Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Looking at the white sheet styrene on hand I think the .005 inch thick, which is paper thin, would work okay. Gluing it in place will be a bit of an adventure since liquid cements will melt it before they glue it. EDIT: yeah, that works, with then without, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/519707...

The color is definitely a weird one, and the general consensus seems to be "Brown Bess" but even within paint companies, the actual color of Brown Bess has changed over the years The filming model to me looks more like brown with a bit of olive drab, favoring the brown side of the spectrum...

I still have Polly Scale paints from the late 80's early 90's that are good Also I have some original Citadel paints (the kind in the old pots that had the flat flip top white lid, not the new style GW paints) (this line has been worked into the Privateer Press P3 paint line by Mike McVey) https://i...

If it is a color I need I will not hesitate to use primer as a base coat

Saves me a step

I also thought it was an attempt to get the "plated ship" look https://i.pinimg.com/236x/19/78/be/1978be1abb06c3288014b3709f9fdb2b--maersk-line-lcc.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/o8cpXbGMagX8lf9TLxQY_v6isZKbC3zZCKDM1zgLmTegWG0NJgDW4HtevLvQX8YhZ8I4A6aGgvSd7ZxT-WZeO7zSsfzrIA5SIf...

Most of the studio scale builds I have seen were starting with a cast of one of the pyro x-wing hulls and then they scratch the wings. Barring access to that....upscale from a Bandai 1/72 X-Wing? You can use something like this http://www.scalemodelersworld.com/online-scale-converter-tool.html The p...

Maybe some unused Landing gear parts from model kits? Lots of great hydraulic looking stuff in them. Personally I rarely ever build aircraft with the landing gear since I prefer them in flight but have often found great greeblie bits in them I recently cut some parts to use with my small AMT Eagle f...

This place has all kinds of useful stuff like wires, wire wrap, switches etc... They also are a great source for LEDs. They are pre-wired with resistors so you can literally just plug-and-play with a power source. They also sell wall regulated adapters prewired with a connector. They also have flash...

do you need to coat the inside reflective silver I've found a great way for both light blicking as well as reflecting is that "silver" metallic tape you use for duct work/pipes. It's like aluminum foil in tape form. It sticks very well and fully blocks any light as well as helps reflect l...

I use #80 drill bits for my .25 mm fiber optics $12.71 for a pack of 12 https://www.amazon.com/Gyros-45-21280-Speed-Steel-Gauge/dp/B000SKTARG/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1515622927&sr=1-1&keywords=Gyros+45-21280+High+Speed+Steel+Wire+Gauge+Drill+Bit+No.80 for .75 mm #68 size should w...

I've been collecting some 3-D metal earth stuff using the coupons for Michael's and Ac Moore.

Some pretty cool photo etch bits

If you go with the 32 guage you can pick up a wire wrap tool as well. It has the tool to strip the wire, plus wrap it onto pins/thicker wire

Thanks everyone, they were are all helpful but I thnk the rocketry one looks to be the easiest with the ability to generate the template Although I did happen to come across this http://jm.davalan.org/calc/cone/index-en.html which gave me different value than what I got here for the same inputs http...

Let's see if I can ask this and make sense... Say I have the diameter of a circle. I want to place a larger circle under it, then fill in the sides with sheet styrene. How do I calculate the curve I need for the flat sheet that will become the cone so when I cut out that shape from the flat sheet I ...

yes it does, thanks!

Extreme beginner question... I picked up the fast tramp lighting kit a while ago and I am now starting work on the Falcon. If i wanted to include a switch to turn off just some of the LED strings (like the landing lights/headlights for example) but leave others on always (like the engines and cockpi...

This guys building one now. He has done some amazing work, particulary his accuring ESB star destroyer from the old ERTL kit. Site is in Japanese(?) though, but he gives enough pictures to follow the builds
http://dorobou.blog.so-net.ne.jp/

well not exactly large chunks, but a fine almost grit/flake type of thing going on.

Joseph C. Brown wrote:Tamiya makes a great 'smoke' color that airbrushes very nicely, and some folks claim to have brush painted it successfully.

Is that the Tamiya smoke paint that has the little chunks in it? I know that is kind of transparent, maybe strain it first?

to be more specific, it will be the cockpit canopy for the Shuttle Tydirium. Hoping to get a blackish tint, but still be able to see some detail in the cockpit This might not be the best forum for it now that I think about it, it might be more of a painting/finishing question using some shade of sta...

What methods can be used to make clear plasitc simulate tinted glass? Basically so you can still see through it, but it is darker, like tinted sunglasses, but not mirrored glasses

thanks for all the info!

This will be my first attempt at setting up a model with lighting effects. (as well as my first time posting so forgive me if this has been covered ad nauseum....) I want to start simple. I will be using the Battlestar Galactica Viper kit The Plan... 4 LEDs 1 for each of the 3 engines, and the fourt...