Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Try a big box (or even small box) office supply store. I seem to recall having seen it still at Office Max - they have a drafting section. I'm still working through the 100 box of #11 blades I got from there years ago.

Kev

I used the Alclad chrome on the inner front part of the Polar Lights TOS Enterprise, and it was amazing - like chrome. The main trick is absolute high gloss under the paint. The part I sprayed was polished clear. Anything less than a super high gloss will dull the finish. At the IPMS Nationals a few...

Maybe one of the transparent blues over the metallic? I've seen some amazing work done with Tamiya and Gunze clear colors over the metallic parts on the tail of F-105s. Really makes it stand out and look authentically metallic.

Kev

CA reacts badly with some foams.

5-min epoxy might be a better bet for that.

Kev

So - surprise not spoiled? The Paasche is one I have had for almost 20 years. I got some silicone washers to replace the rubber ones (got them at my LHS), and just drop the disassembled parts into a jar full of lacquer thinner to clean them. A quick wipe with a Q-tip and paper towel before use and t...

Yup - I mark up the glassware for labs all the time.Quick squirt from the bottle of alcohol(isopropyl or denatred) and it just goes away.

Neither will affect styrene.

Kev

A trick I heard about but have never tried is to use some scouring powder like Comet, then washing it off.

Kev

Way too thick for any real penetration.*

All it would do is squirt out the sides of the crack.*

Kev










*That's what she said!

And as I understand it - Klear (The non-US version) is being replaced with a different formula. You'd better keep an eye out for it at grocery stores and buy it when you can!

Kev

So I would like to thin some Gorilla Glue to try to reduce some of the creaking in the bathroom floor (concrete). The crack is too thin for the "crack fixer" stuff from the hardware store. It would have to be water thin, instead of the thick and gooey straight from the bottle. Anyone ever ...

Hmmm... I have access to 17.4 molar Acetic acid from the lab...

But I guess that's just overkill.

Kev

Or do what I did to make the forward bulkhead for my 1/12 Mercury - make a bunch of cross-sections of the shape, cut them and glue them together to make a rough shape, fill with Bondo, sand and then fine-tune with putty. Spray with filling primer and sand until smooth. I them used it as a form to sq...

Had to be pre-1991 - that's when I started reading them.

Kev

That's pretty cool!

I would have used it as is, running around making laser noises as a kid.

Kev

I've cut down micro scalpel blades to make teeny chisels and lathing tools for styrene.

Kev

Despite seeing it mentioned repeatedly in SAMI, don't use white out! After seeing "it sands easily and smoothly" I tried it on the entire Nimitz air wing - in 1/700. Needless to say I'll never do that again. Royal pain to clean off! Anyway, use some thick filler paint. If you can get it, G...

Actually, plain old brake fluid is often recommended for stripping paint. There was a paint stripper from Poll-S (I think), and the old Aeromaster paints had a great stripper.

Kev

That's the stuff - I meant I couldn't recall the brand, but sizing is the catch-all term.

"It works a treat" as they say in SAMI...

Not too expensive, either

Kev

Look at an arts store. There is a cement for applying gold and silver leaf. Can't think of the name offhand, but it can be brushed on and dries nice and fast.

Works fine for regular foil.

Kev

Be careful with primers! Those not meant for plastic have a bad tendency to react with styrene. Even a little too heavy a coat and there will be a really neat, crackly, leather-like effect. Useful for modeling elephants and dinos, sure, but not so good for mechanical things. Had this experience with...

You should be able to find an older version of CorelDraw for much less than the current one. Even CD 10 has more functionality than you'll likely need. This has a fairly good bitmap to vector program (CorelTrace), but as noted, there's usually some cleanup needed of the new lines. What I usually do ...

I use the big ziploc bags. Keeps them dry and away from too much oxygen. The styrene will take attic heat (except in Texas!) better than the decals, so keep them apart from the kits, too.

Kev

It's all flat planes, so couldn't you just make up a new one with clear styrene? Any hobby shop should have the Evergreen clear in a couple of thicknesses. The sheets are huge relative to what you'd need, so you would have a lot to spare for mistakes.

Kev

So how does Mori-mori compare to Tamiya polyester putty?

I have the Tamiya, and it's pretty nice.

Kev

Hmmm.. I'd seen this, and wondered if it was just re-branded Gorilla Glue.

Kev

I picked some up awhile back, mainly to flatten Future-is it supposed to be so thick? My bottle had a consistency like half set pudding... Yep - it's just a really fine powder with enough carrier to make it mix easily with the other paints. Many a person (guilty!) has made the mistake of using it l...

I had the same problem - with the plastic sticking to both the mold and the master. Solved it with regular enamel thinner - with the normal modeling clay it just dissolves it away. I would wipe away as much as possible, and then go to q-tips dipped in the thinner to get the rest. Worked pretty well....

There are additional ingredients like surfactants (detergents) which help reduce the surface tension. for many decals, though, diluted WHITE VINEGAR might do fine. Natural vinegars have sugars and other components which may cause troubles. So maybe you could use a nice balsamic and do your weatheri...

Kev, do you have pics of your C3PO? Sorry - He's in about the same condition he was in "Empire" - the last move was not kind to him! What I did was to fiddle around with the transparent colors from Tamiya. (Gunze also makes some) It took a while to get a decent gold. The trick, which I fi...

One word of warning - you do need to be careful with the gold BMF - it's not gold-colored metal, it's regular aluminum BMF with a transparent gold coating. The coating is vulnerable to enamel thinners, and also to too vigorous polishing or buffing. Trust me on this - I ruined the first foiling job I...