Vegg

I ordered some stuff, for the first time from MicroMasters (They reopened their store just now in September 2024) making 3d printed stuff for ships. I only worry about things being smashed during shipping. In 1:350 scale, things are fairly small'ish and so "1:200 scale people" probably get more out of these parts I would think.

I don't like spending a lot of money on aftermarket stuff, but I thought I'd try this just once, adding some extra stuff. I'll just scrape the kit propellers into shape and not bother with 3d printed air vents.

Micro Masters did not seem to have the two part depth charge stuff at the stern of the ship, else I might added that as well to the order.

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I took the time to check the few various boat parts found in the Trumpeter HMS Naiad kit, checked the length in mm, converted back to 1:1 using HiPER sci. calculator on my phone and sort of converted to feet, and then checked against candidates on the Micro Master website. I even added the doors (x30) which should add a lot of detail to the kit. Kit's ship doors are nicely molded but don't have much detailing on them.

Although some of the items, I had marked as "in my stash", I don't have them yet, only now just making an order.

Hrm. Buying from online stores is hard.. 🙁
Just wanted to buy some AK Tools AK8076 Camouflage Elastic Putty.
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Hrm, I thought parcels shipped by an airline (to Europe) would be shipped reasonably quick. A parcel sent from New Zeeland on 8. Sept. is still out there today 10 days later, and the last update was on the 13. Sept. 🙁 I also worry my parcel with 3d printed stuff is all smashed up or something.

I took some photos of the build guide for the 1:350 Naiad light anti-air cruiser, made a 42MB size pdf file, and then I tried to upload it to this website. But I don't see it afterwards, though I will simply wait a day and see if it shows up, maybe the file has to be approved or something before it shows up.

If people want to upload a better pdf file, they can just switch out the old one I guess. The initial version was 100MB large, which seemed a little too large. So file size was reduced to 42 MB.

If you have a so called "smart phone" getting the HiPER calculator app off the Play store is nice (scientific calculator). It does unit conversion between say mm's and feet super easy and effortless. Trying now to match plastic parts in 1:350 scale to 3d printed stuff only described in feet in an online store.

I just learned that there's this product for working with decals, presumably to loosen decals from the backplate paper. I wonder how it works. I sort of looks like there's this plastic box with a sponge in it, then you wet the sponge material (or whatever it is) then decals lie on top being softened and come unglue I think.

Might it be ok if I plugged what seems like a really good paint stand? For 17ml bottles.
temu.com/goods.html?..s_id=601099603631265

Q: Is there any convenient way of scratchbuilding railings along the side of the ship, for 1:350 ships?

I had this idea, but don't have the tools for it. Basically using metal rods, then clamping hard on 3-4 places to flatten spots on the rod, then drill holes in those flat spots, then pull a wire through the holes later. But chances are I think the whole rod will bend every which way when clamping hard on some spots to flatten the rod in places. I suppose working with styrene rods might be simpler, but then, when drilling holes in the flat parts, the styrene will likely snap or melt if ever coming in contact with liquid glue.

One other idea I had, was to maybe try scrape the photo etch railings, to try round the otherwise "square looking" horizontal parts, making them look thinner than the "rods" standing upright, making them look more like maybe some wire than welded metal pieces.

I have seen Tamiya having some aftermarket product for the rods, with metal wire, but only for the Japanese Yamato ship, which doesn't look like most other ships I would think.

Anyone know if this store re-opens?
micromaster.co.nz
They apparently sell 3d printed parts. Just ordered a 1:350 Dido cruiser, so the store had me interested.
I got the impression that maaybe it re-opens in Sept. 2024, but I can't find any solid info on that. I gave their FB site a look but I didn't notice any info of importance, but perhaps I missed it.
As of this time, placing an order on their website just spawns a popup asking to contact the website or something.

Q: Does anyone know if the Dido class WW2 anti air light cruiser ships, were ever painted in plain light gray? Either before WW2, or during WW2?
Having difficulty finding out info on this, and I thoght I'd ask to avoid having to buy books about this subject.

According to a youtuber, mixing Tamiyas X-20A acrylic(!) thinner with Vallejo's Metal Color paints, is a good mix. Said to add some needed retarder effect. I hope I get to try that out some day with some all metal skin finish.

Why does this cutting blade, this small rod, why does it fall out of the circle cutter now? Maybe it was supposed to be magnetic?
This circle cutter is many years old now.
The problem is that, whenever I turn the cutter around to cut some masking tape, the cutting rod simply falls out.

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I finally got around to airbrushing a tank model with some "anti slip" paste added on the plastic. What a nice result, and such fun to work with. Simple, easy, and looking very nice. One layer if wanting a rough, light layer, and two layers if you want a more solid and similar texture all over. I used a 4mm wide flat brush for the application iirc. One basically dip the brush tip into the tube opening, then dot the plastic with a small amount, and then, you keep touching the paste on the plastic, until you create a pattern of more fine particles, tiny bits of paste.

A.MIG-2033 Anti-Slip Paste -..or 1/35, Ammo by Mig Jimenez Matt, Acrylic, 20ml

I bought some Mig Ammo 'Anti slip paste'. Two tubes, one for 1:72&1:48, and another tube for 1:35 scale.
I put this stuff onto some plastic, and an hour later, I do not think I can tell there being any difference between the two.
One is ofc black and the other brown, but the texture from using the same brush, the texture sort of looks exactly the same.

What should I expect being a difference here between the two tubes, anyone know?

All this time, I thought the US Abrams tank had symmetric frontal armor plates on the turret, and so I look at a Tamiya kit in my stash and go "wtf" as I see something unexpected.

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Hrm, I have this Iwata HP-CS Eclipse 0.35 airbrush and I am stressing a little when trying to airbrush on some camo (without masking). I didn't want to use masking tape and I don't have any camo goo to spread over as masking either.

Like with my other attempt with this other tank I think I have to airbrush on desert yellow over the darker colors and try correct the shapes of the camo. The big part on the side and the wheels arent' glued on.

I've never done this before (I used masking tape the last time I worked on a tank), I think I have to make sure the Vallejo Air paint is thin, and then try lower the psi way below 20 psi and try get close to get a crisp line when airbrushing. And I don't want to take off my needle guard to get closer, as I don't want to bend the needle tip, again. 🙂

I didn't want to make a WIP album for this, just another side project.

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Oh, joy! 🙂
I am so glad I finally figured out a preferred way to add a gloss coat (and airbrushing on Vallejo primers and paints in general).
Re. the bottle of Vallejo Gloss coat (presumably the newer stuff, which I think I have). I think there is an old version, and a new variant.

Trick imo, is to use a thinner mix. 70% flow improver + 30% thinner + 10% additional gooey retarder medium (mixed separately outside a bottle), then all poured into a larger bottle so you mix some thinner mix, on some rare occasion, so say 100ml thinner mix on the ready.

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Some potential issues:
1) A good result is getting a wet-in-wet application, using say 15 psi with 0.5 needle setup, to get enough paint flow. 0.35 isn't good enough imo. Airbrushing on primer seem to require 20-22 psi.
2) However, too much, and there may be some discoloration, both too much matte and too much Vallejo glossy varnish = bright spots. Unsure if they go away with time. I think the matte discoloration stays as a brightened surface if you fail to thin it.
3) Vallejo Varnish is supposed to be thinned 50:50, never used as is without thinning afaik.
4) In my experience, too much flow improver, or retarder, it takes too long for the paint/varnish to go dry.
5) Too much varnish pooling up in a corner, and the varnish will afaik start building up and some detail will be less crisp I think if you overdo it.
6) A more wet paint, or paint airbrushed on wet-in-wet, can get tricky when used with masking tape, as the liquid touching the masking tape might creep under it if the masking tape is not properly attached.
7) Thicker decal film might require say three or who knows how many layers of gloss coat, to hide the decal film edges. On the Ohio SSBN model, it seems I will need at least three layers (right over the decals) to hide the decal film edge.

Using Vallejo's range of acrylic paints, I've managed to reduce the waste I create, in some sense at least. Instead of moving paint into some water, I wipe if off with some paper. This then removed 99.99% of the paint from the little water I use. The trash gets incinerated afaik, so better that way. Instead of first dunking a brush into some water I instead first wipe off most of the paint with some piece of paper towel, getting most of the paint out that way.

Oh, no! Re. Dspiae magnetic paint mixer.
My larger 200ml bottles of Vallejo primer paint don't work with the metal bars, and so the paint doesn't mix, I simply assumed it would work. 🙁

How can I know this don't work? Well.. instead of placing a metal bar inside a bottle of primer paint, I put a metal bar inside a 200ml bottle of thinner, and even though the metal bar spins around, it comes to a rest, always, and so it doesn't work. The seemingly obvious reason why the metal bar don't spin properly is I think, the convex shaped bottom of the plastic bottle. The 200ml has a larger "hill" than the 60ml one.

I believe the smaller 60ml bottles works nicely though, but apparently the 200ml don't. 🙁

Good thing I just bought some huge 10mm large metal balls for paint mixing, and will use those instead inside my 200ml bottles of Vallejo primer paint.

To "clean" things up, I used a telescoping magnetic rod, to fish out the small metal rods I used and also any smaller balls I added previously, and then replaced those mixer items with larger two 10mm metal balls in each 200ml primer bottle.

I think I just learned that, when thinning Vallejo Air paint in a paint mixer cup, using a brush = bubbles. So bubbles = bad, as the damn tiny bubbles don't seem to vanish, when I try to smoothen out a cavity by adding a rich amount of say white Vallejo Air paint.

Trick is to mix the paint with a round stick, to avoid making bubbles.

I've previously managed to get rid of bubbles by simply blowing a short burst of air onto the surface but this won't work well in some situations where you risk the paint blowing/moving away.

I learned recently, that if one wanted to use syringe tips for shiny metal parts, like shiny rods in landing gear parts, there is also plain (non sharp) syringes to buy. Difficulty might be to find some that sell a pack of various diameters but I did find one package. Heh, never got around/dared to ask around at the pharmacy for such parts. Such syringe tips must be a lot easier to work with, than solid steel parts I think.

These are some imo really nice bottles to have. Bought from Temu.
Though, I am not quite sure if the drops coming off these are smaller than other drops, like from a Vallejo 17ml bottle. It sort of looks like it maybe, not entirely sure, which would mess up the mixing ratio I think. Still I prefer these to the larger awkward Vallejo bottles.
One is filled with airbrush cleaning liquid (30ml?), the other a thinner mix (50ml).
The plastic bottle material is moderately soft, neither hard, nor soft, and so the bottle can easily be squeezed.

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Haaah. I ordered a 1:24 Dodge 70 Challenger kit off Revell's store on Amazon.co.uk..
...and some hours later I realize that the kit will be shipped in December.
I was not aware of that when I placed the order.
This is bizarre. Not a word about it being a pre-order on Amazon.

Q: Where are the headlights on a 1968 Dodge Challenger? 🙂 Sort of looks like that car has no headlights, seems dangerous. 😄

I am very happy with this cross locking tweezer, bought off Temu. I have 5 more on the way. 🙂 1mm thick metal. Two versions, I think I ordered the smallest one.
temu.com/goods.html?..s_id=601099568122650

I am tempted to buy a cheap pipette tool for lab use to better mix paint, as I don't trust my measuring jar when mixing thinner and primer paint and sitting there counting 50 drops of thinner and another 50 drops of paint is getting annoying. The drop sizes doesn't even look the same size. Bought some gloves size L for camping, but seemed just a little too small and so regret that purchase. Was able to find some larger paint mixing balls in steel, and also found some other stuff like mini funnels. Will buy some uv glue to use with my new uv light (protection googles required). Apparently they also sell those tiny sifts you can put inside an airbrush cup (unlisted U-Star product I think). Whatever you do, don't buy plastic scale model kits off Temu, it really seems like a ripoff, and I think I can blame it on the ONE seller there. 🙂

Are there any aftermarket parts for round clear parts? Anybody know?
I'm sure I've seen something like that mentioned on youtube some time ago.

I ordered some "soft raw brass" wire in a variety of thicknesses, and I hope I didn't make a mistake doing that.
I had some copper wiring at home that I tried to use, but found it hard to bend the wire, and so it was annoying to use.

Re. 1:24 car kits. Has anyone tried scratch building the clear parts for cars? I imagine the glass surfaces are just a little bent and isn't curved, and so one could imagine just putting in place some flexing clear styrene sheet in place, maybe heat treat it to remove the tendency to flex back into a flat surface.

I am having so much more fun now airbrushing on Vallejo primer, now using my 0.5 Iwata HP-CS Eclipse (modded airbrush). Standard size is 0.35 but the paint flow is limited, and with the 0.5 setup, the paint flow is a lot more.

Anyway, using the thinner-mix of 70% Vallejo flow enhancer + 30% Vallejo thinner + another 10% retarder medium, I am having so much fun airbrushing on primer paint, all relaxing at 20 psi, and the resulting finish is reall smooth. 🙂 No tip dry to speak of. Thinner mix, mixed with primer at a ration of 50:50.

Vallejo primer is ofc sifted, before mixed in a small jar. I also started stirring the paint, not using bristle on a big brush, but instead the hard wooden tip of the handle, no bubbles.

Q: I've seen this type of airbrush cleaning tool, that looks like an ice pick sort of, that cleans the airbrush nozzle. Though, I wonder, must not this kind of tool be matched in size with a same "sized" nozzle to avoid damage?

UV cured resin for sandable clear parts? Anyone tried that?

Does an airbrush with a 0.5 mm needle put out more paint compared to a 0.35 mm needle setup, with both at the same psi?

I had the nicest airbrushing session. I used in total some 300 drops of paint with this thinner mix and it went all on very well.

I already knew I get good results with Vallejo black primer (matte), but I think everything was so much nicer this time around using this new mix I heard about on youtube. It is a premixed thinner solution with mostly flow enhancer liquid.
70% Vallejo flow enhancer
30% Vallejo Thinner
then add on top of all that 10% Vallejo retarder medium

Retarder medium is hard to mix, don't go out as droplets, think of a way to add this easily, or be frustrated.
Instead of trying to counting slimy large drops of retarder medium, I filled a small jar to 10%, easier to measure, a tiny jar with measuring lines.

Trick is to mix all of that in a small bottle, then pour a liquified solution, into some bottle with a small opening. Not possible to add retarder medium into a bottle with a small neck, just won't go in. So, I get to have a bottle of this mix for airbrushing. Shaking the bottle with a couple of steel balls creates lots of bubbles, but the bubbles go away after a while.

Then, mixed 50:50 with primer paint on demand. So nice. 🙂 Psi set to 20, airbrushing at 4-5 cm distance.

Bought a lot of cheap stuff online.
A pack of 100 "xacto" blades size 11. Metal and plastic mini funnels. 10x 100ml and some 30ml mixing bottles w. metal tip and cap for dispensing precise drops. An UV flashlight 365nm, must remember to buy uv goggles for protection later. Some drill bits. Found some Dspiae sanding sponges to my surprise.

I cleaned out one item off my metaphorical shelf-of-doom, and felt a little better about myself 🙂

I quickly tested a mix recipe by someone on youtube. Some Vallejo Air paint mixed with this "thinner" solution, and some Vallejo Primer paint mixed 50:50 or so, with this "thinner" solution. And just quickly using a paint brush on a spare part, I see the paint is drying ok, so usable at least.

Thinner solution: 70% Vallejo Flow Enhancer + 30% Vallejo Thinner + 10% gooey Retarder medium (somehow this is over100%)
So I prepared this solution in a small nifty squeeze bottle with a metal pipe/tip that dispences nice clean drops, unlike the large Vallejo bottles that spill drops of cleaner/thinner/paint all too easily.

Will try this out later with an airbrush.

Does anyone know why there are such a part for the drive sprocket for the US M1A1 tank?
I bought an aftermarket kit for tracks including extra drive sprockets, but these other ones look like the one in the drawing.
I haven't been able to find any photo showing any tank use this "round" disc on the drive sprocket wheel.

Image below is some random image off the internet that looks like the aftermarket part I have.
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Hm, I did come across some variant of the Abrams that have these on the box art:
cybermodeler.com/hob..it_panda_35038.shtml (a kit review)

Hmm, seems like there were some Abrams variants before the M1A1, and that the M1ip was in between M1E1 and M1A1? I had no idea there were other earlier variants.
tanks-encyclopedia.c..ed-performance-m1ip/

Aaah. Fixed my DAB radio's wonky button. Imagine turning the volume knob, and volume goes to 100% even if you try to turn the volume down. I unscrewed the whole thing, un-bent the four metal pins that held half the potentiometer (or whatever it is called) onto the other half inside the volume knob and wiped the contact surface with airbrush cleaner, as I didn't have anything other than maybe cleaning alcohol. And some dirt (oxidation?) came off and it worked. 🙂