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Heh, I'm a longtime scale modeler, and even I balked about 2/3's of the way through a 1000+ piece Panzer IV. That, and those photo-etch tool clasps with the working hinges. Assembling those could be used as a form of torture. I'm thinking of getting into creating smaller vignettes with more figures and less vehicles, as there's less time spent assembling and more time creating. I just wish there were more WWII figures in generic poses or even with separate limbs for easy posing. Most of the really great sculpts are posed to the point where reposing them is tons of work.
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Jul 21, 2009 06:22
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Powdered Toast Man posted:Ask the warhams about "green stuff". It's a two part putty with decent working time that I have seen them produce absolutely incredible results with. There are tutorials available that will help you get started. With green stuff you should be able to re-create entire limbs and add on more details such as clothing, equipment, and weapons. Yeah, I've tried Apoxie Sculpt, and I've found I just don't have much talent in the sculpting department. I can blend seams and all that well enough, but anything beyond that and I just can't wrap my head around it. And yeah, that Panzer kit is a Dragon 3-in-1. It's amazingly detailed, but as you said, it takes shitloads of patience.
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Jul 22, 2009 02:32
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If you do any airbrushing, Freestyle paints are amazing. They go on smooth and will rarely, if ever, clog your airbrush. Probably the best pre-mixed AB paints out there, bar none. I think you can only buy them from Kitbuilders Magazine. Freestyle Paints
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Jul 30, 2009 04:31
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Elendil004 posted:Any advice on how to try and paint marine digital camo? These would be on 28mm models so not anything crazy scale wise, but still a tough little bit to do I think. Digital camo wouldn't look much different than older styles of camo at the scale of most figures. Just give the individual colours of the camo slightly more angular edges than older camo and the effect will probably come across.
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Aug 31, 2009 00:55
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FlashBewin posted:As far as paints go, i use Vallejo Acrylics. The colors mix okay although the guy at the local Riders Hobby told me to use a 50/50 mix of paint and water, althought that was bad advice. For airbrush use, don't use water. Go to an art store and get some Liquitex Airbrush Medium. It'll thin like water, but it also has paint adhesives added so it won't reduce the paints ability to coat and stick to the model like water would do. For thinning paints to be brushed on, Liquitex also makes some thinners, but an even better alternative is a product called Floetrol. You can find this at hardware and paint shops, as it's a paint conditioner for household paint. It comes in a fairly large bottle for cheap, so one bottle will likely last you forever. Not only will it thin, it makes brush painting go on far smoother with fewer visible brush strokes. A nice thinning ratio is one part Floetrol, one part soapy water, and 3 parts paint.
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Sep 27, 2009 05:34
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Pagan posted:Future Floor Wax is almost the same thing. It's an acrylic medium that helps paint flow and stick without diluting it's coating ability as much as water. Think of mixing water with your paint as creating a suspension; acrylic medium creates an actual solution. Around here, a huge bottle of Future costs around $9 and lasts a long time. It also makes a great gloss coat when sprayed by itself. Future is good, but as you said, it will always bump up the gloss factor of the paint your using. The Liquitex medium is pretty flat, and not much more expensive than Future, and comes in a decent sized bottle.
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Sep 27, 2009 22:00
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Powdered Toast Man posted:When it comes to armor, my friends swear by Dragon as the gold standard, and I figure that since they include turned metal barrels on their tanks that's probably a good sign. I can attest to Dragon being kick rear end. Sometimes their stuff is almost too-detailed. You open the box and are just ".... oh gently caress, this is going to take for-loving-ever to assemble." I think I've mentioned it before, but their most complex model I've worked on was a Panzer IV. Over 1000 pieces, including several variant pieces that let you choose between 3 different Panzer IV's to build. Saying that, some of their PE is a little on the crappy side. It just seems more fragile than a lot of other PE kits. Their stowage clamps in particular are just useless, and I've had much better luck with 3rd party clamp sets.
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Sep 30, 2009 09:54
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This is my current list of online companies that I go to for product. There's models and supplies in there, and their may be some Warhammer shops as well. They're all fairly good companies, but if I had to pick one as the go to guys, it would be Great Models. They carry everything. Saying that, I encourage you to buy local if you can. It will usually end up cheaper in the end, since you won't have to pay for shipping. Besides, even if it's a little more expensive to buy locally, it's still superior to have a place you can quickly go out and pick up stuff rather than having to order in your supplies and then wait every time you run out. As for the price of the Warhammer model you saw, it was probably correct. Warhammer stuff is pretty pricey, and their premium stuff through Forge World is crazy expensive. Accurate Armour Blast Models Build-A-Rama CMK Kits ESHOP e-HOBBYLAND Firestorm Models Friendship Models Great Models HobbyBuy HobbyLink Japan Internet Hobbies Legends Hobbies LuckyModel Megahobby Michigan Toy Soldier Mig Productions Military Miniatures Warehouse Mission Models PanzerShop Roll Models Scenic Express Sculpting Studio Sprue Brothers Squadron TankRats AFV Depot The Barrel Store The Small Shop Tiger Models Udisco Warzone Hobbies
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Oct 4, 2009 03:26
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The "trick" these days is you basically need an airbrush to make it look perfect. The finish won't be perfect straight out of the airbrush, but the initial finish will be far smoother so you won't need to sand and buff as much. Rattle-cans are convenient, but you'll never get as nice a finish as with an airbrush and a gentle buff. Enamel sprays were nice too, but the enamel is a lot thicker than an acrylic and you lose a lot of detail when you use them. I stay away from cars because getting a perfect finish on those things is an art unto itself.
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Nov 16, 2009 14:39
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I don't know the particulars, but a lot of people who do vehicles and want an amazing finish buy specialized complete paint kits. They come with specialized paints that are formulated to have the smallest pigment particles possible, as well as purpose made clear-coats, buffing agents, chrome treatments, the whole deal. The type of thing you'd see buried back in the classifieds of a modeling mag, called something like "The System" or "Jims Super-Pro-Finish Concoction", sold by some fume-addled balding white-guy from Omaha. You best bet is probably find a forum where there are a lot of model-car enthusiasts. I'm more into the War/Sci-Fi/Fantasy stuff, so I couldn't even tell you where those forums would be.
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Nov 16, 2009 19:41
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You could always go the route I did and get a CO2 cylinder. Totally silent, no moisture whatsoever, no air pulsation, and cheap to fill. You can buy them at virtually any welding supply store, or even restaurant supply, and some hardware stores will carry them. The tricky bit is finding a regulator that will dial down the pressure for AB needs. I went with a regulator made for soda use, as soda dispensers need their gas delivered at sub-100psi levels.
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Nov 28, 2009 06:10
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If you can find them locally, Vallejo paints are amazing. They have a standard range as well as thinner range ready for airbrush use. They're a bit pricey, so ordering them can definitely cost you a bit. Model Master are pretty good too. Freak Flex and Freestyle paints are also really good for AB use, but you're unlikely to find those on a store shelf, so they would be order only. Avoid Testors. Yeah, it's found everywhere, but the quality is crap and it'll look crap on your models and clog an AB in a heartbeat. As for the your earlier question about CO2 tanks, yeah, the link you provided is basically the setup I have, and would work great for you should you go that route.
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Nov 29, 2009 02:06
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ZenMastaT posted:Would any of you know what paint (applied by paintbrush) most closely resembles US Navy gray? My helicopter model thing recommends gunship gray, but some reviews and online galleries show that this is a ridiculous color which is too dark and wrong. Just go to your local model shop and buy whatever looks closest to you. No one is going to worry if it's slightly different than the real colour. As long as it looks right to you, that's what counts. As far painting large, relatively flat surfaces like a ships hull with a brush, well..... good luck. Brush strokes are a bitch, and they're exacerbated when painting a flat surface that will show them more. AB's were basically made for this sort of work; covering large relatively flat surfaces with paint without showing brush strokes. If you have to use a brush, I'd recommend using an enamel paint, as it'll go on a bit smoother than an acrylic. Make sure you get a good primer coat on their as well. I personally prefer Duplicolor automotive primer. Best rattle-can primer I've seen so far.
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Dec 4, 2009 16:27
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ZenMastaT posted:Cool. One other thing I forgot to mention - I've been having a little trouble refilling the touch-n-flow applicator after each use. The little instruction sheet says I should drag it out across some paper to insure it is empty before refilling. I do this but often it will take a few minutes to totally clear of air and start refilling from the bottle - even with judicious flicking of the needle end. As cool as the Touch-N-Flow is, I find it to be more of a pain than anything. All the troubles you mentioned, as well as the fact that at some point it'll probably clog. I find cheap disposable brushes work fine and are far cheaper. You can usually get small cheap ones for a dime at a lot of model shops, and they'll last for two or three models. As for the problems with glue spots, it called crazing and it's something every modeler has to deal with. Just use glue sparingly, glue on the inside of parts if you can, and any leftover crazing can be minimized with some light sanding. If something goes horribly wrong, you can always turn the rough spot into some texture for rust or splash of mud.
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Dec 10, 2009 07:08
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ZenMastaT posted:So what do you guys use to apply modeling putty to gaps? I tried using a Q-Tip but it tends to smear a bit more than I'd like and the cotton can get stuck to the model too. Anything with a smooth, flat surface will do, although something with a bit of give is helpful. I personally use plastic cutlery knives or wooden coffee stirrers. Speaking of wooden coffee stirrers, those things are great. You can buy a box of something like 1000 for $10 on eBay, and they're great for mixing paint, spreading putty, sculpting, and even some scratchbuilding of angular surfaces.
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Dec 11, 2009 09:08
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For icicles I would take a bit of monofilament and weight it so it hung straight. Then I'd drop some 5 minute epoxy in layers onto it to build up an icicle shape. You can do this without the monofilament, but it's easier with as it gives the glue something to grab onto. And as someone mentioned dioramas earlier, it can actually be more economical, and you'll get better results ,with scratchbuilding. If you want to tackle this subject, I recommend two books. The first is How To Build Dioramas, by Shepherd Paine. Shep is a master at dioramas, and this book will give you a good overview of the sorts of materials and methods you'll need to start building dioramas. It covers everything from tools, to materials, to electrical, to even advanced special effects and visual trickery. Even if you're not into building a diorama, this books stands on it's own as an excellent account of the work of Paine. Tons of photos and lots of interesting info. The second is Advanced Terrain Modeling, by Richard Windrow. Windrow is another master of the art, and gets into more detail with this book. While Paines book is a general overview of the tools and techniques of diorama building, Windrows books really goes into the nitty gritty of how he builds his scenes. There's so much detail and so many photos of each of his builds that you could essentially use it as project guide to recreate his works. He gives you paints to use, mixing rations, secret materials for convincing detail, household objects that can recreate objects in miniature, the works. Obviously there are tons of books out there on building dioramas and miniature scenes, but these two I think are the best to start anyone off into that area of modeling.
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Dec 14, 2009 08:38
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ZenMastaT posted:So I find this on a shelf at a local model ship that seems to have a lot of old out of print stock sitting around (Including that discontinued Italeri Pavelow III mentioned earlier): Olive drab wil be your friend here. Seriously though, besides research in the internet, if you have a local library near you, you can probably find some books on choppers and war that will have a lot of photos that will likely serve you better than what you can find online.
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Dec 14, 2009 22:37
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Most people don't use the airbrush for detail work, particularly on the type of vehicles models seen in this thread. Most people get the most use out of their airbrush laying down primer coats and base-colour coats. Beyond that, typically on vehicles the airbrush can be used for light dust coats, spattering effects, camo and even just as an air source so they can blow paint off of a brush for different effects. If you were painting a large bust or figural model of a superhero or something, an airbrush can be used for a lot more because details aren't as small and things like shadows can be laid down delicately with an airbrush. I wouldn't recommend the cheap airbrush and compressor kits, as it'll just frustrate you and be a waste of money overall. Sure, you won't get brush marks a brush will impart, but you'll end up with a whole new set of problems related to crappy airbrushes. Uneven coats due to compressor pulsing, constant clogs, rusting, bent needles, random unwanted spattering; the list goes on from there. The compressor you linked to is woefully small too, with no tank for storage. The thing will need to be on constantly while in use, and that'll get annoying fast. It also looks like it may not be adjustable, and the 50psi it puts is really too much for model work, even basic base coating. And if you want to do light dust coats or touch up, no way, as that stuff you might be working down at 5-8psi. I can't speak to whether Sealey is a good brand, but I've personally never heard of them. The airbrush in the second one is suspect as well, as they don't list the brand, and I don't care for that bottom-feed/top-feed combo as well. Top quality brands are one or the other, so this just seems like one more thing on the airbrush to mess up. If you can, save some money and invest in a quality airbrush and a quality compressor (or tank of C02 as I use). It'll serve you far, far better in the long run. And if you don't end up liking what you're using, airbrushes hold their value well so you can sell it online for virtually the same price as you purchased it at.
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Dec 16, 2009 10:21
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There's actually a really awesome online store where I got my airbrush, and they have really low prices of AB's and compressors. Damned if I can remember it though. Maybe someone else here knows about it. It had a very simple layout, black background, and they specialized in art products, specifically airbrushes. EDIT: Found it. Dixie Art. Bloody Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Dec 20, 2009 |
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Dec 20, 2009 02:17
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Dragon are probably the best tank kits you'll find in local hobby shops. Italieri makes some nice stuff as well. For online stores, add in AFV Club as they make really excellent quality kits. Just buy what strikes your fancy though. Lately I've been on a kick for kit subjects that aren't as well known or popular as the typical tanks that dominate the hobby. For christmas I got a Tamiya Sd.KFZ.232 Panzerspahwagen 8-Rad, as well as a Bronco Land-Wasser-Schlepper. Perfect to scratch my odd vehicles itch.
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Dec 27, 2009 04:17
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Thinner is thinner, no matter who makes it. Larger companies like Tamiya like to put big warnings on the bottles that say things like "Caution: Only use with Tamiya paints!", as if adding a few drops to some Vallejo paint will cause it to burst into flames, horribly scarring you and making you slightly more of a social wallflower than the typical modeler already is. The thinner you're probably thinking of is acrylic thinner, as Tamiya paints are acrylics. They do make a lacquer thinner, but that stuff if harder to find in stores, and the only lacquer paints they make are in a rattle can I believe. And enamels aren't something that Tamiya does, so that's out. Acrylics are thinned with water or alcohol. Name brands are typically a water/alcohol mixture with some surfactants to stop the paint drying to quickly and allow it to flow better. Water is obvious of course, and you can always pick up bottles of Isopropyl alcohol at the pharmacy. Enamels are thinned with white/mineral spirits. Although you can buy generic bottles of the stuff, thinning enamels can be more finicky than other paints so it's best to buy a name-brand thinner specifically formulated for hobby enamels. Lacquer is generally thinned with a Xylene or Toluene based solvent. Again, because of the difficulty with this paint, and the difficulty in getting Xylene/Toluene, it's best just to get a ready-made hobby lacquer thinner. Oils are best thinned with Turpentine based solutions. You can obviously get Turpentine just about anywhere, but it's better to buy a less caustic and less smelly product like Turps or Turpenoid. These are Turpentine substitutes that are formulated for the artist community so you don't huff yourself to death while using them. In the end though, don't worry about matching a certain brands thinners with their same paints, just make sure you match the right thinner to the right type of paint. Tamiya's acrylic thinner will work just as well with Polly-Scale and Vallejo paints as it will with Tamiya's own stuff. The nice thing about multiple thinner types is that you could lay down a coat of acrylic paint, and then do certain effects with an enamel paint, and the enamel thinner won't harm the acrylic paint in the least. BUT, big but here, be careful with the more caustic solvent based thinners as they can start to eat the plastic model itself if applied on the bare plastic.
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Dec 30, 2009 06:03
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Wibbleman posted:hrrmmm.. Tamiya would like to disagree with you there Tamiya!  Dammit, I was looking at their Tamiya USA site, which is laid out like poo poo, and it doesn't mention anything about enamels on it. The site you linked is laid out much better and features a lot more product than the other one as well. Why the hell does a company have two completely different english websites for their products?
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Jan 2, 2010 00:41
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Speaking of glue, I was using Tenax for ages but just bought a bottle of Ambroid Pro-Weld to try it out. I LOVE the Ambroid now. Tenax seemed to evaporate half the time before you even got it on your model, and then when you did it didn't seem to melt the plastic as well it should have. Ambroid stays nice and wet, and seems much hotter on the plastic, melting stuff nice and quick for a good bond. Never going back to Tenax now.
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Feb 17, 2010 05:41
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Kallikrates posted:Anyone have an experience with the harbor freight air compressors? from what I see on their website they don't have the fancy regulators. I really need a quiet, cheap compressor. When it comes to a compressor, quiet and cheap are generally mutually exclusive.
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Feb 20, 2010 10:09
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Kallikrates posted:Something around 65 dBs (conversation level) so I can run it out on my balcony and not annoy my neighbors. And as I said, you can't really get that for cheap. What's your price range? What you're looking for is typically at the very least $200. Something that works well and is quiet enough to run indoors usually hits $300 to $400.
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Feb 20, 2010 23:43
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Midjack posted:If you're running it indoors remember that you're going to have a very not-silent ventilation system running in that room too. Not necessarily. Personally I don't even use an actively vented spray hood. I just have a hood made out of a cardboard box, with a furnace filter at the back to catch overspray. I don't do a ton of airbrush work, so it suits me. Actively vented can be quiet as well. The store bought hoods do tend to be loud, but you can build one for relatively cheap, and you can vent it with PC case fans which are pretty quiet. Saying that though, even the noisier spray hoods are a LOT quieter than noisy compressors. Loud compressors are not just loud, they're loud enough to the point where you don't even want to be in the same room with them.
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Feb 22, 2010 09:08
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There are not a lot of decent online model shops in Canada. The two I order from most are Sprue Brothers and Lucky Model. Sprue Brothers in the US has excellent prices, excellent service, and 100% perfect real-time stock quotes. What you see on the site is in stock for sure. Quick shipping from them too (I'm in Vancouver). Lucky Model is in Hong Kong, and generally has the lowest prices you will find on models. Just make sure when you buy something from them that it says "In Stock". A lot of items are listed as "Available", which just means they can get it, but it might take 3 days or 3 months. Great Models is good too, probably the largest model shop on the web. They're not great at keeping stuff in stock though, as some items most other shops keep in stock regularly may not be reordered at Great Models for months/years at a time. Bloody Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Feb 26, 2010 |
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Feb 26, 2010 02:16
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Indolent Bastard posted:...as well as emailing my FLGS (FLMS?) I think most guys doing historical modeling use LHS, the Local Hobby Store. Are the other two acronyms used in the tabletop gaming circles?
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Feb 27, 2010 04:00
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Midjack posted:Friendly Local Game Store, and I'm guessing the second was Friendly Local Model Store. I guess hobby stores aren't friendly places. It's almost true though. The few gaming stores I've been to, most people there are really friendly and want to show new customers all the cool games and product they have. Most model shops in my area are run by paunchy old men who want you to buy something or get out. The worst was a shop that had a ton of selection. Run by a guy and his wife in their 70's, along with a friend perhaps in his 80's. The whole time you're in there you're eyeballed like you're smuggling state secrets, while the owners scream at each other because they're all as deaf as posts. They closed about a year ago though, I'm assuming because one of them finally went tits up. "Did we get in that pallet of Woodland Scenics in, Mother?" "Wassat? "I said DID WE GET THAT WOODLAND SCENICS ORDER IN?!?" "Wooldung Celtics? I don't think we carry that line." "WHICH?" "I SAY WE DON'T CARRY ANY CELTICS GEAR!" "Heh heh, you hear that Tom, she thinks I said Celtics!" "WHO'S TALKING? Speak UP Bil.... WATCH THAT GUY IN THE CORNER! WATCH HIM, HE'S ONE OF THEM SHIFTY TOJO'S"
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Feb 27, 2010 04:27
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Indolent Bastard posted:
If you're really going to trick a standard model out with extra armour plating, addons, and bitz to turn it into a GW model, I say go with something that doesn't even look remotely like a Warhammer vehicle. Get a Jagdpanther or even a Tiger and go nuts on it. You'll have an extremely unique vehicle when you take it to a game that will be the envy of everyone. Hell, get something russian as their armour was extremely bulky, with loads of heavy rivets and rough casting marks. You're halfway to an Orc vehicle right there with a piece of russian armour.
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Feb 27, 2010 23:28
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That Ma.K stuff is interesting. I can't say I care for the standard suits much, but the chicken walkers are very intriguing. I can already see a sci-fi diorama of wounded nazis running from their destroyed tank as a russian Ma.K towers over them....
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Mar 14, 2010 09:20
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Nebakenezzer posted:In the same project, he also does dents in plastic, using a mysterious medical tool. That's a battery operated Cautery Pencil. Normally used to cauterize tissue in the body during surgery to stop bleeding. I've never seen this particular type before, as the hospital where I work uses cauteries that connect to a larger control unit. These look very cool though for model work. More info: http://www.boviemedical.com/products_aaroncauteries_changeatip.asp alcyon posted:Acrillic thinner: distilled water, isopropyl alcohol or Tamiya x-20a, or any brand-specific thinner. Only use the Tamiya X20A thinner with Tamiya paints. Tamiya paints are different than most acrylics in that they have a lacquer component to them, so the Tamiya thinner is formulated for them. Using that thinner with other paints will usually destroy the paint. Bloody Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Mar 16, 2010 |
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Mar 16, 2010 06:39
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An easy mistake to make, as most of the time when I read something like "Only use this product with our other products.", I tend to think the company is just trying to get you to spend more money on their own stuff. As for the Mig washes, a turpentine analog would probably the most versatile thinner. You can get the stuff fairly cheap in any art store. Most of the low/no-odor stuff is under different names as they are derivatives of turpentine and not the pure stuff(you don't want the pure stuff; too caustic and smelly). Look for Turps, Turpenoid, Grumtine, Gamsol, Sansador, or plain old Odorless Mineral Spirits.
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Mar 16, 2010 09:13
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alcyon posted:Nowadays just for basic basecoats, colormodulation (not really fond of that tecnique) Man, I definitely agree with that. Quite honestly I hate colour modulation. It's become the new "it" technique as of late, and in my eyes it just makes things look wrong. It's not entirely terrible when someone colours the horizontal surfaces a slightly lighter shade than the vertical, but when they start putting colour gradients on the sloping surface..... yikes. Hell, the spanish are calling it Zenithal Light. 
Bloody Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Mar 19, 2010 |
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Mar 19, 2010 09:52
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Otterspace posted:So I'm in the process of casting a bunch of tiny figurines out of resin and I've decided to accept a small number of air bubbles and just fill them in later. The figures are about an inch high and the bubbles tend to be 1mm or less. I'd like to know what my options are for a putty to fill the bubbles. Ideally the putty would: Regular Tamiya grey putty is usually the most popular for one-part putty. If you can live with two-part, Aves Apoxie-Sculpt is great.
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Mar 23, 2010 13:02
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lilljonas posted:Is there anyone in this thread who use a dremel tool or similar? I'm thinking about picking one up, as I'm moving from making 6mm scale buildings to 15mm, and filing down excess wood and plastic is taking more and more time. But I'm not really sure what to look for, as in what extra tools are the most useful for modelling, and what brands/models are suitable. Any good recommendations? Dremels are pretty great, but they do have some caveats. The most major is that they are a high-speed, low-torque, which is basically the opposite of what a hobby modeler would want. Even the adjustable speed Dremels, the lowest speed is still more than fast enough to melt the plastic that most models kits are made of. There are ways to alleviate this, but it can be tricky. Dremel used to make an adjustable speed pedal, which would allow you to take the Dremel anywhere from 0-RPM up to the Dremels top speed. They don't make them anymore, so you'd have to find an old one for sale on eBay or wherever. Even then, there are rumours that they don't work well with the Dremels that are made today, as their motors aren't made to be stepped down to such low speeds. You can also construct your own speed controller. I won't go into specifics, but you're basically hooking a light dimmer control in-line of the Dremels power source, so the dimmer will allow you to step down the amount of electricity being sent to the Dremel, which will correspondingly slow the speed down. It's not great for the Dremels motor to do this, but most hobbyists I know who do this don't really care as they consider their Dremels as generally a disposable item. As for accessories, the two you'd probably get the most use out of are the drill-press and the flexible stylus. The stylus allows you to have a smaller handpiece to work with, and lets you get into smaller areas without having to hold the bulk of the Dremel itself. The drill-press is self explanatory, but the official one is of middling quality. Most of its construction is plastic, so you can get a lot of jitter when the bit hits whatever you're drilling. If you really want a drill-press accessory, there are better all-metal units available from third party companies out there. When it comes to the actual accessory bits available, there's nothing really specific that a modeler would need. They're all useful in their own way, and there's a world of different heads and bits out there from a Dremel. Although I would recommend getting the quick-change chuck head, as it makes changing bits so much easier than the standard head a Dremel has that requires you to use the wrench every time. If you have any sort of discount hardware or auto-supply stores near you, you should check those out for bit sets. I've found entire 100+ piece off-brand bit sets at discount hardware shops for the price of a single official Dremel bit. The quality isn't as good, but for the price who cares if it breaks after a few uses. Another option you have is getting a jewellers drill. A jewellers drill is high-torque, and most can slow down right to 0-RPM. Saying that, the decent ones are also very expensive, and only something for the serious modeler that wants to invest in a quality drill that will last a lifetime. If money isn't option, this is the way to go, but do some research first so understand the costs involved and what sort of accessory bits they use. Lastly, Dremels are obviously the most visible of the micro-motor drills, but there are a lot of other manufacturers out there. Many people swear by other brands, and many, many modelers swear by older units that are no longer in production. Most older units of many brands were built sturdier, had better torque, and had more speed control options. Again, a little research and question asking on dedicated modeling forums will probably turn up some suggestions on older units that people still love to use, and may be available on eBay or from dealers in new old-stock.
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Jan 6, 2013 08:38
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Mirthless posted:I finished my first tank! Looks good! If I can make one suggestion, you should remove some of the rust from the gripping faces of the tread, where they make contact with the ground. The constant grinding and contact with the ground prevented rust from forming there, and in many cases polished the treads to a dull shine. You could go over the rust there with a silver pencil to add some polish, or even a suitably grimy shade of Rub-N-Buff if you have access to that.
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Jan 7, 2013 01:44
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Ensign Expendable posted:Really, that's weird. Dragon is supposed to be a reputable brand. True, but this looks like some sort of discount label of theirs. Maybe they transition normal kits to a discount label after the molds have gotten a lot of use and can't turn out perfect parts anymore.
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Jan 9, 2013 22:57
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Just did a little research and it sounds like Dragons Orange Box kits are rereleases of older kits. So it sounds like any quality issues are probably because the kits are older and the quality of sculpt and mold used at the time were not up to the standards that Dragon employs on their modern kits.
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Jan 10, 2013 00:33
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