Hawkeye's Hobbies

http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2011/12/17/b...veaway-contest/

The question is where will you store these larger containers? We pay for packaging convenience in just about every aspect of our life...food and hobby paints. The hundred or so bottles of paint I have on hand take up a great deal of space, can't imagine storing pint or quart tins of the stuff. Yeah if I were spraying a lot of paint each day, having a larger container would be more economical, but not necessarily practical if I weren't. As a paint mfr I know that the costs go up with the smaller the containers used to package it. Before long as gov'ts around the world increase regulations, especially labeling regs, you'll have a gallon sized container because the label will require that sort of size to include all of the mandatory information it must contain. Either that or a container of similar size with an internal volume of what you are already purchasing now...kind of like those exotic perfumes that come in big bottles that only hold a fraction of an ounce. LOL

A micro razor saw and a saw like that from Zona do have their place and uses at the bench. There is one technique and tool which most never consider and find very useful once they discover it. THREAD! Ordinary cotton and or cotton/polyester sewing thread. Great for quickly removing casing blocks from resin bits. Great way to cut curves on a scale model such as removing hatches and windows. Best of all its cheap and readily available. http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2008/07/19/h...cutting-curves/ http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2010/01/12/h...rves-addendium/

You might take a look at the NEW 9180ET Pro PE Scissors I designed for Xuron. I designed these with an ergonomic handle with jaws that allow precision cuts to remove the smallest of parts from a tightly packed fret without distortion or damage. You'll get consistent cutting from tip to back of the jaw which allows one to trim evenly...even minute amounts of material to shave down the part for better fitting. These also make great decal scissors for those ultra fine placards and instrument decals.

Sad fact is as I have learned from my UK customers, it is cheaper for them to order direct from me than it is to walk across the street to a local hobby retailer to purchase them. Unless they are significantly being discounted. My sales to the UK continues to increase as do my products being shipped from Sprue Brothers.

I've always been of the belief that you work from the skin color outwards. NMF first then the color...this allows for better representation of scuffing and scratching to replicate wear on the paint that reveals the metal underneath. In larger scales it becomes most obvious when someone dabs a little silver over the color to weather in paint wear and tear. I've been wanting to do Hunter for some time. Scored an original release of the 1:32 kit lat a local store for its original price! I only wish they had more of them I would have taken all they had. Some time ago I was able to pickup the KMC resin seat at a club raffle. It has been in my stash and I dug it out just the other night as I was working on the kit. Now I think I need to find the TD complete cockpit set as well as an instrument panel decal if there is one. EAA's AirVenture Museum is going to be unveiling a scale model exhibit in late March. I am loaning several of my kits for the year long exhibit, including this Hunter I am currently working on to have ready in time. I was thinking of doing it in the markings of the one they have in their collection, which was part of the Combat Jets Museum collection. This aircraft flew at several of the AirVenture (Oshkosh) when it and the other pieces of the collection were donated to EAA. The late "Hoot" Gibson had to give it or flying the Space Shuttle...he took the latter. Sadly this wonderful aircraft sits outdoors and rots with the rest of the Combat Jets collection. Either that or one with markings from the Dutch Air Force which I'd see fly over almost everyday while I lived in the Netherlands back in the late sixties. I need to decide soon. The clock is ticking on this. UPDATE: This aircraft has been sold to an individual almost a year ago. The Foundation is waiting for the new owner to pickup the aircraft (or fly it ) to take it to a restoration facility. The owner is going to start to accrue storage fees if he doesn't remove it soon. I wish they would have just built an additional wing to the museum to display these Cold War aircraft, there was even people willing to raise the capital but the foundation didn't want to hear of it. (

I was stationed at Malmstrom too (8 years) even taught at MANG a couple times each year. Many of the dispersed aircraft never set a tire on home airfields. When I was there it was rare to even see their trainers, the two seat F-106 was fairly common but when they converted to F-16s it stayed down in Arizona most of the time. I remember seeing a picture of that tug in one of the offices at the unit. It was black and white but you could tell it was an odd scheme, but not what color it was. Changing of the "Guard" transition into F-16 ceremony as seen from my house on Gore Hill.

I use Future...aka Klear.

I too have thought about ways to recycle the waste from our hobby but the truth of the matter is it would take a lot of empty sprues to even make a dent. More energy is wasted to haul it to a recycling center than the it saves. Doesn't make sense to spend a dollar and a half in gas to recoup a penny or two. If you are a huge plastic fabrication company that produces tons of scrap each year that would be a different kettle of fish. About the only real possibility is tossing the empty glass paint jars into the recycling bin with those from the kitchen and the boxes with the paper. Oh and don't worry about cleaning those jars out, especially if they are enamel. You spend more carbon doing so than you return to the system. Most of the plastics we consume are not recycled. Until we find a way to make it more cost effective it will continue to be so. Ever wonder why they charge more for goods made from recycled products? Is it a marketing strategy they use because we are willing to pay more for doing something good? Or is it that it does cost more to use recycled materials and the only reason it is being done is to give the public a perception that it makes a difference. Iron and steel seem to be the most economic material to recycle.

If the contents can be shaken to suspend the pigments, it will be fine. Apply straight from the bottle, no thinning is necessary. Should affect your airbrush in any way. Just clean it with lacquer thinner after spraying. Visit this link for more info: http://www.hawkeyeshobbies.com/snj-spray-metal-paints.htm

Easy to use, enamel based. Polishing with the Polishing Powder is optional. Masking tape friendly. Dries in minutes. Of course I am biased.

Gaps usually occur from my experience when the two mating surfaces haven't been prepared and test fitted sufficiently enough. The other reason is that the cement, hopefully you are using liquid solvent type cements, are not being evenly distributed along the seam. I use a razor blade to hold the two surfaces apart while applying the solvent. This way I get good even flow of enough quantity to seal the seam solidly. You just keep sliding the blade along the seam and apply solvent onto the blade where it meets the plastic. If I still have issues that require dressing up I will use some 3M Acryl-Blue glazing putty. This is ultra thin and feathers nicely.

I've posted up a couple installments on this topic in the form of videos. Handy for the beginner as well as the experience as I provide useful tips in each. You can find them by visiting my blog. http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2009/05/07/s...tools-decaling/ http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/2009/05/09/s...decaling-pt-ii/

I've made a little progress on my TSR-2 Project.

Funny you should mention visibility, I too had that same thought. In fact I was considering vac forming some new canopies to replace the hatch style ones found in the kit. I have a project in the works for a What-If version that will be getting a NMF as part of a group build and to demonstrate my acrylic NMF paints. The kit will be essentially OOB with the possible additions of a few bits to make is more plausible in the livery of which she'll be dressed. You can follow along at my blog, but I will be posting a few pictures of the progress here too. http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/

Is that a hardpoint attachment or an access to something inside of the wing such as an actuator or accumulator? Where is the corresponding aft point? To me it looks like a jacking point. I could see the plausibility of external tanks for long range patrol or long ferry flights to other locales. That and a outboard "light" pylon to hold a single Air to Air missile such as a Sidewinder. Then the Brits loved mounting things above the wing too.

After watching video footage of the test flights I am of the opinion that the flight characteristics of the TSR-2 are a bit dicey at low speeds. The high AOA during takeoff and landing coupled with the elevator being at full deflection tells me that it needed all of its thrust to muscle its way airborne. Once clean and at altitude she probably performed very well, but in the low altitude, high G, heavy loaded configurations could be potentially catastrophic. Delivering a nuke would be fine...dump and run like hell. But close air in support of the mud grunts doesn't seem practical. I have vision of the the F-104 in the strike role...dicey. What's your thoughts? Was it feasible as a multi role platform or were there promises made that would not be achieved?

Was the TSR-2 capable of carrying external under wing fuel tanks? Any pictures of what they would have looked like? I've got a special project about to get underway and I am considering adding a pair to give it a little added range.

This one is done with SnJ, but you can do the same with the Talon. It will have a bit of a more glossy finish versus the satin of the SnJ. If you don't like the gloss, kill it with a quick over spray of dull clear.

I have one on the bench as well.

Thanks. It is now finished.

Thanks Jesse for sharing this thread with me. Its been a while since I've posted to this forum....so many forums...so little time. The trick with applying Talon is very little air flow and just cracking the paint flow open so it applies evenly. Watch the video on my website. Talon availability in the UK directly from the manufacturer...me. Since it is able to ship via Air Mail it is affordable. Given the amount of customer orders I've filled in the UK and Europe this past summer, there should be a lot of NMF aircraft being finished with it. Of course we know modellers tend to hoard supplies for ever! From that Doped Fabric look to raw aluminum to super polished show plane...Talon! Model courtesy of Bill "Doc Funcke...FSM Review Kit

I picked these up at a local hardware store. They were inexpensive and work well with my vise.

I posted this up to my blog, but I thought you might find it interesting too. It's Burrriffic! Yes the temperatures outside are cold and the winds are howling…Brrrr! But I have a different kind of Bur in mind for todays topic. No not Raymond Burr…aka Ironsides or Perry Mason, but the little tools dentist use to grind at your teeth with. Dental burs are useful for shaping and grinding plastic in our modeling efforts. I use them with my Dremel tool or in some circumstances I’ll roll them between my fingers or even install them into a pin vise. A dentist I know was ‘upgrading’ to newer equipment and finally decided (listened to his hygientist) it was time to clean the tool closet out to free up space. In the process the tools that could not be used with the ‘new’ equipment were going to be disposed…I fortunately got the first call and I scored them all…for free. Some are very very old, many unopened and possibly been around since the first owner of the clinic…maybe 40 years or so? So the next time you visit your dentist…ask: “What’s in your closet?” Who knows maybe you’ll score tools at a great deal too!I