Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

4/6/8 conductor solid telephone wire is another good choice. Each conductor is about .020 thick stripped, .030 sheathed.

Stu Pidasso wrote:

Ziz wrote:I hate doing two part molds. That's why all my parts have that T sprue on them. It allows me to do everything as one part envelope molds.

Wait until you get into 3 and 4 part molds...

If I refuse to do 2 part, why would I even attempt something more complicated?

I hate doing two part molds. That's why all my parts have that T sprue on them. It allows me to do everything as one part envelope molds.

Depends on the paint. See how it flows after it's out.

It looks like you did the aztec pattern in gloss/flat rather than two colors, right?

It'll be tedious but I'd say spray the gloss coat to seal the decals then go back and re-mask your aztec and re-spray the flat coat.

How are you sanding it after you apply whatever you fill it with? It's subtle but wrapping sandpaper around your finger so that it will conform to the surface when you press down is counter-intuitive. In reality, it conforms so well that it gets back into the seam and cleans out your fill work. Wrap...

Back up a second. You said you have white and yellow LEDs, right? Whites and blues run in the 5 to 6v range, all the other colors are half of that, down around 2.5 to 3v. Secondly, each is going to pull a certain amount of milliamps (mA). Find out what those are. So now you've got three issues - whi...

Depends on the shape of the building. What scale/size do you need it to be? What exact building(s) do you need to make? Post links/pics so we can see what you need to create.

I think this would be great idea, only thing i would suggest is have the interior lights come on gradually over about 2 seconds like in the episode "Night" Season 5 episode 1 If you're still working on this, I agree with otacon. Work from the inside outwards - interior lights first, then ...

Inkjet decals almost always require a clear overcoat or fixative to prevent the colors from running when the decal goes into water. Laser decals do not require a clear coat, but it can help with durability. My decals are laser printed and I put a gloss clear coat A) to help seal the artwork to the ...

For that design, yeah, do the bussard collector and nacelle body separately. That allows you to put the sprue/pour stub on the mating surfaces rather than the outer surface of the part AND it allows you to cast the bussard collector in clear resin while doing the body in standard resin. Attachment/a...

First, make sure your pieces are SOLID. Not just well constructed but totally through and through solid. My first attempt at molding the Coventry saucer, the master was hollow and collapsed under vacuum. Had to totally rebuild it and fill it with resin. Since then, all my masters have been either re...

Yes. Get all your electronics worked out before you start modifying the kit so that you don't need to re-modify anything as you go.

But that may be part of your problem - the battery probably isn't delivering the amperage you need to make things run properly. If you don't start with the right size power supply, all your other math for making things work will be thrown off.

Sounds like you don't have enough amperage to run everything. Are you using a 9v battery or power adapter?

www.acmoore.com and www.michaels.com post coupons to their sites every Sunday morning. The Michaels near me carries all your standard Testors brand hobby products, including the bottles of liquid cement. It's about $3 normally and the coupons on the site are usually 40% or 50% off, so now you're loo...

Be more specific - which engine parts of which ship/vehicle? What kind of lighting are you using and how much of it? How far along your build are you? Are we talking plastic clear parts or resin?

It all figures in to the answer you get.

I try to avoid two-part molds unless I have no choice, mostly because it's just more work and time to create the mold. I don't use any mold release. Most of the problems I have had are just in getting the original part out of the mold because of the natural vacuum created by the part being in there ...

Looks like an E-C/Ambassador nacelle, right? If you've already attached it, cut the bussard collector off. Cast it in two parts - body and bussard. Make a tall mold and cast it on-end. When I cast my TOS nacelles, I put the pour stub where the rear fairing attaches. For the Endeavor nacelles, the po...

Also, maybe less coats between drying times. I got to thinking that 5 might have had something to do with it to. Maybe just go with 2 or three before letting dry completely. Likewise the reverse - longer drying times between coats. As mentioned, "dry to the touch" and "fully cured&qu...

Thanks Ziz - yes, I have ripped it up already. I gave it 72 hrs to set, I intended to set it aside until I got (or could afford to get) some more silicone, then today I noticed the mixing bowl I used hadn't cured as I went to clean it out. Maybe it was for the best as i can see i've made a few mist...

I'm guessing you tore it apart already because you're trying to clean off the master. Maybe you used too little catalyst and it needed to sit longer? Also, how old is your rubber & catalyst? If it's been sitting a while, it actually does get "stale" - not to where it's unusable but eno...

ModelMan Tom runs Modeler's Brand. His light strips have more LEDs per inch.

He's working on a site update that will have PayPal shopping cart buttons.

Unless you're mixing paint types - enamel/lacquer/acrylic - you generally only need to do the gloss clear coat as a base for doing the decals. After that, it varies. You can either do a dull coat to seal the decals, do your weathering and then dull coat again or do your weathering direct onto the gl...

Oh, you mean literally top and bottom. Yeah, I think those have always been white. I was referring to the top/bottom lights on the left/right edges of the saucer.

The lights are the same regardless of top/bottom. If they were reversed, then if you approached from a different angle you'd think you were approaching from the opposite side, which would just make things more confusing.

Count the letters. The short words go together and the long words go together.

Port-Left-Red

Starboard-Right-Green

It's a standard lighting issue. All LEDs have slightly different power needs because of the different colors and sizes. Plan out your lighting on paper. What I've done in the past is make a copy of the instruction sheet and just draw on that. Makes it easier to see how and where the lighting needs t...

Yeah, adding white - clear or otherwise - would make it translucent as well as lighten the color - instead of red, green or blue you'd have pink, light green or light blue.

Mix in some clear coat. That will thin it without changing the clarity.

It sounds like it's a power issue. You said the switch with the RCS and impulse lights are all one circuit but it consists of both yellow and white LEDs? That may be the issue. Even though they all have their own resistor, the whites want to pull more from the power supply than the yellows do which ...