Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

If you can spray them they look great. If you brush them it's hard to get it even enough that you don't see light/dark streaks and individual metal flakes.

But I've also sprayed Ceramcoat gold and it looked fantastic, so an airbrush makes a big difference with even cheap paints.

-Rog

LOL, bad news when you Google something and the first hit is your own forum post asking the question... About the only other info I could find is that it was called "Silver Sand". Looks like there's a GM color with a similar name... Does this look like the same color? http://www.paintscrat...

I've also never really liked it. It can take foreeeeeever to dry. There are very few situations where I can't use putty, stretched sprue (or different sheet thicknesses), or CA (with baking soda if needed) to fill gaps. In fact I can't think of any. Once in awhile I'll use sprue goo for surfacing, b...

Heh, I actually found a water-based 14K liquid "gold leaf" that I'm going to try. In the bottle it certainly has that sort of brassy titanium look that I'm going for (Christian Bale/Arkham style).

I'll probably make a thread for the figure once I'm done. I haven't seen another one...

-Rog

Thanks, that worked great. I just put it in an inflated Ziploc bag with the lacquer thinner and shook it. Of course the thinner eventually ate a hole in the bag (always do this stuff outside!), but by then it was done. A glass jar would have been better, but I didn't have an empty one. I'll give it ...

I've been working on a Batman figure for awhile now, and the first thing I completed was his belt. I had it perfect, and set it aside. About a year later it started to get tacky. I thought the lacquer I used was safe, but it turns out that some vinyls don't like any paint but straight water-based, I...

Enamel over nylon sometimes does the same as enamel over vinyl I've found, i.e. it doesn't dry and will remain sticky forever. I had that happen recently on something I thought was ABS, but turned out to be nylon. The only safe option is to strip it and come back with an acrylic I think. I've tried ...

Anything that will fuse the two pieces together, making them one. I'm sure everyone has their preference, but I like Testors liquid cement.

Plain adhesive type glues definitely have their place, but I like the bulk of a model to be as strong as possible.

-Rog

Frog Tape works great for water based paint. I bought it without reading the package though, and I guess it has some kind of water-absorbing stuff in it that makes a seal along the edge. However, use it with spray paint, oils, or enamels and it will make a giant mess. There's a vague warning about t...

Somehow it migrates up through the layers of paint. It's a strange phenomenon. I discovered it by accident once when I marked something with a Sharpie and then put probably six coats of paint on it trying to cover it up. I'd think I finally got it and then I'd come back ten minutes later and there i...

I've used a Sharpie in a few cases. But you have to be aware that it will float to the top no matter how many coats of paint you cover it with. So, under white it will not work as a subtle pre-shading. But for darker colors it's a good way to do it if you want sharp panel lines. The way a Sharpie wi...

No, it won't ruin it. If the particle size is too big it will just clog. But nothing that can't be cleaned out.

-Rog

I would get some of the Kustom Shop airbrush metal flakes. I've always liked their products, especially airbrush and pinstriping supplies. They have different grain sizes, and while I understand the "look" you're going for, you'll really want to go with a pretty small size so it's in scale...

It's interested how he goes through testing the shapes versus the 2D picture taken at the same angle. I've definitely had that problem where I'm trying to make something in 3D that I only have an off-axis 2D picture of. I wouldn't have thought of doing it in paper and then taking a picture of it fro...

I would still probably go with gloss black if you're looking for the mirror look. If not then you can get great effects by using a red undercoat (for a warm gold) or white (for a brassy/titanium look). A flat base coat will definitely flatten the look of the metallic coat though, which can be good o...

Will it work on any airbrush? Might be interested... I happen to like ancient Aerographs, and they are finicky when it comes to being clean.

-Rog

LOL, this is a great "I haven't read any of the other posts" thread.

Sodium hydroxide should be the takeaway from this. This product or that product are aaaall the same chemical.

-Rog

Well, it's not the exact product, but SAK is sodium hydroxide, which is in oven cleaner, Drano, and Super Clean. Any of those should give similar results. I particularly like the Drano gel. Second choice would be oven cleaner as it sticks pretty well. With liquids you'll need to submerge the model. ...

One thing you might try, if you hate fumes like me, is some water mixed with baking soda in a spray bottle. It doesn't immediately cure it like a kicker, but I've had good success with it cutting down cure times considerably while not building up the seam like straight baking soda. I just can't do k...

Okay, so I know there are multi-plastic cements, but wasn't clear if that meant it would permanently bond one to another... If I can go ABS to styrene with the same seamless bond as styrene to styrene then that definitely opens up those other options. A little bummed that the wall thickness goes up ...

I'm needing styrene tubing with inside diameters of at least 13mm up to around 20mm, or just over 1/2" to about 3/4". I say inside diameter because that's more important, but it would be nice if it also had a standard thin (1mm or so) wall like other styrene tubing. I'm not going to be pic...

Tube are always stronger than a solid rod of the same diameter. I suspect a long debate is about to happen, but if a rod and tube are the same weight , a tube is stronger. But consider the extreme of a soda can (tube) versus a solid cylinder (rod) of aluminum that's the same diameter... Solid is al...

Okay, then yeah, I think cannibalizing an existing nightlight would be your best bet. You can definitely get a standalone light sensor component, or one from Lego Mindstorms, but you'll have to figure out how to wire it into your lighting and it probably won't be as cheap.

-Rog

It would be pretty easy to rob a light sensor from a cheap night light, like you can get at any Target or Walmart. I planned to do the same thing at some point. Depending on how it's wired, you might even be able to just use the whole thing as your power source, since most of them are LED these days...

Why are you using two 1/4" sheets instead of one 1/2" sheet? Seems like creating work for no reason. If I remember the previous discussion, it needs to be bent into a curve, which is easier with two thinner pieces. I'd go Gorilla or Titebond (II or III). Any of those are waterproof, altho...

If it's that really thin dime store stuff you're talking about then it's usually styrene. If you have a scrap of it you can test using some liquid cement or even lacquer thinner.

If it's thicker and flexible then it's probably polyethylene, which would take something like Tech-Bond to glue.

-Rog

On the urethane stuff, I've never used it on styrene, but it should work just fine if you don't mind the mess it makes. It will certainly glue things solidly though. The stuff Kylwell and others are talking about is the blue-capped super glue. Same company, completely different products. BTW, the or...

It sounds like you're using regular Gorilla Glue, which is actually urethane that expands much like the insulation foam that comes in a can (Great Stuff I think it's called). It has its place (resin kits do well with in in my experience), but the buzz in modeling circles is about the CA that Gorilla...

I'm afraid I don't have any good links for how-tos, but it sounds like what a lot of guys do to make new bumpers and hoods for cars. For instance (small example): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB-2_pM7HFo That's the direction I would be looking anyway. I've seen some pretty complex shapes done with...

It's cool sci-fi art. I don't know why they would call it "steampunk" though. Too few old watch parts and not enough sense of self-importance...

I think he's the ultimate greeblizer if you ask me. Good eye for the total composition.

-Rog