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Huh. I knew I must have been missing options that are blindingly obvious. I almost certainly don't actually need the full power of the LEDs. Especially the static component. Even a handful at full power will be overpowering given the scale and spacing I'm thinking about. So fibre optics are likely straight up better for the bulk of it, to say nothing of the reduction in power draw and wiring, even if it's mostly swapping a soldering iron for glues. Might not help as much with the animated component, but it's definitely worth playing around with. Maybe I can use a very small premade animation strip behind the model and pipe points from that to the runway lights. And then the 555/4017 stuff unlocked an entirely new set of hits in my searching which seem to be almost exactly what I want, and got me looking at GPIO extenders more closely too. And I could just... try to raise the base of what I'm doing to fit the oversized, chopped-up, striplights. A centimeter or two will probably make all the difference. Plenty of stuff to think about, thanks thread.
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Apr 1, 2023 19:43
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Took a week to get everything and get everything setup but my space is finally all ready to go. Just need to decide if I want to use and paint the normal parts or use the glow in the dark pieces I T B E G I N S
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Apr 1, 2023 19:56
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Baronjutter posted:Hello scale model friends. I have not done any scale modeling for many years now, so to get back into things I decided to start with some fairly tricky bridge kits! I had no idea these were a thing. That’s amazing!
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Apr 1, 2023 19:58
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Jesus christ, already hosed up one of these:
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Apr 1, 2023 21:25
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loving PE.
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Apr 1, 2023 21:58
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I hate PE so much. I wish they would include a litle QR code in addition to the PE/instead of that had the STLs and you could just print those parts instead.
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Apr 1, 2023 22:00
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Southern Heel posted:Jesus christ, already hosed up one of these: Yeah literally no way this is doable for me - I messed up with the first one and I thought I was being stupid, but even with practise it doesn't seem doable at all - the dimensions of the ring don't match how far out the legs can stretch, and holding in 3D space (since you need to use CA and that will bond to what it's resting on) and trying to align is just impossible, particularly since those contact points are >0.2mm square. I have a spare PE but unless anyone can give me a tip on how to not gently caress it up then I'm stuck... Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Apr 1, 2023 |
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Apr 1, 2023 22:04
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Southern Heel posted:Jesus christ, already hosed up one of these: You'd probably have an easier time just bending some thin solder into those shapes.
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Apr 1, 2023 23:06
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Speaking of LEDs and electronic feature creep, my inductor kit arrived today. Now to figure out how much leeway I have with things like leads. Here's my proof of concept. Not pictured is the transmitter coil.
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Apr 1, 2023 23:20
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Someone needs to put out a simple modular LED kit, with a board that can drive different effects, and most importantly, a software front end that you can pick from different effects and tweak them with simple sliders and buttons. So instead of buying a kit that does a fire effect, or a welding effect, you just get the kit, and then in the software pick from a list of effects, and that drives the board. Want the welding sparks faster, slower? Drag a slider to change their frequency. Want a whole range of blinking lights for the running lights on a space cruiser? Plug them in, use the software to dictate to each addressable RBG LED what color it should be, and how often it should blink. There's kits that do one aspect or another of this sort of thing, but as far as I know nothing that ties it all together to give you customizable effects that can be tweaked by users who don't want to deal with the raw code.
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Apr 2, 2023 00:08
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Southern Heel posted:Yeah literally no way this is doable for me - I messed up with the first one and I thought I was being stupid, but even with practise it doesn't seem doable at all - the dimensions of the ring don't match how far out the legs can stretch, and holding in 3D space (since you need to use CA and that will bond to what it's resting on) and trying to align is just impossible, particularly since those contact points are >0.2mm square. I used to make balsa wood planes with my father and we would have a layer of wax paper down and apply CA glue, and it works really well to create a layer between object being glued and a nice solid surface. Sometimes the wax paper sticks but it can be removed relatively easily.
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Apr 2, 2023 00:18
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Parchment paper works great too, and is even less likely to stick than wax paper.
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Apr 2, 2023 00:22
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Parchment paper is just really handy in general. Wet palettes, surface tricks, actual baking uses...
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Apr 2, 2023 02:20
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Nullkigan posted:Huh. I knew I must have been missing options that are blindingly obvious. You mentioned vertical space is a limiting factor, so this might not be useful, but it would be simple. Use an individually addressable LED strip, then add a layer above with holes drilled at the correct spacing. Fill the holes with clear UV resin or acrylic rods sanded on the ends for more diffusion. Depending on the difference in spacing of the LEDs and landing lights (as well as the vertical spacing between the layers), you will probably have some light bleed and/or some runway lights that would be dimmer than others. Just tossing the idea out there.
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Apr 2, 2023 03:46
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I have an airbrush troubleshooting question. I'm working with a new paint brand, and while I'm dialed in and thinned to the manufacturer's recommendation, I'm finding that there are bubbles in the finish itself. Not in the pot, but in the actual coat of paint after spraying. I've never run into this problem before with either Tamiya or Mr. Color at any (sane) level of thinning or air pressure. In fact, I did one part of my model in Mr. Color and another in this new brand, and the difference is pretty stark. I could use some help troubleshooting, since I don't think I'm experienced enough to diagnose it myself aside from brute-force adjusting variables and spraying spoons until I find a sweet spot (which will cost a lot of paint. So far my theories are: 1. Too little/too much air 2. Paint not thin enough 3. Temperature/humidity problems (I paint in a pretty chilly space) I don't think its a mechanical defect with my brush because like I said, I did two different parts of this model with the same brush and got vastly different results between brands. Any thoughts?
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Apr 2, 2023 03:59
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What's the new paint brand and type (i.e. acrylic, lacquer, etc)? Bubbles on the finish are usually caused by grease or grime on the model surface or by humidity in the air flow from the brush.
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Apr 2, 2023 04:14
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Gewehr 43 posted:What's the new paint brand and type (i.e. acrylic, lacquer, etc)? Bubbles on the finish are usually caused by grease or grime on the model surface or by humidity in the air flow from the brush. Odenkan lacquer. I wiped the part down with alcohol before priming with Mr. Surfacer 1500. I had flushed the brush with acetone between colors, and my compressor has a moisture trap.
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Apr 2, 2023 04:50
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Ok, I’ll try with baking paper as a surface on which to glue, thank you. If I were soldering I’d run solder into the twisted bits to strengthen them but I guess that’s not a thing here so maybe flexible superglue or something? Or am I just being too ham fisted
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Apr 2, 2023 07:49
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I’m looking at my HMCS Snowflower kit and the pile of eduard aftermarket next to it and thinking it might be easier to just build a shrink ray, fly to Halifax and shrink HMCS Sackville.
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Apr 2, 2023 14:41
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Someone needs to put out a simple modular LED kit, with a board that can drive different effects, and most importantly, a software front end that you can pick from different effects and tweak them with simple sliders and buttons. So instead of buying a kit that does a fire effect, or a welding effect, you just get the kit, and then in the software pick from a list of effects, and that drives the board. Want the welding sparks faster, slower? Drag a slider to change their frequency. Want a whole range of blinking lights for the running lights on a space cruiser? Plug them in, use the software to dictate to each addressable RBG LED what color it should be, and how often it should blink. See videos like this one (random pick, I couldn't find the exact one I was thinking of). You flash a cheap ESP826 board with the WLED software via USB, then connect the data cable from the strip to the board and both board and strip to 5V power, then you can control the thing via wifi interface / an app. WLED has a GUI (again random pick) for editing patterns. This works out cheaper and more user friendly than Arduinos and the Adafruit Neopixel library. The downsides are individual lights being a bit large for scale model use, typically being 5 mm of "light and controller" on a 9mm backing plate (contacts, resistors - at least in the SMD version, on strips it varies), and needing to get wired strings of the lights which are a bit less common than plain strip. Or spending forever soldering onto tiny flat contacts in close proximity. It's possible to be caught out by similar-but-different standards available for strips. WS2812b is 5v like most boards and extremely common in shops, but WS2811 and several others do exist. (There's also stuff about occasionally needing to top up the power after every few hundred lights to stop the ends from being a bit dimmer, but that's basically just adding two extra wires back to the power supply every once in a while) Skunkduster posted:You mentioned vertical space is a limiting factor, so this might not be useful, but it would be simple. Use an individually addressable LED strip, then add a layer above with holes drilled at the correct spacing. Fill the holes with clear UV resin or acrylic rods sanded on the ends for more diffusion. Depending on the difference in spacing of the LEDs and landing lights (as well as the vertical spacing between the layers), you will probably have some light bleed and/or some runway lights that would be dimmer than others. Just tossing the idea out there. If I put the diffusor directly over the lights, and have a sufficiently dense number of them (say 90 or 144/m), that might help things look even and balance the amount of light making it up each hole (passing through about 1cm of material) at the cost of more vertical space. If I can make enough room for it, I'll just jump straight to pre-cabled instead of strip versions of the lights.
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Apr 2, 2023 15:21
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FrozenVent posted:I’m looking at my HMCS Snowflower kit and the pile of eduard aftermarket next to it and thinking it might be easier to just build a shrink ray, fly to Halifax and shrink HMCS Sackville. This is the supplied photo etch with the Trumpeter kit, the eduard stuff looks fairly reasonable by comparison!
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Apr 2, 2023 16:26
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Newbie question on air brushes: the one I got from my local hobby story is an Anthem 155. Seeing as I’m doing figures and not machines I figured I’ll mostly be using it to do convincing flesh/scales/biological things and fabrics so I figure it being a siphon feed would be okay but posting a question on Reddit it seems like I’ve committed a cardinal sin by not getting a gravity fed airbrush. Before I use it and thus make it unable to be exchanged is a siphon fed system really that bad? Or is it just hyperbole because internet nerds?
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Apr 2, 2023 17:46
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FrozenVent posted:I’m looking at my HMCS Snowflower kit and the pile of eduard aftermarket next to it and thinking it might be easier to just build a shrink ray, fly to Halifax and shrink HMCS Sackville. RCMP had been notified of your posts and villainous intentions.
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Apr 2, 2023 17:56
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Dr. VooDoo posted:Newbie question on air brushes: the one I got from my local hobby story is an Anthem 155. Seeing as I’m doing figures and not machines I figured I’ll mostly be using it to do convincing flesh/scales/biological things and fabrics so I figure it being a siphon feed would be okay but posting a question on Reddit it seems like I’ve committed a cardinal sin by not getting a gravity fed airbrush. Before I use it and thus make it unable to be exchanged is a siphon fed system really that bad? Or is it just hyperbole because internet nerds? Siphon feeds go through a ton more paint than gravity feed and miniature paints are extremely expensive. Plus cleaning and changing colors is probably significantly more difficult with a siphon feed. If you are doing exclusively small things a siphon airbrush is not ideal.
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Apr 2, 2023 18:25
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Dr. VooDoo posted:Newbie question on air brushes: the one I got from my local hobby story is an Anthem 155. Seeing as I’m doing figures and not machines I figured I’ll mostly be using it to do convincing flesh/scales/biological things and fabrics so I figure it being a siphon feed would be okay but posting a question on Reddit it seems like I’ve committed a cardinal sin by not getting a gravity fed airbrush. Before I use it and thus make it unable to be exchanged is a siphon fed system really that bad? Or is it just hyperbole because internet nerds? I have a siphon feed Badger 150 that I got in the late 80s and I used it for years because I didn't know any better. I bought an Iwata HP-CS gravity feed maybe 10-15 years ago and haven't touched a siphon feed since. The two main advantages are that a gravity fed brush can run a lower air pressure and it is much easier to clean. Cleaning the 150 was a pain in the rear end and discouraged me from using it. The only advantage I could see with a siphon feed airbrush is that they can use a jar as a reservoir for the paint if you need to lay down a LOT of paint. Another problem with Badger is that the air fittings are smaller than than the industry standard, so you'll need to buy hoses and adapters that are specifically made to work with Badger airbrushes. I'm not trying to knock Badger as a company. Their airbrushes are high quality and I've heard their customer support is excellent. Knowing what I know, I still bought a Badger Sotar 20/20 and use it on occasion when I need very fine lines. Since you are doing figures and small scale work, the Sotar 20/20 would be a good airbrush as it can do extremely fine lines and also dump out a lot of paint for priming. The only downsides are that the paint cup is very small (which might not be a problem for you), and you might need to get an adapter or two depending on your setup. All that being said, I agree with the redditors that a gravity feed brush is much better than a siphon feed for scale modeling. The Sotar 20/20 is a great airbrush, but I mainly use my Iwata HP-CS because of the larger paint capacity in the cup and I find that it is easier and quicker to clean.
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Apr 2, 2023 18:45
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Skunkduster posted:I have a siphon feed Badger 150 that I got in the late 80s and I used it for years because I didn't know any better. I bought an Iwata HP-CS gravity feed maybe 10-15 years ago and haven't touched a siphon feed since. The two main advantages are that a gravity fed brush can run a lower air pressure and it is much easier to clean. Cleaning the 150 was a pain in the rear end and discouraged me from using it. The only advantage I could see with a siphon feed airbrush is that they can use a jar as a reservoir for the paint if you need to lay down a LOT of paint. Another problem with Badger is that the air fittings are smaller than than the industry standard, so you'll need to buy hoses and adapters that are specifically made to work with Badger airbrushes. I'm not trying to knock Badger as a company. Their airbrushes are high quality and I've heard their customer support is excellent. Knowing what I know, I still bought a Badger Sotar 20/20 and use it on occasion when I need very fine lines. Since you are doing figures and small scale work, the Sotar 20/20 would be a good airbrush as it can do extremely fine lines and also dump out a lot of paint for priming. The only downsides are that the paint cup is very small (which might not be a problem for you), and you might need to get an adapter or two depending on your setup. Thanks, my store does have a Sotar 20/20-2F in stock so I think I'll go exchange that later today or possibly even keep the 155 anyway as a primer/base coater if the 20/20 has a small capacity
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Apr 2, 2023 19:32
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You could easily prime an entire 1/35 tank with the cup capacity of a Sotar, it'd just take forever unless you got one of the larger nozzle-needle sets. A siphon airbrush is for things you'd want to use the equivalent of an entire bottle of model paint on in one go. Super great if you're doing human-sized props, less so for models.
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Apr 2, 2023 19:43
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grassy gnoll posted:You could easily prime an entire 1/35 tank with the cup capacity of a Sotar, it'd just take forever unless you got one of the larger nozzle-needle sets. Alright, I’ll just do an exchange then. Thanks for all the answers
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Apr 2, 2023 20:26
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Dr. VooDoo posted:Thanks, my store does have a Sotar 20/20-2F in stock so I think I'll go exchange that later today or possibly even keep the 155 anyway as a primer/base coater if the 20/20 has a small capacity There is a halfway solution if you want to spend as little as possible. You can get a color cup that attaches to the siphon-feed port on the 155. It's not as good as a true gravity feed airbrush, but it'll get 90% of the way to being the same, and it's infinitely better than a siphon-feed jar. I use a similar system for my secondary Paasche VL, and it works great. I would hold off on buying/exchanging for the Sotar 20/20 for now. It's an excellent airbrush, but Amazon puts them on sale for like $50 every few months. Wait for a sale and it's an amazing value at $50. 
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Apr 2, 2023 23:43
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Oh the 155 I have came with that little color cup actually
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Apr 3, 2023 01:03
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I also highly recommend the Sotar. Even at higher prices you're getting a good brush, but waiting for a sale (especially if you already have another brush) is a good idea. I have 4 brushes, and it's my favorite.
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Apr 3, 2023 01:41
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Public Service Announcement! Do not skip putting a coat of clear gloss down before applying waterslide decals. Just don't. I'll post a pic of what I ended up with when I finish the model. This concludes this Public Service Announcement.
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Apr 3, 2023 02:09
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If by "figures" you mean like wargames miniatures then siphon fed brushes are basically for basecoating and nothing else.
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Apr 3, 2023 03:14
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Arquinsiel posted:If by "figures" you mean like wargames miniatures then siphon fed brushes are basically for basecoating and nothing else. No, I mean larger scale model monster figures like this The Fly one
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Apr 3, 2023 04:04
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Ah, right. I guess if you are doing them in parts or really enjoy careful masking so?
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Apr 3, 2023 04:20
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Finished a fairly large project: an Academy Achilles Ic:      Full album: https://imgur.com/a/lByfAGJ This was actually a pretty lengthy build. Almost the full interior is present in the kit, even engine compartment details, ironically aside from the engine itself. I made my job harder by melting the ammo racks by accident and then having to scratch build my own. Thankfully, the kit comes with five spare rounds. With the storage box on top of the commander's side rack, you can't fit all five on that side anyway, so it all worked out. The kit comes with a decent amount of stowage, but I also made use of the Tamiya and Academy stowage kits. The .50 cal is from the separate Academy kit as well. For some reason it was a lot better than the one that came with the kit, even though I think they were made in the same year. The periscopes are taken from an old Dragon kit, since the ones that came with this one weren't transparent. I actually had to file them down to get them to fit. The most annoying thing about the kit was the ejection marks. Huge deep ones everywhere, in the hardest to reach places. Incredibly annoying. On the plus side, it comes with a lot of spare running gear parts. Not quite Dragon level, but you get a lot of variety when it comes to wheels and idlers. There were a few things that I tried for the first time: use of gold metallic marker on the brass (worked very well), interference gold paint on the headlights (maybe not as well) and stencils for scratches (mixed feelings on this one).
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Apr 3, 2023 05:35
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What effect were you going for with the stenciled scratches (I'm assuming that is the red/black detailing on some parts). I think my feeling depends on that. As artistic embellishment by the crew/modeler, they're kinda cool looking and add visual interest and personality, in a "hey we decorated our tank" way. But if they're intended to be weathered markings... yeah, dunno about that. I think more traditional weathering techniques would get a far more natural finish. (Give me the shittiest brush I have... no, shittier.)
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Apr 3, 2023 05:43
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ugh i really wish thin plastic tubes making up things like the t-55 headlight cage would always just come as PE. or just a single loving piece instead of individual tubes oh well at least one frame survived so i can make copies
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Apr 3, 2023 05:54
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Warmachine posted:What effect were you going for with the stenciled scratches (I'm assuming that is the red/black detailing on some parts). Yeah, they were supposed to be weathering scratches. Oh well, the templates weren't that expensive. Maybe they could work with coloured pencils.
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Apr 3, 2023 06:04
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Ensign Expendable posted:Yeah, they were supposed to be weathering scratches. Oh well, the templates weren't that expensive. Maybe they could work with coloured pencils. Yeah, to my untrained eye they look like the crew decided to paint some color streaks on the side of the tank because the driver thought they looked cool or something. I'd say market them like that and you have a winner.
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Apr 3, 2023 06:13
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