Search found 118 matches

by Bellerophon
Tue Mar 19, 2024 8:00 pm
Forum: Wonderfest 2024!
Topic: Who's going?
Replies: 6
Views: 261

Re: Who's going?

Mrs. Bellerophon and I will attend again this year.
by Bellerophon
Thu Dec 07, 2023 11:27 am
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Nail Polish...anyone ever use them for painting?
Replies: 12
Views: 41684

Re: Nail Polish...anyone ever use them for painting?

I once touched up a rental car with nail polish. Does that count?

They didn't come after me about the scratches, so I must've done a decent job. :-p
by Bellerophon
Sun Nov 26, 2023 12:11 pm
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Applying Walthers Solv-a-set with an airbrush?
Replies: 7
Views: 19471

Re: Applying Walthers Solv-a-set with an airbrush?

Interesting idea. Sounds like a job for a single-action airbrush. I've used hot stuff on misbehaving decals, but always with a brush (and a level of caution like I'm handling a rattlesnake). Usually it has ended in failure. An airbrush could give better control, but I'd still treat it like a rattles...
by Bellerophon
Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:42 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: DIORAMAS you would like to build
Replies: 45
Views: 137152

Re: DIORAMAS you would like to build

Carlotta vom Acht and the Manshonyagger in "Mark Elf" by Cordwainer Smith.
by Bellerophon
Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:09 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: Styrene Rod with Wire Core?
Replies: 7
Views: 9856

Re: Styrene Rod with Wire Core?

Yeah, the two smallest sizes of Plastruct butyrate tubing aren't tubing at all, because there's wire where the hole would be. But Plastruct doesn't call them tubing, either. Maybe they found it impractical to make hollow tubing that small, so they made coated wire instead. Evergreen round styrene tu...
by Bellerophon
Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:55 am
Forum: Wonderfest 2023
Topic: Tony Wootson's Second part of the 2023 Wonderefest Show Report
Replies: 4
Views: 15009

Re: Tony Wootson's Second part of the 2023 Wonderefest Show Report

Indeed, thanks for doing all that work to share WF with folks who couldn't make it and to save us so-so photographers the trouble.

BTW Tony, you've got Ilene and me down as from NJ, not PA, but I give you a pass because she's a Jersey girl for life.
by Bellerophon
Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:40 am
Forum: Wonderfest 2023
Topic: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery
Replies: 11
Views: 15941

Re: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery

This was the third WF since it was cancelled in 2020, and it's been growing each year. Covid has definitely improved hobby sales, 'cause people needed something to do during all that downtime, and they rediscovered the fun they had when they were young (plus you have young people discovering it for ...
by Bellerophon
Thu Jul 13, 2023 11:14 am
Forum: Wonderfest 2023
Topic: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery
Replies: 11
Views: 15941

Re: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery

You mean before or after that hoard of a crowd wasn't in the contest room??? (Maybe I needed an extra-special lens on my camera, enabling me to shoot directly through all of those folks who were crowded around the tables, for much of Saturday)? :wink: Actually, I wasn't able to get into the contest...
by Bellerophon
Fri Jul 07, 2023 10:11 am
Forum: Wonderfest 2023
Topic: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery
Replies: 11
Views: 15941

Re: Fine Scale Modeler Photo Gallery

Tony, you spent too much time looking through the viewfinder of your camera, and not enough aiming your Mark I eyeballs directly at the models! :P

But seriously, I appreciate the work you and everyone else do taking good photos at WF!
by Bellerophon
Wed Jun 21, 2023 7:54 am
Forum: Wonderfest 2023
Topic: Wonderfest 2023 contest photo gallery
Replies: 10
Views: 17060

Re: Wonderfest 2023 contest photo gallery

P1010092 with that NASA liveried P-51 turboprop conversion tucked in lower left corner is a point of interest. https://postimg.cc/p5N8kQw2 Don't know if the real deal was actually used by NASA but here is this, https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=78138 By 29 March 1968 Converted...
by Bellerophon
Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:28 pm
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Dust! How to vanquish it?
Replies: 17
Views: 53029

Re: Dust! How to vanquish it?

Here I thought by vanquishing dust, sbaxter, you meant getting the air clean in the first place. Sort of like Mr. Miyagi said, "Best way to avoid punch, not be there." I have a serious dust problem at my workbench, and aside from giving the room yet another serious cleaning, I plan to try ...
by Bellerophon
Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:55 am
Forum: Important Site News
Topic: Site security
Replies: 6
Views: 6665

Re: Site security

Funny, I just did as you suggested aitala, adding the s, and I do see the lock icon in the URL bar.

So what's the risk here? Just spammers getting accounts and posting malicious links, or is there something else?
by Bellerophon
Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:55 am
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Paint Equivalents
Replies: 35
Views: 114681

Re: Paint Equivalents

Out of curiosity, I once bought a little jar of conductive paint that would supposedly let you build a circuit board without soldering. Think it had graphite in it. Anyhow, it didn't work for me.
by Bellerophon
Fri Dec 16, 2022 12:53 pm
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Paint Equivalents
Replies: 35
Views: 114681

Re: Paint Equivalents

I had not noticed the paint pages at Scalemates, nor had I heard of Encycolorpedia, so thanks for posting that, Zubie. Unfortunately, more information about color standards and hobby paints can make the task of color matching even more difficult for the modeler, as you clearly know if you're working...
by Bellerophon
Thu Nov 03, 2022 10:34 am
Forum: Finishing
Topic: What is the oldest paint you have that is still good?
Replies: 25
Views: 94743

Re: What is the oldest paint you have that is still good?

I still have a number of the old Humbrol Authentic colours from the 1970's and tonight I found two unopened tinlets of Humbrol #170 Brown Bess. These two tins are from the early eighties and are now discontinued. Those tinlets of Brown Bess would fetch a nice price from Aliens model and prop builde...
by Bellerophon
Mon Oct 10, 2022 10:01 am
Forum: Construction
Topic: Styrene cements and construction
Replies: 125
Views: 519129

Re: Styrene cements and construction

I recall I tried the baking soda thing once and got a face full of fumes. That was enough for me! But before that I was getting good results strengthening putty with it. Bondo putty is fine for filling in depressions, not so great for building up shapes because it's crumbly. But the dried putty is p...
by Bellerophon
Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:46 am
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Anyone else have problems with Vallejo?
Replies: 11
Views: 35548

Re: Anyone else have problems with Vallejo?

Vallejo model color covers well for me. You show white, which doesn't cover as well, but I never had it come out that thin. I presume you shake the living daylights out of it. Even so, I never had to shake Vallejo as much as other paints. I did have trouble with adhesion of Vallejo model color once,...
by Bellerophon
Sat Sep 17, 2022 9:15 am
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: How to re-scale an existing item used in S.S?
Replies: 4
Views: 4258

Re: How to re-scale an existing item used in S.S?

PM sent. I can imagine how it would be simulated with PE, if you insisted on it looking like the real thing and not flat like the MF photoetch, but all those bends! You'd need a special tool - likely one that's 3D printed. For TIE fighter panels, I would make the 3D printed version with a solid back...
by Bellerophon
Fri Sep 16, 2022 12:04 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: How to re-scale an existing item used in S.S?
Replies: 4
Views: 4258

Re: How to re-scale an existing item used in S.S?

I would do what I did with other greeblies, make a 3D scale drawing, and print it. But it either requires taking measurements from a sample (easy for parts from kits that were already in my stash) or having photographs that include a reference, preferably a ruler. Koolshade is delicate stuff, really...
by Bellerophon
Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:51 am
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: DSEV Chesley Bonestell
Replies: 14
Views: 28337

Re: DSEV Chesley Bonestell

That's fantastic! I love it! Your website is worth checking out (anyone who didn't notice the URL down at the bottom of the OP, it's astrazoic.com). You see nicely built Enterprises and X-wing and such all the time here, so you expect those, but there's no expecting stuff like the Bonestell, and tha...
by Bellerophon
Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:39 am
Forum: Construction
Topic: Favorite scribing tool MIA
Replies: 4
Views: 7665

Re: Favorite scribing tool MIA

Dental picks and scrapers, too. I have an assortment of those (a dentist who's a member of our local IPMS chapter was retiring and donated a bunch of his tools for a fundraiser). Unfortunately I can never remember which one is good for what, so I always have to experiment.
by Bellerophon
Tue Jun 21, 2022 10:37 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Diffusion via sheet styrene
Replies: 12
Views: 36271

Re: Diffusion via sheet styrene

star-art wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:02 am Don't forget that white styrene turns yellow with age. . .
I don't think that's always the case. I have unpainted white styrene over 30 years old that shows no sign of yellowing. I think it's a matter of UV exposure, and that not all styrene is created equal.
by Bellerophon
Wed May 18, 2022 8:49 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: Resin 3D printing hurdles
Replies: 2
Views: 5292

Re: Resin 3D printing hurdles

Temperature plays a huge part in 3D printing as well as the height of the build plate. Try some calibration prints at different layer heights to see if the steppers and screws are working ok. The calibration test print is a good suggestion. Thanks, Tazman! It didn't occur to me that there are test ...
by Bellerophon
Fri May 13, 2022 9:17 pm
Forum: Important Site News
Topic: I think I got it fixed....
Replies: 18
Views: 40657

Re: I think I got it fixed....

Hooray! Thanks, John!

Sorry you had to take all that time fixing it, when you had better things to do.
by Bellerophon
Thu May 05, 2022 3:40 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: Resin 3D printing hurdles
Replies: 2
Views: 5292

Resin 3D printing hurdles

Cutting to the chase, what best practices should I be following with my 3D printer? I was going to start a thread quite some time ago, because I'd had absolutely no luck printing my own stuff on my Elegoo Mars 2 Pro: the chess piece came out fine, then all subsequent prints failed. I'd used the meta...
by Bellerophon
Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:35 am
Forum: Finishing
Topic: thinning and airbrushing artist oil paints. Anyone have experience with that?
Replies: 7
Views: 16357

Re: thinning and airbrushing artist oil paints. Anyone have experience with that?

I recently tried something similar, thinning artist's tube acrylic and airbrushing it. I added burnt umber to clear coat and thinned it with isopropyl alcohol, to make a sort of filter coat, using a Paasche H. At first I was getting a few tiny brown clumps because of not enough stirring. I stirred t...
by Bellerophon
Mon Apr 11, 2022 7:02 pm
Forum: Construction
Topic: Working with old second hand kits
Replies: 6
Views: 15133

Re: Working with old second hand kits

I'm apt to scan the decal sheet before doing anything -- that way if disaster strikes, I've at least got something to work with (as a starting point) when trying to re-create the decals. Doing that has saved me a bit of trouble quite a few times. You can also draw nice sharp decal art with a vector...
by Bellerophon
Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:58 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Installing New Pickups in my Guitar
Replies: 2
Views: 6196

Re: Installing New Pickups in my Guitar

My brother is really experienced at electric guitar hacking, also rebuilding tube amps, etc. He would happily give you helpful advice. Do you want me to put you in touch with him?
by Bellerophon
Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:41 am
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: Please Recommend Good Blender Instructional Material
Replies: 6
Views: 18217

Re: Please Recommend Good Blender Instructional Material

Widget, I take it you use Blender. Is it easier to learn now? The word on it years ago was that it was designed for productivity at the expense of learnability. I tried it about 8-10 years ago but cut my losses early, because it was clearly going to take a huge investment in time and I already knew ...
by Bellerophon
Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:21 pm
Forum: Finishing
Topic: Aliens Dropship Paint scheme
Replies: 9
Views: 17662

Re: Aliens Dropship Paint scheme

Zubie, I think you're right about Cameron going for a Vietnam War vibe (foreshadowing about all that military might, as Newt says, "It won't make any difference"). It's great visual storytelling, like Ridley Scott does: he doesn't hit us over the head with it, and probably very few conscio...