Disco58

Les -- I was going to mention those too, and I usually do, but initially I had forgotten about them, and later I remembered then thought I was glad not mentioning them in this particular instance. Mr. Schmitz was looking for paint for cars, and thus would require a high gloss. Those craft paints, while absolutely great for drybrushing this or that, and work well for those of us doing aircraft, armor, etc, might not be so great for model car applications, at least in a general sense where a fine finish is needed. I could be wrong, it happened once, way back B) . Some I have used in the past didn't have the superfine pigments that the tube paints and most conventional model paints have. On the other hand, that quality would be perfect for weathering a car that has seen better days. I have had good results airbrushing the cheap craft paints (like Ceramcoat) thinned with the Liquitex airbrush medium and run through a Paasche VL with a #3 tip, or a Badger 150. When I last used the Ceramcoat paints I lacked the patience to learn whatever nuances there might be to get them tweaked for airbrushing a perfect finish, but they may work as well as any ModelMaster, Tamiya or Polly, who knows? I still lack patience, and I've moved on to large figures and using tube paints, so for me it's a bit of a moot point. Just thought I'd pitch in my 1/50 of a dollar. Like I mentioned in the other post, I'm a tightwad at heart, and I love to experiment ( maybe that's two reasons I've been married/divorced twice?) .

Schmitz my good man, I'm going to throw a real wrench in the works for you. The only solvent-based paint I ever use is primer -- everything else is acrylic, mainly because until recently my work area has been down in the basement in very close proximity to a gas-fired water heater and furnace. Now you might want to sit down for the next one...the acrylics I use are Liquitex BASICS artist's acrylics in a big plastic tube. Before you roll your eyes, snicker sarcastically and say "yea, whatever", think about a couple things; 1.)These are artist's acrylics, formulated for a rather demanding bunch. The colors are very rich and very dense. Even yellow and white have much less of the translucency issues of other paints. 2.) Dollars and cents...a 4oz tube, thinned to the viscosity of normal modeling paint will get you about 20 bottles. That 20 bottles times what, $2.75? is, ummm, cha ching... 3.) As far as thinnning, ok, stick with the same manufacturer, Liquitex, and use the airbrush medium, which is about $8 for an 8oz bottle at Hobby Lobby or Michael's, or try what I'm going to do, and pick up a bottle of "Flow Enhancer" in Winsor & Newton's Galeria line. It's an 8oz bottle for $9, but it's recommended dilution ratio gets you a little over a gallon (another cha-ching). It's specifically formulated for thinning tube acrylics. The Liquitex BASICS line doesn't have every color imaginable, or premixed military colors, but there are about 24 I think, including a few metallics. That in itself should suffice, but then if you think back to what we learned when we were about six that every color in the universe starts with red, blue and yellow, then you really shouldn't have any problems. Panzer Dunkelgrun, Radome Tan and Non-Specular Sea Blue really aren't any harder to mix than orange. They dry flat, so you'll have to throw on a gloss overcoat, Future is as good as any. As far as that goes, thin it with Future and it will give you a rock hard semi-gloss, and take it from there with another coat of Future. I like to save what little money I have, and I like to play with color, so....

Aha, now I get it! But it looks like someone stole the turret and gun off of that one Maybe the Israelis are good at recycling, and that's what they used to make the blade? Hmmm, probably not...alrighty then. No shows in R5 I can make it to unfortunately, at least until Butch O'Hare in November.

Mark-- Whatever's laying around, I'm game. Unless I'm really missing something, converting a Centurion to a Puma definitely begs the questions of how and why. One is Brit, one German, one has treads, the other has wheels, so.... Throw some wheels/tires on a Tiger and you might have a wierd Puma looking kinda thing (which I've considered doing by the way), but beyond that, I'm not so sure. I'd say that's a "what-if" that takes a lot more ambition and imagination than I could muster.

There seems to be a preponderance of tracked vehicles in the inventory. Why? Tanks, tank destroyers and other vehicles of that size I can see, but what about the little stuff like the Kettenkraftrad. What warped mind would design what's almost a motorcycle and put tracks on it?! That baby had to be fun to steer I think! There's another one that looks about like a 1/3 scale Tiger, and only has a machine gun I think, or a 20mm at the most for armament. Some of these remind me of a platypus...just a twisted practical joke that couldn't be taken back.

Mark -- I have a question on the Hoplite, way back at the top there.... The whole front section looks like it has had an accident with a tube of old Testors glue. While I realize this is not the case, what is it? The thought crossed my mind ( a very short trip!) that it could be a liquid masking agent of some kind. Yes/no? If it's a yes, what kind, and then apparently you don't do a Future dip for windshields? Michael Vinson

Looking for a an old Matilda, Chieftan, Char I, or...? I know squat about armor, but I noticed the first two have the armor skirts that come way down on the sides, which is what I want. Yea, I know I could scratch something, but these already have it, and it's obviously supposed to be there. I don't know if I have the talent ot duplicate that "belongs there" look (and I definitely lack the patience to figure it out!). The Char is almost a 'gimme' for bashing into a 40K piece, but they're running about $60, and that's more than I can afford, and about impossible to justify for something that will be a basher. I just need some POS that's been sitting around collecting dust and cobwebs. All I need is the hull, turret (maybe) and tracks. The gun will go bye bye anyway, so... As far as the turret, even if it's pretty well shot, but still has the mounting ring, ok fine. Ronbo, buddy, hook me up.... I have a 1/35 Tamiya Lee that would work so well, but dammitol, it's brand new, and my conscience won't let me.I have some Tigers that would work too I suppose, even a couple Testors/Italeri kits, but it's the same thing---can't sacrifice a squeaky new kit for bashing. It's like turning a virgin out on the streets to be a hooker, ya know?

I used to see a 1:1 Valentine at club meetings on occasion, but it's been awhile...Mikey, where the hell are you?

Ralph -- I wish you luck on the job search, I'm unemployed too. Unlike you, I unfortunately haven't touched an airplane with tools since I left the Navy in '87, not even to build my own, and I've been an EAA member since '93. I thought an avionics job would be fairly easy to snag, but I kept getting asked how much experience I had on Cessnas and Messerschnitzels and Beechcraps and..... Grumman wouldn't even talk to me. So I said screw it, and I've done absolutely nothing even remotely related to aviation since. I've been a welder, truck driver and done building maintenance, but the only airplanes I see are at Oshkosh. So much has changed over the years I wouldn't know where to start troubleshooting now. I was pretty good with Tomcats, but there's not a lot of call for that these days. As far as modeling, I'm not getting any of that done either, and I'm chapter President. My conscience nags at me that I should be devoting 24/7 to looking for a job, fruitless as it may be. Great looking Skyhawk by the way, sorry. I'll always love my Tomcats and Corsairs (F4U type), but there's just something about Skyhawks.

I tried painting canopy framing by hand once, witthout masking, and it was not pretty. Liquid masking is sweet stuff, as it just flows out real nice right up against the framing and stops (assuming you didn't drown it). Let it dry and the second coat goes on as well. As I said in the original post, it's not the application of liquid mask that gives me fits, it's the chemistry. I need to find one that's not hungry for Future (or any acrylic coating), as most are because they are ammonia based. If I didn't dip the canopies I wouldn't have an issue. Seems like another reason to bag aircraft/military kits and go with big resin figures. If I sold off my entire stash I could probably afford a resin figure or two, but the stress relief might be worth it. Anyone have any big resin figures they want to part with?

Ever since that was suggested I've been thinking the same thing.... As I recall, the rubber cement I remember from years gone by (AKA gorilla snot) had a real solvent smell to it, like toluene, MEK or something similar. I wonder though, if the canopy (or whatever) has a coat of Future on it, that could protect the plastic from the solvent? I could definitely see it working on a resin canopy though. I love experiments, so I'd be willing to give it a shot. But, relative to my original question, I really would like to find something that won't eat through Future. I wish I had some old crap can o' peas to experiment with. But unfortunately, that would one more thing to take me away from actual modeling, and that I don't need; I already have too many distractions (thre biggie at the moment is trying to find a job!).

That's what I kinda figured, that it was an art department's attempt to just break up the monotony. Since there's no 'official' reason, we can invent a whole history of it. The thought occurred to me as I'm writing this that maybe there was a mention of it in one of the trips to the past made by one Enterprise crew or another. Remember in ST IV at the plastics factory Mr. Scott was showing the owner/manager about transparent aluminum ("ahh, a keyboard, how quaint"), and the question was raised about showing him the technology, with the answer being, "How do we know he didn't invent the thing?". What if.... Let's say during Georgie LaForgey's trip back in 'First Contact' he happened to make an offhanded comment about it, or even an intentional mentional. He did, after all, inentionally go back to help Zephram(sp?) Cochran with the warp drive. One paradox can just as easily beget another(movie paradodoxes (paradoxem?) are such fun!). "You can't do that, how do we explain it?!" Hahahahahaha, watch me! The sad part about the whole Aztec concept though, is that even with no official explanation, and any history we care to create, apparently there is an 'official' pattern for each ship, and if you want to please the rivet counters it had better be right.

By carefully and slowly applying a liquid mask it will flow up to the raised framing and stop. A small drop applied with a toothpick or small paintbrush will flow out quite a bit. You'll probably have to use a couple coats to ensure adequate coverage though. If you have very steady nerves you can use a new X-acto blade to lightly score around the edges of the 'panes', and this will provide a natural barrier for the liquid. This generally isn't necessary, but there are some vac-formed canopies that have almost no raised framing (you might be better off using precut masks for those if they're available). There are a number of liquid masks out there (Microscale, Liquitex, Ambroid E-Z Mask, Parma Int'l, and Elmer's white glue and rubber cement as mentioned above), and if you're not doing a dip in Future first, you can use any of them successfully. Be advised though, that by virtue of not being able to use them over Future, it also means you can't use them over any other acrylic either. Most are ammonia based, and will act as a stripper for the acrylic (hence the problem with the Future, and how do I know...?). If you paint with acrylics and want to use a liquid mask for something like a camo pattern, go for it, but be sure to lay down a light lacquer coat (liquid masks won't touch it) between colors. Hope that helps.

Is there a point and purpose behind the aztec markings on the ships? Surely it can't be camo of any kind.

I have kits from Star Trek (kits from all except TOS), all the StarWars movies, just getting started with Warhammer(gotta find one of those Valkyries!), one each from Aliens and Independence Day, so to call one of them a favorite would be a misnomer, but Starwars stands in the lead with Warhammer a close second. I like Trek, I grew up with it from the very beginning, but the ships are too clean and smooth, too "pretty". With only a couple exceptions (Voyager in one episode and Enterprise 'B') none had any battle damage, scars, dirt, nothin' that I remember. Again with only a couple exceptions, all the ships from StarWars were beat to hell, or at least heavily weathered and scarred from space debris, or whatever. They just seem more realistic. It's like putting a Nimitz class carrier next to a cruise ship. The Robotech kits from Revell I'm not even remotely familiar with. What and when were they?

Thanks Ralph, I'll give it a shot. I thought I'd tried Elmer's at one time, but maybe not. The good thing about Elmer's is that it's dirt cheap too! Since it's a little on the runny side I guess I'll need to dab on a section, then hit it with a hair dryer. Time consuming maybe, but nowhere near as tedious as tape and trimming.

One of the reasons my aircraft kits sit, either unfinished, or not even started, is that at some point I'm going to have to mask the canopy (makes me cringe just thinking about it). I suppose I could build them all shot up, then a nice canopy would be a moot point, but.... The biggest issue is that after a swim in the Future pool, my masking choices are automatically limited, or so I assume. I've tried tape of various types (including Tamiya), and my patience goes south rather quickly, particularly with some of the 'greenhouse' types. Trying to fit diecut masks isn't any fun either. The solution least taxing on my eyes and patience seems to be a liquid mask of one type or another, but the liquid masks I've used are all ammonia-based, and aren't Future/acrylic paint friendly. Is there a liquid mask out there that won't attack the Future? I'd like to attack the past to change the future, but that's a whole 'nother thread, and would be OT here.... Michael Vinson IPMS/Quad Cities