Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Formica, and it's the cat's pajamas. Impervious to cements and thinners, easy to pop adhered bits of putty off. Seconded I use an old 3-pc corner computer desk that I modified so it's one long run. One thing I like about them is that they are dead flat so they work great as bases for jigs, lining u...

Back in the day I made several masking templates by plotting images in reverse on the back side of frisket film.

I'm an engineer by trade so I had access to pen plotters and AutoCAD, I don't know if you can still get frisket film and haven't seen a pen plotter in years.

Ken

White numbers in black boxes are Gunze Mr. Color Lacquers:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorchart ... or_map.htm

Black numbers in white boxes are the aqueous acrylics:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorchart ... ze_map.htm

Can I ask what you planned to use 300ft of tubing for? I didn't. What I wanted was 1/72 .50 machinegun barrels with correct wall thickness. To have them custom drawn I'd need to order 300 feet of it. It was something like 3.50 a foot but times 300... Came up to small change by moderator standards? :)

Kylwell wrote:I considered once having 300 feet of custom tubing made up. Cheap by the foot but x300 it was out of price range. Now-a-days I use Albion Alloy tubes for most things.

Can I ask what you planned to use 300ft of tubing for?

I get mine from McMaster-Carr:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-metal-tubing/=10vcrda

Ken

I would spray the base color over the future, that way if you spray too much you can remove it easily.

Ken

The overcoat with base color technique is what you want. Essentially you make a glaze or wash out of teh base color and thinner and then spray multiple coats over the decals until you get the results you're looking for. I've seen this done with the dark gray markings on the current 2-tone USN gray s...

And how is it worse than lacquer thinner?

Good grief it's not that bad.

Look at the MSDS, it's basically MEK and Acetone:
link

Methyl Ethyl Ketone 52.2%
Acetone 19.0%
Propane 11.7%
Butane 11.3%
Xylene 3.6%
Ethylbenzene 0.6%

For PVC olymbing parts of scuff sand the surface before priming, the parts have a surface treatment that helps with fliw and prevents sticking. For other PVC parts you should be ok as long as the surface isn't super shiny or slick. I've painted whithe plumbing parts after scuffing with auto lacquer ...

http://www.smooth-on.com/Castable-Epoxy-Res/c1295_1377/index.html http://www.smooth-on.com/Castable-Epoxy-Res/c1295_1395/index.html I know that the resin that Vector uses to cast their clear aircraft canopies has to cure under heat for 24h, he still has a 20%+ reject rate. I don't know the brand tho...

Plain ol' hardware store lacquer thinner works for me.

After adding the lacquer thinner and before you shake it, make sure the lid is screwed on tight, if you don't the lacquer thinner will leak out and you'll have a mess on your hands.

Yes, I found out the hard way......

Ken

I've used lacquer thinner with no problems. Just make sure you stir/shake well to get everything mixed well, especially for the buffable types.

Ken

Plastic #1 – PETE or PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) Thermoforms quite easily and can be used to make custom canopies, etc. The Squadron clear thermoform sheets are PETE. Can be bonded with superglue and takes paint well Plastic #2 – HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Can be welded using HDPE rod, do...

I've started watching Stargate SG-1 again and have thought about building my MRC Anubis figure kit. Looking to get a decent gold/gilded effect on certain parts of it, I don't like the look of Testor's gold or any of the "metallic" paints that have a large flake size and look like glitter. ...

Have you tried cleaning the parts with a degreaser? Here in the States we have a product called "Super Clean" (used to be branded as Castrol Super Clean) that's a very strong water-based alkaline degreaser. It will remove waxes, silicones, paint, chrome plating and its undercoat, etc. from...

n/m

I have one of the Captain Cardboard 2001 figure kits that came with a monolith, it was a piece of MDF in the proper proportions. Sealing it with several coats of shellac sanded between coats got rid of any of the texture of the MDF, priming it auto lacquer filler/primer and sanding between coats aga...

Basswood, soft enough to carve easily but still hard enough to be durable when handling and easy to split for vacuforming.

Available at most craft supply stores like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.

If you can't get basswood locally poplar will work too.

Ken

okay, just started to take a look at http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html and was about to say i'd have to see pictures of the items next to a ruler to get a feel of their size when i saw it was all on clear decal paper decals are not what i am in need of, i need actual detailing ...

Archer Surface Details in varying scales and patterns:
http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html

Micro-Mark rivet decals:
http://www.micromark.com/o-scale-decals ... ,9967.html

Is the recycling code on the bottom "6"? That's the recycling code for styrene.

"3" is PVC, the rest of the plastics with recycling codes aren't usable in modeling applications due to their lack of glueability or paintability.

Ken

Have you looked at knitting/crochet needles?

The one's I've seen at Michael's are either aluminum or plastic (I think it's styrene), they have a slight taper and they have some large ones, not sure of the size for the large ones though.

Ken

I've used lacquer thinner in the past to strip several vinyl kits from various manufacturers and never had any problem with it attacking the vinyl. If you have sticky sections lacquer thinner will probably help to pull out the stickiness as well, lacquer thinner will dry out the vinyl a little but i...

My guess would be a metal foil adhesive, I think Microscale made or makes some but I'm not sure if it's still made. In the past I made my own bare metal foil using cheap aluminum foil and 3M spray adhesive cut with paint thinner, got the idea form an old issue of FSM. In short - lay the foil glue si...

Contact cement, same stuff they use to bond laminate countertop material to the wood base.

Remember that you only get one shot when bonding the parts!

Ken

To expand on the jig idea above, I'm thinking there might be enough residual stress in the gun that even heating and bending the affected area might not be enough, you may have to effectively anneal the entire gun. I used to work in metal fabrication and sometimes we would have parts that would warp...

An old classic paper cutter/trimmer?

linky