datahiker

I've decided to get him a Badger 350 (Thanks, Don!) since it's the price range I was looking for and would be a great starter brush for him. I have the HF brush so once he gets bigger he can practice with that one to get used to the double action. (Then maybe, just maybe, I'll let him use the Iwata). I never thought to clean the HF up, so I appreciate you posting the steps, Curt.

It's a lot of work, but yes, it can be done. It works better if you run the thinned paint through a filter, too, like one from Micro Mark. That gets the coarser pigments out and leaves you with a decent sprayable paint. I find mixing future in gives it enough "bite" to stick to plastic.

My 8-year-old is getting into modeling and wants to airbrush. His hands are probably too small and weak for a regular double-action. I'm contemplating getting a pistol grip if I can find one. Something like the Badger Marksman single action, or even a regular external-mix single action, which is basically just a push button. Any parents out there with advice?

Yeah, the "Airbrush Color" line from Createx is for airbrushing T-shirts and fabrics. I got a bottle to practice with from Michael's/MJ Designs when I bought my first airbrush because it's thin enough to shoot straight out of the bottle. It's great for practicing basic techniques on paper, but my bottle was too watery to adhere to plastic. I've used Model Master (Testor's), Tamiya, Citadel and even the cheap craft acrylics. The cheap craft acrylics are doable but it's a pretty big hassle and some brands and colors work better than others.

There are adapters (about $5) for Paasche-to-Iwata and Badger-to-Iwata. Maybe the Iwata fittings are metric?

Add me to the years/decades list. It's definitely lack of time, as none of my models could be considered awesome, especially when they are all partially built! I have three young kids and they break things faster than I can fix them. Add kids activities, normal house and car maintenance, a wife that also works full time, and all the other daily/weekly/monthly chores and I'm down to about 10 minutes of free time a day, right before I pass out. And even if I did have more time, I have other hobbies to squeeze in like backpacking, camping, reading, etc. I find that I won't touch a model for

Agreed. The touch-n-flow is for liquid cement (like Testors, Tamiya or a solvent like MEK), not any kind of CA. I hope you're able to get the CA out, because it's a fantastic tool.

I'll be there but won't be entering anything.

I also submitted for the free sample, got the verification and I'm still waiting as well. I highly doubt I'd buy any at the regular price but it doesn't hurt to try something new.

If we're talking non-aircraft, the 1/35 Italeri Desert S.A.S. Combat Car has me in fits right now.

Before the web I'd buy books and magazines but now it's primarily Google searches. I also hit PrimePortal, Airliners.net, DoD or the military branch sites and some Russian sites for walkarounds. Sometimes you can find some good pics on Photobucket or flickr. I do my own screencaps for sci-fi subjects like Star Wars. Stuff in the public library is almost always outdated or too general. I'll look for out-of-print stuff on P2P sites if there's something I really can't get any other way.

well, started decals, and all i can say is low-vis is not meant to be "no-vis" is it? grey just disappears (decals are Super Scale set 72-532).... The last air show I went to had a V-22 Osprey that had insignia I could barely make out from a distance. I was surprised at how much the low-vis blends in. I'd say they look perfect!

Gotta love the "it was too slow so we removed the encryption" excuse. Productivity trumps security every time.

For those of you who are interested, I just finished a great book titled "Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It," by Richard Clarke. It's fascinating and easy to read. And scary. I thought most SCADA systems were not supposed to be connected to the internet but evidently some are. And that doesn't even count the private infrastructure companies where security is a joke.

Camping and backpacking - I just finished section hiking the 560+ mile Finger Lakes Trail in New York. Amateur astronomy on the few nights a year it's not cloudy in my area. And with a public library across the street from my house I do a lot of reading.

No doubt. It's like saying, "Hey, there are a ton of chicks that love to shop for clothes, maybe I'll go hang out at the department store to pick one up!" And yeah, building models has its benefits but it's still a relatively solitary hobby.

I'm just curious to see how many people lighten their paint jobs for scale effect. Does the scale factor into your decision?

Great job on the camo, it looks awesome!

That looks phenomenal! Best one I've seen. Maybe your Raptor critic was one of those young-Earth types that believes humans and dinosaurs not only existed together but somehow got pictures of them to those of us in the future.

As mentioned above, absinthe typically no longer contains wormwood, so no hallucinations. I tried it once last year, with the burning sugar preparation. I'm not a big fan of the taste of black licorice (anise), so I wasn't that fond of it. Rum, that's another story . . .

Looks great! Kits have been ordered and I'm really hoping the 1/72 decals will be ready by the time the kits show up!

I agree. I went to an airshow this past weekend and they confiscated the mini multitool off my keychain because it had a 1" knife. Seriously? When people are carrying folding chairs and strollers that aren't getting scanned? Security theater, indeed. I guess I was the dummy for it being visible.

The way I've always done it is paint the base color, use a wash for shadows and then drybrush highlights. Maybe the instructions are referring to wiping away excess wash? I'm not quite sure what "picking out" the mustache means. If a mustache is molded in just treat it like hair. If not, it depends on the scale. With smaller figures you can get away with painting one on, while on larger figures you'd have to improvise.

I haven't either but I have built for friends and family who wanted something. I usually enjoy it less because there is a deadline involved (and I'm a slow, sporadic builder by nature). It's also hard when I feel obligated to spend time on something when I'd rather be working on my own build, or if something goes horribly wrong and sets me back. I don't cut corners but I have to make sure realistic expectations are set since I have a day job, the usual homeowner maintenance and three very active children ages 7 and younger. That being said, they buy the kit and any aftermarket and I'll usu

:rofl: For me, two models would just mean twice the rejections! :P