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I'll check out Alcad, thanks.Charliegrs posted:Is this for car models? I would like to be able to do that, but right now it's for laying down varnish for oil/enamel washes.
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Dec 18, 2023 09:44
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You might have trouble finding Alclad Aqua Gloss in the UK/Europe now, as the UK company that used to make it, which was separate from the identically named US company after they split apart some years ago, was forced by their US counterpart to stop using the name Alclad and associated names for all their products, so they gave up selling to consumers and now just produce their product directly for Ammo Mig instead - this is what it looks like now:
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Dec 18, 2023 13:46
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Tool talk time. Can anyone recommend a good soldering torch for PE and a good rotary/Dremel tool that has a low RPM range? I've only ever tried to solder PE with an iron and my results are not great, so I'd like to try a torch. I have a rotary tool, but it runs at such high RPM, it just melts plastic. The lowest range I can find is 5000 RPM and I'm thinking that will melt plastic too.
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Dec 19, 2023 12:16
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The best solution I found for a low rpm rotary tool was getting an cordless electric screwdriver and buying a chuck to mount dremel bits on it
Raskolnikov38 fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 12:38
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Chuck_D posted:Tool talk time. I do lots of brass kits and scratchbuilding in small scales (<1:144) and for soldering are you definitely: 1) cleaning the brass - oxidisation inhibits the flow of solder. This can be with a rubberised abrasive pad, fibreglass burnishing brush, etc. 2) using flux - though you can get away with rosin-cored solder, I have found much greater success with plumber's flux in paste form (use a toothpick to apply). 3) using the correct amount of solder - salami slices of 1mm solder are normally sufficient EDIT: I should clarify for 2, that you need to use an alkaline-based cleaning product to neutralise the acidic flux - something like Cif cream cleaner is fine. Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 13:38
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Chuck_D posted:Tool talk time. I bought a Wecheer manicurist's tool that goes down to 3000 rpm. I had just previously modified a kit to use Eduard PE flaps by endless knife scraping and filing and sanding and said never again. The one I got was the WE-248 and it works a treat.
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Dec 19, 2023 16:52
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Chuck_D posted:Tool talk time. A friend of mine has a Foredom flex-shaft rotary tool and their desk-top dial speed control. It barely turns at all with the speed control turned down to minimum. Unfortunately for most hobby guys, the Foredom tools are priced significantly above Dremel stuff, because they are more professional tools rather than hobby tools. I have read on forums about people using rheostats for ceiling fans to make a speed control for Dremel that will allow it to turn very slowly, but you have to be careful running Dremel very slow as they are air cooled and insufficient speed will burn them up if you don't monitor the heat while working.
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Dec 19, 2023 18:08
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Tamiya has this neat looking baby drill : https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-74041...ps%2C234&sr=8-5 And Micro-Mark has some rotary tools that go down to 3000rpm as well.
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Dec 19, 2023 19:21
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https://www.skil.com/screwdriver-circuitsensor-onehandcollet-sd561201/ This plus a chuck is what I use. Tops out at 230 rpm, has lights to aid visibility and it’ll even find active circuits!
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Dec 19, 2023 19:39
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Lord Ludikrous posted:Fantastic stuff, I'm thinking about picking up the Reliant myself. How difficult was the lighting? Thank you! I wound up buying a kit from ebay that had all the bits and pieces I needed and the instructions were not great. I am not an electrical type at all so I had to learn quite a bit as I went and would do things very differently if and when I do this kit again (and I will, for myself-- this one went to my brother). The engineering hull has a lot of internal structure that needs to be cut up and removed for wiring and lights-- if I was to do it again, I would install a few white LEDs in there to illuminate the windows in the hull and one or two others to power fibre-op connections to exterior hull lights like at the stern and nacelles. At 1/1000 scale you have a lot less space to play with than the larger scales but with modern micro LEDs that is less of an issue than it used to be. Anyways, the kit I bought required soldering resistors to every solo LED and used light strips for the nacelles and some of the interior lighting. The saucer section also has strip LEDs inside to light the saucer-- If I was to do it again, I would do these very differently and probably replace them altogether with a few solo bulbs lighting up the top and bottom of the saucer and some lights along the edge of the saucer. You will also have to pick up brass tube for the base as the existing rod in the kit is nickel plated steel (I think) and is solid so it is impossible to run wire down. So technically I don't think anything I did was earth-shatteringly difficult by any means-- just don't do what I did and install a light and try to solder the connections afterwards-- you'll melt the model and then have to go back in with green stuff to repair the warped plastic. Happily, I am decently good at manipulating green stuff so this was accomplished fairly easily (though definitely with ample swearing). Yes, gentle readers I am well aware I am an idiot, no need to point it out. With all that said, I do like the 1/1000 scale for starships overall. The Enterprise-A at that scale comes in at around 11" long so it is not so enormous as to completely dominate a room. There are other ships at this scale, including the Reliant, Oberth and Bird of Prey, Voyager, and there are older Enterprise B/Excelsior kits too. I'd love to see an Enterprise D at this scale. Fearless fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Dec 20, 2023 |
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Dec 20, 2023 00:51
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IncredibleIgloo posted:Tamiya has this neat looking baby drill : https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-74041...ps%2C234&sr=8-5 Recommended. It works great on plastic, makes nice holes without melting it and it comes as a model kit, so you can make the drill your next project. And then you can use a kit to build a kit.
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Dec 20, 2023 09:13
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It may be time to buy whatever Vallejo products you like now, as they've just been acquired by a private equity firm. https://www.webcapitalriesgo.com/proa-capital-acuerda-la-compra-del-fabricante-de-pintura-acrylicos-vallejo/
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Dec 20, 2023 17:28
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grassy gnoll posted:It may be time to buy whatever Vallejo products you like now, as they've just been acquired by a private equity firm. You know, I always assumed that Boris Vallejo was involved with the company somewhere along the way, but no, it's just a common surname and a coincidence. Also RIP Vallejo Acrylics.
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Dec 20, 2023 18:02
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grassy gnoll posted:It may be time to buy whatever Vallejo products you like now, as they've just been acquired by a private equity firm. So are you saying its possible Vallejo paint lines will be discontinued? Or they will change the formulation and the paints will suck?
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Dec 20, 2023 23:33
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They’ll change the formula and jack up the price to suck as much money out of the company as possible before it fails or gets sold
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Dec 20, 2023 23:53
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Charliegrs posted:So are you saying its possible Vallejo paint lines will be discontinued? Or they will change the formulation and the paints will suck? It's possible. It's also possible a secret meteorite will pass overhead and sprinkle special stardust on the Vallejo factory, letting them produce several shades of new and heretofore unknown colors. It's all speculation at this point.
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Dec 20, 2023 23:54
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Private equity acquisitions are very rarely positive outcomes for users of the acquired company's products and services.
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Dec 21, 2023 01:09
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Charliegrs posted:So are you saying its possible Vallejo paint lines will be discontinued? Or they will change the formulation and the paints will suck? It is almost certain that their product lines will not be discontinued. There would not be much value in paying to acquire a company and shuttering the biggest earning product lines, unless you also happened to own a competing product, and this is not the case. The fact that much of the existing leadership structure of Vallejo is staying would ostensibly mean that the investment is because the investor believes the product or service is of value and the limitations are of capital and not business acumen. Given the visible limitations Vallejo has had in successfully expanding the reach of the product due to logistical constraints it seems reasonable to believe that the primary return on the investment would be due to increased sales from availability and easing logistical burdens, as opposed to changes to product lines.
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Dec 21, 2023 01:29
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Or they'll load it up with debt, default, declare bankruptcy and then sell the carcass of the company for pennies.
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Dec 21, 2023 02:26
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They could, but it seems infinitely more likely that spending money investing in a company to make more money is probably the more appealing and better use of capital expenditure. If they were just looking for a company to utilize as the fall guy for some sort of money sink it would have been significantly cheaper to buy out any of the multitude of companies floundering on Kickstarter and utilize their husk. Like 49.5 million dollars cheaper.
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Dec 21, 2023 03:24
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Yeah I don't doubt this could worsen the companies products or get something like the mecha line scrapped, but it's unlikely they just tank the company entirely.
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Dec 21, 2023 04:40
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It really sucks for those of us that are far from a model store because Vallejo can be found even in places like Hobby Lobby which are on every corner in the US. I mean not a huge selection, but they have the basics.
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Dec 21, 2023 05:06
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Charliegrs posted:It really sucks for those of us that are far from a model store because Vallejo can be found even in places like Hobby Lobby which are on every corner in the US. I mean not a huge selection, but they have the basics. I imagine the end result of the acquisition would be that it is easier to acquire Vallejo products regardless of your location by providing more reliable stock to FLGS and stores with only internet storefronts.
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Dec 21, 2023 05:37
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IncredibleIgloo posted:I imagine the end result of the acquisition would be that it is easier to acquire Vallejo products regardless of your location by providing more reliable stock to FLGS and stores with only internet storefronts. From the minis thread. Cease to Hope posted:Here's the full original story.
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Dec 21, 2023 06:09
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Backlogtoberfest update! gently caress that thing.
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Dec 22, 2023 16:41
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Fuckin lolz. I hear ya. Two of mine went in the trash too. The Revell P-51 and a Trumpeter Hellcat. Life is too short to build lovely kits. What was that kit?
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Dec 22, 2023 17:42
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Unkempt posted:Backlogtoberfest update! Just watch Plasmo's recent build of the Felixstowe and pretend you did it: https://youtu.be/C0xAhcHXZLI?si=4-3nmAzomSfDIh4G
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Dec 22, 2023 21:50
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Finally had some time and motivation to resurrect my Boomerang build. Like much about this kit, the cowl flaps don't fit (thanks, Special hobby), so I scratch built some out of thin styrene sheet. Now to wrangle the canopy on so I can start painting.
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Dec 23, 2023 06:11
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Grumio posted:Just watch Plasmo's recent build of the Felixstowe and pretend you did it: https://youtu.be/C0xAhcHXZLI?si=4-3nmAzomSfDIh4G He gets a hell of a lot out of that kit.
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Dec 23, 2023 08:23
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Grumio posted:Just watch Plasmo's recent build of the Felixstowe and pretend you did it: https://youtu.be/C0xAhcHXZLI?si=4-3nmAzomSfDIh4G God dammit. Yep, he did exactly what I knew I should have done which is reinforce the wings with brass rod because one of them snapping off is what made me give up. They're too loving thin to do that though, I have no idea how he managed it. He probably didn't spill a hundred tiny pieces of engine on the carpet and only find 98, either. Still, I did get it back out of the bin because even if I've given up on those wings, I have other wings on the doom shelf it could use. So I'll do that instead.
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Dec 23, 2023 14:55
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Just add every spare wing in your collection. "Oh, it's the rare sesquicentenniplane version"
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Dec 23, 2023 15:30
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Snapped a wing? Crash diorama!
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Dec 23, 2023 20:00
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I got one of my Backlogtoberfest models completed, Special Hobby's 1/72 Armstrong-Whitworth Meteor NF14, done as Ferranti's radar test aircraft from the 1950s. I ended up going down the route of designing my own masks for the lettering and cutting them from oramask with a silhouette cutter and I'm really happy with how they turned out, I can probably see myself doing more masks like this in future.        I also recently finished my Dragon 1/700 USS Long Beach, using the Flyhawk photo etch detail set.       
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Dec 23, 2023 22:09
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Sprue goo, is there any commercial product that's faster drying? I've got a nice batch of acetone / ps diy mix which has great qualities but the big drawback to it is it can take days to a week to completely solidfy particularly for big patches. I've also tried ps/extra thin cement which gave a way runnier material. Dries faster but only because I cant really make thick patches with it. I'm using it to rebuild and support a major joint in a model so it has to be thick.
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Dec 24, 2023 04:06
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The Stuart tank is complete      This is a great kit as you would expect for being a 2018 Tamiya tooling.
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Dec 24, 2023 06:32
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It's like a little porcupine of .30 cal MGs! Adorable.  Nice work!@Synthbuttrange - can you share a pic or two of what you're trying to do? I feel like liquid sprue if any variety to fix a major joint is going to end up a problem. Maybe there's another way to approach your fix. To answer your question more directly, any liquid sprue is going to take days or more to fully harden in large applications. Also, @everyone, thanks for the suggestions on tools. Much appreciated!
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Dec 24, 2023 13:39
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Chuck_D posted:It's like a little porcupine of .30 cal MGs! Adorable. I built the US version of the Stuart which I believe didn't actually use the hull mounted machine guns. I think only the Soviet Union used them in their Stuarts. But I didn't care I almost never go for full on realism. In my mind more machine guns is more better.
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Dec 24, 2023 19:28
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Charliegrs posted:I built the US version of the Stuart which I believe didn't actually use the hull mounted machine guns. I think only the Soviet Union used them in their Stuarts. But I didn't care I almost never go for full on realism. In my mind more machine guns is more better. All Light Tanks M3 (the name Stuart was only used by the British) had these guns to begin with. In M3s equipped with a radio (despite popular belief, far from all American tanks had a radio) one sponson gun was removed and the opening plugged. Since these guns were pretty useless, the other one could also be removed, or both guns could be removed even if the tank had no radio. The USSR used their tanks as they were received, unfortunately early Lend Lease shipping was very badly organized and they would receive tanks with openings for the machine gun, but no machine guns to put in it. Plugs would have to be manufactured domestically in that case.
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Dec 24, 2023 19:41
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Your best bet to fix an area is to use styrene for the main part of the shape and then do the final contouring with sprue goo or other putty. Fill with as much styrene (even lengths of sprue) as you can and use as little goo as possible. Tamiya Grey putty is a fairly quick drying one. It's a little porous so it let's the solvents out more easily. A really thick layer of goo would take forever to dry, and likely leave sink marks.
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Dec 24, 2023 20:42
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Used my day off today to set up my new workspace in the basement and broke out the Tamiya Comet kit from my stash to do something between loads of laundry. Holy crap it's engineered so well. It's my first tamiya kit from the 2000s, and I'm impressed.
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Dec 27, 2023 01:57
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