Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I've used Tamiya clear and have not noticed any yellowing. Specifically, I used it (a lot of it!) on a JoHan '68 SCRambler model I built several years ago.

I am painting a 1/25th scale Wonder Woman, and I need to paint her star-spangled fanny. Does anyone have any ideas for how I might paint stars that small? I would recommend some 1/72 WWII armor decals. The American stars that go on the fenders of tanks and hoods of jeeps should be about right. I ho...

I can't claim credit for originating it, though of course I'd like to

Good luck!

Sometimes a "texture stamp" is useful for this sort of thing. Take a blob of Aves or Milliput, wait until it's about half hardened, then press it against a section of the texture. Let it harden and you have a llittle stamp you can use to texture a surface with. Fill the hole with Aves or M...

DocTor wrote:

naoto wrote:How 'bout a headphone jack and plug for electrical connection?

Would that work? It would certainly make a secure yet quick release connection.

Oh, yeah, it'd work fine. I've used headphone jacks to transmit power on models and on full-size cars.

Somewhat. I almost never preplan to the point of drawing a three-view. What usually happens is that I'll come up with some idea, and then start fiddling with nacelle, fuselage, or whatever bits. At the point that I'm sure it's a good idea, there's a sort of "design freeze" and I won't fidd...

I have used brass tubing and rod to make contacts. Two brass tubes in the model, two brass rods coming out of the base. http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Auburn%20aircar%20project/DSCN2622.jpg ...or the other way around: A couple brass rods sticking out of the model, fitting into a coup...

1. Of course you can dullcoat over the Testors silver--but it won't look chrome-y any more; it'll look like the silver paint you see on cars. But if you have any doubts, do a test first. Spray a piece of scrap with the Testors, then dullcoat it and see what happens. If I have any doubts whatsoever a...

In fact, if I were you, I'd wire the LEDs in parallel, each with their own resistor. This page shows what i think is a fairly typical white 5mm LED: https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/through-hole/5mm-white-led-15-degree-viewing-angle-18000-mcd/261/ The forward voltage is about 3.7 volts; sinc...

... This brings up another question. In trying to work out the minimum safe resistor value, I used the series equation R = (battery V - combined LED voltage) / amps Is this how you determine the minimum safe resistor value? Because it seems like these two equations are circular, given that the resi...

Let's say you're using a 12 volt power supply and white LEDs with a 3-volt forward voltage. The amperage going through the circuit is (battery voltage- LED voltage) / ohms. With one led and a 200 ohm resistor, the amperage you'd get would be (12-3)/200 = 0.045 amp (i.e, 45 milliamps) With 2 LEDs and...

I've used Tamiya Weathering Powders (black, brown, and white) to make blast marks. I used the little foam applicator Tamiya supplies. Worked great.

You might try an acrylic clear. The reason that the shine goes away after clear-coating a metallic is that the thinner in the clear attacks the surface, allowing the aluminum particles to orient themselves any old which way. TI suspect an acrylic clear won't interact with the surface a lacquer- or e...

My guess would be to heat the blade red-hot, bend it, then quench it in water. Re-sharpen as required using a honing stone.

I am very very conservative about trying new products or techniques. After I've spent three months working on a model, I don't want to foul it up with some untried paint system--so I use what I've used successfully before. Call me unadventurous, call me boring if you like.

USSARCADIA wrote:... if you would spill glue on the laminate there may be ugly results...

I don't think you have to worry about that. I have a formica-covered countertop as my work surface, and I've spilled just about every kind of thinner/cement on it, with no adverse results.

Be sure and do a couple test pours, using scrap models, to be sure it's going to work. My experience with casting using clear resins has been poor; but for my last project I used Crystal Clear from Michael's and it worked pretty well (my first pour had weird soap-scum-like bubbles all over the surfa...

Done by Wonderfest?

Or you could just eschew calculation and do it practically: Make two oval shapes out of styrene, one the shape of one end of the cone and one the shape of the other; glue a spacer between them so they're the right distance apart; then wrap the resulting "spool" shape in thin sheet.

You might try soaking it in water; that should get the paper off, but the paint that stuck the paper onto the model would still be there. To get that off, I think you'll have to dunk it in some stripper and basically start all over with your paint job. :( (There are plenty of threads here with advic...

Acrylic gloss gel medium is a stiffish (think mayonnaise) white gel that you can apply with a syringe or putty knife or whatever, then coax into shape with a wet paintbrush. Dries completely clear. Just the ticket for waves and ripples. http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z256/hilbyf/Squid%20Tank/fil...

Dick Blick sells airbrush lubricant; I often put a dab on the needle before reassembling my Grex. Seems to help.

I can supply one more data point: At the Wonderfest painting class a year or two ago, my friends were having lots of clogging problems shooting acrylics through Harder-Steenbecks, perhaps due to the humidity. I had brought my Grex and it did just fine with very few clogs.

I have a Grex side-feed. It's very easy to use, and a thousand times better than my old Badger. The only comment I have is that if I were doing it again, I'd go for the top feed, because it looks just a smidgen easier to clean.

Formica, and it's the cat's pajamas. Impervious to cements and thinners, easy to pop adhered bits of putty off. My desktop is a piece of preform countertop I happened upon somehow.

Actually, the best solution would be photoetch. I found a nice set of plans for an iris that is compact and would translate well to brass. I think I'll see if I can learn photoetching techniques and make them myself. I've had reasonably good results using MicroMark's home photoetching system. Howev...

This strikes me as the sort of thing that would best be 3D printed. Take a look at Shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/product/YKQA5US7K/mechanical-iris-small?li=search-results-1&optionId=42285039 http://www.shapeways.com/product/UZ3UUSJUL/iris?li=search-results-1&optionId=19816347 Even if t...

Well, the standard way to bend resin is to heat it, right? You might try heating the resin with a hair dryer, then set it down quickly onto a flat surface, hold it flat, and let it cool.

Or strap it to something flat and immerse in hot water or warm it with a heat gun.

I know nothing about 'Micro Krystal Klear'. I hear it can make small windows and even used for gluing clear parts. - Since this is not a 2 part resin, how firm does it get? - does it shrink or yellow over time? - can it be sanded (lets say I want my Enterprise exterior windows flush with the hull) ...

One of the guys in the local club uses super glue to glue his fibers into place. He leaves about 1/4 inch sticking out. The super glue makes the fiber brittle, and after painting he just snaps off the protruding ends by brushing with his hand. (The part about the glue making the fiber brittle makes ...