Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

Yea, verily… I finally got some Aves Apoxie and am having mixed results. So far I’ve used it to fill an unsightly gap between the cargo bay doors on my Orion II cargo shuttle, and it has performed as advertised. Then I tried to make an impression of one of my favorite greebles after fifteen minutes ...

Wonderful idea- assuming I have a vacuform machine (I'ts on my list of projects).

Oh, oh! It looks like someone was inspired by the Mauser Broomstick Box Cannon machine pistol… with a sawed-off barrel to boot!

Nice job on the worn areas, and the wood’s cool, too! I wanna see more.

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of the way, I want to fabricate a shell with a hexagonical cross section using the Aves “draping” process. Which method you use- drape two three-sided panels- two halves of the shell, or drape six single panels with greebles in place? Also what is the recommended adh...

My apologies. Its one of those “You look but do not see.” situations combined with “fat fingers” syndrome. I’ll try to do better…

Thanks for the tip, Terry. My first shipment of Alves should be hitting my doorstep either Wednesday or Thursday, so I’ll have to try your method. I like the can bottoms though, because they’re thin, uniform in shape and size, and now that I know how do them, not that hard to do. Now every few days ...

Has anybody out there tried/used fingernail polish for painting? My daughter has amassed a collection of polishes she never uses, and I though this could be a good source for interesting finishes.

I really don’t think a small combo square would do the job. Because I want to find the center of the inside face of a concave part a combo square would only indicate a point on an imaginary plane on the rim of the dish. This point would then have to be projected down onto the concave inner face, wit...

Most excellent! I shall be ordering some Alves Apoxy forthwith, or maybe sooner (Thirdwith? Fifthewith ?) Squadron’s “Merde Vert” just dosen’t cut it. The stuff dries out in its tube, takes forever to get hard, and once it does, it’s crumbly and clogs up my files and sandpaper. But it's the only gam...

I looked up Alves on the ‘net- their site was the only one I found. Interesting stuff- I’ll have to get some and experiment with it. Are there other suppliers I can buy from without going through Alves? Is it possible to use this stuff to make molds for recreating greebles or greeble assemblies? Thi...

Mark, with the Alves putty method how do you keep a good surface on the inner (concave) face and a uniform thickness of the putty?

And what exactly is Alves? My local hobbyshop dosen't seem to carry it.

Nice job Tyler- I especially like the antenna mount. The hogging out of the bottom of the can is the most labor-intensive part of the job, but finding the center of the parabolic dish is the real pain. It would be a cinch if I knew someone with a lathe, but alas! The best way I have found so far is ...

The breadboard I was refering to is the white plastic type where you plug in your parts and jumper wires to test your circuit. Not intended for actual use in your model. You want to use in you model is the fiberglass type with the grid pattern of .10 spaced holes, copper pads and power/ground traces.

Its possible that you had leads or wires touching (shorting). Fortunately 555 chips are dirt cheap. And if you insist on buying from Radio Schmuck get yourself a solderless breadboard on which you can build you circuit, modify it, and smoke check it before you goe through the hassle of building the ...

Ever find yourself wishing for a perfectly formed parabolic antenna dish? I think I've found the answer: the bottom of a spray can. Find a can (paint, deodarant, shaving cream, or my favorite- whipped cream (I get to whiff the last of the notrous oxide from it, and it's not messy like spray paint!))...

Has anybody out there have a 1:144 landing gear assembly they don't need and maybe want it to go to a good home? I could certainly use a nose gear and a set of mains. Any aircraft, preferably a jumbo or passenger aircraft.

Thanks!

$25.95? Yikes!

I've got plenty of 1206 LEDs to practice on, an illuminated magnifying lamp, and a low-wattage soldering iron with a pointed tip. These should do the trick. I just wanted to try something different.

Thanks for the input.

After the superglue/pencil lead mix dried for over a day I checked the joint's conductivity- nope, nada, zip. I'll try soldering the wires onto the LED.

Thanks for the suggestions,

Yeah, jwrjr- send me all you got on the subject.

Something I just thought of- copper based gasket goop. I't been a long time (25 years or so) since I've used it, and can't remember if or how it dries. After posting my original enquiry I mixed a small portion of powdered "H" drafting lead with the thicker style Super Glue and attached a l...

This is one for our man Sparky or anybody who worked on the J-57 Jefferies Space Station Refit, project dated 11/8/06. The effect is just what I'm looking for! The problem is the schematic is not there, the links look to be dead, and I can't find any mention in the sticky that I recognize. What I wa...

Do any of you out there have any experience with conductive glue? Either the commercially made or home made (as seen on the Instructables web site)?

:?: I'm sure this question has been asked in one form or another somewhere on these pages, but here it is again anyway... I'm wondering how I can get 3 LEDs of the same current rating but different input voltage ratings to strobe as cheap and easy as possible- without using a PIC. Is there any schem...

Before I solder in a resistor I ALWAYS check its actual resistance with a VOM. The resistor's color code's may be faded, or the value may be closer to the upper or lower limits of their tolerances.

Plus it seems that the ol' OEM photon detectors don't work as well as they use to.

Could you please supply some more information? 1) What sort of blink/flash rate does it have? 2) Is the blink/flash rate adjustable? 3) What are the dimensions of the board, including the height of the tallest component? 4) can it drive several LEDs of identical current ratings but different voltage...

:idea: You (or somebody else) mentioned red and green LEDs of the same current rating. This doesn't mean that they will be the same brightness level. The way the human eye works green will appear brighter than red- this is why emergency vehicles and traffic worker's vests are now being produced in a...

I' using up my supply of old floppy disks for scratchbuilding. They're a consistant size, and when you split them open there's some interesting molded in detail. Even the anti-write slider has some interesting possibilites. It's easy to work with and will score-and-snap cleanly. The problem is that ...

:8) The plan now is to illuminate a whole bunch of LEDs (9 standard whites, 2 white super-brights, 2 super bright reds, 3 standard reds, and one green) with batteries. The 2 spuper bright reds will be on 1 or 2 flasher circuits. I could get away eith powering it with a wall wart but I don't want to ...

Thanks for the input. I'm assuming though that the flash rates can be independently adjusted.

I plan on installing a couple of anti-collision lights on my Stargazer Orion II shuttle. Two options I'm considering are a pair of 3mm super bright blinking reds (the ones that have the flasher built into the LED) or a pair of LEDs driven by a small PCB. The advantage that I can see with the former ...