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Model Tips |
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Contrary to commend believe, modeling is actually a fairly pricey hobby. Once you have pasted the snap-build phase, the cost of better (pricier) models, tools and model supplies to make better models adds up. Unlike other on-line resources on faq tips and ticks in model building, this page focuses on ways to save money in this whether expensive hobby. The following are combination of different tips for model building. Some maybe a suggestion of an alternative methods vs comment costly practices, while others maybe substitute products to help you achieve similar result compare brand name store brought, etc… Most of the tips are from materials I have read (books+, magazines or web pages), my personal discovery and (hopefully future) reader submission so they are tested and true. ** Though, for some of these technique and tips, I still recommend experimenting before trying on your model.** All in all, I hope that you’ll find these tips useful and can help you build better models. If you have a tip that you want to share, please feel free to e-mail me and I may post it here for others to benefit too. :) |
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A. Uncategorized Listing: |
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B. Scratch Building / Super detailing |
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C. Make You Own Tools |
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More to come... |
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A. Uncategorized listing: |
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Model manufacturer put a release agent to the molds before casting and some of these release chemical remains on the surface of the plastic, which prevents paint and putty from sticking. Also, bare styrene is a powerful generator of static electricity which attracts dust particles and interferes with paint application. Therefore, wash your kit (easier when still attached in sheets) with a few drops of dish washing liquid and warm water. Then, rinse with clean water and let dry before assembling or repeat before painting to wash away dust, sand dust from sanding on plastic, glue and putty work. |
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2. Good glue saves putty work. Plastic weld will slightly melt the plastic when you join two pieces together and create a raised up seam. Once you trim and sand down the new seam then you don’t have to putty up the join lines. |
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3. Homemade putty for filling gaps. Use a mixture of super glue and baby powder to make homemade putty. Not only it sticks really well, but you could also use it for minor scratch building work too. Experiment first. |
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4. Small metal paint mixing disc. You can see from magazines and books that model pros like to use metal paint mix dish. For one reason, they are very easy to clean and look very professional. However, they are not that economic if they are available to you at all. For a small amount of paint, you can use the top of some concentrated juice can or metal canned food if you have a can open that open sideways. For more paint, use a flea market metal/glass/china soya sauce disc or foil mini bakery base. Cover it with a piece of aluminum foil if you are planning to reuse them so no need to clean every time. |
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5. Don’t let your glue, paint, primer, and putty to dry out. It is bad to find that your model supply dry out before you used it up. One thing, you probably need it NOW since you were looking it, also it require money and time to replace an item. There are many ways to preserve the life of you supplies and it depends what they are and the container that they are originally stored in. For bottles, such as paint and primer, wipe the bottle top before recapping which makes a better seal. If the seal in the lit is missing, replace it with aluminum foil trimmed to size. For acrylic paint, use a straw and blow into the paint before recapping. The CO2 in your breath replace O2 in the paint so it wouldn't dry out in the bottle. Some find it better to store them upside down or use molten candle wax / glue to seal the gap of the between the lid and bottle. For tubes, like putty or glue, use a zip locking sandwich bags. Lastly, try storing everything in a plastic tight seal container - Air is your enemy. |
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6. Make your paintbrushes last longer. Use a plastic tube (juice straw/ elect. wire) to cover the brush hair when not in use. When washing brushes, just twist and sake your brush in cleaner/thinner but don’t try to force the brush against the thinner jar, or leave it standing in the thinner bottle with the brush sitting against the bottom, etc… If you have natural animal hairbrushes, you can condition them with baby oil or wash with nail polish remover (if used for enamel paint). |
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7. Use steel cans to store brushes and tools. One way to store your brushes, hand tools or other misc. items is to put them in metal (soup, tuna) cans. You can sort the items and place them into different cans and give them label outside. Not only it will make your workbench more organized and you are recycling your metal cans too. See ex. photo. |
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8. Make sand paper last longer. Sanding firm is mostly used for wet sanding. However, since the firm is made of plastic they are usually more durable than sand paper and wet sanding can give you a better / smoother result anyway. Plus, you can also reuse sanding firm over and over again. For dry sanding paper, put a piece of tape behind to help make them last longer. |
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Besides spending hundreds on a compressor or buying propellant cans constantly which adds up in the long run, you can get cheap compressed air and noise free operation from: i) An old tire – Small investment but a little troublesome. You’ll need a propellant can regulator, which usually comes with a basic airbrush set. Then, a good condition (leak free, cheap/used) tire and a tire inflator (foot/power/gas station). Then, you need a tire adaptor (Badger makes one). Finally, pump your tire pressure to ~40psi, then connect the tire adaptor to the tire, regulator to the adaptor, airbrush to the regulator and you will have compressed air source for your airbrush. The downside is there is short duration between fill-ups, ~15mins (1~2 color for 1/144 gundam) or more depending on the size of tire. If possible, try getting a big truck tire from the junkyard and a good power tire inflator at home. A moisture trap hose is recommended. ii) An air tank – Only if you already have most of the items handy. It is similar to using a tire but could store more air thus requires less fill up in between (assuming your connections are leak free). You will need an air tank (>10L), an air regulator (buy the better one since the lower end ones don't work) and a couple connections to fit to your airbrush. Plus, a good powerful tire inflator (>125psi) or use the one at your local gas station. The downside is, by the time you bought everything needed (air tank, regulator, inflator, moist trap and such), you would have almost paid enough for a small compressor unit (noisy but no refill & always ready). Even if you skip the inflator and use one at your local gas station, not every station has a powerful enough unit to inflate quickly and pass 60 psi... Summary, go with a tire if you are really short on cash (say bye-bye to air cans) and save your money for a compressor if you don't already have the equipment for the air tank set up. Below is an example of an air tank set up: Steve Bamford's Airtank for Airbrushing iii) Homemade Compressor – True craftsmen only. This really is the best solution to a poor man's long term compressed air needs. I have taken this article from a modelling book I read though there should be better examples out there too. To me, the method really sounds too easy to be true and the main tricks are you will have to be super handy with tools, know how to weld and know where to find used odd parts at a good deal. Personally, I am planning to do this the short way, meaning keeping an air tank setup but replace the noisy compressor with a refrigerator motor. See Build A Compressor in Model Misc. |
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10. Inexpensive paint thinner. It depends on the type of paint you use. i) Enamel – (ie. Testors) oil based paint. Go to a hardware store and buy paint thinner for oil-based paint. They usually sell a 4L jug for a few dollars, unlike the model paint brand which has a few ml for the same price. Great alternative for cleaning enamel off brushes and container. If used to thin paint for airbrush and such, please experiment first before applying to model. ii) Acrylic – (ie. Tamiya, Gunze) water based paint. Even though they are water based, however if you wanted good bond between paint and plastic surface, it is better to thin acrylic with alcohol (70%~99%). Use either rubbing alcohol & water or windshield washing liquid for cars which is a premixed mixture of alcohol and water. The dye of windshield liquid (ie, blue / green / pink) would likely not affect the final color of the paint too much. Once again experiment first. |
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11. Easy and great looking finish coat. If you don’t mind the glossy finish, you can use John’s Future Floor Polish as a clear protective coat on your model. You can wipe, brush or spray it on your piece. It will require a bit of practice for great result so experiment first. To keep your model looking its shiniest all the time, you can re-polish with a coat of Armorall (Super) Shine Protectant, follow instruction on bottle. You can also use Future again as a scratch remover on clear parts. But, make sure you wet sand with progressive really fine gain film then polish with rubber compound or plastic polish and seal with Future. |
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Twist tie for garbage bag is very handy in modelling. You can use the wire in scratch building as an antenna, wires for a mecha / model car, etc… Also, cut off the wrapper and use the wire as a super glue applicator. |
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Use Reusable Scotch Tape (blue – low achieve), drafting tape or green low achieve masking tape as airbrushing masking tape. White glue with a drop of dish washing detergent (and food coloring) as a liquid mask. |
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14. Hobby X-acto knifes blades. Buying those blades in bulk (ie. in 100 instead of 5) usually works out to be less $ per blade. Also, the no. 11 (modified - board tip) can last longer than the standard no. 11 X-acto blade. Some smaller box cutter knife or medical scalpels are also ideal in modeling and their replacement blade are less expensive or stays sharper much longer than X-acto knive blades. You can also resharpen old dull blades with a knife shaping stone. |
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Use a safe pin, sewing needle or anything with a shape durable tip and you have a scriber. A dental scriber tool which may cost less at the dollar stores & such, good quality dental scriber may last longer too and stay sharp for a long time Fancy scriber for modeling is quite expensive. You can scratch build one of your own using dull No. 11 hobby-knife blades like this. |
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B. Scratch Building / Super detailing |
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1. Cheap putty for scratch building. i) Polyester putty – Besides model shops, you can also find polyester putties in automotive stores, try brands like Bondo Ultimate (2 lbs) and Marson Platinum (3 lbs) ii) Epoxy putty – cheap, quick set Try home repair/metal filling epoxy putty from Loctite and Milliput, usually cost less than modelling putty weight for dollar iii) Super glue plus baby powder (SGT) Replace product like Japanese Alteco’s SSP-HG. Use a 50/50 ratio of Super glue (liquid or gel) and a talc based baby powder. Side note, you can use high concentration (>90%) of Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to thin many (ie. Testors) body putties or use lacquer thinner (ie. Suadron green putty) for other putties. Once again experiment everything before applying to model. |
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Visit the Model Link - FAQ sites for more details. |
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2. Make your own ball joint and polycap. You will need a set of ball joint parts (hopefully a slightly bigger ball and smaller cap). Cast the ball part by filling SGT in the hollow cavity of the polycap and remove harden SGT when dried. You will only be able to create half the ball this way so repeat for the second half and glue the two halves together with SGT. Once the ball part is done, coat it with oil then use hot glue from a ready hot gun and spread glue on the ball. While the glue is starting to turn solid color, use your oil covered finger and press the hot glue into a rounder shape. Once the glue is completely cooled down, gently and slowly twist the new cap out (without directly pulling the cap out which would damage the cap). Experiment with different size of ball joints (ie. smaller cap or bigger ball size) in order to get a perfect tight fit. See example picture of a double ball joint here. More example and many pictures of SGT casting at MW MS Works. |
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This is a link to an article on "How to make an inexpensive Vacuum-forming machine" as well as other great resources on Vacuum-forming which I am not going to repeat here. |
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After some research on finding a cheap way to cast, I discovered some very interesting crafts material that do the work for casting a simple little piece, even with great detail. From what I know this is my invention and I am here to share with you. I call it the hot glue and epoxy glue cast, here is what you will need: hot glue and glue gun, PAM (or other oil), two part (5. min) epoxy glue, a non-sticking work surface and you original master piece you want to cast. 1. Use PAM to grease up you master (it also helps to glue something behind your master for easier pulling.) 2. Squeeze a big blob of hot glue (about bigger than master) on the non-stick surface. 3. Let glue cool until it starts to turn solid color, then press your master in the glue. 4. Once the hot glue is cooled, remove the master and re-PAM the hot glue mould. 5. Mix your epoxy, pour / brush into mould evenly and slowly to prevent bubbles then let dry. 6. Remove the epoxy cast soon once it is set but too completely cured, (Around 5 min after pouring). Note: Don't be cheap on material, get the best hot glue and epoxy you can find since they are still cheaper than really casting stuff. You will need to keep playing around with the material and timing for the best result. |
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C. Make you own tools |
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Building your spray booth is not really too much work (see mine here), try these two links below: http://www.interlog.com/~ask/scale/tips/booth.htm http://www.culttvman.com/kirk_schermerhorn_s_paint_boot.html |
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Use a cloth hanger and bending into a shape like this. For a bottom feed brushes, just use a roll of toilet paper. :) |
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i) Using a sewing needle ii) A wire from twist tie |
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Instead of buying sanding stick for modelling, get sanding file stick for nails or build your own by gluing a piece of sand paper on a styrene, wooden stick or toothpick. |
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Make you wooden cloth hanger clip into useful model clamps like these: |
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From old dull No. 11 hobby-knife blades, grind down the cutting edge and tip, small notch and sharpen the whole edge. |
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Instead of expensive bell jaw with a vacuum system to draw air bubbles from the casting resins mix. Pour the mixed resin in a plastic bag, seal it and squeeze the bubbles to the surface. Once the resin is clear, cut a bottom corner off and squeeze the resin into the mold. |
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i) Milk Jug Using a milk jug and straw tubing and cover with filter (nylon sock or paper towel). Spray the thinner into the hole which connects to a tubing down. The thinner will then create a foam from the submerged detergent solution preventing most of the fumes from escaping. Then, bring jug outside and uncap to release the fume. Change the solution regularly. |
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ii) Card board box Find a mid size box and seal the top and all seams with duct tape. Spray thinner into a hole cut just large enough for the nozzle of your airbrush. Tape the hole afterwards and release the fume outdoor. |
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Sounds like a crazy idea, right ? Well, but it sure has been done before... Below is an example from a book I read which uses a refrigerator motor. See Build A Compressor in Model Misc. |
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- Pictures for personal use only. All copy rights reserved to their sources+. - |
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Once again, If you have a tip to share, please feel free to e-mail me and I could post it here for others to benefit too. :) I welcome any modelling questions, however if you are relatively new to the hobby, please visit all of the FAQ sites listed before contacting me. There is a good chance that your questions has been answered many times before. |
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This section is forever underconstruction...
Copyright (c) 2001 Hugedom
Production Inc. All rights reserved.
hugedom@hotmail.com