Review: Realistic Wood Effects book
Check out my review over on Armorama of the Realistic Wood Effects book. Short version? Fantastic book whose awesomeness was squashed by horrible, horrible editing and translation. Horrible.
Raising our pitchforks for the great untapped modeling subject
One of the most interesting, opportunity filled areas of modeling has gone massively untapped. We modelers who love World War II as a subject have been radically underserved. The American Home Front is a subject we all should be shaking pitchforks in the air to get kit manufacturers to start thinking about the American Home Front. There, I said it. I apologize for any riots I may have inadvertently just caused. During WWII, America spun up an entire country into a massive manufacturing state. Factories were everywhere, entire chunks of industrial park camouflaged with netting, multiple types of home guard troops and volunteers. The entire country was overhauled. Trains, cars, buses, and wagons were all used in the efforts of both military and civilian daily tasks. It's an absolutely fascinating period. Yes, America didn't see carpet bombing destruction or massive tank battles. But the country transformed and created massive, unique opportunities [...]
Cool Build: Bad day on the water
This is a very cool build! Read the full build log here: bad day on the water
Newbie learning: random thoughts
I'm learning a ton as I get back into modeling. I thought it'd be wise to capture some of my learnings. I've already captured a few on photoetch and resin construction. General points Buy a shop apron, the kind that velcro to the edge of the table. I can't tell you how many times this thing has saved me from getting on the floor with a flashlight to find some part that flew off with the wrong pinch of the tweezers. Even with that apron, it's not going to save everything… try to work in an area without carpet, and with nothing around you. I'm reorganizing my home office-based workshop to pull everything from the milk crate that holds my solvents to my compressor to my computer cords up off the ground. This will better allow me to see small parts because they won't have random areas to hide in any more. [...]
DIY project: Brush holder
I've been less than impressed with my cheap paint brush carousel lately. Plus, it creates a ton of visual clutter and moves the brushes out of (easy) reach. Add to that the fact that I'm spending more time switching between various brush types (oils, acrylics, enamels, putty, drybrush, pigments, etc.), and I needed a better way to organize. So I headed to Lowes and spent some time on the PVC pipe aisle. I've been surprised how many times I think "I need to do something" and the solution reveals itself in the combination of various shapes and configurations of PVC pipe fittings. After a few minutes, the solution revealed itself. This holder is made up of the following parts: 1.5" Y fittings (x2) - these are the main "holders" 1" pipe caps (x2) - these are stuck in the bottom to close up the Y fittings L-bracket (x2) - these are [...]
My mobile paint studio
I travel quite a bit for work, and spend far too much time in a hotel room. A few months ago, I stepped into the figure painting world. It dawned on me that if I could somehow transport a relatively small footprint of equipment along with me on my trips, I could set up a mobile painting station in the hotel room. So I headed to the sporting goods store to pick up a storage container that would pack easily, filled it up, and tested it out. Here's how it's worked out... TSA My first concern was the paints (and distilled water). They're liquids, and y'know ... TSA liquid restrictions. I've carried my kit through security at least six times now. Knock on wood, but nothing's been flagged. Now, one potential caveat: I've got Pre-Check, and these security occasions have been through Pre-Check lines. But the airports have been a wide variety of size [...]
Newbie learning: Resin
As I learn to work with resin parts, I thought I'd share a few of the tips I've picked up along the way. Resin You've probably read this a hundred times before, but I'll share it again: resin dust is nasty, stinky, and dangerous to your lungs. Use water when you sand to keep the dust to a minimum. I use beauty store washable sanding boards. I have an old plastic container with a lid that sits on my workbench that I can dip the sanding boards in from time to time, or even the part itself to rinse off the dust and/or mud that I'm creating by sanding. I also use a respirator. The easiest way to separate the casting sprues from the part is simply to score slowly and gently in the right place. Take a few passes with medium pressure and it'll snap right off with a little [...]
Epic workbench post
I've been highly delinquent in my participation the Sprue Cutter's Union. But I'm trying to catch up on my entries, and I'm starting with #21: Where the magic happens. This installment asks about the space where you do your modeling. Without further ado, I'm proud to introduce you to one of my creations: my workspace. A great workspace is one of the most coveted things in modeling. You see "Share your workbench" posts (like this one) fill up with modelers showing off their benches/desks/corners/garages/etc. I've been working on building out my own space for a while now and it's coming along nicely. In fact, I'm pretty proud. I probably over invested, but damn does it make for a comfortable space to while away the hours. Hope you enjoy. My space In our house, we have a small extra bedroom that I was originally using as an office. I didn't want to give [...]
Build log: Steyr Radio Car Engine painting
After a bit of a break, I'm back on the Steyr 1500 Radio car project. I had done some The main focus recently has been the engine. First it was the construction and detailing, now we're on to painting and weathering. Basic base paint Finding proper color charts for this engine proved tricky. The only color references or details I could find were restored vehicles, which aren't always the best references. Given that, I decided I'd just go with what seemed the most fun to paint! From this fantastic walk around, I used these great photos to lay down the basic paint. As you can tell, this was very, very flat. Almost cartoonish! It's time to get gunky... Weathering and Grime Everything I've read about German vehicles says that most were either maticiulously maintained and/or bombed from above before they had a chance to go very far. Engines, especially in this [...]
Review: Iwata Eclipse HP-CS
When I first got back into modeling, I knew I'd need an airbrush sooner than later. I started out with that old standby, the red handled, single-action Paasche H. But the more I read, the more I wanted a dual-action model. I searched quite a bit and landed on the Badger Krome. Overall, I was happy with it, but never excited about it. The trigger wasn't really that easy to use, and keeping it from gunking up while I sprayed acrylics was tough. Plus, I could never seem to get the paint thinning/air pressure ratios quite right. So when I decided that for safety's sake I'd invest in a second airbrush, one for acrylics and one for enamels, I started researching again. I posted on Armorama.com and got some great feedback. Namely, that the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS was a great tool. I'd read that in countless other articles too, so I [...]