RobL

Welcome to Britain. You should try using public transport to get around... For car drivers it's two dirty inconvenient words, for those of us that are stuck using it, well, it's shambolic at best...

Yeah I don't use lacquer thinners in them, not for long at least. Had exactly what happened to you happen once myself, although I left it outside so it wasn't an issue. The shot glass was a shrivelled up melted mess.

I'm currently recycling plastic shot glasses, which I use for mixing paint/thinners, either leaving them to dry, then using them again regardless of what was in them, or giving them a good clean with IPA 99%. Mostly because they seem to be stupidly overpriced online or just not available in my usual places (Tesco) at the moment. Not something I'm willing to go hunting around town centre shops for either...

With all respect, there are dozens of stories about all carriers, don't be fooled into believing all of them though as there are people out there with axes to grind that will post anything online. I'm not standing up for Hermes in any way, but to think they are any worse than any other courier is folly. Royal Mail for example recently left two packages that needed to be signed for on my front path in plain view for anyone to come along and nick. I had a courier, not Hermes or Royal Mail, leave an item inside my back yard's gate in the last few months. No indication to me that they had been and delivered the item, it could have been there for days had I not gone looking for it. But that's just my experiences of Royal Mail, and whoever that other carrier was (I don't recall the name, it wasn't one of the usuals, i.e. not Hermes, RM, Fedex, UPS, DHL etc.), the above is just my anecdotal evidence though (meaning it's not really evidence of anything other than my own experience) - others may find they have no problems with the same carriers. You have to take all these anecdotes, then realise the millions (billions?) of deliveries these companies make, and then draw your own conclusions based on the sheer volume of successful deliveries vs the handful of bad deliveries. Personally I'd rather people didn't send me anything via Royal Mail at the moment, because I know we have some downright ignorant temporary posties on the route I'm on that are afraid of a 6" tall 1" thick makeshift flood defence and a little bit of mud that collected at my front doorstep the last time we had a heavy rain flood the other week prior to putting in the makeshift defences. But then I also know the usual postie is a very good egg and goes out of his way to be helpful...

Not used them recently but I've never had issues with Hermes on the handful of parcels I used them for circa. 2017-2019. Had a recent problem with a lazy Royal Mail post person though... You hear all these anecdotes, but in the grand scheme of things they aren't much. Hermes is no worse or better than any other delivery company out there.

Shake your matte varnish up. I had a similar problem once, because the matting agent had settled towards the bottom. Or, if that's not the issue just keep applying matte varnish.

Hey all I seem to be on a bit of a roll a the moment, seem to be getting figures done quite quickly, and to a half decent standard (for me), for a change (I had until recently some that had sat around for 3 months waiting to be completed!). Here's another, again it's 25mm heroic scale on a 25mm base. This is also from an expansion box set for the Warhammer Quest game from 1995. Thanks as always for looking, C&C welcome.

Very nice. I wouldn't know where to even start on one of those - so many little details. I bet you kept finding details that needed painting different colours even after you thought you had them all.

Not the whole area no, just trim it back so the path isn't obstructed. Most of it looks like lightweight branches and foliage to my untrained ignorant eye.

Hey all Do we have any professional, ex-professional, or even semi competent hobby gardeners here on Britmodeller? I have a bit of a gardening quandary. I am not a gardener and only have rudimentary knowledge of it. However the front garden around it's path needs sorting out. It was my 64 year old mother's hobby (we live in the same house) but for various reasons she has decided she will refuse to maintain either of the house's gardens. As we've had a couple of delivery people mention it (complain), something needs to be done and I appear to be the only person willing to do it. Unfortunately I can't get down on my hands and knees to do stuff due to health issues, but I can use power tools, so I'm wondering if an electric hedge trimmer (£40 from somewhere like Screwfix) would do the job. I don't think an electric chainsaw is needed but they are also about the same price... Thanks all in advance for any advice on this. Here's some photos showing what it's like so that any one reading this can get an idea of what needs doing, sorry for the blur on some of them -

I've never had any staining from Tamiya tape or other masking tapes. Especially if you detack it first. You can also get a rapid dry Gunze Self Levelling Thinner. I believe it has uses for metallics or glosses or something, can't recall which, where it gives a different finish to the normal MLT, i.e. it retains the metallic nature of the paint or retains the gloss effect, I believe MLT turns gloss paint more to the semi-gloss side. One downside I found with MRP is that you can't easily if at all brush paint it, which is handy for touch ups (although somehow I managed to achieve it on my Gulf War Tornado). Don't know about the other lacquer brands. You can brush paint Tamiya XF and Gunze Aqueous.

I wouldn't say there are superior paint ranges, it's whatever works for you, in the climate you are in, and your grasp of the techniques required. I'll second all the options everyone else has mentioned though. But also point out that they're not really much different to Tamiya XF pots or Gunze Aqueous pots thinned with Gunze Self Levelling Thinners (which is a lacquer thinner). They all seem to work pretty much the same. MRP is pre-thinned though so you don't need to thin it yourself, although I found with MRP you have to really lower your air pressure and get up close and personal and almost work panel to panel, instead of spraying a large area as you would with other paints - at least if you don't want it all airborne and paint wasted. Fine control of air pressure and airbrush trigger are the key to using MRP well imho. I've used one Hataka Orange Line paint (NATO Blue), thinned it 60/40-ish with their own thinners, and it was too thin for my liking. Your mileage may vary.

Another figure I finished painting recently (last couple of evenings). This is, like all GW miniatures, 25mm heroic scale and the base is a 25mm one. This is from an expansion box set for the Warhammer Quest game of 1995. Thanks for looking, C&C welcome.

Hey all Finished another figure in my Games Workshop collection today. He's 25mm heroic scale (all GW type figures are), his base is 25mm in diameter (1 inch in old money). Thanks for looking. C&C welcome.

Vallejo Metal Color are also a good option, both for hairy stick use and airbrush, particularly their Duraluminium.

Thanks. Yeah, there's mould lines all over the place. For some reason I tend to not see them during assembly, and then gradually as painting progresses, or when I've taken photos, they become visible to me. Always too late to do anything about them without ruining the paint. You can't see it in the photos (or at least I can't), but one of them still has a small piece of sprue attached on his arm, and there's also nubs all over the place on all 3 where I've not cut flush enough/sanded them off. I don't really wet blend, not by making any conscious effort to do so at least. I used glazes on these. I might have kind of feathered the edges a bit in places where I applied a small amount of glaze for the highlights, but to be honest I was making stuff up as I went along.

Can I mention Tour of Duty, China Beach, and/or Piece of Cake? Vietnam and WWII dramas from the 80s/very early 90s. Also Sharpe? Do it for Sean Bean!

So seeing as most are posting lists here's mine - Star Trek The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. NCIS - although it's gone off in recent seasons, although I'm 3 seasons behind, so maybe it'll get better again. Magnum PI (Tom Selleck version) CSI, all of them, although I couldn't finish NY and Miami, the last season or two are just, not very good. Mythbusters - can't stop rewatching that, so many little bits you don't pick up on, and Kari Byron, hmm... Many others I have watched and would consider "favourites" but don't rewatch regularly, such as Time Team, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Elementary, Babylon 5, Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, MacGyver (not the rehash), X-Files (the original 9 seasons), Cheers and Frasier. I tried the new Star Trek, Discovery, but couldn't get past the first season, it being marketed at the time with a "look, transgender!" agenda being pushed in your face didn't help, and those Klingons, what thee!?! I tried The Expanse, it looked promising, seemed to be to start with a show with a space detective kind of lead character, but that quickly went to pot and devolved into a boring tired old nuclear proliferation allegory/trope by season 3. I gave up on it at that point. Thought it had been cancelled but somehow it's managed to keep going!?! Guess I just don't like most modern sci-fi stuff... Waiting for the Game of Thrones prequel. Just hope there's less sex and nudity than Game of Thrones, all that was, distracting... Moooore battles!

Hey all Just thought I'd share some figures I recently finished painting. Thanks for looking. C&C welcome.

I don't know who "a lot of people" are but the advice I've had from semi-professional airbrush users has never included an ultrasonic cleaner. Misinformed youtubers seem to recommend them though, I think it was one of those trends a few years ago... I do have an ultrasonic cleaner though. Put it away in the shed after a couple of uses because it did very little in the way of cleaning the airbrush I had at the time. I've found that since I started (last year or 2019) storing my airbrushes in a jar of water, filled just so the water covers the colour cup, it keeps the airbrushes from a) drying out and b) in general stops them clogging up. I've had less problems with my airbrushes since, especially as I make sure I've flushed through any remaining paint after use. I used to have to do a tear down before a session, now I just pick them up, flush some water/thinners through, and start painting.

Hobbycraft do paper rolls, 10m long 76cm wide, bigger than A1 - https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/white-poster-display-roll-76cm-x-10m/648510-1000 Had my rolls for about 4 years now. Still in good shape, even the piece I cut off to actually use (which I roll up after use). So I'd say they're durable.

I once looked for a gradated backdrop, and found that any, a size helpful for photographing models, are mahoosive, i.e. meant to be hung behind a person, used by a pro photographer, and/or very expensive. You could use bright green (or any other bright colour) paper roll, and chroma key edit out the colour in Photoshop (or other similar app) and then add the gradient in... Personally I don't bother with a gradated background and just use either black or white paper roll as my backgrounds.

Thanks guys. I guess I won't bother and go seek a new A3 mat. I have a The Works in my local town centre (as far as I know it's still there). All of what you see on that mat is from where I paint miniature figures. I don't use a wet palette all that often (although I probably should), and whatever the mat is made from (rubber?) is a good surface for putting paint on to thin/mix and then apply to a model via a brush. I get the feeling that using anything on top to protect the mat would either a) not be as good a surface for the paint or b) leech through onto the mat anyway and c) the mat lasts longer than anything I'd put down on it and doesn't need replacing as frequently thus saving money.

Hey all I have 2 or three self healing cutting mats. They all look similar to this - Is there a quick way to remove the superglue, paint, etc. and restore the mats back to something cleaner looking? Thanks in advance.