Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I've all but abandoned CA altogether because of its abbreviated shelf life. Lost count of how many hardened CA bottles I threw out.

Still have a few cans of CA accelerator. I don't think that stuff ever goes bad.

No problemo Jimmer.

Anyway, for the silver parts I used Testors Gloss Metallic Silver Spray paint 1246 and afterward learned that Testors says it cannot be dull/gloss coated. I haven't made the jump to airbrushing yet, and after doing some research I have considered brushing Pledge Floor Care Multi-Surface Finish onto...

It all depends on whether the pigment's settled and/or hardened. If you can still stir it and mix it with the carrier- odds are it's still okay.

Enamels are notorious for settling, not sure about acrylics.

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I may give this a whirl as a Media Server using a USB HDD... Five bucks is five bucks.

If you're referring to Ficthenfoo's "discoloration" technique, yeah you can't do that with a gloss barrier coat. You'll end up simply washing the oils around and not actually tinting the panels.

Flattened Future as a mid-coat? Gloss--> Decals-->Gloss-->Washes-->Flattened Future--> weathering--> topcoat (mixing Future w/ Tamiya Flat Base) from Swanny's: 1 part flat base to 3 parts Future = very flat 1 part flat base to 10 parts Future = flat 1 part flat base to 15 parts Future = satin mix th...

I had a hunch you were color pickin' for Analyzer, I was going through my gloss reds for my build too. I didn't like the "Ferrari" Reds. (Monza, Italian Red, Guards Red, etc)

Testors has a nice line of Automotive Lacquer colors, and I'm going with Honduras Maroon- a GM/Chevy color.

penguinpc wrote: Anything I'm missing?

Only that Walther's Solvaset is a big gun and should be used sparingly, and only after the decal has set and dried for 15 mins.

Testor's tube glue takes to long and the fumes give me splitting headaches. Not to mention those bonds created with Toluene-based tube glue can become brittle with age. I still have the Ent-D I built in 1988, and none of those original tube-cemented joints held in the first ten years. Using liquid ...

What Kywell said. Alclad's not paint you can polish/buff like Testors Buffing Metalizer or SNJ Spray Metal. The metallic pigment in Alclad is ground so fine that polishing won't get you anywhere.

I've never seen BMF in my Hobby Lobbies. I have seen HLs stock Testors metal foil, but not BMF.

My local HobbyTowns carry BMF. And they get it from MMD, so you can order for Squadron too.

Next to useless. My mom gave me one of these, labeled as an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner she bought in the 1970s.

The basket *is* useful. The rest, not so much.

I use a Badger battery powered mixer for 30-60 seconds when I thin or mix. I'm fairly certain it wasn't because I didn't mix thoroughly.

I picked up the Flattened Future thing on rec.models.scale a jizillion years ago.

I've been using Flattened Future for over 10 years. And I used a battery powered mixer too. The white blasting happened to me once and that was enough. And it only happened when I used a old batch instead of mixing fresh. (and no, I've never heard similar reports blaming on age) When Flattened Futur...

The warning that "the model may turn white if the ratio is off" scares me a little. I think i'll test it out with a 10:1 ratio first. I've had that happen, but with a batch of Flattened Future that wasn't fresh, from a bottle that's been sitting for more than a few months. Which is why I ...

from "The Complete Future" @ Swanny Models:

1 part flat base to 3 parts Future = very flat
1 part flat base to 10 parts Future = flat
1 part flat base to 15 parts Future = satin

Only mix what's needed, and discard the unused portion.

Even Tamiya has an article on this.
Decanting Tamiya Sprays

Well the parts have soaked since Saturday and well whoever painted this thing must have painted each part "MULTIPLE" times with that brush. About 60 percent of the paint is gone but what is still there is rather thick. Now it does come off with a gloves finger nail edge but I'm looking fo...

Get gloves if you're using Super Clean.

Castrol Super Clean degreaser, aka Super Clean w.o Castrol branding.

Bonediggers Guide to Paint Stripping

It's best to be conservative when it comes to clear coating natural metal finishes like Alclad II. Almost any clear will knock down the finish a notch; and a lot of modelers insist that it's not necessary to gloss coat Alclad II prior to decals because of it. My take is that it depends on the decals...

Funny, I used to call em' painting hulks.

Two Iwatas. Revolution CR and Eclipse BS.

I wish somebody stopped me from my "cavalcade of cheap crap airbrushes" when I first started airbrushing. Would've saved me five years of frustration and at least $200 bucks.

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/techmain.htm

scroll down to "Downloads"

Here's the result of a quick Google search: http://new.acme-ipms.com/content.php?129-Chrome-Paint-Test-Killer-Chrome-vs.-Alclad-II-vs.-Spaz-Stix I've seen a lot of NMF (natural metal finish) comparisons, on a lot of modeling sites... and there's something funny yet mind bogglingly ingenious about u...

Personally, I havent used tube cement in years and only use CA for things like fiber optics or using something other than plastic. Ditto on this. I especially like that I'm faster with liquid cement than I ever was on tube-based cements. Once you get the hang of it, it is infinitely cleaner and les...

lensman1 wrote:i have been decanting my own my own tamiya spray paint for a while after seeing a tutorial on tamiyas website and putting it through the airbrush.

Link to the Tamiya Article: "Decanting Tamiya Sprays"