Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Weird question, but some of you guys might have tried it. Some time ago I was watching one of those "how do they do it?"-type shows on Discovery and the segment was about jelly beans, and how they are made by pouring hot candy on dimples made on a tray filled with cornstarch. That got me t...

Especially the ribbed sides and the center 'spindle'/disc holder: great for greeblies.

I prefer my styrene scoring blades without a bevel, so my cuts are straight-sided. An X-Acto blade mounted the other way on the handle (with the tip in the holder and the 'butt' sticking out does the trick. The thicker the plastic, though, the thicker the blade I use. First I do a rough shape cut, t...

For CCFLs, the best source I know of is old scanners. You know, the kind you ditch when you get a digital camera, or the kind that is part of a multi-function combo alongside a printer which you ditch because you bought a new, WiFi-enabled one. You get a CCFL lamp, plus some greeblies. Win-win scena...

The easiest way to make a cone is to take a hypercone and cut a tridimensional slice off of it. Voilá, cone.

Was there an actual physical model of the DSII or was it only matte paintings?

Better than solid brass rod, particularly in cases when you need to bend it in a tight radius, would be solid copper wire. Just strip the insulation and straighten it (several methods available, from pull stretching to rolling between two wooden boards) and you have a bit of rod which is more mallea...

ajmadison wrote:Magnificent work. That's the great thing about scratchbuilding, you can build it any freaking size you want, provided you have the real estate to display it.

Though that Sulaco is right at the upper limit for styrene. Any bigger and you'll have to resort to lumber, or maybe masonry.

I use a cordless screwdriver with a chuck. Slow speed, clean holes. I usually get two nicely shaped spiral shavings—one per cutting edge on the drill bit—with each hole I drill, meaning the bit cuts cleanly.

One thing I'd do is not to 'spread them randomly'. Try to mark off some broad areas in which there will be a higher greebly concentration. Keep those areas 'fuller', while sprinkling a small 'grouping' here and there between the fuller areas.

How 'bout something like this?

I cut two lengths [of fishing line] and two lengths of fiber optic... How long were those? I reckon for short stuff they'd be similar, but for longer runs (a foot or so and longer) fishing line would be quite inferior. They were only about 3 inches! [...] The "average" length of any given...

robiwon wrote:I cut two lengths [of fishing line] and two lengths of fiber optic...

How long were those? I reckon for short stuff they'd be similar, but for longer runs (a foot or so and longer) fishing line would be quite inferior.

...In metal molds the steam has been know to splatter the molten metal up and onto the person pouring the metal causing third degree burns... Just like letting water drip into a heated deep-frier: water flashing into steam will splash hot, searing oil everywhere. Hot oil is still preferable to molt...

I don't know... The original prop probably used this very same disk, because they wouldn't build something like that just for the props. They'd buy the disk from a retailer and adapt into their prop. The disk has a circuit board and a battery holder, as well as a casing/bezel, right? What if you dis...

Hi, tetsujin. Unfortunately, there's one of two screw pillars directly behind the trigger. If you're just gluing everything together you can surgically remove it and put a micro switch behind the trigger, but I'm hoping for a more elegant solution. Maybe two thin parallel metal strips on the forwar...

That HAS to be awkward to whoosh around the house.

Apart from that, great work. Nice to see traditional model woodworking methods put to good use.

Yep. After they're too worn out for teeth, they're still kicking for plastics. Get used ones from your DDS.

You gotta know (and tell us) the forward current of the LEDs.

Basically, yes. You might get them to rough shape with a Dremel, though. Just a touch against a sanding drum (so they don't overheat), turn them a bit, another touch... Of course, you have to hold the LEDs with needle-nose pliers or something like that. After the shape is roughly sanded, you go in m...

Luftfahrt. He he.

As long as you:

a) Don't overheat the LED bulb by sanding/Dremelling; and

b) Don't get closer than 3/32" (or so) to the metal bits inside,

you'll be fine (and so Will the LEDs).

There are even 0402 LEDs: 1mm x 0.5mm.

I also tried to load the page, and it didn't work. However... I tried to link directly to the main page (http://seansmodels.com) and it worked. Even better, after the main site loaded, I tried the full link again and it worked. I have no idea why, but it did.

Plasticine is, when you look really close, grainy. That'll make your cast parts grainy too. It could be great to replicate cast-iron parts in scale.

Sharpies are fierce. There's a chance there's going to be some bleed into the plastic—the isopropyl alcohol will remove everything off the surface, but you may have a faint 'ghost' on the styrene.

How about a sheet of edge-lit plexiglass? Gang enough hi-intensity LEDs on the edge, roughen the 'fixtures' on its surface and you may have the effect you need, at low cost (comparatively), without the need for EL sheets or SMT LEDs.

It's Christmas time! Time to open the boxes in the attic and find out which decorations are too old/banged up/broken to be used as decoration (and take a good, hard look at their remains to looking for parts and/or greeblies). Joy to the world! BTW, it is a great time to stock up on spherical fuel t...

Batteries (and cells) are usually difficult to solder—the solder doesn't 'stick' properly (that's why the 'tabs' are usually spot-welded to the battery/cell).

I would use large-diameter heat shrink tubing to hold the two cells and the wires together, then I'd 'lock them in' with epoxy putty.

Keep the model away from the blue screen. That'll accomplish the following: help keep the shadow from the model from showing up on the blue screen; make the screen out of focus, so any imperfection/blemish won't show in the picture; minimize any color bleed from the blue screen onto the back of the ...