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MikeH

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Everything posted by MikeH

  1. Hello, I inherited this figure kit from a fellow clubmember who passed away last year. I'm not familiar at all with military kit makers aside from Verlinden and Andrea. Can anyone identify the maker of the kit or era the soldier is from (I'm thinking WWII, Korean). I spoke to the local VA and plan to finish it and give it to them for display. Thank you for any assistance.
  2. MikeH

    Deadpool bust

    As I've been educated by my 13 year old son. He is "The Merc with the mouth". He's an assassin/mercinary/anti-hero in the Marvel world with a warped sense of humor and a love for chimichangas.
  3. MikeH

    Deadpool bust

    Thanks. And yes it is. But it keeps the riff-raff out. We are going to be a balmy 9 degrees tomorrow.
  4. MikeH

    Deadpool bust

    Finished full scaled hollow cast Deadpool bust.
  5. Thanks all. This was a grail kit and finally got the time to work on it and finish it.
  6. My only model finished this year between too many other things, but this is a grail kit that took me a long time to get. 4 years later I've finally finished it. I have a few details that I will pick away at but calling it done.
  7. MikeH

    The Munsters

    Just finished Herman and Grandpa Munster. Full review will be coming shortly. Fun kits and project.
  8. Here's a new and better video to follow up my original turning plastic in to wood. I hope you find it useful. http://youtu.be/k4I1SHJSveU
  9. The UMM scriber is the one I highly recommend as well.
  10. 99% of the problems I've ever had with an airbrush are at the nozzle. Large squirts may be due to moisture in the line that builds up and then comes flying out of the nozzle. I always use a water separator. The other part is that either your air cap/nozzle isn't on tight enough causing back pressure, or your seal is bad as you asked. That's what's causing you to get back pressure and bubbles. A bit of bee's wax around the nozzle threads will help too. Here's a link to a tutorial I did about airbrush maintainence if it helps you. Any other questions feel free to ask or send me a message. http://forum.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/topic/11946-cleaning-and-maintaining-an-airbrush/
  11. You can try Purple Power too. It's a generic all-purpose cleaner/degreaser that I've also used for regular kits. I've never tried it on resin before.
  12. I've never used or owned one, but the guy that runs the airbrush forum I am on just bought one and he's making little poseable multi=piece figures. Kind of like Lego's.
  13. I'm of the school Mark is and wash all of my kits - plastic or resin - in luke warm water with Dawn dish soap. I've never had a problem.
  14. I would be very intrigued to see one in person. They have some cool subjects, but the kit prices are unreal. Of course they pump out new kits all the time, so paying for those moulds is a pretty penny.
  15. Thanks guys and you are welcome. If you have airbrush questions, I'll be happy to answer and help out. If you have ideas for an airbrush topic you'd want me to do, send them my way and I'll do what I can. Or if you want to private message me, with questions I'm open to that as well. Dick - you very likely will not find the Createx Restorer at a hobby store. Maybe a Hobby Lobby if you are lucky. If not a good art store that sells Createx should have it or if you look at Chicago Airbrush Supply that's where I get most of my products from.
  16. Dick - I do custom airbrush painting on the side (much of the reason I haven't had time and been modeling the last year). I use everything from water based acrylics to heavy duty urethanes. A quick rinse, or leaving a couple drops of reducer in the brush cup, is OK for leaving the brush overnight to use the next day. But the routine I generally follow is to remove the needle and nozzle assembly, then give a thorough cleaning of those components and remove paint residue. I use either the small airbrush cleaning sets on a ring available at Harbor Freight or Menards, and/or a pipe cleaner is a very versatile tool as well. I've read where people will put their entire airbrush in an ultra sonic cleaner and that's bad as it gets water where it shouldn't be and greatly affects airbrush performance and swells seals until they dry out. Breaking the airbrush down to its individual components is the only way to go when your airbrush is really gunked up and needs a thorough cleaning. The Createx Airbrush Restorer is a fantastic product and will strip caked on and hardened acrylics with a good soaking. Even when the airbrush looked clean, I was still getting paint and residue out of my airbrush. I highly recommend it.
  17. After soaking the parts for a 1/2 hour, I used a Dentech brush to clean the nozzle. The evidence clearly shows that though it may have looked clean, it definitely was not. Next up - new seals replacement. The seals creat a solid air pressure which allows your brush to run smoothly and precisely as it should. Lubrication begins. Take a drop of oil and just wipe the needle from the front 1/3rd to the tip. This reduces friction at the nozzle and potential for worn and cracked nozzle cones. It also helps keep the paint from sticking to the needle. Also add a drop to the needle chuck assembly so it slides in and out of each other smoothly. IF you so choose a bit of lubricant on the trigger assembly doesn't hurt either. Lastly, assemble your airbrush and test for leaks etc. Your airbrush should run like new now and the trigger should moved smoothly as well. I can now spray smooth dagger strokes without issue again. 90% of the problems I have encountered with my airbrushes are at the front end nozzle section. A quick way to figure out if you have a leak is to turn on the airbrush and mist a little Windex on the nozzle. Bubbles means an air leak and bad seal and bad performance. If you are getting bubbles in the paint cup, you have a nozzle blockage forcing the air back in to your airbrush and not letting air and paint through.
  18. Here it is - an airbrush maintainence tutorial. A lot of people neglect the fact that their airbrush is a precision tool and does need to be maintained. Furthermore, many do not know that all airbrushes are not created equal. Though the general principal is the same, many do not know that the seals in their airbrush are not solvent resistant. This means that running solvent-based paints (lacquers etc.) through your airbrush shrinks, twists, dries out, and essentially dissolves the components that keep your airbrush running smoothly. In the following steps I'll go through what I do to keep my airbrushes in new working order. Step 1 - Tools you need - Createx Airbrush Restorer, lacquer thinner, lubricant (Iwata, Badger, and other companies all have a version I use Professor Bubba's mineral oil), cosmetic applicator brushes (I like these due to the flat broad end and the pointed tip work great for airbrush cleaning), Dentech floss brushes, a bit of 0000 steel wool, a set of nylon paint gun brushes or pipe cleaner, containers for the parts to bath/rinse, paper towels, and small tools as necessary - refer to your airbrush's manual. Step 2 - disassembly. I've broken my 'brush down to it's bare components which are the needle cap, nozzle, needle cone, body, air valve, needle, needle packing seal, trigger, needle chuck, and handle As you can see in the picture the needle packing seal at the back has paint on the outside. This should not happen. The seal's become distorted and air pressure is forcing paint back to the rear portion of the needle. Step 3 I create a bath with the Createx Airbrush Restorer and distilled water for rinsing. 30 minutes to 2 hours for the airbrush to soak. The restorer will do its thing and loosen water based acrylic paints. I've made sure that all seals are out of the brush as the restorer will also swell up and damage seals. While those parts soak, I take a bit of lacquer thinner and clean off the needle. Be careful as to not croche hook the needle as it's not cheap to replace. After cleaning I give it a couple swipes with the steel wool. I also pull the bad seals out of the brush. Comparing new to old. The old seals on the left have endured many hours of acrylic, lacquer and urethane paints. They are solvent resistent but not solvent proof. Research your airbrush and it should tell you if you can spray solvents through it or not. The picture shows the needle packing seal is shriveled and about half the size it should be. The other seal is from the nozzle cone and, it too, is narrower in size and slightly ridged on one side. Bad air pressure means bad performance.
  19. MikeH

    The Invisible Man

    Thanks Gil. The paints on the clothing are Tamiya and I didn't put a dull coat on anything. Everything was airbrushed. The rug is brush-painted and washed & highlighted. I do custom airbrush painting on the side (the big reason I haven't been building much the last year) and that combined with modeling makes me think about how to create textures and fool the eye to make something look right. I also do Warhammer 40k figure painting which is a completely different style of model painting all together. If you ever have a moment look up Golden Demon or Crystal Brush painting winners and you'll be blown away. I use some of these techniques as well on my projects.
  20. I finally got this one all put together. It feels good to finish a build again.
  21. For scale purposes, the green plate on the side of the guns is the size of a quarter. Overall the piece is 6 5/8" x4" tall
  22. Thank you. Yes, everything on this piece has been hand-painted without decals. The only thing I did was use my vinyl plotter to create 80 little skull stencils which I did on the left side, then reverse transferred each mask to mirror the right side for a base to start. Each skull has been high and low-lighted for detail with color variations. The reaper was laid out the same as a green blob which I then kept layering colors on top to create the full image. I had one guy ask me if I had hydro-dipped the sides. I wish it was that easy and I'll take it as a compliment! :)
  23. I finally got this labor of love wrapped up and ready to return to my customer. 3 1/2 months all total and a mixture of brush and airbrush painting, Tamiya, Citadel, and oil paints, and almost the kitchen sink thrown at it too. I'm very happy that I was able to pull this off and hope the customer will appreciate it as well. The original piece was done by a Russian gentleman who won a Golden Demon award. I was given his as a reference and told to do something like this. LOL
  24. Here's the completed build of the Aoshima v-twin custom wild chopper. A full review forth-coming in the reviews section.
  25. My customer was kind enough to email me completed assembled pictures of the commissioned piece I did for him. This one was a resin Forge World piece that has a ton of small detail in it despite the 4" stance. The other pictures are of the figure in=progress and the molten lava looking base the customer requested. The piece was airbrushed with a base green, then the rest brush painted with color, high and low-lights, and washes to bring out the little details.
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