Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Because my memory isn't what it used to be, I'm printing out the
whole magillashlinginangin* thread-never hurts to have hard copy.

I appreciate everybodies advice and insight-I only wish my builds got as many comments





* Woldercanese-it doesn't translate.

Heheh. Good to know that 911 operators can have a sense of humor and proportion.... Chacal- Yes, its never appeared on any kind of screen other than a computer, so there's not a lot to argue about. I will be looking back at the SF Museum site to see if there are any 'artists interpretations', which ...

I expect you're both right about getting better results from a computer than a copier, but my technological expertise doesn't extend much past pressing buttons, I'm afraid. Still, the process Frank described seems to have worked adequately for this set of drawings ( a bit bigger than I would have ex...

I don't know where the "1.85mm = 2m" came from, but it's wrong. Thats what I got when I divided the 50m scale bar by 27, its length- I was trying to get the smallest units to see if I couldn't figure out where to go from there.... So, by your solution I need to enlarge the drawings by 185...

Well, sure! You want that in blonde, brunette, or ambidexterous?

Thats what I needed to know-thank you, Ken!

I should be able to figure this out myself, but my brain seems to be balking. Here's the question. I have a set of plan views, to an unstated scale, but there is a scale bar along with the views. The bar is listedas "50 Meters" and is 27mm long. ( The plan views are of the 'Swordfish' clas...

...and tiny interociter screens!

Insulation foam is markedly cheaper, but I gather its not as robust as urethane foam-but its amazing how long a single sheet will last. A simple battery-operated hot wire will run you about 9-10 dollars at Micheals or Hobby Lobby. You can get better cutters that run on household current, but they ru...

One other possibilty- Hobby Lobby carries a simple plastic pallette,
with around 10-12 dishes for paint mixing. They're about an inch to
an inch and a half in diameter, and shallow enough to serve as a
good radar dish. The plastic is thin enough to be cut fairly easily too.
It was 99cents-cheap!

I've found them in sleeves of fifty at Hobby Lobby-though they can be tricky to find, and every time I've doen so, it was after the staff insisted
they had nothing like htat in the store...

Whoa! Your Legion hall has a Nike Ajax parked out front?!? Double-plus
cool!


Glad things went well, Yeti.

What can I say? I've glued laminations of blue foam together with white
glue and had them hold together just fine. Now I will say that nothing I've done
has been much bigger than say eight inches square, so that may factor
into it.

Modelnutz Mused You may have drying issues with white ( PVA ) glues...the air will have a hard time getting at the glue. Not as much as you might think, Ed. I've used it to laminate sections a number of times and while it will take about half a day for a good set, it does cure out ok. Honest!

White glue or wood glue should work fine. Epoxy will also work. Superglue ( cyanoacrelate ) will melt the stuff, as will regular styrene cement. If time permits, I'd use the insul-foam as a base, and build the 'book' out of paper mache'. Poster paints would probably be the way to go for the finish.

By "card" do you mean styrene sheet, or cardboard? If its the former, I'd use a thin styrene cement, like testors or tamiya. If its cardboard ( that is, paper ) I'd suggest either contact cement or some form of white glue. Superglue has its uses, but unless you've got an absolutely steady ...

Here is another Alclad question. I've used Tamiya gloss black laquer instead of their brand ( It was reccomended by my local Hobby Shop ) and was wondering if a more generic gloss black would work as well... and if using a different color of gloss laquer would produce any iiIIiinteresting effects...

Kylwell...defining away....by "stuff", I mean very fine mesh stainless steel screen. I'm going to the old factory today and I'll grab a bit so I'll have more on hand after today. This stuff should work great for straining. I'll be sending some to Lt.ZOmBe today....let's wait and see if it...

I picked some up awhile back, mainly to flatten Future-is it supposed to be so thick? My bottle had a consistency like half set pudding...

One caution on the Patlabor kits-the rubber used for the sleeves will attack the styrene of the kit-to the point of melting it. I found this out after pulling the Brocken* out of storage awhile back. the pins for the knee and hip joints were almost completely disintegrated, and the rims of the hips ...

Testors Gold is probably the only enamal I still have in the paintbox-I
like it, but you also might look at the Rub N' Buff line-I understand they're
quite good.

What do you thin really small rocks with? 'Cos I was thinking either lava or quicksand. I use the power of my mind.... Ahem. Anyway, like Kylwell, I'm either acrylics or laquer, and the latter only very recently. I converted from enamels about fifteen years ago- and I've found my brush ( an old Paa...

Boy, this is nostalgia! My old machine gave up the ghost in the early
'ninties, after seeing use since it was new in the sixties. I remember
in the pre-internet days when the things were going for upwards of
a hundred bucks.

Gets my vote for tip of the year-uncured silcon is a right pain.
Thanks!

I can second MacFrank's experience. I live in San Diego, and I've searched high and low for the stuff, and have never gotten anything better than a goldfish expression from any of the vendors I've talked too. It's wierd, as if the nearly entire building contractor and supply industry down here has ...

Well, for what its worth, I beat the heat. I tried the wiring plan that Frank suggested, but that only lit one of the LEDs-so I went back to paralell, but I think I reversed the connection-its now got the negative battery lead to the switch, or something. Anyway, it doesn't burn my fingers after bei...

Is this what your switch looks like? http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nuukspot/decdun/gc/dpdt.l.jpg Say without the E and F terminals. Not quite-Mine is a simple slide switch, with half the number of contacts- three, instead of six. I think I've got a little better handle on the problem. It'll probably b...

I'm inclined to suspect the battery pack myself-I remember getting a sort of mild shock from it wit hbatteries installed when it wasn't hooked up to anything. I'll take a closer look at it tonight ( unfortuntely, it is superglued to the bottom of the base which may limit my options...) and see what ...

Figures. The first time I try lighting a model in five years and I get a mystery. Its two wide-angle red LEDs, 1.7v, hooked up to a pair of AAA batteries in a Radio Shack bettery box, with a simple two position micro switch. Lights up just fine, but after a few minutes in the battery box, the batter...

I've read through this thread, and have a couple of questions-given that
you can add Ta,iya flat base to Future, (1) what ratio is good, and (2) is
it compatible with Gunze Sangyo acrylics? ( I know Future alone works
just fine, just want to be sure about the combination. )