Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

novahobbies wrote:No frakkin' way. Is that a LIT Akira? Did you vaccumform the whole thing???

.........that's really something, dude.

yes, and thanks dude.

I also got one from ebay and it does work well with if used right. I also punch/drill all those holes as it seems to produce better results. One key thing is the seal around the table edge. Once that is tight things work better. I have taped the edge with some Tamiya masking tape. I also do one dra...

Acetate shrinks is not a good plastic of choice for thermoforming. Styrene works well, but heats unevenly. By far the best (clear) plastic you can use for thermoforming is PETG (don't ask me what the acronym stands for). This plastic is inexpensive and widely available from plastic wholesalers in l...

have you ever tried it? *I had to laugh when i clicked onto the "Casting Techniques" and saw how much rubber material they where wasting to make that bridge piece i believe this is the product a guy at the prop forum used to make the top push button for the "PAL" hand held commu...

and here
www.interstateplastics.com

if you are worried, which i would not, if only vacuforming one time, using about .015, then put your blank in the freezer for a few minutes.

okay, i know you are not going to like this answer and think it would be too difficult, .... but vacuforming will guarantee that it will be snug as a bug in the rug. keep your shapes simple. then glue on your doo dads on to the plastic to finish out the model. you can leave the wood in the vacuform,...

i mixed about half a thimbel of each part. i was filling an area that will be covered at the back of the cockpit. it is about a 1.5 inches by 1.250 tall. the putty was from 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick. under a 100 watt bulb 3 inches from the cast, it took less than 45 minutes to cure. i used h20 to smoo...

You can accelerate the cure time by placing it under a 100 watt lamp. Just be sure to not melt the surrounding project.

i used PVC for my puddle hopper. i then laminated regular styrene card stock with superglue. i went to the local hobby store and bought several different widths in the same thickness.

start by making your part in 2 pieces so you can have open face molds allowing the bubbles to rise AWAY from the surface. also the gentle vibration of your washing machine or dryer are enough to allow most bubbles to move away form the surface. use smoothon products.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=237112-353-7300-01&lpage=none I want to sand the seams of the saucer of the C-57D but not by hand. I like my arm and I want to be able to drive, take a shower, lift things, etc... Basically, I'm saying it would be a rather arduou...

Spacephrawg wrote: *as few parts as possible*.

here in lies the problem. break the kit down into smaller pieces will ease your efforts in casting, or build it but plan on having someone like david or erin cast it for you. they can tell you where to seperate the parts for their ease in casting.

just an IMHO.

laying around for a number of years, it was very brittle. does not sound like styrene. i have some out in my shop here in central texas. some over 25 years old. remember those plastic dividers for LPs? remember LPs? The copies I did manage to vacuform weren't all that great because the master had f...

rpauly wrote:Works great for decals on every brand of paper I've used, Testors or no...

same here. also i had some old decal sheets that the ink would not adhere to. testor saved the day. i got the little can that came with a starter set.

if you make you parts where they can be cast as open face molds then the bubbles will float away from the surface. this requires more assembly than just pouring the rubber around the blank. also you can use your home washer or dryer to vibrate bubbles away from the surface. i use the dryer's vibrati...

DasPhule wrote:I had this problem, and it's definetly a clogged tip. A new nose assembly is like $8, solves the problem instantly.

Erin
<*>

i have had the same problem for some time. my needle is ever so slightly bent. however all else being equal, it does not seem to effect the end job.
just MHO.

i use the middle one. may buy the top one.
http://www.internethobbies.com/internet ... rcoin.html

for those occasions i recommmend baking soda

Would this be a bad time to ask about rotational casting? It is possible to do this by hand, correct? Do I just slowly turn it over and over, shake it slowly, vigorously? Only turn on one axis? I'm a bit in the dark on that as well. :) never tried roto casting, but have seen it done at a smoothon s...

as a kid, as in the '60's i remember having a toy that you had bottles similar to elmers glue that you poured into molds to make your own toy solders. a few years back, i foumd some similar stuff at TRU and played with it. i was trying to see if it could be a cheap form of resin or even mold materia...

IMHO the best glue for injection plastic is faller expert.


http://warrickcustomhobbies.com/inside/ ... 119&cat=87

http://www.liliput.com/faller/fal_suppl ... umericSort

in the '90's mattel released a female vacuform machine which was about the same size as their male machine from the '60's

Hi, I made rubber molds of a 20mm ball bearing. Molds came out just fine. I poured resin (por-a-cast) into the molds and the casting come out fine also. What I need to do is scribe some lines on these casting but when I attempt this I run into small air bubbles just under the surface of the resin w...

there is an easy solution, but i don't think anyone will like the answer. what about vacuforming the piece in question? by using plastic cups, you can vacuform clear, green, blue, and red. for instance, the red buzzred collectors of any enterprise can be vacuformed with the correct color suitable fo...

dipping the clear piece in future will "brighten" the part enough that you will have to look closer to see the problems.

I was thinking of using thick foil ( takeaway lid ) for the wings.... Dave [/quote] i used metal pie pans before for wings, when i built the weird ship that sisko and his son built and then flew in ds9. don't know if any pies come in metal pans, but you can order sheet metal in the same thickness.

you might check out dan perez as well:
http://www.danperezstudios.com/workshop.htm

i'll take one. just post the price in the store.

don't know about bulk, but i do more scratchbuilding then anything else i prefer the # 24: X-ACTO No. 24 Blades http://www.misterart.com/store/view.cfm?group_id=1579&store=001 it can be used in the plastic grip big handled too, by x-actol or in the regular size excel tool grip. tips don't break....