Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Another great product for light blocking is black Tulip Fabric Paint. It's water based and goes on thick. Great if you have assembled and finished painting a model and notice a tiny light leak in a seamline. You can dab some Tulip on it, wipe off the excess with a wet rag or your finger, and no more...

RossW wrote:I don't think it matters which leg the resistor is soldered to - it should work the same if on the long (+ve) or short (-ve) leg of the LED.

You know, I've heard that, yet, my own experience has been when I've tried it with the resistor on the positive leg the LED doesn't light.

I made a quick refernce chart for my own use but you may find it useful too: LED Resistor Values Input Voltage Resistor (ohms) Circuit Type Parallel Series # of LEDS 1 2 3 4 6V 150 1 X X 9V 330 150 1 X 12V 470 330 150 1 So for two impulse engine LEDs running in series (LEDs connected together positi...

I use MicroSet and Sol in combinations like those described above. I've had success tamping down decals soaked with MicroSol with q-tips even while wet; you have to be very careful though as it does soften the decal film and they can easily tear. For really stiff decals or odd surface features I've ...

Use calipers to measure the width of each window as you cut, and remember, you can always make the window bigger, but you can't make it smaller. Actually you CAN make it smaller. Just glue in a piece of Evergreen strip to the inside of your oversized frame with CA, use a piece a little longer than ...

Oddly enough, acetone is less poisonous than common paint thinner. I was surprised, based on the odor, that an acetone bottle was not covered with warnings. But it's used as nail polish remover! Turns out acetone is common in the body, and not particularly dangerous - largely an irritant and highly...

I found these small needle files in the beading tools section at Michaels craftstore:
http://www.michaels.com/Needle-Files/bd ... ls&start=1

I've used the size K plug and jack from Radio Shack on a few of my models: http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259/Trekriffic/Miscellaneous%20Images/SizeKpowerplug.jpg http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r259/Trekriffic/Miscellaneous%20Images/SizeKpowerjack.jpg They only allow positive and negative c...

Acrylics are the least caustic of the big three paints (acrylic, enamel, and lacquer) so they can be applied over enamel or lacquer with no problem.

I've also coated an LED with white fluorescent acrylic paint.
The LED will ight up like an incandescent bulb (but without the heat) for a full 360 degrees of illumination.

I've done this on my latest build using a "lamp shade" technique. I sprayed the interior of my AMT Romulan BOP black followed by a coat of gloss white. Then I slip the empty spool off a pack of Glide dental floss over the top of my LED. The spool is translucent white plastic and fits perfe...

Simple math tells you for a 5-sided box you would need a 54% angle measured from the plane of the styrene sheet.

After researching it, I think I'm going to give Gorilla Super glue a try. Thanks Kylwell! I second the use of Gorilla brand impact resistant superglue. I used it for the first time to laminate styrene strips to the rim of my Romulan Bird-Of-Prey build. The strips were rather thick so it took a bit ...

Testors made a rattle can paint called Black Window Tint. I've used it once on a Porsche windshield and it worked well. You can vary the transparency by spraying on more or fewer coats. As I recall, I laid the windshield as flat as possible to prevent the paint from puddling and sprayed multiple lig...

What did you have under the decals? Usually you apply decals over a shiny finish like gloss acrylic or lacquer. Future acrylic floorwax works great for this. Assuming you used some type of clear gloss finish under your decals you can use the same on top to seal them. Once the sealing coat dries you ...

I remember this ! You've been qorking on this for awhile now. Love the attention to detail you show with this.
The wiener dog, is he visiting from Canis Major?

If you're using CA you can use CA Remover to clean up any excess.
I've done this with a microbrush and it works great. You can also use rubbing alcohol to remove CA. Easee-peesie.
Now if you're doing this over paint, it will probably remove the paint unless you are veeeeery careful.

Make sure the finish is absolutley smooth like kylwell said. Metalizers will show every surface imperfection no matter how small.

I've used a Paasche VL airbrush for the past 5-6 years. I mostly spray enamels, ocassionally lacquers. The key is thinning the paint to the consistency of milk and keeping the air pressure between 15-20 psi. I also run mineral spirits to clean up after enamels or lacquer thinner for lacquers. I also...

Water won't damage a lacquer based primer. Get yourself one of those tiny sponges available in the clay modeling section at any craft store. The small round ones. Moisten it with water and give the model a good going over to remove any stray dust particles. I'd wear some disposable rubbber gloves to...

Was it a lacquer based primer by chance? Lacquers tend to evaporate more quickly so you might end up with the paint drying before it hits the surface if held too far away. Just a guess on my part as I generally use enamel based primers and have never encountered the dust issue of which you write.

Mostly I use Testors grey primer. I've also used Krylon acrylic grey and white primer. Both work well for me. Any imperfections can easily be removed with wet sanding.

My local HobbyTown sells microbits separately in tubes. You can by a whole tube or take out however many you need.

I can vouch for Tamiya tape. It's the best stuff for model masking I've ever seen and I've beem modeling for over 30 years.

I've sprayed Krylon primer in the past but generally get one good use out of the can. By the time I get to prime a second model, say a week later for arguments sake, the nozzles always act up and clog. I eventually end up disposing the can. Regarding the rattle can tip clogging up, are you holding ...

I've used hardware store paint thinner to flush enamels for years with no problem.

Mine didn't come with LEDs at all... I just have the AMT/Ertl Enterprise C, Nnot the Yamagichi... Yours looks GREAT!!! I may use your photo as a guide... Thanks... LOL I totally misread your post ! Clear parts threw me off. Good luck on your C. It''ll be a lot less of a chore than that Yamaguchi ki...

After in my opinion. I built the same kit some years ago and it can be a real bear. You may want to wire it up with LED's in place of the grain-of-wheat bulbs included in the kit. I built mine before I knew about LED's or I would have gone that route myself. I painted after assembling , puttying, an...

BERT aka MODEL MAKER wrote:is that the same as rubbing alcohol ? isopropyl ? or is denatured alcohol special stuff ?

It's like super strong alcohol. You can find it at the hardware store. Be careful with it though as it's poisonous. So wear gloves and don't drink too much of it.

Denatured alcohol