Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Did you have the spray cans in the air conditioned house just prior to taking them outside to paint? You could have gotten condensation inside the spray can when you moved from cool indoors to hot outdoors. Next time, let the cans sit out in the garage for an hour or so prior to painting to let them...

How "3D"? You're using it for a display base? I can hook you up with a friend who does engraving if that's all you need it for. He did the master for my Work Bee display base.

Lets see the shape. Is it that complicated that it NEEDS to be 3D printed?

You could also go the standard boat building route of making some kind of internal skeleton. For a wing shape, I'd use brass rod for the length of the wing and styrene strip cut to fit the cross section.

I use Walmart's own brand of gray primer - ColorSmart, I think. It sells out fast every time it comes in though so you may have to check back a few times before you figure out their shipping schedule.

There's always Harbor Freight too.

Basically you've got it correct, just don't round off. Work it out with the decimal places because that might be the difference in getting, say, a 270 ohm resistor vs a 330 (just picking random numbers for example sake) .5A = 500mA so that's more than strong enough so you're good there. Either way, ...

Hi Ant, The reason I had settled on 9V is because I am a total noob, which is illustrated by the several general and specific questions I have been posting lately. I will be using two bright white LED's for the engines rated at around 3.2V, and two smaller white LED's (less bright, but still likely...

Nope. All battery holders are wired in series - the positive of each battery connects to the negative of the one next to it so that it all adds up by the time you get to the other end. If you break the chain - no power at all. You need to either find a six spot AA holder or build one out of some com...

I use a shop vac on mine. It works fine. Just make sure you get one that's the right power for the size of part you're making. Mine is 8 gallon/3 HP and my vac table is about 11" x 14". Once you get everything running, there will be a little trial and error in getting the process to work -...

I built a simple vacformer from 1x2, peg board, MDF and an aluminum serving tray cover. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ziz62266/6792844049/in/set-72157624285857380/ Two general rules - 1) Use caulking to seal every seam you can. You want to make it as airtight as possible every place other than the ta...

Static pose is easier. Depending on the design, you could include alternate joints that would connect the limb components at different angles allowing the builder to choose the ones they want. There's also structural integrity to consider. If you're talking about a foot tall finished piece, the legs...

You mean poseable on the fly like a toy or poseable that the builder can decide what pose they want and then glue it that way? The latter is easier than the former.

My standard scratchbuilding 101 advice - do a mockup. Get some corrugated cardboard boxes and masking tape and whip up a prototype build. This will help you work the bugs out of the system as far as angles, measurements and order of construction. Make your mistakes where it's cheap, fast and easy to...

Here's a pic of the bottom of my AMT KBOP (original release, not R2 repop)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8164/7453 ... e162_b.jpg

Female jack mounted to bottom of kit, male jack glued to end of tubing in base. (Yes, that's one of the guns on the base - I need to fix that.)

The way I understand it, you need to coat your master in a thick layer of resin to create a hard shell, then use the porous plaster as a filler behind it, building the whole thing up in a box just as you would a rubber mold for normal resin casting. Then you have to come to terms with the fact that ...

Don't use the plastic sleeve. Take the metal part out and attach it directly to the kit. The panel mount female jack has a nut that threads onto the end - just drill a hole in the kit and mount the jack into the hole. For the cable/inline one, the jack usually unscrews from the sleeve - again, drill...

Because I wanted to look it up on RS's site so I could see exactly what you had.

this or this would be your best choices for companion pieces depending on how you need to interface your build to the stand and how the wiring lays out.

What's the RS stock number - should be 274-_____?

They can absolutely transmit power. By RCA plug, you mean the ones with the pin in the center and the four shield things around it? If so, you're better off getting a headphone jack set instead - a stereo one will give you two electrical connections to work with (plus ground) so you can have circuit...

You can also just paint on a coating of Elmer's White Glue.

I use Squadron Green or similar putty all the time. The trick is to mix it with Testor's Liquid Cement. Cut a little putty off the end of the tube with your X-Acto. Use the brush in the glue cap to dab some of the glue on it - just enough to get it wet. Apply to your seam and start to work it in. Da...

Yeah, that and making sure your power supply can handle the total load. If you've got the math right on those two, that's 90% of the job.

Yep - wiring blinking and normal LEDs in series, the blinker becomes the "switch" to turn the circuit on and off so everything connected to it blinks. In parallel, everything has effectively its own path to the power source (as opposed to having to pass through something else) so then mult...

Basically you're creating a bus circuit, which is fine. Power supply needs are the same as any other project - add up your LED amperages and get a power supply that can handle that load with 10-20% to spare. Voltage should be enough to run whatever LEDs are your most power hungry, probably the white...

It depends on the way the lighting kit is designed. Connectors and plugs make it easier to assemble the light kit itself but depending on the kit may make it harder to run the wiring into the model. They also cost more because you're paying for someone else's labor to do all that pre-assembly for yo...

Since I wet sand most of my putty work, I find the kit ends up getting naturally washed as part of the sanding process.

I haven't fooled with clear resin yet but when I make parts that will end up having holes in them - the Work Bee, for example - I just fill the hole in the master with a piece of sheet plastic for casting. The builder then just has to remove the filler piece as part of the construction process. You ...

I really can't afford Alumilite prices for the stuff (the Smooth-On stuff certainly seems a better bargain), but the only dealer for the SO is down in Norfolk, and I'm betting they're not open on Saturday. Dangnation and blastoderms, anyway. Another week to wait for a UPS delivery. www.reynoldsam.c...

Nail files/emery boards are easy and cheap to get but a friend showed me how to make my own. Get some square, rectangular and round wood stock from your hobby shop or craft store like Michaels or AC Moore. Cut into lengths about 2" long. Cover one side with double stick scotch tape. Apply to sa...