MechTech

Thank you guys, I appreciate it! @derex3592 That sucks about your compressor! I have a similar one (one gallon) general use one for tires and air tools. I stick it in my shop, turn it on, and close the door! Then I let it charge up. That's how I deal with the sound! They can be loud. I HIGHLY recommend the smaller diaphragm ones. They are quiet and about 1/6th the size of yours in the photo. @pengbuzz Definitely doing footprints and tread marks. They really aren't in place yet, so I have to wait on that part. @Rock Going over your decals with a light coat is a great idea. I've done the same, but heavier with my models here (and still adjusting the depth). Your finish is looking good! @007-vf1 It's great to see the Cyclops up here! We haven't seen one in a while. All of your 1/700 kits look cool. How did you come by them? - MT

@pengbuzz That's cool! Nice action pose and exhaust effects! Getting a little bit more work done on the "twins." This is the layout "plan" that I hope looks at least similar when done. SSSHHHHHHhhhhh, don't tell nobody, but I got grass in clips on my workbench drying. And then a little bit more work on the base and finish on the ARMOR. There is still A LONG way to go! And some more work on the armored car affixing the skirt armor and wheel well areas. The silhouette almost looks like a minivan! That's it for now, thank you for checking in! - MT

@derex3592 Cool. It looks good and has a great sculpture to it. Especially compared to other versions. @505thAirborne That is a unique color scheme! I'm looking forward to the finished assembly. - MT

@derex3592 Your Zentraedi ship looks cool! Which kit is that? @Grayson72 Both models look awesome! You must have got a certain local member to print the white helo markings? @arbit That sucks about your decal sheet! For the inkjet paper, do you have a good coating to seal the decals once the ink fully dries? A coat of Microsol Superfilm over that will seal them perfectly and prevent splintering. The inkjet paper is your best bet anyhow! I did laserjet decals for the Shinden NASCAR race scheme. I was bummed to find out the toner is actually raised and adds height / bumps to the decals. I'll never use it again. The printer also didn't have as high a resolution - at the highest setting. I hope the new paper works out great for you! - MT

@arbit I'm glad it helped you out! To scale stuff in PPT: - Page (canvas) size means nothing except for the size of decal sheet you want to create. As you probably already know, just leave enough room for your margins (about 1/4" / 6mm) since most printers don't print across the whole page. - PowerPoint has a grid you can scale against when drawing: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/show-or-hide-gridlines-in-word-powerpoint-or-excel-47b1189c-f867-479e-a208-34ee54055f6f I included this link for the related sub-links on the page too. There are other tools there that will help. I use grids on my screen for business too. I'd be lost without them. The grid can be customized - this will also make your life a lot easier! - Double left click on an object and the dimensions should appear in the top right hand corner of your screen. Its also under Drawing Tools > Format > Size. You can also resize objects in increments there too. So if you bring a scale scan of your object into PowerPoint, you should literally be able to draw right on it. I've done this with photos of objects to test paint colors on them. You could do it with eyes! Another tidbit just in case you don't know, the cool part about vectored drawings is you can always go back and edit them later vs JPEGs. In PowerPoint, right-click on your object and select "Edit Points". Right click again on the line in this mode and you can, "Add, delete, open path, or make a curved segments." PowerPoint does all of this as a secondary function, so sometimes it is buggy. Resizing shapes (like eyes down to 1/48th scale) can also be buggy sometimes too. I've found limitations depending what shape your making or drawing. Purpose-built software like the other guys mentioned does all of this much better and without some of the hang-ups. I hope this helps. I look forward to "seeing" your eyes! - MT

Thanks, Pengbuzz! The three dots I keep ignoring😄.

Hey, we can't edit posts anymore? @derex3592 Your Titanic is looking GREAT! The pencils are a nice touch too! That cat looks so realistic too! (popped up right after I posted this thread)😅 - MT

@arbit Those prints look great and so does your Freyja! It looks like you're figuring out the the whole eyes thing - they look good too (and kinda creepy). I agree with everyone else that mentioned vectored artwork. Professionally speaking, that is almost all I use. When I do use bitmaps / JPEG images, it really limits what i can do. Especially if I find that "perfect" background image, but it's too small for what I'm working on. When you go to enlarge it, everything gets pixelated. One thing a lot of people forget about is if you are comfortable with drawing in PowerPoint, those are vectored images. PowerPoint is far from the best tool to create in, but a lot of people have it and use it, but not to its full potential. Vectored images scale perfectly (for the most part) and usually print with better sharpness because of how the printer reads the files. @vsim Your VF-0B is looking good! Yeah, your efforts paid off. The lines are nice and sharp! Its been slow going, but I go more work done on the diorama. Most people paint to look like sand, I found sand to match the paint! Then I glued a layer onto the base. The third part of the diorama is a wheeled armored car. I started with the Tiger Models T-40 NEXTER Turret kit. Its a great model, but waaaaay too big on the base and bigger than what I wanted for a small, lightning fast deployable strike team. For you car guys, the next step was to "chop and channel" the chassis (say that ten times fast). Then created new wheel wells. The good news, wheel wells get caked in mud, so my seams will "disappear". And some fillers to go between the naked wheel wells (just temporarily fit before trimming up). That's all for this weekend. Thanks for checking in! - Phill

I'm sorry about your job, but you made great fixes for your valk! - MT

@pengbuzz Cool! Does it get sports and movies? @electric indigo That shield is cool! Gonna be fun masking that and keeping the edges clean. A bit of a review and build. Last month someone in our club brought in a glass file and showed me what a glass-like finish it can give to styrene. I looked all over and found them at Newtype. The brand I found is Infini Model. They have two sets (still in stock); small and large sized files. I got the "Large" set. https://newtype.us/t/tool/file The set of three is $24.95. That's about average since individual glass files are about $8.00 each. My camera did not want to focus on it very well, but here is a 3mm shiny sprue tip with only the medium grit used, not the Fine and Superfine as well. The whole thing is SHINY like glass. Standard sandpaper will never do what these do, and in a few seconds. The glass is cool because it is transparent too. You can actually see what you're doing. A little less with the finer files because they are more populated with cutting area. So what are the files made of? I don't know for sure. My educated guess, they are heavily bonded stainless steel photo etch to the glass substrate. The files are VERY sharp! They recommend cleaning them with water. You can also wipe them lightly with a rag. The files are glass, so I wanted to keep them in something safe. So what did I build? I built an old school box. Kickin' it in the 1890's old school box! I milled-out a small piece of oak. And then made a slide cover out of that scrap thin piece I knew I'd need some day... And all three files together. Hopefully this review helps someone here out! I thought the files were that cool, so I took the time to post the review. Back to the "twins" this weekend with shading and landscaping the diorama they'll go with. Thanks for checking in! - MT

At first I thought it was a screenshot for someone saying, "I'm going to build this." Then I saw the base. AWESOME build! - MT

@Gabe Q Better late than never! Your valk looks great! Nice and clean finish! I think you panel lined it just right too. @pengbuzz That's great the USB adapter worked. I usually use batteries, but will have to try that. I've only used USB for LEDs. - MT

@pengbuzz Cool mechanism for the elevator. What did you use for power? @007-vf1 The monster dozer blade looks great with paint and so do your Zentraedi! @electric indigo I saw a similar kit on Newtype. I think your is different with better details. Its looking great! - MT

@Thom Thank you! I hope to get more done this week. @arbit Thank you too! "Reminds me a bit of Masamune Shirow's manga designs." I agree (though I didn't think of that). The exception is that my pilots are wearing more clothes! "True, that's why I'm keeping it low key, staying just on this forum for now." Well, I'm glad your sharing with us! @pengbuzz Great work on the elevator! Is it just me, or does it sound like on the way up Optimus needs to lose some weight!?😄 Just kidding! It's normal for drives to sound like that under load. Cool concept too! - MT

@arbit Great sculpt! I think you are going to get a lot of "Where did you get that!?" comments. And thanks for the tips on the free files! @derex3592 You're setup looks good! I spent several month in Texas. Great people, but I hated the weather (Georgia too). You GOTTA have a place where you can work in decent temperatures. Tell your wife I said that!😄 Except for painting on a nice table and light colored carpet (are you crazy ), everything SHOULD work. No smells from outside should be getting inside while the blower is running, unless you do have a leak. You'll still have the Tamiya paint smell, but that's OK and to be expected as it cures. You may have some temperature change from room to room before you did your setup. Did you check that? Various rooms in my house are like that already. All in all, three degrees is nothing really. Can you close a door to that room to help out during painting? I'm SURE you can get your setup to work! @Photogirl Great graphics work! I'm sure you're going to get people asking to buy a sheet! I spent more time reorganizing model supplies than building this weekend, but in the end, I have more room for stuff now and its easier to find things. One short tip. If you go through a lot of coffee cans, get three. Keep the bottom on one, cut the bottom off the middle one, and then duct or metal aluminum tape them all end to end. You'll have something to keep your longs bags of styrene tubes in. The longer Plastruct bags fit too! The smoke grenades (Kotobukiya missiles) are painted up. I added hydraulic lines to the manipulators with some rings to act as connectors. You guys get the magnified view so you can see all my flaws. And shown connected to the arms. I think I need to dial back the paint touch-ups and weathering. REAL military equipment usually doesn't have rust on it (except maybe ships). It gets touched up. Its called Corrosion Control. If you don't do it, you're not doing your job maintaining it. And because I TRY to stay well grounded, I glued brass nuts into the feet to attach to the base. And the base. Last week I got a great slab of boxwood with bark from Hobby Lobby. I wanted an uneven shape. I was going to clean the bark clean off, but my wife suggested I keep it on. I went a step further and cleaned the rough bark off, but kept the undercoat on it. When painted, it will have the texture of rock as on a hilltop. I coated it with about 5 coats of polyurethane to seal everything solid and prevent chipping. Then I got some plastic feet from the hardware store and added those on. That's it for now, thanks for checking in everyone! - MT

@Gabe Q Looking good Gabe! Nice n clean. - MT

@007-vf1 Those details are looking good! Much better than stock! @arbit I stand corrected! I wasn't thinking of "clothes," just that giant iconic arrow on the uniforms. None the less, he looks great! Don't make him a "soprano" 😄 - MT

@Gabe Q PMed...

@derex3592 @Thom Thank you guys! Its getting there... @arbit I think someone asked you about modding the clothing; but thanks for showing us how you did it! He looks great! Is he going to be one of your idols on stage!? @Gabe Q Your paint is nice and clean looking! @pengbuzz Do we need to get a walker or life raft for you? Did you guys fair alright in Hurricane Henri (according to your post)? - MT

@derex3592 Heh heh, Humbrol! I hope they work for you. Some need some thinning. Got some more detailing done, but there is still a TON left to do and clean up! Then a matt clear coat to cover it all. Also working on the base... Decals - Check! Made some custom and repurposed some more. Ammo - Check! The 75mm brass is painted and coated. The defensive units are decalled and painted (two decals each, one on each side - I don't know why!). Yes, Air Force! OK, I may be slightly biased, but who had the first robot dogs? https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2551037/robot-dogs-arrive-at-tyndall-afb/ These of course are a manned design. Thanks for checking in! - MT

@electric indigo Thanks for posting that link! He's got some AWESOME dioramas he's done! - MT

The pilots DO add realism to it. Looking good! - MT

@arbit That's AWESOME Arbit! It's cool to see what you did and how you did it. Thanks for sharing your process! Your models look great too! Thanks for taking the "mystery" out of it. Someday I'll have to start doing this - or get REALLY good with Milliput (which is probably not going to happen)😄 @peter That kit looks like you have to scratch build 25% of it! - MT

@arbit I hope you had a good vacation! Thank you! I did like Nadesico, but never got to see the whole thing. Long story short, only the first couple of VCR tapes (yes tapes) were available at the store. The models are really a kit reconfigure because it looks nothing like the original now - except bits of it. Another GREAT print! Yes, show us your process along the way. We might learn something @peter Peter says to himself, "HMMmmm, what are some of the most jacked-up kits I can buy and build to challenge myself? I know, all those old Star Trek kits that helped kill the hobby back in the day." But it's only making you a better builder (and more patient person) for doing it! - MT

@pengbuzz "We have the technology. We can rebuild him. Better. Stronger. Faster..." Hopefully it won't cost you Six Million Dollars! @derex3592 There's no school like the old school! I always liked the lines on that kit anyhow. Every beautiful woman has her quirks anyhow! - MT