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Yeah, always put decals on a super glossy surface or you'll see the decal edges. So paint, future the poo poo out of it, put the decals on, decal solvent, then sometimes more future to blend the surface, then some sort of matte finish if that's what you're going for. That's what everyone in the world of tiny tiny model trains does anyways.
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May 18, 2014 20:08
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Wash + flat coat has hidden the edges well for me in the past. Also, I gave in and bought the ridiculous War Against Fascism kit. Going to paint that next.
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May 18, 2014 21:45
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I finished putting together the Subaru of  and it turned out looking pretty good as long as you don't look too closely, like the grilled bucketty bit on the hood that's very obviously just a decal. I'd like to thank Mr. Hobby's Mr. Mark Softer, without whose help this model would have surely ended up in the box of shame. I was almost certain I'd screw up those big side vinyls and I did on the other side, it's got a terrible wrinkle from where the decal decided to completely adhere itself almost instantly. It's also missing the Subaru emblem on the front as it disintegrated the moment I touched it.  Strangely it also came with some opaque red and white decals for the taillights but I tried backing the area with silver and putting clear red on the back of the clear parts and it worked really well. Then I stuck them on with wood glue to avoid rage quitting. Gloss, gloss, gloss, decals, light gloss, gloss, gloss, gloss. 
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May 18, 2014 23:36
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So my home-made static grass applicator which I haven't used in like a year still works! Well it shoots sparks out of the handle and makes a loud clicking sound while I use it, but it works. This is why I'm glad I made out one of a 9v battery and not the type that plugs into a wall. I don't trust anything I built my self to not kill me if plugged into the wall. 
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May 19, 2014 19:17
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Baronjutter posted:So my home-made static grass applicator I have virtually no experience with building scale models, and my interest in this thread is just because I love handcrafted anything, but that does look great. The first shot especially. Not just the grass either, the whole thing looks really good. If the light were more yellow then I could believe the first shot was full scale at a glance with no explanation.
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May 19, 2014 19:30
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Pretty awesome diorama! Realistic grass has never been my strong suit, I seem to be much better at snowy ones.
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May 19, 2014 19:52
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I've had a little bit time to do a bit of modelling, nothing too serious but here goes. Revell do the Star Wars mini kits and a local bookshop was selling them for half the price of the local model shop. I bought the X-Wing and the Darth Vader Tie Fighter. They come pre-painted but it's actually quite a good job. For the sake of ten minutes tinkering and putting it together, you end up with a not bad model. I went a little further and weathered it a little.  Great kits for adults or kids. I very heartily recommend.
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May 19, 2014 22:23
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Having recently gotten a new job I need desk deco. I figured a scale model of some planes (F-14, F-16, F-22, or F-35) would be pretty nice to have. I've done some scale modelling decades ago when I was a kid but nothing recent. I'm trying to figure out what kit would be best to start with, whether or not there's any website(s) that can help me get into the swing of things, and so on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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May 20, 2014 18:39
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khy posted:Having recently gotten a new job I need desk deco. I've always found the KitMaker sites to be helpful - http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/ I'd start small for sure, 1/72nd scale should be fine. I built a pretty decent Corsair a few years ago in that scale after a long hiatus. Been a long time since I've done aero modelling, so I'm afraid I can't recommend a specific kit, but I do like Tamiya's stuff alot. The best advice I can give to someone new to the hobby is just build the kit straight up and don't try to backpedal too much on your mistakes. If anything, it will serve as a reference of what not to do in the future. When I started a while back, I made the mistake of comparing my builds to those I saw online and feeling like I had to build something of the same quality. This was really silly because those guys had years of experience and I didn't! Plus, you'd be surprised how good a kit you can build with just basic assembly and painting. Kits being made these days have a ton of detail out of the box. Hope this helps. Speaking of desk deco, here's what I got now at work. Finished earlier this year:  Sorry about the horrible cellphone pic George Zimmer fucked around with this message at 18:52 on May 20, 2014 |
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May 20, 2014 18:49
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khy posted:Having recently gotten a new job I need desk deco. For a desktop I would suggest 1/144. The problem with doing modern jets in 1/72 for a work desk is that they tend to come out large-ish. (except the F-16 and F/A-18A-D) size comparison  that small f-14 was like the second or third model I ever did. http://www.revell.com/germany/aircraft/80-4021.html#.U3wa8fldV8E about the size of a CD. Should sell for under $10. Builds up surprisingly well. Can be brush painted and still look good. http://www.hlj.com/product/TRP01317/Air This is another nice kit. F-22's like 1/144 because the paint will never look quite right in larger scales unless you go for some really exotic paints. There are a bunch of F-16 kits out there in 1/144 but I only half built up the Revell one and tossed it my whelp pile. did not go
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May 21, 2014 04:38
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I made a tank!  It's an "Italeri" T-26 (a Zvezda kit with an Italeri manual). The Vickers suspension pivots in almost all the right places, but the super tight rubber tracks ruin that for you. The kit has no machinegun (I had to use up a space), has no inside parts, no extra stowage or spare track links or anything, and the gun has no opening (trust soldering iron to the rescue!). The antenna isn't complete, but that's easily fixable with a short bit of wire. It's not a bad kit though, and I wasn't expecting too much for twenty bucks. But wait, there's more! I put it on a thing!  My first attempt to sculpt somewhat complicated terrain. Yes, a hole in the middle counts as complicated. I probably shouldn't have used the foam with the bubbles (the bubbles are a massive pain to work with, impossible to sand, and they get everywhere and stick to everything), but I think it turned out fine. It's also my first attempt at making trees, and I think I managed to cover most of the horrible looking parts with heaps of snow.   The infantry is Dragon's Soviet tank riders, but I swapped out their SMGs for MiniArt rifles, since I was going for a Winter War vibe. More photos in the Imgur album
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May 22, 2014 03:45
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God, the T-26 was tiny. Crew of 2?
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May 22, 2014 15:42
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Three, one driver, two in the turret.
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May 22, 2014 17:37
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You can never have enough tanks, so here's a Revell Pz35(t).    Pretty basic kit. No internals at all, no hatches you can glue open. The tracks are plastic, but they aren't link to link, so you can't make them sag. Only two extra links. You get two machinegun versions, though. The cable is all plastic, it was supposed to be bendable with the aid of hot water, but it was brittle as hell and shattered, so I made my own from some wire. The kit has two sets of decals: German army during the Polish campaign and Romanian army, so these ones are from my spares box.
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May 29, 2014 20:20
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Ensign, that's a nice looking T-26 and diorama! (Those are some of the cleanest-looking tank riders I have ever seen. Have you considered roughing them up a bit?)
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May 29, 2014 23:09
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Arishtat posted:Ensign, that's a nice looking T-26 and diorama! The way one dude has a leg casually slung over the exhaust muffler made me assume it was a bunch of soldiers who found an abandoned T-26.
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May 29, 2014 23:40
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Nebakenezzer posted:The way one dude has a leg casually slung over the exhaust muffler made me assume it was a bunch of soldiers who found an abandoned T-26. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have shoved him on the edge there, but I didn't want to break up a set.
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May 29, 2014 23:46
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What's the best way to deal with warped pieces? I went for second hand bargain hunting and got stung with some fairly warped pieces in one kit that definitely need some work. I tried a dry fit but it's not fitting at all.
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May 30, 2014 17:52
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My entire top of the T-35 hull was bent, but that was solved by putting heavy things on it while it dried. For smaller pieces, I don't have a solution though. Maybe heat them up a little bit (with warm water), and see if they get more malleable.
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May 30, 2014 17:57
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It's a car body I should have mentioned. There are things that fit into it that usually keep a light warp in place but the drat thing's got a lean and a twist. Gonna have to try the warm water tomorrow.
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May 30, 2014 18:03
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Ensign Expendable posted:My entire top of the T-35 hull was bent, but that was solved by putting heavy things on it while it dried. Speaking of, looks like there might be an alternative to that old kit soon: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/newkitnews/trumpeter.html (And a T-28!) 
Unkempt fucked around with this message at 20:26 on May 30, 2014 |
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May 30, 2014 20:20
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drat it, it's that same turret without the star on top. Where's my star, Trumpeter?
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May 30, 2014 21:59
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Man I love those totally stupid and impractical "land battleship" looking tanks.
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May 30, 2014 22:01
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New T-35 kit  !!!!
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May 30, 2014 22:59
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Not much luck yet with bending the body back into shape, I even went up to boiled water from a kettle but it still didn't seem to do a lot. I may just use my Japan privilege and order a new body as it's a very nice kit otherwise. Lots of good engine details, which I've found out since my earlier review only accounts for about half of Tamiya's models. The other half have a chassis piece much like the Fujimi models. There are exceptions though as I found yesterday... The good people at Tamiya do not like the Nissan 350Z, they don't want you to like it either. If you even attempt to buy a model of the 350Z you will be punished with this:   Every single under-body detail molded onto one big glistening turd. The picture on the right is part of the front axle. Molded in place. The bloody thing doesn't even have turning wheels, and abiding by the rules of my earlier commentary, that makes this worse than the airfix kit, Tamiya. I didn't even think that was possible, so I'm gonna adorn this thing with a gaudy aftermarket wing out of spite. They bloody love the Mazda RX-7 though, to the point they included a chart of paintwork/interior combinations so you don't get it wrong and spoil the 7's good name.  Don't you dare put a tan interior in your yellow car.  And I was pining for some tiny parts to accidentally launch across the room, so 1/24 seat belt buckles  
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May 31, 2014 12:28
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RillAkBea posted:Not much luck yet with bending the body back into shape, I even went up to boiled water from a kettle but it still didn't seem to do a lot. I may just use my Japan privilege and order a new body as it's a very nice kit otherwise. Lots of good engine details, which I've found out since my earlier review only accounts for about half of Tamiya's models. The other half have a chassis piece much like the Fujimi models. There are exceptions though as I found yesterday... Oh man, good luck with those belts. They can be a pain, but the detail is usually worth it. I've been using masking tape for the actual belt material and it's worked out well.
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May 31, 2014 14:52
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You know, backing some photoetch brass sheets like that with a piece of masking tape would help secure parts enough that they wouldn't fly off when cut with a knife or even flush cutters I bet.
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May 31, 2014 23:22
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I'm still reading through this thread, but recently I got back into airplane models. I haven't done one since I was 13, a testors dual pack with an SR-71 and U-2. Just like back then I'm still horrible at this and barely know what I'm doing. First obvious thing I realized is I need an airbrush badly. I'm currently working on a crappy little F4U Corsair also from testors just to get some practice in. It looks like rear end just hand painting it, but hopefully I'll keep up with this and learn some more. Unfortunately my local store closed down a while back run by a cool former air force pilot, he hosted weekly classes to help out beginners but sadly I never had the time back then to attend any. The closest place now is a hobby town about 40 miles away. Thanks to Nebakenezzer for linking me to this thread a while back I'm one of the airplane threads.
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Jun 3, 2014 19:02
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Mike-o posted:First obvious thing I realized is I need an airbrush badly. They can be pretty finicky at times and outright awful if you get a bad one but ya, they're pretty much the be all end all of painting wide surfaces, I shan't deny. For a better hand brushed finish several thin coats will build up to a much more even finish than one thick coat. Also rattle cans are a good stop-gap solution if you don't want to pour your money into an airbrush setup.
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Jun 4, 2014 14:29
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I bought a "master" airbrush system and I loving regret it big time. The compressor it self is a lovely tankless system. I had to put it together and there was no way to get the main valve / gauge part on the tank and tightened up without it being sideways due to the threading and no way to adjust it. After a couple uses I now can't adjust the pressure, it feels like the pressure control knob is like rusted in place or something. I get about 20 seconds of spray time for every 5 min of cleaning. Put in some paint, quick quick do 20 seconds or so of painting, then unscrew and go wash everything through in the sink for a while. Sometimes it works, sometimes it needs more cleaning. Absolutely horrible waste of about $200.
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Jun 4, 2014 22:38
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Baronjutter posted:I bought a "master" airbrush system and I loving regret it big time. You bought a turd, all right. What name is on the side of it?
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Jun 4, 2014 23:17
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      Built this while really bored on mumble with STO goons yesterday, over the course of 8 hours in a single sitting. It's an Airfix rerun kit of the IS-3 in 1:76 with no useful hints to the history of the real one. However it seems to be based on a late WW2 manufactured version, so the roughness of the quality works in it's favor. Did it as an "out of the box" build and had to toy around with putty to fill in the pretty bad gaps it had due to malformed parts and outdated molding, as well as a lot of trimming/filing to get rid of the parts numbers being printed externally on the pieces in areas. Painted it with a mix of Tamiya and Revell water based paints using a handful of classic paintbrushes since I was feeling oldschool. Also sorry for the lame picture quality, I used my PS Vita for that from laziness, but I think they get the result across. Goat Pillager fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Jun 5, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 09:44
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That IS-3 was produced with only the vaguest idea of what a real one looked like. I'm surprised they are still re-releasing it.
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Jun 6, 2014 02:03
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Ensign Expendable posted:That IS-3 was produced with only the vaguest idea of what a real one looked like. I'm surprised they are still re-releasing it. Agreed. The detailing on it is terrible and leaves much to be desired for, which is also why I made it look especially filthy to sort of compensate. Though given that it was a leftover from when Airfix kits were on sale at a local to me shop, and that 4 so far have been completely irredeemably malformed or of such unforgivable low quality that they ended up as spare parts, it's at least something. Also, I'm quite fond of the 1:76 scale (due to limited apartment space) but have yet to find a decent manufacturer in that scale aside from Revell and the hit/miss quality Airfix kits. Does anyone have any good advice for other, preferedly non-terrible manufacturers in that scale? Goat Pillager fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Jun 6, 2014 |
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Jun 6, 2014 03:13
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It would be cool to make a few irredeemably malformed kits into wrecks in a diorama, provided you could get them at 10% of the initial cost or something.
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Jun 6, 2014 03:16
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Ensign Expendable posted:It would be cool to make a few irredeemably malformed kits into wrecks in a diorama, provided you could get them at 10% of the initial cost or something. I might do that with a few of them, specifically have a Sherman kit in mind for it. Also I only paid about 2,50€ per kit, yet still feel ripped off on a lot of them. Goat Pillager fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Jun 6, 2014 |
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Jun 6, 2014 03:21
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I paid $20 for an Airfix kit once, the PaK 40 and truck one. I was young and foolish 
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Jun 6, 2014 04:01
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Ensign Expendable posted:I paid $20 for an Airfix kit once, the PaK 40 and truck one. I was young and foolish I'll be fair on them, the Tiger I and King Tiger with Porsche turret kits of theirs in 1:76 are quite nice quality. The King Tiger is easily on par with a Trumpeter or newer Revell kit. I feel your pain on the older kits though. The Sherman, Chi Ha, and two Matilda's have just been boxes of failure and disappointment. They make me ask if Airfix has any form of quality control.
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Jun 6, 2014 08:31
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Don't judge me too harshly  I picked up this Revell Germany UH-1 Huey Hog last year, and I've been slowly piecing it together in my spare time since then. It's the first kit I've built since the mid 2000's, and the first time I've ever actually used stuff like modelling putty and sandpaper to file down the rough spots. The cartridge belts were especially bitchtastic, they like to snap if you so much as look at them funny  It still needs to be cleaned up, detailed, and the decals need to be applied, but it's close to finished. The fit of a lot of the pieces left a lot to be desired but I did the best I could in making everything at least somewhat solid. It looks somewhat janky and off in spots, but I'm attributing that to battle damage and hasty repairs
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Jun 6, 2014 09:01
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I think you've done a great job! I'm still working on my Airfix mustang, and if it turns out as good as that I'll be very pleased.
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Jun 6, 2014 12:09
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