Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Just about the only thing that RTV silicone will stick to is silicone and it bonds to that like you never saw.

Get a spatula of a different material and all will be well.


Paul

The paragraphics things are real. There are actually small tools with little suction cups on them, but they are way larger than teh small parts we are talking abuot. I use really fine tweezers to pick up individual rivets and boltheads in 1/35. Stuff smaller than .020" on a side. Tedious but do...

Like just about everything else in this hobby, the answer is "it depends". If you are glueing on a small part or something that shouldn't need to be held well, then any number of glues will work to hold the part to a painted surface. If you need to part to take some knocks or some loads, t...

Here's a thought - drill the holes first, but oversized. Then take some styrene tube and fit it to the holes, taking time to get them aligned. Use thick CA to give you time to move them. Trim them down flush with the surface, putty as needed. Kev +1 Plus another one. ^ this is the way to do it unle...

Clear styrene is fundamentally more brittle than coloured stryene, the clear stuff is close to pure while the coloured stuff has numerous additives, only one of which is the colour. I'd reinforce fist and drill second. Also avoid putting too much force oni it while cutting/drilling. That said, I hav...

Ant wrote:Being acrylic based, it tends to disintegrate if wet sanded, however dries really hard, so dry sanding can be a problem. Does dry quick though and useful for blocking in...

So. Perhaps not so perfect??

Plus, if you need a hole that is squarer than even the worst files, you probably aren't going to do it by hand anyway.

The answer to all those questions is "it depends" and the solution is to try a bunch of stuff and get experience doing it. Seriously. Be prepared to break a few in the attempt, to use a gentle heat source or a candle or wire or sprue. All of those methods work, depending on exactly the cir...

Another question for down the road, any reccomedation on a substance I can use to fill in cracks of joined pieces on the final model to hide seams? There are a lot of choices from the Aves/Magicsculpt and other 2-part epoxy putties to 1-part spot and glaze putties like Squadron putty and automotive...

Frankly I'd start with 400 grit to get down to a basically smooth surface and then switch to 600 grit to finish it off. It will rediuce the time you are spending hugely. There is no need to polish the surface, just get rid of the sirface texture and generate a nice random pattern on the sirface by c...

Once have 3D cameras that can take a holographic image you might be able to have the printer make a part from that. You don't need to go that far. If you can get any two views of an object, you can get enough info to at least start to independantly establish the 3D shape. The closer these views are...

So much for a 2D image not having the info for 3D. 2D images DON'T have 3D info. That are SIMPLE objects that we know their shape (in general). The images didn't supply the info, the USER did. So... Exactly! The user is making the initial call that the shape is round or square or whatever. Once you...

[quote="Bellerophon"]then will the hairspray technique damage the metal finish? [\quote]
Not unless your scrubbing like some sort of demon. The hairspray (or chipping solution) acts as a layer between the undercoat and the top coat.

With all due respect boys what I think Adam is asking for is the effect for making scratched steel, not chipping which everyone is telling him. No, he talks about putting a colour coat over a steel basecoat. That's not a burnished steel effect, that's worn or chipped paint. At least it sounds so to...

I read about this technique where you put down a coat of steel or silver paint and then another colour paint and then scratch off the second paint to see the steel underneath. Which kinds of paints would work best for this type of thing? How do I keep the steel from scratching off at the same time?...

Sounds like it really did take a set when it was made.

If you want a straight barrel (and who doesn't!) I think scratchbuilding is probably your only hope.

If you have a lathe it's not that difficult.

Paul

Why not make one as a pattern, eliminate the build lines, cast the puppy in resin and sell them for 1/4 of the price?

Selling parts/models directly from the 3D printer is not cost effective in the least unless the parts are very, very small.

Paul

Do you think if I keep the original shape simple like a square with sloped edges it will work? The only real answer to that is "It depends". You haven't even built the vacuform machine yet, so we don't even know if it will pull .030" sheet much less .062 sheet, no matter what the sha...

4x8 sheet of poly Strene for $40 bucks. 1/16 inch thick. Sweet jesu! :) 1/16" thick sheet styrene will be a stone cold b!tch to form on much less than an industrial class vacuumm former. Vacform kits are usually made from sheet no more than .030-.040 max thick. Your sheet is .0625 and will be ...

nicholassagan wrote:PCS Engineering http://pcsenginc.com/

Good people! They printed the master for the Ithacus pattern I made for Fantastic Plastic

Not trying to be mean, but the photos are so bad that I can't even make out what's going onm much less help you. Especially the second image.

Sorry,

Paul

where would you start, what would be the seminal steps/techniques to start with or use? I don't plan to use certain techniques from the start, I plan how to break down the model into buildable sub-assemblies and then figure just what techniques to use based on the parts that need building. - Lots o...

Like Tank said, it's not a matter of "can't", it's a matter of wanting to do it correctly for the scale. AMT didn't care about that, PL does. I took a quick look on the net for phoots from the show if the original studio model and I can't see that these panels stick up proud of the surfac...

The thickness of the decals probably isn't too out of scale. A .005" (5 thou) thick brass part equates to a deflector grill that's 4' 2" thick in real life. That feels a tad thick to me.

Paul

Foamcore is likely to be problematic. The combination of heat and humidity will likely cause the face-sheets to blister and over time the paper face sheets will likely mould or mildew, even if painted. There's just no way to keep it from soaking up the moisture. Any organic material isn't going to d...

but design and produce an original detailed, camera ready scaled perfect real looking thing. If you go into any project attempting to create perfection, that is with perfection as your goal, you will never complete it and you will be constantly disappointed. That's a guarantee. I don't even always ...

That looks pretty sweet. Do you know what layer thickness was used for printing? There will be some clean-up, to be sure, but it looks like it will come out really nice. I would recommend a couple coats of spray filling primer and then gentle sanding/scraping to get smooth surfaces. It looks like it...

Well done! One of the best things about scratchbuilding is the satisfaction of finding solutions to the problems that always come up in a scratchbuilding project.

Paul

For the totally enclosed spaces, the rib & skinning method works really well. For shapes that you might want to be open, like the nacelles on the sides, then using the rib & skin to make the basic shape and then using is as a master or buck to create hollow vacuform nacelle parts. The ribs c...

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