Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

For styrene kits with no large amounts of resin or photoetch, I don't prime. The paints made for plastic do fine, and you won't lose your details. Unless I want to paint a dark-styrene model with light colors I don't bother priming. Wash the kit. A clean sink with mild dish soap is fine. Hard water ...

I've used the heavy foil from wine bottles to simulate torn metal. Composite materials may well just melt or flash away. Don't go with just black. Paint grays, blues, yellows etc as these materials can drastically change and quickly oxidize with heat. Transparent paints are a great choice here. If y...

The Gunze Mr. Surfacer is essentially filling primer. You don't want to sand it down to where you see the underlying material, just to smooth the primer. you can also use a cotton swab and alcohol to smooth.

There are adapters, too. The Iwata compressors are good, as are the higher-end Testors compressors. Not cheap, but quiet and reliable.

I have rubber bands from broccoli to give me grip opening those stubborn bottles...

I didn't know you were doing clear now, Jimi, or I certainly would have added you.

We should probably list contract casters somewhere here, too...

I like the Flexi-I-File capillary applicator.

Das Phule and Blappy both cast clear parts. You can ask Valkyrie, but he's out of the country right now (I think) and I'm not sure he does clear.

I've brushed it on models with a foam make-up brush. You have to be careful and not over-coat. I've also just Futured the areas needed for decals with that brush. That works well for things like tanks which have just a few markings.

I've found the Aves is generally finer grained than Miliput, mixes more easily and cures more consistently. That said, it's been years since I used Milliput.

What Robb said. The chrome and polished aluminum are sensitive to pressure, drying very quickly. Lower is better, and keep your color cup mixed as they can settle out. Best metallics out there, very durable and easy to use. Like most lacquers, they airbrush like a dream, but are stinky and like most...

I'm very fond of the Mike Grant series. while not SF, they're dials, panels, placards etc. which should be applicable to lots of subjects.

Here's where I used some in a 1/48 Mitsubishi Nell.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/220 ... 704701438/

The milder ones seem to be a wetting agent (detergent) and a mild acid like vinegar. The more aggressive ones are branched alcohols which are nice solvents for the decal film material.

you don't really need it - but the clear coat can make the finish more durable. If you're not doing panel washes or anything like that you don't need the gloss. If you're not going to be handling it a lot, you don't need the overcoat.

This could be a couple of things. First I suspect the paint is thick and sprayed at too high air pressure. Tamiya flats are bad for this, they have an outrageous amount of matte agent. I prefer to mix gloss and flat 50/50 with Tamiya. I prefer to use Gunze Sangyo's semi-gloss when I can find it... A...

yeah, you will find the watercolors at Michaels or a similar store. They're in little tiny tubes. Look for Neutral Tint, I find the watercolor Payne's Gray is too blue. Other colors will help you blend for your base color. Get some Flow Aid from Liquitex, as well. It's a surfactant which will help t...

There's a whole sticky topic dedicated to washes. I prefer transparent watercolors. Depending on the subject and texture etc. a glaze of india ink in Future can yeild stunning effects. It's much different than most standard washes.

All this and more in the washes sticky:

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/vie ... hp?t=15835

Static can cause problems, too. I like the FLoquil Plastic Prep to cut down on that.

IIRC the 4 lb set is a quart of both parts. It lasts me quite a while.

It's perfect for that, Starman. If you want more, embed some metal tube in the Aves - or bolts if you want to bolt everything together. I've embedded rod in one side of a joint and tube in the other, making a removable mount. Alone, it's good for providing extra glue surface, and if you cement some ...

I bought the fence and a circle-cutter jig. OK, yes a good piece of wood and clamps would have worked as well. The circle cutter I use maybe a couple times a year, but it's really nice to have when you need it. Keep those guide blocks properly adjusted! The only pain is the 1/8" blade breaks mo...

Last I knew you could get "Fill-n-Sand" at auto parts stores, which is similar to 500 liquid.

Spray-cans are the harder thing to find, I buy them when I see them.

Shipping hazardous materials is a pain, the distributors can't do it as easily as they used to.

I have a 12" Delta bandsaw, and the 16 tooth-per-inch blade does a great job. You'll want to hook it up to your shop vac, though. I have a scroll saw, too, but honestly dont use it much.

I'll have to keep an eye open for the frosting effect when I open a new bottle. Thanks for the heads-up.

Cut a block of wood to the angle you need. Place sandpaper on your workbench, the block on the sandpaper and your styrene on the block. Slide styrene across the block until you get your angle correct.

Wetsanding will work best, get that black 3M wet-sanding sandpaper.

Future with India Inks. You might want to use something like the Liquitex airbrush media, though, Future is pretty thin. Be careful and you'll get great results, though. Get real India inks, though, not calligraphic inks. You don't want any pigments, just dyes. Those little jars are expensive, but t...

you'll find descriptions of the setting solutions in the Decals thread in the finishing forum. A somewhat outdated decal primer I wrote a few years ago: http://www.starshipmodeler.info/wfest2k3/Decalwatchlist.doc If that doesn't work, find the show handouts here: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/event...

Jump right in, Eric. Call me if you need some help.

You can also over-tighten the spring tube which will limit how far back you can pull the trigger.

You'll like the eclipse, Eric, but moving from an external-mix single-action to this type of airbrush can be a learning experience....