, I'd just get a Clisby lathe: http://www.clisbyminiaturemachines.com/LatheMetal.html I've always heard good things about them. BUT as a Unimat owner, you'll find it's too small for a lot of things you want to do. For not much more money-and a lot less than a Unimat you can get one of t...

Cut it to about the length you want, chuck it into a pin vise and dress up the end with a sharpening stone. The pin vise or drill chuck will hold it, and the stone or emery paper stuck to a sheet of glass will square off the end.
Andrew

I hate painting, and the part of painting I hate most is masking. As someone who usually ends up with a raggedy line no matter how sharp the X-Acto or how much I burnish the tape down, I'll clutch at a straw. With my glacial build rate I'm just not getting enough practice. So, I was intrigued when I...

If they are dimples, they might as well be NICE dimples. Maybe a nice straight sided cone cut with a dental burr, and then drop a tiny bead down the middle for a little interest.
Andrew

If the OUTSIDE of the shape is reasonably true, you can run around the outside with a pair of dividers and scribe or mark a reasonably true inner diameter. Of course a pair of dividers won't really work, but if you made something like a beam compass with a long outer leg and a short inner leg that s...

Probably not the effect you are looking for, but for very small areas I've been happy with Tamiya clear yellow over a base of Testors chrome silver. Some variation of the base coat from chrome to flat aluminum to steel could give you what you need. I haven't tried that, though.
Andrew

Anything plastic and round will beef up the domes- acrylic wine glass feet, poker chips, tap light frames, etc. I usually have a Hong Kong scaffold made from bits of sprue inside large vacuform pieces.
Andrew

My kit came with instructions- the only information you're really missing is drill a 3/16" hole for the replacement valve-I cant find the instructions right now, so that figure is from memory, Make sure it makes sense before you do anything rash. The extra silicone seal goes around the top of t...

For flattish domes, check out clock "crystals" at the office supply store, etc. You'll have to buy the whole clock, but they're cheap. You can also take thin plexiglas/acrylic and put it in a frame like you would for plug molding. Blast it with a heat gun( or prop it up in an oven) and jus...