Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Actually, speaking of storage boxes, I've found the small plastic boxes for baby wipes to be perfect for storing model parts for many types of projects. They stack, they have a positively closed lid, you can mark on the box to let you know what's inside. I build a lot of AFV kits and most 1/35 tanks...

There really is no secret way to do this. Drill, carve, fill. If you can, and if the kit is multiple sdolid parts, do the carving before you put it together, but if it's one solid lump, you're scuppered. Drill, carve & fill. Carefully.

That's it.

Rafael, I think the basic point here is that if you can't buy what you want, scratchbuilding such a ball-type joint is not for the faint of heart. On the other hand, if you can wait a bit & buy or if you can get a friend to buy stuff for you, then there are several options that are significantly...

Very interesting and he does have a lot of good points on how to construct specific details, but I must say that I am not a fan of his end results. As I said above, for me items on the model must have a purpose, must make sense. His approach is to just throw stuff down on the model for the sake of t...

Quite a number of companies make scribing tools & aides. Squadron makes one, I think as do others, like UMM-USA and, I think, OLFA and many more. They come in many shapes & methods of operation. Do a google search & I'm sure you'll turn up a bunch. There are also a lot of ways of guiding...

I want to sort of contemporize the look of the Pilgrim, make it look like it's operating now with current technologies. In that case you might want to add something like the Canadarm back near the nuke engine. No-one is going to want to go back near that puppy, but maintenance requirements may dict...

I've got a set that a local modeller, who's also a professional tool & die maker, made almost 20 years ago. The big difference is that it has 10 different punches from .029" up to about .22" and that the wiper is almost a quarter inch thick. This has ensured that the punch & die li...

It's not really an "either/or" question. I use Acrylics for the bulk of my painting, but use enamels when the colour match isr better or when Ii need a tough surface. I especially like them for brushing in small areas as they tend to cover better. I like Floquil laquers because, in the mil...

Beauty!

Thanks, Joseph!

I've got the Taig lathe and the mill as well. I bought a lot of the tooling back in the late 90's when Ebay was young and yuo realyll could get deals. I bought lots of "lots", getting several tools, gauges, cuttters, stock, etc in each auction for only a few bucks each. much harder to do t...

Well, again, to be precise, the "scales" used by some (actually most) figure makers is not an actual scale. It is a nominal measurement from the base to the centre of the figure's eyes. Not even to the top of the hear. Bloody useless concept, but they are wedded to it. It's more like a &qu...

The "scale" of any model is an absolute thing. It is the ratio of the real thing to the model. It doesn't mater what the model is of, the concept of scale is absolute. What you _will_ find with figures, though, is that certain manufacturers tend to make their figures all about 5' 7" o...

I'm sure it's the engineer in me, but when scratchbuilding S.F. subjects I always (I mean always) try to think through what it is that the "greeblie" is supposed to do and how it is supposed to work. If it doesn't have a purpose, it doesn't get added... Biiig can of worms there, buddy. Ma...

To add to that, it is also not a given that you do or do not assemble the kit parts before cutting them. I've found that it's usually better to do the cutting before any assembling, but sometimes it works better to assemble and then cut, expecially if you need to make an even cut across a major join...

I'm sure it's the engineer in me, but when scratchbuilding S.F. subjects I always (I mean always) try to think through what it is that the "greeblie" is supposed to do and how it is supposed to work. If it doesn't have a purpose, it doesn't get added. Nothing looks more fake (to me) than s...

Yeah, them's nasty bubbles. I agree with the others, it's gonna require a combination of epoxy putty, CA and wholesale rescratchbuilding of the details to get that back to a reasonable state where Mr. Surfacer can even start to contribute to the recovery. I'm not going to suggest getting new parts o...

And what, pray tell, is a Silhouette SD?

Paul

instead of sand couldn't you use brown sugar over the cotton??? or maybe salt?? should be a finer grit but still give you the crystalline particle effect effect. then just paint to color The probelm with using anything even vaguely food-like for groundwork is that little critters will come & ea...

Something I've been getting into lately is using polar fleece with fiberglass resin. For one thing it's cheaper than fiberglass mat, but if you do it right you essentially end up with a 1/8"" thick piece of fiberglass with just one layer of it, versus a paper-thin layer with the mat. -Rog...

I pretty much build monocoque style hulls. So the skin is also stressed. I start with a .040" center profile. Then add .020" bulkheads that are at right angles to the center profile at 1" (or 2cm) or smaller intervals. <SNIP> Not to be overly pedantic (OK, maybe it _is_ overly pedand...