Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Depending on the sizes and shapes of the panels, you could also design a locking tab kind of system similar to the way some battery covers snap into place on toys and small electronics.

Rocketeer wrote:

Stu Pidasso wrote:Fire?

Nuke it from orbit?

Only way to be sure.

I never bothered much with formal washing of parts because I wet sand all my putty work so I figure the model is naturally getting washed in that process anyway.

Mock it up in cardboard and masking tape. That will help you work out the basic shapes and proportions, as well as work out a construction order of what needs to happen before or after something else and how the parts relate to each other. Make as many mistakes and changes as possible in prototype f...

I use Squadron Green mixed with Testors Liquid Cement. The trick is in HOW you fill the pinholes and air bubbles. What I do is carve out the upper "skin" of the offending hole until it becomes more of a divot. If you leave it as a bubble under the surface, you have to force putty in until ...

Try it this way

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5305/564 ... 6bcb_b.jpg

Run a single pair of leads to a central point, then branch off multiple power lead extensions from there to your individual circuits.

The stickers are in there to make the kit easier for young kids who don't have the patience or ability to deal with formal decals. In scale, using the stickers would make the hull markings almost two feet thick.

Did you try soldering directly to the LM3909 chip or did you put a socket on the board, solder to that and then put the chip in it? I killed several flasher chips until I figured out that the heat from the soldering iron was going in thru the contacts and frying the chip. Put a socket on the board a...

Go to Radio Shack and look for desoldering braid . You touch it to the connection along with the soldering iron and the braid "sucks up" the solder leaving you with a nice clean board. If there's any residual solder still holding the LED lead in place, just touch the iron to the lead for a...

So you want to be sure a 12v power supply can hook up to a model that was designed for 6v or 3v? That's easy. Build an adapter that goes in between your power supply and the model that will cut the power down from 12v to 6v or 3v or whatever you need coming out the other side. I'm not sure of the ma...

I've had my eye on this one from Harbor Freight but it's constantly on back order.

Paint.Net and GIMP are two totally free graphics programs you can download. GIMP looks and feels more like Photoshop but the hotkeys are all different if you're used to them in PS. PdN is more like Windows Paint on steroids if you're used to that interface instead.

Any combination of the above. It depends on the kit design, how much lighting you're putting in and what type. The ideal combination is silver, black, white - silver because it has the metal component in it that actually blocks light better than black, especially on white or lighter colored plastic....

Here's some pics of the simple vac table & frame I built to make the tops for my Tug Container kits. Frame - built from 1x2s. Hex bolts are countersunk from below, held in with duct tape. Frame with sheet - a sheet of .030 in the frame, trapped between the top and bottom halves. Total exposed ar...

One other thing to keep in mind is that if you're trying to find a "logic" to your greeblies, there's a difference between "balance" and "symmetry". Symmetry is when things match or mirror each other front/back, left/right, or top/bottom. Balance is when you have differ...

What kind of glue are you using - tube or liquid? From your descriptions of scraping up goop, it sounds like you're using the tube glue. I use Testors Liquid Cement. When I need to put tiny bits on, I use a new X-acto blade to "stab" the part (you don't need a lot of pressure for those tin...

200.

If you're working from the inside, all three. Silver because it has the metallic element. That actually helps block light better than straight black. Then black to reduce heat buildup if you're putting a lot of bulbs in there. Then white to reflect light around in larger open areas to so that you DO...

http://www.zizolfo.com/family/john/mode ... booth.html

Cheap and easy spray booth. Another board member on here, Pat Amaral, did it with a clear container and put a small fluorescent fixture on top to light the interior work area.

If you're looking for physical battle damage, put a small bit in your Dremel, hold the bit against the model while it's stopped AND THEN start the Dremel briefly. That will skip the bit across the surface of the ship and create damage that looks like subsequent small laser hits. As far as painting t...

Depending on the scale, construction order and the effect you're going for, you can also "mushroom" the end of the fiber before inserting it. Just hold the tip of the fiber close to BUT NOT TOUCHING a flame or heat source. The end will melt into a basic lens shape. You can then thread the ...

Hit Staples/Office Max and look for clear transparencies for overhead projectors . Cut out flame shapes, curve them, cut opposing slots in different pieces so you can interlock them. Hit them with some yellow or orange paint and light them from below with a flashlight in the tube you're using as the...

What about the old standby Easy Off Oven Cleaner? I've never tried it on clear parts though...don't know if it will damage the different kind of plastic.

I have an original one of those books. PM me your email and I'll send you some nice big 300dpi scans.

I have this saved on my Harbor Freight wish list

http://www.harborfreight.com/9-inch-ben ... 96980.html

I'll get it when it goes on sale or when I have a burning need for it, whichever comes first.

Sometimes the pigment isn't fully mixed and melted into the paint liquid, so thinning the paint for airbrushing only compounds the problem. Strain the paint thru a piece of nylon panty hose.

Or just cast some more regular parts from the molds to naturally leech out the alcohol, then try a few clears.

The trick to getting your warp nacelles to be parallel to the center axis of your starship, you need the ends of your pylons to be parallel to the center axis of the ship. To make that happen, you should first set up the nacelle end of the pylons where you want them, and coax the other end so it at...

I'm using SmoothCast 305. Well, there's your problem. The slow set resin will always be weaker than the fast set. Again, it has to do with the chemicals that inhibat the cure. Get ye some 320. It's tan, and fast cure (10min demaold). Smooth-On's site says that SC325/6/7 is designed for tinting and ...

If you need a bunch to flicker at different speeds you could try hooking them up in parallel. Then each will flash on their own schedule. If you want them all to flash in sync (like running lights) then use one flashing one and hook it up in series with some non-flashing ones. Then the flashing one ...