Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Kylwell wrote: Handy trick, ceramic blades don't need wax to get them to cut smoothly through foam.

Picked up a nice Faberware ceramic blade today, and test cuts on some foam scrap went AWESOMELY well!

Working on a project that needs a piece roughly the size of a pack of cigs. What I want to do, since it's a fairly simple shape is cut a prototype from something to use as a stand-in for the real part to coordinate the other pieces of the project, then shave down the prototype to create the actual ...

Kylwell wrote:Or the classic blue or pink insulation foam.

Handy trick, ceramic blades don't need wax to get them to cut smoothly through foam.

Oooohhhhh! Gotta try that -- oddly enough, I don't have a ceramic knife in the house. Gonna fix that!

Thanks for the comments!

I was reviewing my build-log pics yesterday, and saw that the most recent one was from mid-June. Sigh. My summer distractions list should be amended to include topping off the hummingbird feeder, and a variety of mundane household repairs. Excuses, I know.

Thank you! That Quad Tractor shows up in the oddest places when you start looking... The build is on-going, just slowed to a very slow crawl. Every season of the year presents challenges to the modeler: summer means tending the garden, and the yard, weeding the iris beds, and mowing the crab-grass. ...

I wish I had a relevant answer, but I do not. I have honestly not ever seen a water-trap that didn't have the flow direction labeled.

Added the leg struts to the engines: 6 more pics!


http://tinyurl.com/m6v29tp

Looks to be really great material!

I'd have to find a Knoxville/East Tn distributor for getting enough to tackle some projects I have in mind... that's not a complaint, just a fact.

Slowly I grind forth...

7 new build pics added, showing the solution I am applying to the leg tank cylinders, and also the 4 finned engines. Those are now all glued up *real good* and I added rings trimmed from Scotchtape cores at the aft end of the engines.


http://tinyurl.com/m6v29tp

I purchased same of their sanding sticks! Another question for down the road, any reccomedation on a substance I can use to fill in cracks of joined pieces on the final model to hide seanms? For filling seams, it is hard to beat either Aves or Magicsculpt epoxy putties: Aves: http://www.starshipmod...

Thanks, gang! Progress this past weekend: not so much. I'm making the leg-cylinder tanks currently, and it's a slow, ugly process. I'm also crankin' on my Sekrit contest entry for the Departures 2.0 contest here, and dealin' with yard chores and house chores. Actually getting a model finished... it'...

From Battle Beyond The Stars, I started a Flicker page for my Cowboy Freight Hauler build: http://tinyurl.com/m6v29tp The goal (insert hysterical laughter) is to have this at Wonderfest this year. It's gonna be a race... Minor note: while the 1979 model builders had cheap access to a variety of kits...

Had a slow day, huh?

And the 3 forums that are mentioned are all for full-sized trucks, not models.

And while many of this board's membership does own trucks - like me - this is so seriously not the right place to complain about a vendor who deals in vehicle electronics.

Locking, now.

More styrene might indeed be the best bet; different thickness of strip stock and sheet stock will allow for making shapes that you want. Various putties are potentially good for what you want; Aves putty and Magicsculpt putty are what Mark Y. & myself advocate all the time. They are plastic-fri...

That is awesome!

Any airbrush artist-types in your area? Tee-shirts, fellow modelers, heck, local fairs/fleamarkets? Find someone who is actually *using* their airbrushes, and ask questions. What do they like & not like? Take notes. How long have they been using what they are using? What do they like their airbr...

Moved to the Finishing section, where paint guru-types cluster.

I personally am horrible at painting, so I cannot offer advice.

...and when did they use the dk. Grey version? For the Animated Series version of the Enterprise: http://www.theviewscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/tas-enterprise-500x175.jpg :8) Just kidding. The yellow sheet is stickers, the white sheet is decals. And, the decal sheet does have white window...

What scale are you talking about? 1/1, 1/32, 1/12?

It might make a big difference in what to use...

I am certain that others will point out alternate approaches to getting a masterpiece build done, but my style is... -Is this build for yourself or a client? For yourself, you can usually take as much or as little time as you need. Clients have this odd thing about deadlines. A masterpiece for a cli...

See if this helps any...

http://round2models.com/files/instructions/amt721.pdf

http://round2models.com/files/instructions/amt661.pdf

Yeah, but that's only once a year, and located at Wonderfest.

I admire what you are trying to express! But, speaking purely for my self, it's possible that you are over thinking or over analyzing the build process. Nike shoes and Larry the Cable Guy use different phrases, but "Just do it!" and "Get'er done!" to me sum up what is really esse...

Here are two possible approaches: 1) Find good quality masking tape, like Tamiya tape or Frog tape: http://frogtape.com/index.php/products This should allow you to mask right up to the edges of the detail areas. Burnish it down completely! Then paint the detail areas. 2) Strip the existing paint. Th...

It's a French (or Quebec?) spam-bot advertising signage for Australian outdoor pavilions. Which confuses me too...

...and if you use Aves or Magicsculpt, take a small amount, roughly green-pea-sized, and start gently rolling it out into a rope. It's surprisingly easy to control the overall diameter to a thickness that you prefer, down to really, really thin threads. Either of those putty's give you gobs of work-...

Hah! I fooled the universe! I cleverly finished one kit, and now more information has come out so I can do the second kit properly! Kev Is that like completing a rare and obscure scratchbuild so that you can lure out the even rarer and more obscure references you needed to make the scratchbuild acc...

Over on Hobbytalk, djnick66 did a really nice build showing what paint colors he used throughout the model; page 5 of the thread gathers the paint call-outs:

http://tinyurl.com/d646uqa

Reading through that may help you make decisions about what colors to use for your build.

This is one of those "you shouldn't have to tell anyone this" kind of things, but, triple-check that you have a firm grip on your material before applying it to the belt sander. In the rather cool book, "Fallingwater The Model" by Paul Bonfilio, he describes a belt sander 'oops' ...