Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Problem solved! Way to go... I had a similar experience years ago with stacking molds into the pressure pot... But the way I stacked the molds caused a rubber band (I used the wide ones) to cover up a vent on the mold underneath. Air had no where to go and it caused 2-3 bad castings before I figured...

In addition to what the others have said... I have an auto buffer (random orbital type), clamped upside down in my vise on the bench. After I pour, but before I pressurize, I sit the mold on the buffer and let it shake for 20-30 seconds. Obviously, you need to hold the mold box otherwise you get the...

By frosted I assume you're referring to silvering. This is a result of air pockets between the surface of the model and the underside of the decal. There's two fixes for decals which are already down... The first is to make thin, very light-pressure slices in the decal and apply some decal setting s...

Started wiring up the new Madman Lighting T-65 kit in my studio scale X-wing...so far so good. I went from having a fully-packed interior fuselage full of boards, fibers, and wires, to having enough room to hide the Queen's jewels.... :-) It's not listed on his site yet, but drop him a note if you'r...

If this is the 'wig-wag' signal crossing circuit, I've used two of them tied together to get a semi-believable random flashing. I think the newer units have potentiometers on them to adjust the rate of flash. By using two units with 4 different colored LEDs and varying flash rates, you can get get a...

I guess it depends on several factors...size, strength requirements, shapes, etc.

I typically do thin wings from Lexan sheet covered with styrene to accept scribing, panel lines, etc.

Hulls and fuselages are a mix - again it all depends on the shape and strength requirements.

J

Yea, it does...but only short, 2-3 second files. I wanted something that would run for 30-45 seconds... I did manage a solution. I found my old copy of Rouge Squadron, installed it, and flew a few 'missions' in the X-wing. I ran my music editing program in the background and looped my line out from ...

Charcoal pencils often use a wax base (some do, some don't). Wax on the model would make Future bead as there's little or no surface adhesion.

You might want to try dusting a coat of Future on first, then applying your heavier coat.

J

I'm adding sounds to the SS X-wing I'm doing, and I'm looking for an X-wing engine sound. Even a stretched flyby I could use as a startup/shutdown file. I've found only one 'flyby' MP3 online and the apogee duration (the point when the X-wing is closest and thereby the loudest) is too short to stret...

Alex,

I've been a model maker for nearly 30 years, and this scriber beats anything I've come up with (PE, dental picks, etc).

Between Jon's scriber and his razor saw, (and now his punch and die sets), I've spent more on tools from UMM-USA in the last year than I have in the last 15 years!

J

I just finished playing through Mass Effect I and I'm planning on building a Mako...

J

Going on the presumption that I'd have access to consumable materials like styrene, brass, wire, glue, paint, etc., my 10 tools for scratch building would be (are)... #1: X-Acto with a supply of #11 blades. #2: UMM-USA scribing tool. #3: A drafting set (tri-square, ruler, compass, protractor, French...

I always dip my clear parts in Future. Mix Citadel inks with Future, and dip.

The ratio of the mix determines the degree of tint. Best part, if you mess it up, simply rinse and repeat.

Jeff

I use a couple of methods, depending on the model type and the lines. First uses a set of spark-plug gap gauges, the fan-deck variety of metal strips in varying thicknesses. The thinner strips are easily bent over compound curves and are simply taped into place, then the line is scribed. I've ditche...

Contact Matt Usher, the editor at FSM. He's a big-time sci-fi modeler and probably has what you're looking for in the files.

editor@finescale.com

Jeff Herne
(former Associate Editor at FSM)