Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I've been leaning towards the MicroMark kit since it seems very complete, is very easy to order, and is only about $70. It's got about a half gallon of resin and rubber plus a bunch of other stuff. Anything bad about the MicroMark kit? Is the MoldMax series from SmoothOn? I can't recall offhand as ...

Be careful of the oomoo 30/25 series they mix pretty thick. I used a lot of it and sometimes you get a mold with few air bubbles and sometimes not. There is some stuff that mechmonkey uses I have some mold he hand mixed without degassing. I think it is the alumilite brand rubber. This stuff works gr...

here's a source of kits that will also help you develop soldering skills: http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/index.php?action=category&id=9 They have cold cathode stuff too (nice to combine shipments): http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/html/Category-22-0.html I have not ordered from them yet but we a...

Fiber optic products store has a lot of kits, some of them are harder to find but their 'model lighting' section maybe all your looking for:

http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/Models.htm

Here's the write up I did. I tried to inlcude all the issues I've worked through so far with the process: http://www.kc6sye.com/advancedcasting.doc And here's the slide show I gave, I've added some movie clips on this page, if you've never seen something as thick as silcon RTV rubber boiling at room...

Go ahead and take a picture of the model stand or point us to the model and we can make suggestions on how to accomplish different lighting techniques. We go for caned solutions whenever possible. . . so there might be a little lighting toy that you can <A HREF="http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_...

What ever the wire you use, it should be a size you can fit in the model and something you can easily strip, it is the nicks that you make stripping the insulation that will cause breaks. Nothing like getting everything soldered up and glued in place, then seeing that some wire has broken right at t...

Yes an analog circuit was made that has something close to this effect. . .it's from a UK site on computer fan controllers: http://www.cpemma.co.uk/throbber.html <A HREF="http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_3_17_04_c.html" target="blank">here's some clips of the circuit</A> If you've...

That spec sheet said max was 4 volts, so even a little more and that and they are saying it will burn the LED. Running LEDs at max will give you lots of brightness for much less time. We ran <A HREF="http://www.kc6sye.com/images/images_05_04/tony_5_2_04/3_dss_tstlits_nthrudck.jpg" target=&...

Sure its, all black magic in the final analysis. The point is that the envirotex lit worked fine in the oomoo molds. The cure time is, after-all, 48 hours for 'thin' pours over a table top like surface. With smooth-on's crystal clear resin I even have cure issues with thick pieces. We just made a co...

Here's alook at something we tried with envirotex, it's an oomoo mold, but before I had a vacuum pump to degas. So the neatest parts on the master came out with bubbles in the mold. . . http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_2_11_04.html These casts were not <A HREF="http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_4_...

Sorry you had to find this out the trial method. We found this out when I tired to use the envirotex light to cast some parts (the PL TOS bridges) from Tony's molds. I have used it fine with smooth-on's oomoo to make early castings of the cargo shuttle bays They just take forever to cure. And I thin...

BTW Kirk gave the electronics lecture at Wonderfest, he suggested the silcon calk to tack down wires inside the model. . .I have the CD with his handout, mayber there are more ideas on there. Keep an eye out for the Wonderfest picture posting, handouts get posted there too.

You don't have uncure And you glued your fingers, ouch
Yes there is uncure. It is thin and runny and I think it softens resin, I had to get some parts off a resin piece after I decided they needed to be inset to look correct. . .still a messy procedure but I didn't need the grinder.

Just a quick note on hot glue, it is basically plastic that melts safely. It sticks to things by 'flowing' into the texture of it and locking in place. It’s not like a chemical bond. It's just groves and lips and ruff points that have gotten the glue into it so it can grip it. You can always use J...

It is possible that the power is to low to light one light, In fact on Neil's tug there are a red and green led on either seid for nav lights, they are hooked in parallel to the driver circuit but have their own dropping resistor. Since they have different voltage ratings as the battery gets low you...

There are ultra bright reds, greens, and ambers. An ultra birght yellow was used as the tractor beam emitter on the little yard tug from the same project. It projected a circular pattern on a new nacell being towed out of the Neil's big Tug. http://www.spacemodelmania.com/models/wfest2k4/pa_j_332.JP...

You can even try brass strip/foil, try a test length first, basically you can flatten the wire so that a thick wire carriers the as much current as the same wire smashed flat. This is true to a point, supper thin and you will have problems laying it down with out stressing/tearing the foil, and thes...

I'm guessing Sam's isn't making their electronics starter kits/workbooks anymore. I believe they were located in the out back. If you can find any of these they're a great way to ease into electronics, since that's where I started. Along with HAM radio. But I still have my Heathkit/Sam's analog trai...

I think you might put the inverter in the ship, one inventer may power two tubes, the wires from the inverter output can be smaller, they carry high frequency, high voltage signals with low power. (BTW it will shock you if you touch them but it didn't kill me when we put the neon rope in the J-57 sp...

<a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_1_18_04_e.html" target="_blank">LEDs make good spot lights</a>, we would like to try one in a [brass] tube, so that one can adjust the beam by chaning the depth of the LED in the tube. Not sure how that will work, I haven't tried a tube wi...

Yes I would pay $10 for all the pics and movies, at full res!

BTW i have several to send you John, I can have them combined onto one CD by the end of the week.

I vote no, because I saw the special during the Olympics and the work out for skating (speed skating) is more intense. When jogging your muscles are working along the length of your leg. In skating you're working your hip and groin muscles much more, so stretch&#8217;em if you don't want them to...

As long as one is left with WC duties, that many guys around would make the WC pretty nasty. And that's enough to leave any women bent.

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