MechTech

Cool, post some pictures! Remember, I can stop anytime I want to! - MT

That's a cool idea! - MT

Thanks guys, if you'd like, I can post a quick how-to for the machine I made. It can be relatively cheap to make and easy to use. The louvers were made on my mill. The other machine is not as good for this. NZEOD - That Tomahawk looks great! The photos are great too! Did you use a tiny camera? I'm guessing you were able to shoot from below an edge to get that steep of an angle? WMCheng - We get a lot of Super Hornet traffic overhead where I live. Load-outs can vary. Like NZEOD said - embrace the bomb Since the airframe is dual role, they are not afraid to use both types of ordnance on them at all. The downing of a Syrian Su-22 (2017) was a perfect example of that. They started the mission as a close air support mission in "air-to-ground mode" (sounds like a Valk) and then switched to air-to-air when an Su-27 was spotted orbiting the area. Shortly after, an Su-22 started entering the area and even with flares being fired right up in his face, failed to leave the area. Then started in on his bomb run. They fired an AIM-9X which failed to track the target. Then they fired an AMRAAM which finally did it in. David has some great points on accuracy. I don't know if you've been there, but the U.S. Navy's website has TONS of photos with new ones being added everyday. www.navy.mil - Media - Photo Gallery I spell it out because they have some videos too. A direct search link: Super Hornet Ordnance Try other types of searches too. Just watch the dates. Some searches go way back and may not be up to date for your build. - MT

Derex, you have another fine addition to your fleet! Keep Trekking on! WMCheng, your hornet is coming along great! I'm glad the canopy trick worked for you. And no, it's just not you! I'm in a model club with a whole lot of members that when we describe how we built our model, we all have LOTS of screw ups! The bad part is when your scratch-building, and screwing up your own stuff! I'm always taking two steps forward, more steps back it seems. Hi everyone! This is catching up about two weeks of work so sorry for the extra photos. I will always say, “Save things you think you can use - without hoarding.” Someone was about to throw away some orange toner cartridge covers that were cool shaped and styrene. So, I kept them! They are now consoles on the bridge. The bridge is a combination bridge and combat information center (CIC). So, there are several rows of consoles in it. First, pieces were trimmed so they were the right shape. Then angles cut and pieces glued together. Details are what make models believable so instead of only plain rows of consoles, I wanted louvered vents like many consoles have. “Louvers” were cut into styrene and then the louvers were cut out like islands, so they stick out from the surface. If I had Evergreen cladding sheets, I could have just used them, but I don’t. Ordering from hobby shops stateside is about two weeks wait right now. The louvered sheets were then glued onto the sides and allowed to dry for a couple of days. The ship needs about 24 seats for the bridge crew. Besides Shapeways, where are you going to find them? Thankfully I had some HH-60 parts in my spare sprues’ boxes. They were glued together with an angle piece to support them. These were then cut out when dry. The bridge needed simulated two-foot floor tiles for "under floor cabling and cooling" like in computer centers. When I made the 1/200 Daedalus years ago, it needed nearly six feet of embossed deck area to simulate tie-downs. The hand-cranked machine I made was modified to accept a Dremel (which moves manually across the rails). The machine feeds according to how many cranks you make. This is easier than trying to grid-out the sheet and manually scribe/screw-up all the lines. One side was done, then flipped 90 degrees and the other side done. Clean-up STILL needed scribing which still created some mistakes – which thankfully were cut-out. Why not mill this? The sheet is too big for my little mill. Once again, Evergreen makes the right sheets, but I'm already waiting on other parts in the mail - so time to push through... Then everything was dry fit together. The consoles still need desk areas and maybe cup holders. Anyone know a good deal on 1/72 keyboards? - MT

Thanks! I actually managed to get the Imai kit you listed. It's cool. Now if someone would make Max's fire extinguisher "GU-11" from when Millia starts a fire on the stove shortly after they are married. - MT

Thanks JVMacross! I actually got 1 and 2. Now I know what is in 3, thanks to you! That would have been cool to get. When I did a bunch of 1/350 stuff, I used the armored valk as the starter before HIGHLY modifying it into a garage kit. Most are actually around 1/350 (no big deal anyhow). Thanks again for sharing! - MT

Thanks for sharing! Looks JUST like a GU-11 - MT

Cool ideas Tekering! I think your decal idea was great! Have you considered multiple colors of lines, maybe slightly off color panel lines? Similar to regular models or metalic model finishes? I'm thinking about getting one of those cri-cut machines. It could cut masks, stencils, thin styrene and my decals out after printing. Thin styrene may help too. I think you had a good idea with that. It just has to be straight or it looks off. Keep up the great ideas! - MT

Looks great Mog! HUGE improvement over the stock version! Congrats on a great mod Mog! - MT

Welcome back Benson and Dobber! Long time no see! Those B wings look great Dobber! And May the 4th be with you too! - MT

NZEOD is back with a vengeance and blowin' stuff up! Great fire effects by the way! Bolt - Your model is looking sleek and clean! Chronocidal - You're right! Monogram was the bomb back in the day. Even Tamiya was relatively new and unknown then. One Christmas back in the 80's my parents got me a bunch of Monogram kits for Christmas. A local membership store had them sitting out on display and when we were out shopping, I must have been drooling over them. So they got me all these Monogram kits for me. That was an awesome Christmas as a kid! The 1/24 Rambo Huey was great! It was HUGE, had all the ordnance and even had flexible ammo chutes for the machine guns. Likewise, their 1/32nd F-4E Phantom II had a ton of ordnance and was a well detailed model. Even their 1/72nd F-16 was great with all the ordnance, a tug an engine trainer and removable engine. I think I got the 1/48th B-17G then too. The gimmicks helped make them all likable to those of us who were younger. Ahh, simpler times. - MT

I hate the TV show "Hoarders", but this would be an episode I would watch My wife and daughter complains about the 20 large plastic containers of models I have (it protects them and made it easy to move them while in the military). With the whole virus thing going on, our monthly modeler's club meeting has gone weekly over Zoom. Seeing inside some people's houses looks almost like this video! Some of our members' "rooms" look like hobby shops -with- shelves! One guy has a large Craftsman tool cabinet. Every drawer is PACKED with paint! All the paints are grouped in shades. He must have thousands of dollars worth of paints - no over-emphasizing! After our first virtual meeting, I told my wife she has NOTHING to complain about with my "stash." Thanks for sharing Shawn! - MT

Bueno Ranka-Killer! Yeah, the re-releases just have uncut stickers! I think the stickers vs decals was a hint to Nichimo's demise. I agree with Shawn, in fact, I really like all of their 1/200 sculpts. It was one BIG reason I did the 1/200th Daedalus. They looked so good, I thought they would look even better in a realistic setting. - MT

Looking good NZEOD! For models, it gets more complicated than that You have Revell Germany which is much better than Revell (USA). Revell USA is also now Revell-Monogram. Monogram had cool subjects, but equally uncool seam lines. I keep seeing their kits at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Then I say, "I'm not crazy enough to buy that." Like Electric Indigo said, Tamiya is re-releasing a lot of Italeri kits to include their F-16, Sea Cobra, MD-500, and much more! Sadly, the hobby is decreasing and companies are too. Molds from the 50's are being sold to companies like Atlantis who is capitalizing on them. The good news is we have some great kits now and aftermarket stuff that is better than the kits its meant for. What do you guys think? - MT

That's cool, thanks Big F! - MT

Looks like someone really had the need, the need for speed! Powder blue stripes!? Evidently that's what they used in the movie though. If you gotta throw in some blue, I think VX-23 did it better IMHO. - MT

Big F - That's the pits - sorry! I empathize with you. A widow was selling all the tools in her deceased husband's shop VERY cheap. I lost out on a new mill and lathe because I was unemployed. On the other hand, you can use alternatives for cheap. That's why I posted this. Xigfrid - Go for it! You can buy kits really cheap or just buy reels that are cheap. You can even use a USB adapter if the voltage is right. I've seen a lot of Detolfs lit up with strips. For them I would highly recommend using angle pieces around the lights like I did here. In most of the Detolf photos I've seen, it's hard to see the display because the glare is so bad. Plus, looking straight into LEDs is bad for your eyes. Shining downwards helps even further. - MT

Foclslain - I have to agree with everyone about the Tamiya masking tape - it's the best! Painter's tape helps with large areas or filling in between the Tamiya tape edges if you don't like paper. If you're serious, go with the airbrush! If you're lazy or on a budget, the rattle cans will be better than hand painting. Just get the GOOD automotive types with the fancy nozzles. Those brands usually lay down smoother. I use a lot of canned paint since my ship finishes have to withstand water and abrasions. Other paints are OK, just test first on spoons or cheap plastic signs you get from stores - they are usually polystyrene plastic like your model. WM Cheng - That cockpit looks real enough to jump in and fly off a carrier - until you realize its only the size of your thumb and you crushed it! Great, clean detail work! Thanks guys! To clarify with the Plexiglas (generic acrylic or Lexan sheets), it actually sits on the inside of the window frame. The original glass windows are outside and open outward. So I can close the window and the house has its original seal. When I need to vent, the window opens and the plastic sheet acts as a temporary seal. I bought a 5' roll of white Velcro (male and female) and cut it with scissors the whole length (then clean the gum off the scissors ). That 1/4" fit into the available frame area perfectly and you can't see it. The Velcro allows the plastic to be removed and the screen put back in. The Velcro makes a good seal to keep out bugs too. On that note, the vent exterior has a piece of screen on it too to keep out bugs when the window is open. Summer is coming and so will the bugs. The mosquitoes are here already, and I don't mean the cool one by Tamiya! - MT

Hey guys, I'm posting this in case some of you can use the window venting idea. Two years ago someone gave me their spray booth after they built a large custom one into their house (must have been nice). I FINALLY got around to fixing it and making a vent for it. They are so simple you can build one from a cardboard box and a fan! The first issue is that the fan sounds like a turbine starting up - no kidding! Ear protection will have to be worn when using this until I can get a new fan. Fiberglass insulation was added to help deaden the sound and silicone rubber was used on the seams to deaden the rattling from them. The original styrene outlet was brittle and broken so a new one was made from an in-floor vent boot. There is no where for it to vent outside so I got thin Plexiglas, trimmed it to fit the window frame and used white velcro (it blends nicely into the frame color) to temporarily hold it to the window frame and seal it from bugs. This makes it easily removable. Then I got an exit port and tubing. The port is two-pieced allowing the vent to be pulled off the Plexiglas window. The vent tube is only about a foot long. Most of you guys could do this in your house without getting killed by your wives since the Plexiglas (or Lexan) can be removed. Then yes, I spray painted the spray booth to cover years of paint that didn't quite make it inside. The inside was left alone except to drop a household A/C filter into it to help catch particles from collecting on the fan that already has a ton of paint on it. A $6.00 LED light sticks to the roof and an old microwave carousel will hold most projects. I haven't airbrushed anything in years, now I can begin again without any issues (except the noise). Hopefully this is of use to you guys. - MT

Hi Focslain, you sound frustrated? If that is the case, I would recommend masking tape to help you out. Even free-handing large areas will be aided by masking tape. Yes, it takes longer, but the results will be worth it. If you don't like your paint (once again guessing your tone from written text), that's no problem either. Paint can be stripped safely off models. I think most of us regulars here have done it. Life is definitely not perfect! Speaking of masking tape, the alternative is using a rattle can after you mask off your areas - assuming you don't have an airbrush? I usually use cans myself due to size of the projects. Five of these? That will be a lot of paint. Sounds like a job for some kind of spray (airbrush or can). - MT

Four years ago I got the top half of a mirrored hutch without the shelves for only $25. It was scratched, incomplete, and needed some love. I wanted a display case for my models, but $800 on average for a decent curio was out of the question. So I saw this case and got it to fix it up. I finally got around to it last weekend. I photographed the process so those of you interested in making a cheap display case out of almost anything could see how easily and cheaply it can be to light it up. You can use a solid bookcase, the good ole' Ikea Detolf cases, or whatever you may have lying around like a bunch of fruit crates nailed together. My last display case (back in the 1990's) was just a solid book case with Plexiglas over the front! Use your imagination for what you have available. The LEDs were bought at Five Below for only $5.00 USD (Photo 0). They are intended for lockers as you can see on the instructions. The "quality" is so high, there is spilled solder on the reel. None the less, they are bright white and provide near natural white light. They are 4,5 volts battery powered, but can be powered with an AC to 4.5v DC adapter soldered in as I did. Three reels (about seven feet long each) were used and then trimmed to fit the width. One was attached to the top, and the other two were built into the shelf supports. The key is that each strip shines downward on the shelf below it providing direct and indirect light. The original shelves were supposed to be sold glass. I didn't have the budget for that either. So I got inexpensive aluminum angles (Hillman 1/2" wide at most American hardware stores) and cut them to shape to fit into the cabinet (photos 1,2 and 3). They were then painted flat brown primer to match the wood. The LEDs were laid down on the angle so they would shine downward. Why the angle stock aluminum? 1. It shields the light directly from your eyes. 2. It reflects the light onto your displays. 3. Adds strength to support the thin shelves. The drawback with painting aluminum - the paint will scratch off if you look at it the wrong way - even after prepping! The only thing available locally to help with this was Flex Tape (one of the more expensive items in the build)! My preference would have been silicone tape, but I couldn't find any locally. The tape is 4" wide so it was unreeled against parchment paper and cut into 1/2" strips to cover the angled surfaces where the shelves would touch (photo 4). The rubber tape also helps the shelves slide a little less (the tape has adhesive on only one side). Next step was measuring and cutting shelves to fit into the cabinet. I used 2mm acrylic for its lowest cost locally. Thicker stock like 1/4" (6mm) works better, but also costs three times more (photo 5). I also added feet and casters to the cabinet. It raised it up a little and allows easy floor cleaning of the work area or rearrangement. Finally the case unlit and lit (photos 6 and 7). There was a small light that came with the case, it is near worthless, but adds a little color. You can see how near natural the light is and it doesn't hit you in the face like some lighting units. There is some reflection from the back mirror, but it is minimized by the angled stock. Alternately, you can use "C" channel to cut back the glare and direct the light even more, but it also reduces the angle of light available for your case. Hopefully this inspires or helps someone wanting to do a similar project like this. - MT

That F-18 is looking great! I should get one of those books. I already use one at work for Pantone colors and that thing is priceless for matching and creating project theme colors. - MT

Derx - Your Enterprise looks great! Nice n clean! The colors do look awkward, but on TV the colors never really looked like that-it was always dark in the "out in space shots." It may have been colored like that on purpose for lighting. Yeah, that was the "Love Boat" version of Star Trek - even if Kirk got all the women! Joscale - Electric Indigo is right, it does look like its from a model magazine! Very professionally weathered. - MT

That looks a lot better Mog! Your changes made it more realistic and cleaned it up. The Daedalus has been messed up in a lot of toys and kits. I wouldn't have noticed though if I didn't spend so much time building my model. As far as the blue color goes, it makes it easier on the artists painting the animation cells My family has been watching the Macross saga and I keep asking myself the same questions about the blue. Blue is so non-military; ya know? - MT

That's looking good Sqidd! Don't sweat the painting. It just take a little practice. Thanks Tekering for posting all that on the Mr. Hobby stuff. I haven't used that stuff, but considered it. - MT