RobL
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Posts posted by RobL
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So, moving on from the Sir Terry of Pratchett reference in the thread title...
For reasons I decided to buy an oldhammer dragon last year. Not done much painting since October '23 (for reasons, health) so I thought I'd start the year with this. It's an ebay rescue of Rakarth on Black Dragon (those into Warhammer Fantasy/The Old World will know). I'm repurposing it for Talisman 3rd edition (a mid 90s Games Workshop board game), hence no rider. I tried to paint it like one of GW's current Age of Sigmar dragons but it didn't quite work out right. It'll do though...
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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6 hours ago, moondrome said:
Definitely a star wars model I want ( since nineteen eighteen something) in my collection. Your model looks very well done and weathered. Is the revell kit good?
I cannot make a judgment other than to say it's a snap fit kit, goes together well, and lacks/has simplified details compared to the studio examples.
Other options I'm aware of are the AMT/MPC/ERTL kit, resin kits (Anigrand?), and toys by Kenner and others, but I've read they all have their faults compared to the studio models (obvious shape differences mostly), plus they're more expensive/rare, and often bigger (even at 1/106 I find Revell's kit to be as big as I'd go).
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I've stuck a fork in this and called it done, finally. Now on show in RFI...
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Kit Manufacturer: Revell.
Scale: 1/106.
Paints used: Archive X and one black and one silver paint (Vallejo).
Clear coats: Windsor and Newton Galeria Satin.
Weathering products - a black clay wash overall.
Aftermarket - Arduino nano and LEDs (plus 2 CR2032 lillypad battery holders, wires and solder).
References - https://modelermagic.com/shuttle-tydirium-studio-model/
So, this was intended to be a quick build over Xmas 2023. At least that was the plan, due to health issues and other things getting in the way that plan went out the window!!
Here's the WIP thread to show some of why it didn't go to plan...
Anyhow I've reached the point where I want to call it done, I could do more weathering but I've had enough...
Photos below, unfortunately I don't have a large enough work area/backdrop to photograph this properly, so these photos aren't the best...
And if a picture speaks a thousand words a video speaks volumes (just took this to test my new turntable and so y'all can see the timing of the nav lights.) It's a bit naff, especially as I moved the tripod down towards the end to show the underside nav lights also...
Made a slight error in placement of the wingtip nav lights, they should be further out, I forgot to account for the "trench" I added! Had to re-solder the wires for one of the battery holders (again), that'll be the third time during progress of this build that I've had to re-solder in awkward areas with short wires and I'm useless at soldering!!
FYI the battery holders are in what was the cockpit, accessible by folding down the "canopy"...
If I were to do this again, I'd use a better power source (probably a 9v battery) to power the Arduino and run all LEDs off it (I ended up putting the engine LEDs on their own power source in this one), and I'd cut the bottom of the hull to make an access panel for the battery (there's loads of room inside), and I'd put a switch somewhere through the underside of the hull so it's external. I'd use better/different COB LED strips because I had a bit of difficulty soldering wires to the one's I used, and I'd make a proper lightbox inside to stop light bleed. I'd also make a larger base, it's comically small, I'd also probably make the rod a bit thicker. I'd also try to route the wires from the wings to the hull better so I could keep the wings foldable.
I can sit and plan these things here at my PC, but when I sit at the "workbench" my mind seems to go blank!
Anyhow now it's done I'm fairly happy with it, just a shame I also have nowhere to display it!
Thanks for looking. C&C welcome.
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RIP
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RIP Carl Weathers. Watched Force 10 from Navarone yesterday, co-starring Mr Weathers. Good movie.
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So, er, just going to resurrect this thread for a moment...
Thanks for all the initial responses.
I've been waking up early morning recently, and I swear I hear the doorbell go. It's usually too early for my mother's carers though, and there's no-one at the door. When I try to go back to sleep I can "hear" noise, like my PC is on, even though it's not, and I "hear" sound like people outside, even though no-one is there.
I suffer with very mild tinnitus anyhow, and around 08:00 to 09:00 we get parents + kids passing by, but none of that explains "hearing" them when they're not there!
Think I'll have to see a GP, it's getting worrying and I'm not easily worried!
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So, like many (I guess ?), I'm a member on various forums.
Just been having, what was basically an argument, intentional I believe by at least one bad faith actor (one of the moderators), on one of those forums and it's left me perplexed...
Basically a discussion started about a big hobby corporation potentially being at a tipping point and going bust, for various reasons, based off a typical "the sky is falling in" youtube video. One reason, put forward strongly as a sole cause is 3d printing proxies of the corps. products - people printing at home and "sticking it to the man".
Now I deal in cold hard facts and evidence. I put forward my point(s) with links to sources as to why 3d printing isn't going to bust such a big corp. They're a multimillion corp, are making £100+ million profit year on year, and ex-staff members from product dev and other middle level management roles have been interviewed and stated that customers who 3d print are not their target demographic so aren't a problem - their target demographic is late teens, who come into the hobby fresh and un-knowledgable, not niche "seasoned" hobbyists. Their CEO says they're in "rude health", financials back him up on that.
Now, other members of that forum are adamant that because they've got a 3d printer and, according to them, it's "plug and play", that soon everyone will be 3d printing and the corp. in question as a result will go bust. No evidence to back that claim, just belief and conjecture. I provided sources who state 3d printing isn't plug and play yet, they dismissed them reiterating their own experiences.
What perplexes me is three things -
People's assumption that their experience is the same as everyone else's - the "it's great for me, it must be great for everyone" mentality.
People's adamant claims based solely on belief and conjecture when facts/evidence completely disagree with them.
Their refusal to acknowledge they are wrong, instead trying to make out those presenting the facts are wrong.
Can anyone give some insight into this?
Thanks.
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On 27/01/2024 at 22:31, stevej60 said:
Hi folks,popped into the lms for paint and as you do perused the kits on offer,my God We modellers have never had it so good with subjects but prices are jaw dropping ,looked at a few examples,Arma 1/48 Hurricane £50,
Trumpy 1/48 Firefly £49, yet HB 1/32 me 109,s £35 and 1/35 storch £35,I know some folk may only build one or two kits a year and spend months on each subject but wow this hobby is
Getting very expensive.
Yeah, everything is getting expensive. Problem is there are too many people who think nothing of dropping, what to you may seem like, significant money on a kit. People keep buying, companies are going to keep pushing the prices up, until they reach a point of no return.
I was surprised to see Airfix's upcoming 1/72 B-24 is relatively reasonably priced (given Hasegawa's prices for a B-24), ditto Airfix's new tool 1/72 Chinook, if they weren't just going to get chucked in my late father's shed (I'm out of room indoors, and short on room in the shed also) I'd be tempted. ICM's 1/48 Blackhawk is equally tempting as it looks like it might be a 160th SOAR bird oob...
I have mostly gone back to doing Games Workshop figures since 2020 (my bread and butter between 1993 and 2005, until I picked up scale modelling again in 2014, having bashed a few kits together in the very early 90s as an early teen), when my health issues aren't getting in the way, and that's equally as expensive at times. Fortunately I don't play their current games, and I have a backlog (pile of shame) of figures to work through.
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11 minutes ago, treker_ed said:
Thanks for the responses, but it would seem that we are going in circles. I do not want to use any mixes, not do I want to buy additional paint that will only be used once, and not be used again for any other projects. I will ask the mods to close the thread.
Unfortunately you're not going to what you want buying additional occasional use paint or mixing. Nature of the hobby I'm afraid. As they're Bandai you could leave them unpainted. If you already have paints that are close to what's been described go with them, your models, no-one will worry about it.
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I'll add my accurate £0.02 to this...
ILM used Floquil enamels.
TIEs were painted Haze Grey. Due to post processing it looked different in A New Hope, grey rather than blue/grey, why and how I don't know.
X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, Falcon etc. were painted Reefer White + Concrete, more to the Reefer White side, over black undercoat.
Any red details (like on X-Wings) were Caboose Red.
Floquil are no longer made however.
I'll second Archive X, I've used them so far on my Lambda shuttle. You can buy direct from them, as Rwa66 said they do sets specifically for most vehicles/fighters/ships. They're even named after the original Floquil names.
Link to Archive X site - https://archivexpaint.com/collections/all-acrylics
Alternative seller in the UK, Element Games - https://elementgames.co.uk/paints-hobby-and-scenery/paints-hobby-and-scenery-by-manufacturer/archive-x
If you're airbrushing you'll probably want their proprietary thinners. I've tried Vallejo thinners and it didn't go well, water just about works OK.
Alternatives are Tamiya or equivalent mixes. Using Tamiya, for TIEs, Haze Grey is Tamiya XF2 + XF82 50/50 mix or TS-32 Haze Grey spray. Base colour for X-wings etc. is Tamiya Deck Tan + White 50/50.
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Started putting the base colour down...
Quick photos -
That's Archive X Reefer White and Concrete mixed 1:1ish.
So far, so good. Revell would have you paint some panels a light grey and a dark grey, but that's going to be too contrasting and it's not how the studio model looks. How the final result looks grey on film I have no idea!
Probably won't take any further photos of this, as they'll spoiler the "final reveal".
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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Spent 4 hours in the stupid hours of Tuesday AM, due to insomnia, filling/gluing spots and putting paint down on this...
I nearly had a disaster as I was sanding the styrene I've got disguising the side seam. I was getting the wings to fold and I sheared one of the LED "hot" wires, leaving a tiny short length on one end!! Luckily I managed to rescue it by soldering a length between the break. Not the easiest solder joint I've ever attempted, especially as I'm a useless noob when it comes to soldering.
Anyhow disaster averted I decided to glue the wings in position to avoid further disaster. All LEDs are still working at time of this post...
Photos of progress below, it's been light-blocked and undercoated all in one go -
That black paint is Archive X's Grimy Black. I found it a little difficult to get working at first. I thought they were "airbrush ready", nope. As they're acrylic I tried thinning them with Vallejo thinners, which didn't really work well, then I finally got reasonable results just using water. Archive X sell their own thinners but as the paint is a water-based acrylic you'd have thought Vallejo's stuff would be sufficient. I didn't try IPA, but it did do a good job of removing overspray from the exhaust ports.
I still need to do a little more light blocking as the engine glow can be seen through gaps where the two rear wing fold cog things are - I should have completely sealed the LED strips in a light box as I originally intended instead of bodging it!! I'm thinking though that I can put some Perfect Plastic Putty into those gaps and then paint those areas black...
Now, I can't get any further at this time. I could swear I bought Archive X's Reefer White, but I cannot for the life of me find it!?!? So, I'll have to buy another. I've ordered one from Element Games, but it's on back-order from Archive X, and Archive X's own site shows it as out of stock. Hmmm. Hopefully it won't be out of stock for long...
So much for an Xmas week build, it's taken me nearly 4 weeks to get this far. Nearly done though.
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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Spent about 3 hours this evening pushing on with this, and it's nearly ready for paint...
Photos of progress -
All wired up and ready to go -
Routed the wing wires through the landing gear bays and put the landing gear doors on -
Battery holder wires routed through to the cockpit section -
Final assembly, showing both battery holders hanging out the front, more on that below -
Final assembly with cockpit section attached, it's a nice easy push on/pull off press fit -
And yes the wings do fold still, although I'm worried doing it too often might affect the wires -
So, I had it all wired up, hull joined and glued and then the LEDs decided to start randomly flashing, including the exhaust LEDs! So I pulled the hull apart, started pulling the wires off the Arduino board, plugging them in, one set of LEDs at a time, wiggling things about to see if I had shorts/loose connections, and I couldn't work out the problem.
So, I decided to wire the exhaust LEDs onto their own power source/circuit. Problem solved. Hurrah!
I joined the hull up, glued the seam, for a second time, and tested the LEDs to make sure they worked...
...and, the exhaust LEDs were fine, but the nav lights were again flashing randomly!!
So, I changed out the battery, and that seems to have fixed the problem, hmmm....
I was hoping to have all LEDs on one circuit, but two will have to do now.
Updated to do list, mostly for my reference -Fill gaps in fin trench
Fill gaps in wing trenches
Glue/fill seam at back of hull sides
Disguise hull seam with styrene strip
Getting close to putting paint on this, if the electrical stuff doesn't start playing up again...
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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So, I spent some more time on this today...
...I spent 3 hours wiring up the 8 COB LED filaments in two groups of 4, only to find they didn't fit well into the space...
...I couldn't unwire them either, so they're a write off!
So I spent another 90 minutes wiring up the 2 COB LED strips I bought, and after a bit of fudging, I have engine glows!
Powered by 2x AA batteries in a battery box, hopefully they'll work just as well connected to the Arduino powered by a cr2032 -
More how it looks to the mk1 eyeball -
I'm going to have to glue the hull halves together as they don't quite fit nicely at the back, might be a result of my fudging, might not be -
The engine glows aren't perfect, there's a couple of dark spots and I somehow creased the styrene diffuser, but after nearly 5 hours faffing around I'm going to run with them.
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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Spent this afternoon at the table pushing on with this.
Photos of today's progress -
Both wings are done, bar a bit of filling/sanding on the trenches I've added. The wires are routed through the cog thingies to roughly centre of each wing ready to go into the hull, they're temporarily taped for neatness -
Lower hull interior, again wires taped to keep them tidy, here you can see the styrene tube I've added to take the 5mm clear rod for the stand, and where I've removed material at the back which would be visible through the exhausts and interfere with the light box, that may still need some fettling -
Hull underside, here you can see the hole for the clear rod. The wires for the wings will go through the holes the landing gear plugs into, I'll cut a notch in the gear doors to help route the wires without squashing them -
Exhausts have been cut out, doesn't matter what I do I can't get them perfect so they'll have to do -
Upper hull with fin push fitted -
Upper hull interior, here you can see where I've routed the wires from the fin, the front bulkhead is installed but not glued -
Cockpit, unfortunately one of the attachment pegs broke off, but that's actually helpful for me -
Test assembly, this is not easy to photograph, the clear rod needs some tape around it to secure it better -
So, still some work to do before paint gets applied to the outside.
To do list, mostly for my reference -
Solder all wires to connections and attach to the Arduino board.
Secure Arduino board inside hull.
Solder wires to battery holder and connect to Arduino board.
Fill gaps in wing and fin trenches.
Attach all 4 gun bits.
At this point I don't know if I'm closing the hull up permanently, i.e. gluing it, or leaving it unglued, either way I'll probably end up disguising the seam with a run of styrene strip...
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.-
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51 minutes ago, bismarck builder said:
hi
these cob filaments are they the things that look like little Florissant light tubes
have you a link to where you got them (evilbay)
i have my pop corn
gary r
Yes.
Here's an ebay link -
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The COB LED filaments I ordered (from a UK ebayer) dropped through the door today, so I had a quick tinker...
It's funny how you can't find something when you want it, then a number of weeks later you find loads...
These COB LED filaments come in longer lengths, can be flexible, and light all around, so for example if you are lighting engine nacelles on a 1/1000 USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit, these are great. I wish I had some when I did my Millennium Falcon!
I connected 2 of them as below, connecting in series didn't seem to work (power to positive > negative to positive on the other LED > negative to ground, right?) -
Connected to the Arduino, powered by cr2032 3v battery, with a 10thou (might be 20thou) styrene sheet laid right on top. Nice smooth glow -
I'm happy with that glow, could be a bit brighter, but it'll do. I have 8 of those COB LED filaments, so I could use 4 per exhaust port, plus they'll be in a light box with light blocking on the outside and silver on the inside. Doesn't need to be much of a box either as we can see the LEDs can go pretty much right up against the styrene.
So, engine lighting looks to be sorted. Just need to finish wiring/detailing the other wing, drill a hole for the stand, drill/grind out the exhausts, replace the removed material with the styrene sheet, solder all the wires up and connect them all to the Arduino, ditto the battery, then I can finish assembly...
...sounds a lot but it's mostly quick tedious stuff...
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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Hey all
Wasn't really sure where to post this...
At some point I'd like to build either a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-24 Liberator, or an Avro Lancaster. I built the Airfix offerings of the first two back in the very early 90s, and the thing I remember the most is the guns all breaking off.
So, that's been putting me off even buying said kit(s), let alone building one - no point in buying something that I'll end up breaking bits off! I know I could buy brass/resin barrels but that'll end up being a tedious drilling exercise and in my experience of brass/resin parts they are no more durable.
So, what do you guys do, especially in small scale such as 1/72 (or even 1/48)?
Thanks in advance, any tips greatly appreciated.
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So, don't you just love it when you have one of those Homer Simpson moments...
...DOH!
Whilst I was waiting for some water to fill our filter jug, I did a quick test of the 5v COB LED strips I've got, see further up for initial test results.
I bought a 4x AA battery holder, which arrived Saturday, so I stuck some batteries in it and connected it to one of the 5v COB LED strips. So at 6 volts it was nice and bright but as with the cr2032 batteries dots were still visible.
Now, I've always planned on using 10thou styrene as the final diffuser, replacing the original plastic on the kit where the exhausts are...
...so, I sat the 10thou styrene sheet I've got over the COB LED strip, and whatayaknow, it was all nice and smoothly lit, no dots!! No photos though, y'all just have take my word for it.
Wish I had tried that when I initially tested. DOH!
The 4x AA battery box is unlikely to fit into the shuttle's hull though, so I'm still no further on with lighting the engines. I could still daisy chain 2x cr2032s together, but then I'd have 3 battery holder boards each with a switch, so far from ideal.
The proper way to do this, would be to use a 9v battery, attached to the Arduino, and suitable resistors on the nav light LEDs, or if I wasn't wanting the power source internalised and as small as possible, I'd attach a USB lead to the Arduino and run it out through the underside of the hull. But I find external power sources ugly, I'm useless at working out which resistors to use and I'm cutting corners here...
I have some COB LED filaments on order that should work at 3v, so hopefully I can run those off the Arduino same as the nav lights...
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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I've largely given up making plans, because my health issues keep getting in the way. My mother needs help after a triple bypass in '22 and due to other health issues, but also this past two years ('22/'23) the summer heat has made me unwell, I recovered somewhat last ('22) autumn/winter but this year I seem to be struggling to recover properly. I planned on building/lighting a Revell Star Wars Imperial Shuttle over the holiday period but that's been delayed due to LEDs not working as I wanted...
I do have a Revell Razor Crest on the way, so LEDs again, but also because I want to do something of a fairly reasonable size in NMF...
I'd like to do a Revell 1/4000 Star Destroyer, but that's an LED project too far I think, and I hate working with fibre optic strand...
And I have a Games Workshop pile of shame I want to get through...
I've run out of shelf space for scale models though, need to buy/put up a shelf when/if I feel capable, but I only realistically have space for 2, maybe 3 shelves, and GW stuff will require some more foam trays/storage boxes...
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Sat at the table this afternoon and did some securing of LEDs and routing of wires...
Some versions of this kit come pre-painted, this 40th anniversary edition doesn't, not even the cockpit glazing or figures, Revell do give a paint guide for what would have been pre-painted though. I'm not sure if that's helpful or not as I may have been able to mask those areas and just put down the base colour...
Photos of today's progress below -
First of two wings, you can see where I'm running the wires, no other option really as the wings are solid, I periodically dropped CA glue to secure the wires in place -
The studio model has a trench running round the wing edges, the MPC kit replicates that detail, Revell clearly couldn't be bothered, so I added my own using thin styrene strip. Needs a little filler and sanding, I'm also not sure how well the guns will fit now, but it disguises the wires at least. I need to finish routing the wires though, not sure where to route them into the hull, yet...-
The tail fin prior to joining, you can see how I've routed the wires -
Tail fin joined, not glued though, there is a gap at the top end of the trench, but that was expected. Whilst Revell represented the trench around the outside edges from the studio model, they tapered it off at the top so it's non-existent along the top edge, which is wrong -
Lights installed in the hull's underside, handily Revell seem to have represented their exact position with hollowed out squares the exact size of an 0805 SMD LED -
Inside view of those lights, showing the wires, this is where all wires will meet and attach to the Arduino nano/power source -
One wing left to do and then I'll solder all the wires up (might need to make some longer) ready to attach to the Arduino.
Then I need to cut the plastic out of the back piece where the engines are, and then I'm nearly ready for final assembly...
The engine light/diffusion still needs to be solved, but I have some parts on the way which I hope will work, along with a couple of Archive X paints. Which means I definitely won't get this finished over the xmas/holiday period as planned!
Build a star wars kit for xmas he says, light it he says, test the lights they'll all work fine he says, should get finished over a few days he says...
Curiously the studio model has what looks like two fluorescent tubes for engine lighting (photo, not mine, taken from a set on Modeler's Miniatures & Magic at the Star Wars Identities tour exhibition) -
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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I'll add my $0.02...
Putting assembly and details aside (that pinnacle would be a scratch built 100% accurate model, I guess)...
Don't forget that you're looking at models that have been photographed/videod and in some cases photoshopped, you're not seeing them in person. The camera doesn't always tell all, and despite commonly held beliefs, it can lie.
A classic example of this is the original trilogy Star Wars filming models, they look superb in the films, but "absolute junk", (not literally and no offence meant to ILM) in person. That's partly down to the way they had to be painted for filming of course.
Plus there's so many different styles of painting a model out there. When you see walkarounds of scale model shows, because we see all these pre-shaded, blackbased, post-shaded, weathered with oils and knows what models photographed on nice backdrops with a trillion suns worth of lighting and £100s of worth of equipment, It always amazes me that models at shows often don't look weathered at all (again, no offence, I got heat for making such an observation in a show thread once!).
Personally I've tried to do as best as I can, but I'm generally a "monkey see monkey do" modeller and have used tutorials and techniques shown by various other people to improve how my model looks, and it's always a bonus if they've built the exact same model....
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So, I couldn't sleep tonight, and I'm still in a procrastination/tinkering mood...
So I sat at the table and tried to check my lighting setup for the Imperial Shuttle (I tried it a couple of weeks ago, but fried all the LEDs, so had to wait on more to arrive)...
Some images -
Battery + holder with switch -
Arduino nano. I'm using dupont connector cables for testing, they'll either get shortened and soldered to the LED cables, or I'll solder the LED cables directly to the pins -
I have a hard time getting my head around diffusion of LEDs to avoid hot spots, and I was going to use flickering blue 3mm LEDs for the engine glow, however I recently came across something that may be a better solution, Chip On Board (COB) LED strip. They're pre-diffused, so that job's done for me, in theory.
I bought two 5v blue one's from Pi Hut. It seems you can also get proper long strips, same as you can SMD LED strips, but I don't need metres of LED strip...
COB LED strip on single 3v battery, it is lit, just doesn't show well on camera -
COB LED strip on dual battery, i.e. 6v -
COB LED strip on usb power supply set at 3v -
COB LED strip on usb power supply set at 6v, that's the brightness I'm looking for -
Not sure it's evident from the images above, but, the COB LED strip works on battery at both 3v and 6v, however it's not very bright and the mk1 eyeball can see dots where the LEDs are. When connected to the USB adjustable power supply at 5-6v they work as intended, no dots, bright and diffused, I think the same was true at 3v, just not as bright. Hmmm...
The Arduino nano doesn't seem to work with a dual battery, 6v, power input, but does work with a 3v power input, i.e. single battery, and the nav light flash timing works nicely at that voltage -
So, I can carry on with the build, I can at least assemble the model to a point and route/hide the nav light wiring, but I think I need to rethink my power supply for the engines, that's going to be the sticking point unless I go back to the originally planned 3mm LEDs (if they're even bright enough at 3v).
Sadly I don't think I'll get this completed this week as planned!!
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.
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Last USS Arizona survivor of Pearl Harbor attack dies
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Posted