datahiker
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Posts posted by datahiker
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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.
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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?
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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.
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There are adapters (about $5) for Paasche-to-Iwata and Badger-to-Iwata. Maybe the Iwata fittings are metric?
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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 six months, get the bug again and make some progress, then drop it for another 6 months.
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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.
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I'll be there but won't be entering anything.
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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.
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I didn't include AMT/Ertl in my earlier post as proeblems with their kits transcended poor fit and engineering. the problem was directly in the styrene itself. I don't know what they did with their styrene, but it was some of the softest, overflexible and inconsistently behaving styrene I ever encountered in mainstream kits
It was just as likely to form a gap as a solid join when you tried touching cement to it as it tended to melt inconsistently and unpredictably.
Sanding was nearly impossible on some of their kits as the styrene was so soft that there didn't seem to be a grade of sandpaper fine enough to take to it and not have it come out looking like you'd taken a cheese grater to the whole thing.
The last AMT/Ertl kit I ever attempted was the Star Trek DS9 Cardassian Galor class ship. The styrene was actually respectable in that kit, but the upper and lower hulls looked to have been done by two different parties with no communication between them, the fit was negligible and the detail matching betwen the halves was non existant.
I think they must have had someone who had worked on MPC's Star Wars kits show them how to make the Star Trek kits.
I shed no tears when AMT/Ertl announced they had gotten out of the styrene kit business, good ridance to them.
If we're talking non-aircraft, the 1/35 Italeri Desert S.A.S. Combat Car has me in fits right now.
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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.
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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!
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It was only a matter of time.
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-12-17/us/drone.video.hacked_1_uav-systems-encryption-feeds?_s=PM:US
Gotta love the "it was too slow so we removed the encryption" excuse. Productivity trumps security every time.
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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.
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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.
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LOL, well dude as much as I hate to admit this, but ummm..have you looked around the hobby shops? We ain't exactly the coolest guys around if you know what I mean. I was rather relunctant to tell my now wife about my hobby until I was sure she was ok with me being a dork...then I broke it to her gently that on top of being a dork, I build and collect little plastic toys that I obsess over "getting it right". It took her a while to accept, but she's come to terms. I don't think I could have sold it from date one though..
Bill
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.
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I'm just curious to see how many people lighten their paint jobs for scale effect. Does the scale factor into your decision?
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Great job on the camo, it looks awesome!
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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.
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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 . . .
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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!
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If you are going to get felt up, at least they can take you out to dinner and buy you some champagne.
It's all security theatre to better placate a paranoia among many people today.
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.
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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.
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I have never done a commission build and I am curious about 'how it feels'. At the risk of digressing from the point, I would like to ask if you find yourselves enjoying the build less (or more) and if so in what ways? I always thought if you are not mentally excited about the subject, or don't care about the era etc., it would be less fun, or you might start cutting corners you would otherwise not (pure speculation on my part). I an see similar displeasure if working against a deadline.
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 usually ask for just enough $ to cover paint and consumables. It's easier to push a deadline around when they aren't paying anything toward labor. The nice part about it is that it's really expanded my skills and diversity - I've built aircraft, cars, motorcycles, armor, sci-fi, helicopters and figures. Era hasn't mattered to me too much since I'm interested in just about everything, but I've politely declined building anything out of my skill level or that would just take me too long.
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:rofl: For me, two models would just mean twice the rejections! :P
Airbrush for children?
in Tools 'n' Tips
Posted
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.