arbit

14 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

I'm building the Bandai VF-25F Tornado Messiah, but I'm having some problems with the decals

Are those stickers or water slide decals? You cant use softner on stickers.

If they are very tough water slide decals, you add more softner and press down firmly with a q-tip till they form in place. And keep repeating till it works. But weak water slide decals will risk breaking up. So you test on blank part of the decal to see how much softner it can take.

If it is a sticker, I have no idea, but you may google it.

The award for cutest modeler goes to....

That sucks! Buying a new kit on clearance is probably your best best.

I have seen people recast canopies in crystal clear (search for a Fan Racer Yamato recast in the Workshop forum).

I have also seen vacu formed canopies. They use Tamiya putty to re-mold the canopy interior.

But those methods require a lot of experience, and even then you get a lot of failed attempts.

Nice matte finish Crossair.

8 minutes ago, joscasle said:

A few months ago I started the Hasegawa 1/72 VF-25F, I want to paint all or at least most of the marks and don't use the decals (bad idea). This is the progress at the moment, made a lot of mistakes.

Painting the markings is a great challenge to take on. Don't give up, it won't be perfect, but it will be something to be proud of. I  look forward to seeing more progress.

 If you're gonna paint a valk, Hasegawa is the way to go. Painting the transforming Bandai is pretty much useless, as it will likely never transform again.

9 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

Almost done...

Nice weathering to beat up the old guy. The scratches and gunk are nicely in scale too. I don't have the patience for that level of detailing.

And some of those photos are very well done with the angles and lighting. 

Do you plan a matt coat or semi-gloss at the end? Or is that how you want it?

Nice work. Keep em coming.

wm cheng, yeah that Mr softner is powerful stuff. I usually wipe it right off, let it work, then add more and wipe right off again if it needs more, or it will disintegrate Hasegawa decals.

And I would say 90% of my time is fixing and repairing 

2 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Starting to look a little more like an airplane finally!!!  I love this part, decals are my favourite.  Its looking like it rolled out of the factory at the moment all shiny and new.  Those yellow rudder tips are a bitch to get around all those bumps and flarings - thank goodness I decided to paint the rudders black and only have to deal with the yellow tips, they included the entire black rudder as a whole decal piece (I can just imagine the nightmare).

Gloss coat is looking clean.

What is your method of applying the coat. Please give some details. I always struggle with this step and can't safely apply oils afterwards. Seems no matter how much I spray, the gloss is not thick enough.

39 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

Just finished a ton of 40K Tau in a green version of this scheme and some Kill team Tau in an urban camo version so I grabbed one of my ebay rescue Destroids and tried it out.

BTW... that hangar you made... brilliant!

 

Don't be a stranger, show us your 40k stuff. 

And thanks for the compliment, but you have no one to blame but yourself.

18 hours ago, NZEOD said:

Lockdown has dragged me back to Macross work.

WIP on a Tomahawk - lost the gun cluster while painting outside so need to 3D print a new one in resin this weekend!

Look who's back.

Love your modern camo schemes.

The more destroids the better!

4 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

Revell has kits from the new movie coming, but of course they had to dig out the most horrendous molds from last century (Monogram?):

https://www.revell.de/produkte-revell/top-gun-maverick/

Oh dear, they even include those little jars of paint! Gives me flashbacks of trying to hand paint  my models when I was a kid... It didn't go well.

Joscasle, your F-14 looks great. All the weathering has really paid off. And you have a nice semi-matt finish. A lot of these birds get ruined by the gloss at the end. Nice work!

Focslain, Yeah, I can see your pain. These 31s have too much Formula One style decals for a simple solution, unless there are custom masks to help out I wouldn't dare do it.

Mechtech, so you replaced your window with a plexiglass for the exhaust? Is it wind proof, dust proof, etc? My wife would definitely appreciate a change from my current set up. ("Can you take all that tape off the window so we can clean the dust, please?" Feeling guilty now I still haven't gotten around to it in a few months )

wm cheng, your diligent color matching drill makes me slightly depressed . I just throw in whatever comes out of my airbrush it seems.

wm cheng, nice to see you back on an aircraft. Don't worry you haven't lost the touch.

Bolt, your scheme is insane! Ready for your finishing touches.

joscasle, nice update with the yellows and weathering. Looks amazing and dirty as hell.

As for me, still no modelling until I can grip my tools without pain. The stress ball exercises seem to be working. But I have been learning how to make Napolitan pizza, does rising dough count as my Workbench?

I've heard you shouldn't put the chrome/gold plated parts in the ultra sound together with other alloys. They make a reaction. 

Also don't put flammable chemicals in the ultra sound. Just warm water, or soapy water. 

I recommend watching a bunch of videos on cleaning and caring for your airbrush first. You don't need a deep clean if you're just changing colors, but at the end of a session, you need to go all out.

Then before painting any models, get a lot of practice on paper and on plastic spoons to get your thinning ratios, airflow, and distance right, and to get a feel for the differences between primers, base coats and clear.  

It's not that hard to get a good result on your first kit if you give yourself time to practice first. When those spoons start looking good, have at it.

Dang, this guy's Hachette is out of control.

4 minutes ago, joscasle said:

ok, some updates!!  I think i NEED to tone down a little the darker areas in the thrusters, what you think?

Looks okay at this stage. Will you be panel lining the entire ship? I would wait till you finish that step before deciding what to do with the engines.

17 hours ago, MechTech said:

It is nowhere near complete yet, but attached are some views of the parts I have been building. This is the guts in my ships cannon that will fire-off cap strips. The core is a geared motor with a sleeve that fits over it with a helix around it. The motor started slipping so I had to make a brass cross piece to lock it in. That spins inside the frame you see. It still needs refining. The helix also has a tab that engages the flower looking piece which feeds the cap strip through the chute where a bolt cocked by the helix strikes it. Still got a way to go to make everything function smoothly. The chute is styrene so technically its still a model - MT

Congrats on developing your own steam punk design. Looks beautiful.

Reminds me of when we used to buy tons of cheap Chinese fireworks as kids during summer. It's a miracle we never hurt ourselves. I'm sure that's all illegal now.

On 4/4/2020 at 12:01 PM, Bolt said:

Making some progress.. I'm lucky enough to still be working. Not sure how long it's going to last , so pulling long days..

Bolt, nice scheme there. I assume that's the v2? How are the retractable wheels and other gimmicks?

On 4/3/2020 at 9:15 PM, electric indigo said:

Got the russian rust bucket into the painting stage. I tried pre-shading with black this time, which took some time, but looking back I think I could have skipped that step.

Nice to see a step-by-step from you. The pre-shading looks nice to me, unless you were aiming for a clean new look.

5 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

I swear.... This is the kind of sh*t that just happens to me. Overnight in the garage, I left the freshly clear coated engineering section to dry overnight. Come back this morning to some kind of wrinkled up clear coat and paint. What the actual F*Ck?! I've never seen THAT before. Temp change??? It was unseasonably cool last night here. I got no other explanation. Saucer is fine, but it was inside thank God. I've sanded off the bad bits. Back to the paint bench today. FML. 

We feel you. you're not alone.

10 hours ago, joscasle said:

Some advances wit my Bandai 1/48 X-Wing (Red 4)

Very nice paint and damage progress.  I've had my eye on that kit, but for the opposite reason to you: motorized wings!!! 

Nice to see you're all so active while staying at home.

As for me, I have been prescribed a stress ball to deal with my finger problems. I'm supposed to dig my nails into it for 5 minutes three times a day. Apparently it is not arthritis, but something degenerative which physio will likely clear up.

I mention this because doctor says it may be caused by our hobby work, so get yourselves a stress ball.  

And I wanted to share this tasty morsel new on youtube. Don't miss the chase camera crash collision 

4 hours ago, claude grant said:

I don't bother posting much anymore, but this?....

You need to feel proud of what you did here arbit, because as Kup said, "You've done an amazing job lad, AMAZING!"

Even got big ups from the master 'MechTech' himself!

Thanks claude, Glad to wake you from lurk mode!

It is a special project to me, kind of like "every kid's day dream".

But I don't feel proud, because I see all the amazing modelers out there, and I know I am not at their level.

But I am really happy that I pulled it off for me and Macross fans to see.

I hope everyone and their families are staying safe and taking all necessary precautions.

Despite the stay at home with the kids, I don't plan on modeling anytime soon. I seem to have developed some arthritis in a couple fingers and need to sort that out first.

On 3/9/2020 at 5:35 PM, derex3592 said:

@arbitHonestly, the absolute best I've found is the the Tamiya TS-13.  It's not cheap and the little cans don't last terribly long, but a couple of coats of that and let it dry for 24hrs is the best I've come across. Quick, easy to control, and solid as a rock. I feel airbrushing clears for the purposes of protecting things from weathering and panel lining is just to thin hence your issues, which I've experienced,  that's why I started laying it down with spray cans only. 

Planning to give Gloss cans a try, but it is always dusty outdoors or humid where I live. I do use Mr. Top Coat for final Satin finish, but I also find it is touch and go, hard for me to control, easy to flood.

But your TS-13 says it is Satin, not Gloss. I assume you are using the gloss version before lining and weathering? 

On 3/10/2020 at 12:24 AM, electric indigo said:

I stay away from clear coats as much as possible and use Gouache paints and chalks for panel lines and weathering. But large decals leave you no choice.

You have mentioned this before, but despite some research I can't find any info on it.

Could you walk us through your Gouache technique step-by-step?

6 hours ago, Urashiman said:

Hey - you go really good at panel lining and weathering. Good work!

That's not my work. Different guy.