Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Only thing I've seen is sheet plastic in black.
A commercial display manufacture my have something if you live in a major city.

I keep ALL DupliColor primer, fillers and sealers on hand. Been using them for 20 years. I really like the gray sealer best if a fill is not needed. Very thin but excellent coverage. I get them locally at Magic Mart but when they are out.....Amazon.

TazMan2000 wrote:I started off with Alumilite and still use it today. Its a great general purpose RTV rubber.

TazMan2000

Agreed.....and if you have a Hobby Lobby near get it at 40% off!!!! Get the complete starter kit.

Try some Dupli-color #1699 sealer gray. From the can or decant it. Very thin and covers as well. Use under any paint.....or I should say all I have tried.

Long over due cleanig up of the work room.
Found a box filled with Plastruct stuff.....over $100 I had forgotten.
Also 3 shoebox size containers full of scrap plastic.
I'll send a box to anyone willing to pay postage!!!

I have a commercial 25 watt 12x18 laser. I am into model railroad hobby too.....so I get more use from it than you might in the plastic model hobby although I did have a line of plastic model kits cut on the laser. $2K is a lot less than what I paid in 2002, but this is a full on commercial machine ...

My Hobby Lobby sells a number of colors about .010 thick. Nice stuff.

Pretty sure the glue melted the plastic enough to make it stick to the resin. Add a few drops of CA now and that should bond it all together. I'd not trust it alone.

Epoxy on mine...

Look in your local yellow pages of plastic supply businesses. You can get 4x8 sheets or larger in several thicknesses for a fraction of what Evergreen charges. Manufactures and suppliers use the term HIPS. High Impact Poly-Styrene. TazMan2000 That's what I did when I lived in Charlotte. In fact the...

Plastruct direct online. Good folks to deal with.....been ordering from them for years. Lots of different thicknesses and sheet sizes.

Lots of uses if it can be made at a price the model builder can afford and not just Audi!!!
I can see printing instrument panels on it....cool!
As many ideas as there are days!

My commercial Laser cutter uses CorelDraw as file input. A few other formats MAY work but results are not 100% IMHO. Easiest thing to do is create the part in CorelDraw to start with. You can measure down to .001 inch so it's much more accurate than anything done by hand. I've cut hundreds of parts ...

I bought one of these at a craft store....about $10.
can't cut straight with this....give up!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/7 ... L1500_.jpg
Also bought a pair of mini scissors with a angled cutting shears.....

I really like Gorilla glues....epoxy or ACC types.

I use a food dehydrator to dry all my paints. But if you have a bad chemical reaction then you may have to strip the model and re-paint. Good luck.

The best results have always come from using Tamiya thinner.....I have used alcohol....but results were not always good. But the Tamiya....save the headaches.

Balsa foam is what I use. Bought it last from Dick Blick art supply. Good stuff.

I've used black primer many times, but I prefer Duplicolor's black sandable primer. Some people use Krylon primer, but I think as a whole Krylon spray paints are too troublesome to use on models. Black primer with a light color coat is a common method for painting Vipers & X-Wings. Agree 100%.....

I have on my desk Ambroid Pro Weld, Zap AC, 5 minute epoxy, Elmer's white glue and old time Testor's red tube glue. I find that I need all of them at one time or another. I never understand the 'HATE' toward Testor's tube glue........

Future/Pledge floor shine??? I've used it fo 25 years. Gloss can be dulled a bit if needed by the way you apply.

Or you just go ahead and find a plastics supplier and 4x8 foot sheet for about $20. Yep.....when I lived in Charlotte I'd go to the local plastic commercial supplier. A 4x8 foot of .030 was under $20. BUT...the real deal was their cut off bin. All kinds and thicknesses of sheet stock sold by the po...

I have a laser engraver/cutter. The biggest learning curve will be the 'art' used by the machine. I was lucky when I bought mine I already had 6 years of Corel Draw under my belt so I just had to learn the laser end. They are GREAT machines....but expect to spend a lot more than you may think. No ma...

I have a file cabinet full of Plastruct and Evergreen stock. Bins full of other stuff too. But it's about 3 hours to the hobby shop and in the winter I don't get out all the time. Kinda like a well stocked shop!!!

Alclad folks were set up across the isle from me at a model show last Sat. Their new Alclad II stuff they had looked FANTASTIC....not tried it myself yet.

If you can get new decals go with them. But I use vintage decals that are not replaceable all the time. But there are a number of things you can do. If there is a decal not needed for your project try and use it. If it works you may be OK. It really depends on how the decal has been stored for 8 yea...

Google 'small parts inc' They have 100's of sizes....I got some I used as 1/6 scale bike tires.

I print on clear and white plastic stock all the time. I have a OKI dry ink type printer I use to do it. I made some resin kits a few years ago and printed pasterns on the clear sock do the modeler could cut it out. Also print screen on white stock to back light. I bet ink jet will bead up and smear...

Great work there. I've wanted to scale up the kit to 1/24 but yet to tackle it. Any build details?? Media, details, parts etc???

Nice work.....interested to see how it comes together.