Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Polar Lights decals have been hit or miss for me. Some work great, some silver badly, some shatter completely. PNT decals work great; if it's an important build I'd definitely recommend them.

Are you using a paintbrush or airbrush? I would add a bit of linseed oil to a bit of paint on a pallet. Linseed oil is a glossy, slow drying oil that helps oil based paints dry more slowly, giving you more time to blend and "work" the paint. You can get small bottles at arts and craft stor...

If you can find a piece of small-diameter styrene tubing you could try heating and stretching it. If you've ever used stretched sprue, the technique is the same. It'll retain it's shape but you can get it real thin. Slice it with a razor blade.

The ribbons are available in every grit from coarse to ultra-fine, and can be used wet or dry, very important for working resin.

It might be worth investing in a Flex-Frame. Basically a small aluminum frame that holds a narrow ribbon of sanding film. Using a plain flat file or sanding stick usually results in grinding a flat surface, something you want to avoid with those nacelles. The Flex-Frame follows the curvature of the ...

Rabbit season! Duck season!

Floquil gray primer is great for airbrushing; thinned with a bit of lacquer thinner it sprays well and covers in a few thin coats.

When you thinned the Microscale film, did you use the 70% or the 90% alcohol? So far I've only hand-brushed the stuff on small decals, but I may need to do a whole sheet soon.

I really liked the Ambroid Pro-Weld as it didn't seem to evaporate as quickly as Tenax. Thanks for the tip; I may try to get bottle from Micro-Mark.

^^My local hobby shop caters mainly to model railroaders, so they always have a good selection of Floquil. I too have several bottles on hand; Reefer White, Bright/Old Silver are must-haves in my book.

Is acrylic a "must-have" criteria? If not, I highly recommend Floquil Reefer White. Thinned with a bit of lacquer thinner it goes on butter smooth, covers in just a few coats, and is a nice bright white.

You might want to try a little Microscale Liquid Decal Film. Print your decals, let the sheet dry for a few days, then spray with Dullcote, then brush a light coat of liquid decal. Once dried, it should handle pretty much like a regular decal. Just go easy on the decal solvents.

Since I was using Model Master acrylic, I used their own brand of clear gloss. I don't normally use the stuff, but I wasn't sure how MM would react to Future.

I used Model Master light grey acrylic for the topcoat. I added plenty of clear gloss and thinner to the mix; not only was it thin, but the clear gloss made it semi-transparent. I started airbrushing the color, and it took several coats to get it dense enough to tone down the panels. I also sprayed ...

I like to shoot lots of different colors, then overspray the whole thing with a single thin transparent shade of grey to tie it all together. This turns into This.

Before attacking the finish with sandpaper, try shooting another gloss coat, as that will sometimes get rid of the dull coat frosty patches. If that solves the problem, let the gloss dry for a few days, then try adding a bit more thinner to your dull coat mix. It may have been sprayed on a little th...

The high thinner to paint ratio means that there is very little actual oil in the mix; so, yeah, a water-thin smear of oil paint won't take any longer than plain hobby enamels to dry.

On my monitor that looks like a rusty color. Try adding white, yellow, and/or red to a basic rust color.

Sounds like you've got a bottle of Model Master Metallizer paint. It's a very thin lacquer that must be airbrushed onto bare plastic. Does it have a silver cap?

Thanks for the info. My local hobby shop has a few old Hasegawa Fishbeds in the consignment section; I've nearly bought one on a couple of occasions, but never got around to it after building Revell's early Mig-21F. I'd still like to pick one up just for the sake of curiosity. And Academy has reissu...

I highly recommend Floquil Bright Silver. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/romulanspy/DSC_0150.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/romulanspy/DSC_0153.jpg Leave it shiny for a pristine "just off the assembly line" look, or weather it for a grungy dirtified look. Can I ask what...

Don't forget sea salt for when you need big chunky grains.

Bondo red putty and Squadron putties are chemically similar; both putties use strong solvents as carriers. The putty cures as the solvents evaporate. These solvents can "eat" away styrene plastic - I know this from unfortunate experience. There's a couple of ways around this. First, try pr...

Tamiya's transparent acrylic colors are excellent for this. They go on clear so that the undercoat shows through, but you can add plenty of clear gloss and thinner to make it real subtle. That way the color builds up nice and slow, making the effect more controllable.

I prime with white enamel. I build lots of WWII Luftwaffe aircraft, so I frequently deal with light, bright colors, especially pale blues, and reds and yellows. Even when a kit fits perfectly and doesn't require filler or excessive sanding, I've found that a bright white coat of Floquil Reefer White...

I love the stuff. I used it to dirty up my MiG-21: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/romulanspy/DSC_0102.jpg I laid down a few random spots while it was still coated with Future; I then smudged it around with a paintbrush slightly damp with mineral spirits. Clear flat sealed and blended everyth...

I seem to recall an old issue of FSM had an article about that. IIRC, the guy used acrylic gel to simulate splashes, and the whole thing was enclosed in one of those clear acrylic display cases. He used a straight edge and a sharp knife to score the inside of the case all the way around from top to ...

I normally use Windex to thin Model Master Acryl paints and I shoot straight Windex immediately after I'm done. Do not allow Acryl to dry out even a little bit in your airbrush as it will form a skin nearly as tough as titanium and will be very nearly impossible to clean out. Sounds like you need to...

Have a look at Badger's 100G series. Get one with a fine tip and you can do nearly anything with it. The 200G is a single-action version. And they are very affordable; they usually run 50 to 70 dollars, depending on where you get it from.

Testor's Metallizer paints are excellent, but they absolutely will not tolerate any "handling"; any masking agent you apply on top of Metallizer paint will cause the paint to lift. A trick I learned over at Hyperscale.com is to use Floquil lacquers. I first clean the bare plastic with soap...