Scott Smith

Sounds good! I have that much or more in the bench/booth I showed you in the other thread. Of course I wired in all my lighting and fan controls in, added outlets and one with a USB charge port. For 20 years I built on an old fold out cafeteria table with a shelf on the back and a small 3 drawer tool chest to keep stuff in. It was a total cluttered mess. Had I known years ago how nice it is to be organized and places to keep building tools and oddball items stored with easy access, I would have done this years ago. Of course years ago I was in a basement without any outside access to ven

Ed, I’m assuming you have a window you can work in front of? Don’t complicate it. The idea is to draft air. Plain and simple. Go buy yourself a set of window fans and some gator foam board and white Gator tape. Window fans Simply build a “box” you can put around the fans so you’re not pulling air from the sides. Just tape it all together. Put some sort of weather stripping on the edge of the board where it meets the window frame to seal it. You don’t need an enclosure that the model has to be inside of to spray. Simply in front of it will work fine. You’re airbrushing, not sho

How old is the Harrier design? I would imagine anything designed and built today must be light years ahead in technology. The Harrier was probably designed using models and wind tunnels while the F-35B was done with modern CAD, AI, computer simulations, etc….

Ok, that’s kind of cool. I might just have to get one of these. I do my best with magnifiers, but this adds a whole new perspective. But since I’ve started using the Quinta 3D interiors, I’m doing less micro detail work.

As mentioned, already on a few higher end kits. I would like to believe as these manufacturing techniques develop and catch on we will see a lot more of this in future kits. Especially if it becomes a simple algorithm thrown into the CNC process (I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about here, just spitballing it) it will add time to the mold making. But expect to pay more for your kits. Example, price difference between the HK Lancaster and the Border Lancaster. Question is, are you willing to toss out your stash of kits and pay the upgrade costs? I know for me, maybe a

Built it myself. I used these online plans and modified the size and a few slight designs. Ok, they weren’t “modifications” but more like “Happy Little Mistakes”. 😁 https://vent-works.com/blogs/the-ventilation-blog/15945741-diy-hobby-spray-booth I used MDF and ample coats of sanding sealer to seal off the MDF edges. Something like 6 coats on the edges. 2 or 3 on the rest of the surface. The table is built from 3/4 ply and legs from Amazon. The riser in the back was something I reused from my old table, but retro-fitted in the Harbor Freight storage boxes. Best mov

By the way, it vents out the window just to the left of my bench.

Here’s a good example of how good this setup draws air. This is the 39” Seaview I just finished. It would not fit in the booth. I had it sitting on a cart I put together where it was easy to spin around. I positioned it as close to the booth as I could and sprayed the front half, spun it around and sprayed the back half giving a good overlap to blend the paint. Yea, there was a little paint dust cloud, but I cracked open the sliding door and let air in so it would draft air easier from the door that’s 10 feet away. It did a great job of pulling out all the fumes.

Ed, still following. I kind of do the same thing when I can. My booth is 3’ wide since I build mostly 1/32 aircraft. I also built a stand out of an old flexible microphone gooseneck and weighted stand. This works great for jets with the hole(s) in the back still empty. I can slide the model down over the gooseneck after I have it positioned at an angle that works best. When I painted my 1/32 T6 Texan I had to get creative and spray mostly the bottom first and then spray the top since it was all yellow. Shooting lacquers makes it much easier with the quicker drying times too.

Seaview is the Moebius 39” kit. The Nautilus is of course from the Disney movie. I got that as a 3D print off Etsy. It was really rough. Had to sand off all the rivet detail, fill all the bad print resolution lines with putty and then reapply rivet details using white glue and a toothpick. The rust finish is an actual rust paint. Full of iron oxide, goes on black, apply an acid and it turns to rust right before your eyes.

I’m part of a group build on Large Scale Modeler forums and we have a “Wet” theme build going on. Boats, float planes, ships, aircraft that flys off a carrier at sea, etc…Hell, if it gets wet in the rain, we allowed it. Participation was more important than subject. Here’s my entry. I held off on telling everyone about the Nautilus part of the diorama until I posted pics. I call it Science Fusion. Enjoy! Yea, it turned out a bit bigger than I expected. I literally had to do some remodeling/electrical

Any yellowing issues? I tried it on a white model years ago and it had a slight yellow tint to it. Had to strip it and start over. Not sure if I had a can from a bad batch or just really old. Also had some Tamiya spray can lacquer that was gloss but dried a semi-gloss. Apparently it was a bad batch or just labeled wrong.

Just off the top of my head I can think of two great products that were manufactured in North America and have now gone the lower cost route getting products made in China now just to improve the bottom line. I paid a premium because I didn’t want the standard quality I could buy anywhere that was made over seas. One was a beach chair that touted higher quality with much heavier tubing for us fat guys. It was great. Went to replace it 6 or 7 years later and now they were being sold in Walmart under the same name but much thinner tubing and much lower quality Second was my Made in

These are still made in the USA. https://atlantis-models.com/

From what I’ve been reading, not just the money, but model building in the states is not nearly as popular as other countries. Why manufacture here just to export the majority of your inventory? I remember being a kid in the late ‘60’s-‘70’s building models. All my friends built models at some time as a hobby. It’s all about video games now. I tried to get my kids hooked when they were younger. Each built a model, but the bug didn’t bite. Well, maybe. Not the oldest, he’s a video gamer. But my youngest, now 27 is building RC rock crawlers and other trucks. He’s not just asse

Very nice!

I’d stick with a lacquer since that what you’ve used. How smooth is the color coat? I haven’t tried AK, but my experience with Mr. Color is that it is smooth enough for decals to not silver underneath them. No need for a gloss clear first. But any of the lacquer brands will be fine. MRP, Mr. Color, etc.

With a good fan vented to the window, it will be no problem! Trust me. Just crack another window open up wind close by to eliminate negative pressure. As far as the floor around you, a good 4X8 by 3/4 ply will give a rolling chair stability and protect the floor. If you really like the garage, make it livable? Insulate the garage doors with the foam panel kit from Home Depot and install a window unit? No windows in the garage? Yea, that might be a problem.

Check out some businesses in your area that might have cardboard recycling. They might give you some before crushing them. Before I retired I had access to all kinds of various size boxes due to the electronics gear we ordered. Nice heavy boxes too. Also, there might be a box distributor in your area where you can buy bulk boxes. Just a bit of a warning though. Be prepared for sticker shock of shipping, especially if going into Canada. I was going to ship a set of G Factor landing gear in a padded envelope and it was $35. Buyer backed out. Cannot blame him either.

What paints are you using? I’ve switched over to lacquers. I’ve been using MRP clear but recently bought a quart of clear from an auto parts store and some Mr. Color flattening agent to mix my own flats and semi-gloss clears.

I’d give up modeling if I had to work in a space that small. Of course I mostly build 1/32. I’ll give you credit, it’s nicely organized.

Do you have any woodworking skills and tools? There’s a great webpage on how to build one. I used them but made it bigger. Yes, it works great to get those lacquer fumes out. I did close to what you want to do but with plywood. I have a standard window though. Just don’t forget to put the vent in the window before you start spraying. My latest build is the 39” Seaview. Would not fit! I put it on a cart and rolled the front of it into the booth as best as I could. Still did a great job of pulling the fumes out.

Thanks!

My first career was an auto paint and bodyman. I cannot tell you how many times I painted a car in a garage with a standard, non-explosion proof fan without any consequences. Yea, I was young and stupid and didn’t know better. But here I am sitting here 34 years after my last day as a bodyman . Take it as you will, but there is no way fumes from airbrushing a model across a fan will ignite. Just too much outside air mixing with it.

Tell me about it! I recently built the very old (44 years old) Hasegawa 1/32 F-16. I wanted to build it as a YF-16 until I started reading and noticing the differences. So it went on as #1 off the assembly line. I was pleasantly surprised when the decals worked as good as if they were printed yesterday. I started thinking about it when I pulled it out of the stash and remembered I’ve had it for probably 20-24 years just waiting to be built.