onezero

I had problems logging in to Samurai Monkey as well - but once I re-registered I was all set. Cap'n - you can count me in for one of these if the preorder list is still open.

Robb, you're gonna love this one. I just got mine, and it's got my super jazzed. I may even drop everything and start building it this weekend (once chores are done)

Get some cheap synthetic hair brushes in the shape you want and let some paint dry in them. Voila - perfect for drybrushing. ... which is why I have a desk full of drybrushing brushes, nd not a daggone 00 shader I can use to paint with .....

I go to beauty supply stores - places that cater to women wanting to buff themselves to precision - and get the various nail sanding/shaping sticks. Nail polish too - the stuff is just thick lacquer paint, and comes in some really groovy colors (especially pearlescents) not readily available in hobby shops.

Well, I'd be in for a couple if it ain't too late. I really should read this board more often.....

With grayson's permission, I'll keep them in production as long as there is interest

That would be me as well. As far as the limited run goes, I could probably take at least 5 (and prolly ten) for the Starship Modeler Store - especially if you could get them to me before May 15 2k6. eMail me if that's of any interest.

Well, if you're up for that, eMail or call me (Jesse has my number) and we can talk details

I'd like to get 25 .... but I figure you'd sell about that many here, and there'd be no customers left over to go to SSM and buy one. And $85 is a bit pricey to be sitting gathering dust on my shelves here at the Galactic Control Center... .. even though $85 is a darn reasonable price for this kit, especially if it now comes with decals. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/mecha/jb_booster.htm ^ Gundamhead's review of the first issue.

Count me in for one, please

It's almost certainly gonna bust the bank but ......... count me in. Instead of ABS, why not make the barrels from turned brass/aluminum? I might could get someone to do that - an utter mechanut who works in a machine shop - PM or better yet, eMail me if that idea appeals to you. onezero@aol.com

I've used lacquer thinner. Apparently, denatured alcohol also works.

For artists oil paints, the best thing to thin them with is "odorless brush cleaner/oil paint solvent", available where artists oil paints are sold. Been using the stuff for years now. It won't attack properly cured enamel or acrylic paints.

Sterolithography can take pretty much any shape from a file (Autocad or similar, not an image like a JPG) and make it solid. As coby stated, it ain't cheap and the result still needs a lot of clean up (the computer "draws" the form in increments so you don't get a smooth line, but rather a series of steps). The resin used is extremely hard and extremely brittle and is a major league pain in the butt to sand smooth. Then there's the production costs. What'll kill you is the amount of rubber needed to make the molds, as that's the most expensive component. $65 US/gal for the stuff I used, just as a comparison. When I send my 1/1000 Enterprise conversions out for casting I generally spend $500-800 to have 25 made. Those are small kits, much smaller than your 1/48 Valk. A shop with a rotocaster can make the parts hollow, using a special type of resin. Otherwise, it's a person tumbling the mold until everything sets (which means it can't be pressure cast). Alternatively, you make the parts in two halves - but that ups your rubber cost as you need more molds.

Just one other question ---- where did the message with the link to the instructions go? I forgot to download them.

Mine came today. Very impressive! Random thoughts: -- there's some serious undercuts, especially on the nozzle end. Yet no bits of torn rubber clinging to the resin. Helluva a casting job. Out of curiousity, if you don't mind, how many pulls are you getting from the molds? -- mold seams so faint on mine they're almost invisible. Again, helluva a casting job. Cleanup is gonna be a breeze. -- the "slots" where the legs go on mine will have to be drilled and filed - even if I ditch the kit parts, I'll still need to open those up. Because of the excellent engineering, this will be quick work with drill and file - there's noy much thickness to go through and I can get the file in from either side. I have a basement full of kits, mostly garage and limited run because my interests tend to the .... obscure. Few are anywhere as nice as this one - and it's on the fast track to actually catching dust on a display shelf, as opposed to the box collecting dust and spider poop on a basement shelf. Very well worth the price you asked, and I thank you for offering it. Can't wait to see what you folks have up your collective sleeves next.

Thanks Joe- So, the consensus is ... there is no canon answer, so we can speculate all we want. Works for me!

Forgive the silly question ... but I'm old and my memory ain't what it was. Never was, come to think on it. In the show, are the boosters reuseable, like the Space Shuttle's SRBs? Or are they one shot only?

A very good intro, focusing on sci-fi builders, is Richard Marmo's "How to Build Sci-Fi Model Spacecraft" A review: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/marmo_book.htm Another: http://misc.kitreview.com/bookreviews/scif...kreviewrk_1.htm Edits: geez-louise, where did *I* learn to spell .......

The stuff I use for stripping paint is Strip-A-Kit. Non-toxic, environmentally safe, with a lemony fresh scent. http://www.hangar3.com/ I really can't recommend it enough --- I've tried the rest, the tire cleaner, bleach, simple green, moth urine, you name it. This stuff does a good job. Shameless plug, but here's an article on using it: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/2001/rc_moon1.htm Much less shameless, and probably more usefull: http://www.modelingmadness.com/scotts/accessories/sak.htm

A sewing needle chucked in your pin vise is a marvelous tool for scribing panel lines - works on resin and plastic. I used that for years before I found out about those photoetched scribing saws (Trimasters, before Hasegawa bought 'em, if I remember right). I have both now ..... and I still find myself going back to the sewing needle trick. If nothing else, it's cheap. Now rivets .... there's another story. Depending on the size and spacing, something called a "pounce wheel", found in a craft store, can be used to make evenly spaced depressions. Run a strip of label tape along the line you want the rivets to .... um, run ....and push the wheel along that. It looks like a watch gear on an axle, and I've heard of folks who have made their own tools using watch gears, a pin for the axle and a toothbrush handle connected to the axle to control the tool. Raised rivets - folks has already told you the glue drops trick. For more uniform results, check out the model railroad section of the local hobby shop for "Grandt Line" products - they make all sorts of rivet heads, bolts, nuts, etc in various sizes. More expensive than glue, but perhaps worthwhile in uniformity of results. Dzus fasteners - they look like a standard slotted screw head, inset a bit - can be replicated by drilling a hole, then inserting a rod into the hole. Use your hobby knife to score a straight line through the diameter of the rod before you put it in. Evergreen and Plastruct make plastic rods with circular and hexagonal cross sections. You can slice "wafers" off these, like you'd slice bread for a sandwich, to get rivet/screw heads or nuts. Put a drop of styrene glue on a slice taken from a circular-cross section rod, and it'll form a mushroom top that looks like a rivet. Hopefully, the above makes sense - hard to do in words without piktchurs.

Rats. Most of the links say and all but the latest build stop at about halfway. rats.

Strip-a-kit takes off pretty much every paint except Alclad metallizers (which bond at a molecular level to the plastic) - it's non toxic, non smelly, and won't harm plastic. http://hangar3.com/sak.htm

Not that it matters .... with wheels up and pilot/rio in place, it's not like you can see much of the cockpit anyway. I didn't notice a kink, but I didn't look too hard. looks more like a Bug than a Mirage to me, which is all I care about.

I've wanted to do a vignette with a chase plane and a VF-0 since the latter came out - picked up the F/A-18D today for has ten bucks based on the strength of your recommendation, David. Only things I would add to the discussion is that the bang seats are .... rudimentary (but I'm normally a 1/48 guy - is this normal for teeny-tiny planes?) and the pilots are about 50% bigger than the macross jet pilots.