Decoman

I have seen two kinds of tools for bending photo etched parts. One looks like some flat thingy with various shapes used for bending stuff, the other being special pliers where a part is bend against a flat surface. I tried to buy special pliers today, but someone had bought the last one. I have found the other weird looking tool on the internet, but it seem even more expensive than the special pliers.

0) Allow paint to fully dry, might take 6-12 hours or more. 1) Always wash your hands before touching a model for building it or painting it 2) Try not to paint the entire model in one sitting, else it will be difficult to both hold it comfortably, or hold it at all without touching the painted surface. 3) Try to be concious about what one is doing, so that one does not inadvertendly place ones fingers on a newly painted surface. Optional 4) Always keep the model one is building away from dust, by storing it in the box it came in if possible. 5) Alternatively, take care to remove any and all dust that have settled on the model since the last visit. The dust will probably not be visible, but will show up when the paint is brushed on in my experience. 6) I like to keep my newly painted models stored inside the box it came with, placing the top lid on the bottom one and rotating it so that you get more room inside and allowing for some air to exit. 7) Never scratch your face/skin during modeling/painting, else the fingers become greasy and will leave some kind of mark on the model.

The instruction for using the Humbrol Decal Fix seem unclear to me and I hope someone can clarify how one is to properly use this product. Also, does one wet the decal with this Decal Fix solution instead of water? Is it ok to soak up excessive fluid with a piece of paper towel? Is it ok to press on the decal with a piece of paper towel or is it supposed to shrink by itself like the Microset/-sol bottle that I have been reading about?

I have been lazy with the decal work here. Looking forward to start on a 1/48 Sea Harrier kit soon. Update: Wow, the Airfix A05101 1:48 BAE Sea Harrier FRS.1 kit was less charming. I regret buying it. I thought the detailing would be better in this scale. I knew this was an older kit but expected it to be better somehow.

Thank you, I have now found what I was looking for. I guess you did not want to favour any vendor in particular.

I sent an email to flex-i-file.com earlier and had asked if they ship orders over to Europe from Canada, but I still have not gotten any reply as far as I can tell. I tried making an order, but I found no information about international orders in the order form or elsewhere on their website. Does anyone know if flex-i-file.com ship their stuff over to European countries?

I just want to add to this that the Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero kit (A01005) is very nice. Building it right now. New tooling I think. I like how the canopy seem thinner somehow and how all the parts just fit nicely.

Wow. Q: Wow did OP weather the individual screws/nails on the fuselage? I am presuming that the screws/nails were made of plastic and not simply painted on.

Maybe you could slip some leftover etched metal part, that you bend and glue to the canopy and fuselage? A static hinge thingy of sorts.

Thanks. I guess I will have to investigate further, but the possibility of finding such tools at the local pharmacy(?) or the beauty salon sounds interesting. I am a little conflicted about making my local kit shop start selling such items, because I am tempted to simply buy a lot of stuff off Flex-i-file in Canada. I sent them an inquiry about shipping earlier today, because it seemed to me as if they might not ship outside Canada/USA. I noticed they sell strips of sanding paper as well, for use with the aluminium handle thingy they also sell. A tool suitable for sanding down rounded shapes.

I have been trying to get my local plastic kit shop to start selling sanding sticks, but I think they need some help and I am not sure where to buy such sanding sticks in larger quantities. The sanding sticks I am used to, are from "Flex-i-file/flex-pad" of varying roughness. They even have a special sanding stick with three different grades for finishing the look of the sanded surface and I like this one alot. Any idea where these sticks can be imported from?

I guess a realistic square grass field would look really nice to this model, if building parts of an airfield is too laborious or problematic.

*drool* Very nice! I would make some kind of diorama for it, to just have the various parts in the diorama resonating between themselves, as if it all was an interesting painting of sorts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/24/...E85N05O20120624 ("Wreckage of downed Turkish jet found in Syrian waters: TV")

When I read such news in an already problematic context, I start speculating if such jet's can be flown on remote control. If such a speculation would make any good sense in the grand scope of things, I wouldn't know.

I would try painting a whole kit with using some scrap plastic kit lying around. I intend to once I can bring myself to get started.

I am amazed at how the ocean wakes seem to have been modeled so perfectly. Inspiring!

Looks great. I wonder, were any of the "decals" airbrushed?

Thank you! I see that they are for 1:72 and 1:48 scale aircraft. Some models are specified there which seems really nice. I found a decal sheet on that website for 1:144, so I suspect that might perhaps fit for the uboat kit I started to model the second time around.

It has been a long time since I fiddled with plastic kits and when I was young there was no issue of having the notorious swastika on a plastic kit. When I modeled the Type VII sub I had no issue with the swastika whited out on the flag, because the flag decal was not important on that model, but with the ww2 plastic kits, seeing how the swastika is being removed on Revell kits, it all now has started to become annoying. So, I have to buy decals sheets but I wonder what would be the best approach. Seems to me, that it would be a good idea to buy decals that are of varying size, else one would (as I imagine it) risk any swastika decal to be either too big or too small on any particular model. I guess there are no real standard with regard to size on German aircraft from that period.

I have always had the general impression that all Soviet/Russian aircraft were ugly to a great extent. Perhaps experts in aircraft design could change my mind about this prejudice.

Although I was not happy with painting with Humbrol 27002, the two models I made look fantastic in my display case and I very much so would like to paint more models with a metal-like finish. Already have: Grumman Duck P-51 Mustang Other interesting models I can think of: P-38 Lightning P-47 Thunderbolt Tu-95 Bear B-29 Superfortress Any tips for other aircraft?

I want to simply ask the simple question: is is possible to recreate flat'ish canopy parts with thin plastic? After modeling the Revell UH-1N helicopter in 1:48 scale, I wish the transparent canopy parts was thinner and it would not surprise me if there was a way to recreate the parts (by some easy, effortless and non-complex method). I imagine that it could perhaps be possible to use some kind of mallable transparent plastic or equilvalent to knead the plastic into shape on the less rounded pieces. I had in mind some of something simple, like using your hands to press the surface into shape.

The article has a funny line which I am not sure how to interpret: "Look out for the type that have a smooth rather than a serrated holding surface. " (about tweezers) I have found out that my tweezer is no good, because the grip surface is smooth (labeled "Tamiya ** Craft Tools"), so holding a tiny part firmly is difficult and the small part is easily flung halfway across the room to never be seen again if the part slip from the tweezer's grip. So did the author want people to use serrated tweezers or not? I couldn't tell. Else I guess I can imagine that a serrated tweezer might perhaps scratch the surface, not sure what to believe because I have not used such a tweezer myself.

I found a photo etched parts guide and I thought it might be interesting to others like me, having zero experience in this area of kit modeling. http://www.scalemodelguide.com/guide/const...o-etched-parts/