Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

A few years ago in Finescale Modeler, Paul Boyer shared his ratio. He uses 3 parts acrylic model paint to 5 parts water and ~1 part dish soap, the change the surface tension. I use Dawn dish soap, because it doesn't have skin moisturizers. Also, I use distilled water when I remember to. As far as wa...

I found something new that I wanted to share. I have recently started tinkering with Alclad, and have found a great undercoat. The Krylon Fusion line has a gloss black. I layed down the fusion gloss black and let it dry for a few days. Here in the high desert, paint cures rather well. Anyway, I then...

I find the Testors website a great way to get paint, and the service is amazingly good. Also, I discovered there that they have a line of fantasy acrylic paints, for miniatures and the like.

The reason I bring up Swanny's web site is that I think he has a section on airbrushing. Additionally, I have emailed him, and he is quite friendly and generous with sound advice.

Check out swanny's models for a huge treatise on Future floor polish. I the the address is www.swannysmodels.com.

Hey Terry,
How low does the regulator go? Is it the oil-less type, or does it use oil?
Brian

Those are excellent tips, thanks. 8)

That's great news. I'll try Future at once.
Thanks!

Which masking tape would be best applied over Future? I am painting a canopy, and need to be able to mask it and paint the border. Thus, I need a masking agent that, when applied to a substrate of Future, will not pull up the Future when removed. Please help.

Brian

This was already in another thread, but every Easter, you can get various sizes of paraboloids and hemispheres in the form of plastic Easter eggs. Tomorrow I start my first scratchbuild. It will be of a near-future space probe, and the project was inspired by the Easter egg paraboloid.

Though it smells faintly of orange, the Ambroid Safe Weld is formulated for plastics, and comes in a blue and green bottle. For me, it works as well as the MEK-based glues without being so noxious. I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but I have also seen it online. I wish it were more widely popular. I've he...

I use the Ambroid non-toxic cement, I think it's called Safe Weld. It works great for me, and it doesn't run my wife out of the room.

Emperor Zog:
thanks for "showing us the light".
Pres. Zaphod

Thanks a bunch, Brad. That sounds very straight-forward.
You see, it's that one little piece of info that you need that allows you to get started. I'll be sure to post photos when I get the thing done.

Seam-filler, I'm guessing you would use a soldering iron to make a lens, is that right?

I've looked through several of the excellent threads on lighting, and was wondering how people plan a fiber optically-lit model. In what order do you: paint drill clear coat decal? I really should sit down and experiment with cheap kits first, I guess. Because I'm working with an out-of-production S...

I always clear coat a model after weathering, in order to protect said weathering. With something innovative like eye shadow, it is imperative to start with light coats. You want to throw just enough gunk on the eye shadow to glue it in place, but not enough to make it flow and run. If you have a do...

I've found something which may shed some light on this topic: "CACY’S CORNER with Michael Cacy Thoughts About Painting Gouache Through an Airbrush I recently fielded a question in Airbrush Action magazine from someone who was having problems airbrushing with gouache. While the question seemed...

I'm using Windsor & Newton, which is a misture of pigments, gum arabic, and a little water.

Airbrushing Gouache: I want to start using gouache here and there on my models, because of the lightfast/colorfast pigments, and am not sure how much to thin them. These paints have about the same consistency as oils or watercolors and come in little tubes. Has anyone thinned such or similar paints ...