calculon

TM Lindsey makes the best model of the Gunstar. Unfortunately, they suspended operations after the hurricanes last year and I'm not sure when they're coming back. But it would be worth the wait. Starship Modeler preview TM Lindsey gallery

I purchased the FM Millenium Falcon from Starship Modeler, the Alliance resin Galactica from Federation, and NX-01 decals and masking templates from CultTVMan. Service is excellent with all three vendors. If I had to pick a fav, it'd be Starship Modeler. BTW, SM carries some nice decals and aftermarket resin guns/missiles for the Monogram Starfury kit.

One of my fav sci-fi kits from this past year. Very nicely done!

Take Jean-Luc Picard's head from the PL Scorpion kit and graft it onto Anakin's body. Darken skin tone to match. Both kits and figures are the same scale. I can't take credit for the ingenuity. I can't exactly remember who's idea it was, (picked it up on SM's boards) but it's a pretty damn good one.

Obi-Wan's version has *slightly* different folding panels/wings. More engraved detail than Anakin's. I've stripped mine with PollyScale Easy Lift Off, and am planning to do one Mace Windu's (Purple instead or Red or Yellow)

Y'know with Hobby Lobby 1/2 off sales this week on this side of the pond....and RoG SW:RoTS kits on the other....You'd think that more than a few folks here would come to an highly equitable arrangement. I'm just sayin' that's all. :unsure:

FYI, RC/Ertl has recently reissued the 1/41 "mid-size" X-Wing using the same box art as #4 (and using the same model picture- which is the"basic"/snap kit) so it's confusing. The 1/41 kit does come in a larger box than the snap.

AMT's Imperial TIE Fighters kit is close to 1/48. It is probably the most modern and best quality kit in AMT/Ertl's SW lineup. No, that's not damning with faint praise. It really is a sharp kit- A guy in my club thought it was the FineMolds(he didn't know that FM only does 1/72) at first- since it bears none of the same quality lineage of other AMT/Ertl kits. The fact that you get TWO fighters is also a great bonus. It's not terribly hard to find. I saw one at Scalefest just last weekend. $30 isn't unreasonable. Saturn

I don't feel mistreated as a SF Modeler. Hell, if anything I feel lucky. It wasn't that long ago when AMT/Ertl & R/M dropped their respective sci-fi licenses and we had *zero* new models released, with zero in the development pipeline... Science Fiction modeling has entered a renaissance of sorts. Lots of re-pops/re-issues, lots of new models, new toolings, quality and scales that we only dreamed of. If you told me five years ago that we'd have five Star Wars fighter kits of Tamiyagawa quality in a common scale, I would've said you were dreaming. If you told me ten years ago there would b

Actually, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter is closer to 1/32 scale. Maybe even 1/24, I forget. AMT/Ertl did produce a kit with a *pair* of standard TIE Fighters (straight-winged) that's basically 1/48...The kit's OOP, but is relatively easy to find on eBay. Not my auction.

Meh. Nothing that a bath in Castrol Super Clean, some home made decals and a half-cup of Bondo wouldn't fix. :P Sure, I'd love to have *nice* Fine Molds Ep.III models- who wouldn't? But I've heard nothing from our man in Japan.

Yes, you can use superglue. Ambroid is a "welding" type of liquid cement- the cement is strong enough to melt styrene. When applied to mating surfaces of two parts and slammed together, they form a bonder stronger than CA (superglue) or traditional tube cement. Biggest advantage is strength and speed- you can assemble faster with liquid cements like Ambroid, Tenax 7, MEK and the aforementioned Tamiya. Only disadvantage is learning how to apply it. It can scar and mar parts if you're not careful. But once you jump from tube glue to liquid cement and get the hang of it...it will be like

I'm surprised no one mentioned bendy straws... There are two things you have to careful with decanted aerosol paint. -aerosol paints carry an active ingredient. It still has the potential to generate gas even if you allow it to outgas. You cannot shake or vigorously mix them once the paints have been decanted out of can. I once used a battery powered mixer with decanted paint- and it completely bubbled over and all over the place. The ensuing mess didn't ruin anything- good lesson learned. -you have to give the aerosol gas somewhere to go as you're spraying- or the gas comes back up th

Excellent service. I happened on them almost accidentally- after an irritation with Squadron where half of what I ordered was out of stock. (argh!) I Froogle-searched for the Aires Harrier II+ cockpit and found Gordon. In my mailbox in two days. Second order- just as quick. It's one of my big pet peeves- ordering stuff from a website and having it arrive with stuff missing. Annoying because I usually impulse buy- order additional "secondary targets" that I wouldn't have necessarily gone after. So they ship the secondaries but not the primary targets you wanted in the first place. I've had

You wont need a moisture trap- CO2 is totally dry. What you do need is a dual-stage regulator- which measures both pressure and gas remaining. You need a regulator *specifically* for CO2 gas cylinders...the regulators for other types of gas (like Nitrogen or Oxygen) cylinders are slightly different. Don't skimp on the regulator- it will make or break your rig. I went the cheap route initially (Sears hardware) and blew that sucker apart once I turned the knob. Compressed gas is not to be trifled with. I paid $120 for mine new, brass construction, name brand from a gas supply store like Airga

AMT/Ertl has three X-Wing kits. All of which can be found on eBay easily and at a fair price: -a 1/72 snap-together -a 1/48 version- the first X-Wing kit circa 1978. -a 1/32 Pro-Shop version with lights and sound. If your son's building it start with the snap together. The 48th version can be built into a nice model, but the cockpit's kinda lacking. If you're building for yourself, get thee to Hobby Link Japan and get the Fine Molds 1/72 X-Wing; easily one of the best sci-fi injection kits ever created. It falls together like a Tamiya kit. Excellent DS9 BTW. Great choice of colors-

Alclad II is a lacquer. Lacquers use "hotter" or stronger carriers than enamels or aqueous acrylics. The recommended primer for HP Aluminum is Tamiya TS-14 Gloss Black- which is an synthetic lacquer. It only comes in a rattle can, but I've always decanted the Black out of the can and shot it through my airbrush instead- shoots great. IMHO, TS-14 is probably the best hobby-paint Gloss Black out there. As mentioned before Alclad also makes a gloss black base (which smells lacquery as well)- but I prefer the Tamiya paint. No, you don't have to lay Future before the Alclad application. Clea

Don't use too much putty to secure nose weights. Most model putty is toluene based- and too much of it will attack/melt the styrene. Learned this the hard way- Monogram's 1/72 A-10 model- the first time I've ever needed a nose weight. I think I used a teaspoon of Squadron Green. That nose and avenger cannon just sluffed off after a week. I use mostly bluetak putty sealed with CA to fix my nose weights now.