Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Too often my decals from kits think they're all ALPS printed, end up ripping as I'm trying to pull them off the decal paper, or manuver them. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I need to leave them soak longer/shorter or wait longer/shorter between waiting to pull them off the paper? Wet fingers w...

Harumph wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:37 pm I bought this a couple year's ago and it works great for me. I've been able to use many different small bits and micro bits with the set.

Just got them today... and they don't get small enough for the .5 and .25 mm bits.

I recently bought and built the Tamiya Electric Drill, and now trying to get it to work with some micro drill bits (.5 and .25mm). I can't seem to find a collet or figure out the modifications necesary to get these to work together. Any ideas/suggestions. I tried to get the Dremel Collet's but the s...

Is there a way to check which wire is + and which is -, without destroying the LED? I was installing some LEDs and now starting to seal up, I realized I screwed up in my marking of 2 wires that are now hidden, to know which end is positive and which was negative. Wiring it up in reverse should not ...

Is there a way to check which wire is + and which is -, without destroying the LED? I was installing some LEDs and now starting to seal up, I realized I screwed up in my marking of 2 wires that are now hidden, to know which end is positive and which was negative.

I recently saw someone post in a FB group a bust painted/accented with UV reflective paints, and it gave me some ideas(since I'd never heard of using that before). Any suggestions for finding and airbrushing with these paints? Any brands or type to try for vs others? Thinking I'll use it on my Z-95 ...

Is there anyway to easily preserve or fill in clear resin and keep it clear and effective? Have one part that has tiny bubbles right in an area where I'd like to light. Thankfully there's only a handful, but they're noticeable and would likely distort the light.

I currently use a respirator when doing sanding resin and sometimes painting and gluing. My current one is a bit small that I got from Home Depot, and I'm thinking about replacing it. Does anyone have recommendations for one that's appropriate for what I'm doing, and what filter to get for it. Curre...

According to Mr Wong's website(http://www.alfredsmind.ca/productspg.html), the B-Wing(1/48) is currently cast by Ravenstar Studios

I'm curious what sizes you generally get/use for prewired SMDs, or if there's a source where you can get a full selection of sizes/colors. Right now on Ebay I can only find prewired in each size by color. Right now thinking I might use them for the impulse engines an a few other places on D'kyr, and...

Fiber optics will give you a circular light. Unfortunately no one make a square or rectangular fiber. Does the kit have portals already cut into the model or are they simply recessed windows in a clear piece? If the the latter then you may try lighting the whole clear piece with carefully placed su...

I use 32 awg 7/40 for damned near everything. It'll handle usual LED power loads w/o an issue and fits well into tiny places. The multi-strand makes soldering stronger and easier (I've found). Just curious where you're able to find that size, not finding much on amazon(at least smaller than 22 AWG).

I'm curious what everyone uses for the size of wire that they use... I currently have some 22AWG wire that I've used a bit... now I just got a kit that's using far smaller/thinner wire. I'm just wondering what everyone else uses.

So, I got 2 new kits yesterday from Starcraft Models(2 Vulcan ring ships), that I'm wanting to light. I've figured out how to use fiber optics to do pinpoint lights, but a lot of the kits have oval/rectangular windows. How do you effectively light these? Light strips then cut the windows out... do y...

I'm mostly using Vallejo Acrylics, and it feels like I'm doing 3-1 paint to thinner ratio and that psi setting. Using no thinner and/or lower psi, I end up after a few min of having the tip completely clogged or similar.

I'm wondering what I need to replace or if I'm doing something really wrong. Currently I have a Master/Airbrush Depot TC-20 compressor and Master Airbrush G233 airbrush. When using to get a decent flow/consistent paint, I end up using a lot of thinner(almost a 1-1 ratio it feels like), and have to b...

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to get decent sized drill bits for drilling holes for the fiber optics? I'm thinking I'll use .25mm fiber optic, though I do have .5mm, .75 and 1mm fiber as well for end glow optics. I just discovered either my drill bits I bought before are missing or ...

From where it'll come out of the model to the area on the base, it's about 1 inch... I'm basically running the wires from the bottom of the Outrider to a base of a landing platform, so I was thinking corugated conduit would look appropriate there as an umbilical to connect the two, and hide the wire.

Has anyone used Corrugated conduit to hide wires, between model and base? I'm on the verge of ordering some, internal diameter 8mm outside 10mm, and just wondering if this is too large, or how the material is to work with.(Ordering this)

Sadly the checkerboard goes across several flat surfaces, front part of a Z-95(https://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/product/1803_195/172-zed-95-hunter.html), Mostly going to be in front of the cockpit, but before the final nose cone area... wish that hlj stencil option was larger and available...

Does anyone know how to mask to paint a checkboard pattern? I'm not sure how to best go about it.

Hello all, I'm still very new to painting and techniques(I'm lucky to mask and do various extra paints beyond the main color... though I do have an airbrush and compressor). I'm wondering if there's a good tutorial/book/videos/etc, for actually how do you weather things... obviously looking mostly a...

Currently, on all my kits(Resin mostly so far, but again some styrene), I prime my kits with a rattle can of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, and is my major road block in working on models(besides time/energy). This is due to the amount of stench and time to air out the house after using it(yeah, probab...

Does anyone have any good suggestions for toggle switches they use for controlling the lighting in their models? I'm looking for a good decent strength(don't want it to feel cheap) toggle switch for switching between 2 light settings on a kit I'm soon to work on(Cruise lights vs battle mode!). I'm l...

Does anyone know the general max or optimal number of size/dimensions of LEDs to a 3mm and 5mm LED(30degree viewing angle)?

I'm about to start working on my Acclamator(JPG kit)... and one thing I think would be cool would be to have the windows/lights switch from a white/blue to a red, with a switch. Is there any way to do this easily without having to drill second holes and run a second set of fiber?

Yeah, I'm just wondering about diameters/length to weight relationships say 1/4" acrylic rod is good for most models at 5", or need 1/2" or larger size after x inches or similar

I've gotten several kits that have bases to go with the model(plus several without bases), and I'm trying to figure out various materials size/thicknesses to connect the two. Is there any formula/rule of thumb for material(brass/acrylic rod/aluminum/etc) thickness, and then length for various weight...

Which kit are you thinking of lighting? Another manufacturer is Big Easy Lighting Solutions

So wonderfest spurred me into an idea mode... I now have an idea I want to build a diorama to try and enter next year. Having never built a diorama at this scale before I'm wondering at the basics of basic engineering of the base and structural elements. I have the 2 kits that I'm currently planning...