Jonny Nox posted:

Yeah, it's hobbycraft.

Bad news, this IS the 2012 kit. Honestly it's going to work into an ok model in the end, I was just posting from emotions earlier.

Fucker is BIG though, I think it's going to come out longer than the F-14 in the end.

Jonny Nox posted:

Italeri and zvezda come to mind first. Revell has a pretty good selection too. All tend to use softer plastics but they take primer pretty well. Actually I don't think I've ever opened a zvezda figure box, so I don't know about their quality.

Plastic 1/72 is going to be soft on detail though, no matter what.

Nebakenezzer posted:

gently caress me, really?

Wonder what the old tooling was like.

Greyhawk posted:

Finished planking the hold, built and installed riders and made a model stand (which will be upgraded later)



Next the hold will be stained and work on the interior details begins.

lilljonas posted:

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx is the go-to place for small scale plastic miniatures. I'm thinking of getting some for a friend who wants to make a 1/72 Normandie set, but has no modeling or painting skills. Haven't decided which brand to go with yet, but I picked up a 1/72 Tiger II tank today at the local hobby shop. They also said they'll add a Vampire to their next order from their distributor, so yay!

The Locator posted:

How many 'installments' in is this, and out of how many?

Rotten Cookies posted:

I'm currently trying to finish up a 1:25 Peterbilt 359 by Revell for my boss's christmas gift. The idea was to paint it up just like his truck here at the metal shop where I work. Trying to include all the details that make it "his" including the company logo on the sides. Freehanding that is a huge pain and coming out like crud, even using my finest brush. I'm considering repainting it. I also get to cut out little bits of plastic and shape them to make up the visor, new stacks, custom mudflaps, different style bumper. Also gonna add in some tiny little bristles for the boot brush.

I just realized I don't actually have pictures of it, and didn't think of that when I started making the post. Oh well! The kit seemed to fit together really well. The stamp on the mold says 1982, which for some reason surprised me. Best part was that the windshield snapped in so I didn't have to worry about glue fog.

quote:

The Beast Beneath the Modeling Table

There has been much speculation lately about the "creature" who lives beneath the model table eating dropped model parts. Being a professional wildlife biologist, I took it upon myself to study this elusive animal in order to better understand it and its habits. After several months of intensive life history research, I will now share with everybody what I learned about this fascinating and most maligned beastie.
First of all, its name: it is known among scientific circles as Styrenus consumptiverus, which literally translates to "eater of plastic." It is commonly known by several local names, including "that %*&$!@ thing," and "#!%&*@!" In Asia it is called "#*&@$=!" and in Europe: "%$#*!&" In this study, I will simply refer to it as Styrenus.

Physically unimposing, some people would consider Styrenus to be downright tiny. They average approximately 5 cm long (almost half of which is mouth), and weigh between 30 and 35 grams (females are slightly smaller). They are hairless, with short, stubby tails, small ears, and large snouts. Their active lifestyle and the high-petroleum content of their food supply (qv) keep their metabolisms high enough to maintain homeothermy even in the coldest climates.

Contrary to common assumption, Styrenus is not a solitary animal, and it is likely that if you have one beneath your table, you have several. They have short lifespans (on the order of one to two years) and are prolific breeders. Those unusual bumps that you hear in the middle of the night are probably the romantic encounters between a couple of them.

Styrenus has a very small home range, with usually two or three territories per modeling room. Competition between them, males in particular, can be fierce. The males compete not only for food, but also for the female, who is impressed with the male that can swallow the largest piece of plastic (an entire aircraft canopy is usually guaranteed breeding rights). You can probably find a den buried in the debris behind your airbrush compressor, or in the closet behind your stack of unbuilt kits.

Gestation is about one week, after which the female gives birth to two to four young. After reaching full size in 18 to 20 days, the young disperse. Preferred dispersal routes include hiding within old, collecters kits with the hope of being traded to someone at the local model club. Regional model shows in particular, are necessary for the required genetic mixing to maintain a viable species. Without national model conventions, the range of this creature would probably be much more restricted. Nobody knows from where exactly Styrenus is native, but the best guess is the little known Styrolomon Islands in the South Pacific. How they spread from there is open to conjecture.

Styrenus in neither a carnivore, nor an herbivore, but rather a styrenivore, due to their most common food source. Fecal analysis has revealed that styrene plastic is the most abundant food in their diet. Chi-square analyses have shown, however, that their preferred food is actually brass. Brass is higher in nutrient value, which is why any dropped photoetch brass piece is almost immediately consumed. They tend to avoid cast resin, and cast metal, unless the pieces are small, in which case they are sometimes eaten by mistake. They usually hide behind boxes, spray cans, and other visual barriers, only to dart out to snatch up fallen pieces, sometimes before they even hit the floor. Nightime allows them to prowl at their leisure, picking up missed pieces. If you can't find a dropped piece within a couple of hours of losing it, then you should probably forget about ever seeing it again. Some pieces are not eaten immediately, but rather carried off for use in the little-understood mating ritual. This explains why you can find pieces you lost weeks ago, sometimes even in a different room.

Management recommendations are few. I have heard a great suggestion of feeding them some pieces from a cheap model on a regular basis. Keep in mind though, that the higher nutrient value in expensive plastics and brass will always lure Styrenus away from the cheap feeding stations. Try not to be over-zealous in the cleaning of your modeling area. It is beneficial to keep debris piled in all corners of the room, and especially along the base of the walls, so as to provide hidden movement pathways of which Styrenus can take advantage. Leaving open model boxes stacked in large piles throughout the room maximizes intrinsic habitat value, and allows for more than one breeding pair per houshold. Water is unnecessary, and in fact, open water containers can prove a danger to Styrenus, who is not capable of sustained swimming.

In conclusion, I hope that the results of my study have helped to enlighten everyone about this remarkable, and in my opinion, quite charming, little member of the animal kingdom. Though not an endangered species, it is still a wonderfully adaptive and intriguing animal, and deserves our respect and care, and yes, even a little affection as well.

lilljonas posted:

Last time I used our airbrush I placed the compressor on a pillow, and the difference in noise volume was like night and day.

Nostalgia4Ass posted:

I am looking at picking up a new airbrush since mine has sat unused for more than a decade and is gunked up, missing accessories, and is a Paasche VL which are a pain in the rear end since it's not a gravity feed airbrush.

Amazon has this Badger which looks kind of cool.

I thought I could buy it, a 10 ft badger hose and this compressor.

Is that an ok combo for some light duty model building? I've been out of the hobby for a long time and my old compressor is way too loud to use in my apartment.

Nostalgia4Ass posted:

I am looking at picking up a new airbrush since mine has sat unused for more than a decade and is gunked up, missing accessories, and is a Paasche VL which are a pain in the rear end since it's not a gravity feed airbrush.

Amazon has this Badger which looks kind of cool.

I thought I could buy it, a 10 ft badger hose and this compressor.

Is that an ok combo for some light duty model building? I've been out of the hobby for a long time and my old compressor is way too loud to use in my apartment.

lilljonas posted:

Arquinsiel posted:

poo poo, that really is a spectacular kit. I love the pose you got out of the trooper. He's all "yeah she's mine. Does like, six billion MPH. I'd show you, but, you know... trees. So wanna go to my place?".

lilljonas posted:

Revell: your plastic tank threads are garbage.

In happier news, I finished the Christmas present for my nephew today: a 1/12 bandai Speeder Bike. I ended up leaving the actual Scout Trooper mostly untouched, as the gloss plastic looked great as it is. Instead, I weathered up the actual bike a lot, to make it look like it had brushed up against a lot of Endor greenery.

The kit was just amazingly well put together, just, wow. Doing a Revell 1/72 Tiger II directly after it was a horrible idea, as I got spoiled rotten with all the clever engineering of Bandai.

It turned out to be too big for my tiny lighting box, so enjoy some crappy iphone pics without proper lighting!

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

This is awesome. I've always preferred the Scout Troopers over the Storms. Requesting Slav Squat Scout.

Nostalgia4Ass posted:

Amazon has this Badger which looks kind of cool.

I thought I could buy it, a 10 ft badger hose and this compressor.

Is that an ok combo for some light duty model building? I've been out of the hobby for a long time and my old compressor is way too loud to use in my apartment.

Mister Dog posted:

I've used this brush for about the past year and it's done well. Don't give up on your old compressor. I just run mine outside, fill the tank to about 60psi, bring it in and get 2-3 days of use out of it. It might be tough on it keeping the tank under pressure at length, but whatever it's weighed against the cost of a second compressor.

The Locator posted:

I have both that air brush, and the Sotar 20/20. I think the 105 is the better 'general purpose' airbrush for a couple reasons. Keep in mind that I only very recently got the Sotar, so I have limited experience with it vs. the 105.

1) The Sotar is a much 'finer' spray pattern, so doesn't cover a larger area as easily.
2) The cup size is smaller so for larger priming jobs, will require more refills.

Also, the tip of the Sotar is a strange shape, and doesn't fit very well in the standard air-brush holders on the top of my compressor (Iwata), where the 105 drops right in, so if you are using some sort of a 'tip first' holder that might be a factor.

Nostalgia4Ass posted:

Apparently the Sotar has a medium needle you can get for like 17 bucks. I might have to go with that option since it's already shipped. I don't have an air brush holder but I appreciate the input on the airbrush. If it turns out to be too specific an airbrush, I guess I could always just buy the 105 too. I was just excited about seeing the Sotar discounted so much and pulled the trigger before getting much feedback.

Bloody Hedgehog posted:

Yeah, you won't be disappointed with the Sotar. It's true it does have a fine spray, but the swappable needles and tips can alleviate that. I don't much mind the small paint cup myself, as only base-coating will really be an issue, everything else you'll do on a specific paint job will generally be less than a cups worth anyway, so less paint wasted.

MJP posted:

Are there any equivalents to Alclad candy enamel, or means of getting the same effect, with other paints in a greater variety of colors?

I'm trying nail polish, too, but I don't think there's much out there that matches Alclad without being metal flakey, and that's not what I'm going for.

Hixson posted:

So I ordered a 1/72 Airfix P-51d for my first scale model. Boy o boy am I excited. Going to be quite a change from Warhammer models.

Hixson posted:

This post is from the first week of November. I started modelling 2 days ago. Since then I've been working on this dang plane like crazy to get it done in time for christmas.







Overall I'm pleased with it. There are alot of small mistakes and things most people wont notice. But you get to a point when you just need to put the brush down and be done!