Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I've done this many times before. Here's what you do. Get some normal dollar store hair spray and spray it on the surface of the plastic sheet. You may have to do a couple of coats (allowing it to dry completely between coats) until you get a smooth finish. Once you got a good smooth finish it can ...

Try the washes at http://www.florymodels.co.uk/ There are videos on how to use. I've never tried them, but it looks good.

Definitely switch to either Mr. Surfacer or Mr. Surfacer Dissolved Putty. If you can't find that (it can be difficult), I had great luck softening Squadron Green with denatured alcohol. You can then smear it around with your finger. And Squadron White, I think, can be softened with acetone.

I found this product: Waterproof inkjet vinyl

It should be perfect for a lot of purposes, including applying it directly to styrene, using it as a cutting guide and providing a texture. Yes, I could also make decals for the same purpose, but this seems a lot less fiddly than decals.

As for bending sheet styrene, you'll probably have to score the areas where you're going to bend. Actually I discovered the locking tab method method works much better: Tab A goes in slot B. Scoring and bending something that small has diminishing returns. I will not be trying to print on styrene t...

I've heard of people having some success with spraying Krylon artist's fixative and then printing on that, or scuffing the styrene's surface to make it a smooth matte and then printing with the lightest ink volume possible. Yes, I was planning on using Krylon's matte fixative, which I use all the t...

If the printing worked out--you could then spray some kind of sealer over it so that the glue wouldn't damage the printed ink Yes, I was thinking of using the fixative only to prevent the ink from smudging while working the piece, but a couple of coats of Future might offer some protection. I've al...

I had the crazy idea last night to print directly on styrene sheet using my inkjet printer. I noticed that the plastic I was using to create lightboxes to light the ports along the edge of my refit saucer was about the thickness of the photo paper I regularly run through the printer. To create the l...

I remain happily married, but thanks for the compliment!

Jennifer

The link worked fine for me. Thanks so much for the nav lights schematics . You just made my life a lot easier. No, I just made your life a heck of a lot harder. Soon you'll be cursing me for your burnt fingers and the hole you melted into the side of your model. But you'll have fish for life. Jenn...

Argh, I hate browser incompatibilities. Somehow, I've escaped the fact that background fixed is broken in Internet Explorer 6. Even screwier since somehow I got it to work on theAfterNet site, even though I never actually did anything intentional to fix it. Anyway, the background no longer repeats a...

robiwon wrote:Uh, that link is kinda screwy. It's like a double image!

Sorry, I liked what I did so much I decided to redo my entire web site!

I took out the offending stylesheet. Now I just have to figure out why all the text is centered.

Jennifer

OK, I've designed the flasher board in a free 3D applicaton called SketchUp, but if you don't want to download it, there are large images that should make it easy.

http://www.virtualight.com/articles/ele ... index.html

Jennifer

You are now asking for technical details beyond my abilities. However, that being said, the original 6V battery pack ran 20 LEDs. Perhaps someone who knows what they're doing would have a better answer.

But if you never learn how to fish, how will you get your omega-3 fatty acids?

Just kidding. I know how confusing these things are. I'll work up a beautiful 3-D diagram.

Jennifer

I did add a little note on modifying the circuit to just be a flasher, using a 555 chip instead of a 556. Look for the link on the third page of the tutorial. If you still can't figure it out, I can post a schematic that does just that.

JJP

BTW, I used those little Christmas lights LEDs strings for $2.50 from Walgreens and Target. Those things were a great find.

Jennifer

I'm updating my website to include all the different things at which I'm incompetent, and I decided to make a little tutorial on how I built the board for my PL TOS Enterprise. The website is still being built so very little works except the tutorial. Click the link that says electronics schematics ...