Tricks, Tips, Hints, Cheats, Tools, Whatever!!!!

[STUKA]

could the cannon from the GIJoe Slugger be used for anything WWII?

[Morian Miner]

The wonders of toothbrushes:

I have a bunch of those "disposable" electric toothbrushes my wife found on clearance one time. And not being one to throw out perfectly good motors, I have quite a stockpile of them. Previously, I've used one of these to power up my XD P40. Then, last night, I used one to power the main rotor on the BBi baby Hind (very, very easy conversion). Then, she found (again, on clearance) some flashing toothbrushes for my daughter that are to tell the kids how long to keep brushing (keep brushing until the light goes off). It ends up you can tear these apart and have a pretty cool led flasher with circuit once the kid destroys the toothbrush.

[eddie372]

Assuming that we're unable to secure a better pilot figure for the Admiral Toys F-86, say for example, by repainting an F-104 pilot, how would you go about making your own sculpt?

I do have a possible method, but first would like to know what your thoughts are.

eddie372

[newwavepop]

a question.
ive been experamenting with trying to cast some 1:16 model heads for my 1:18 figures and mostly the size isnt a big problem, but a few look a little too big and goofy on the bodies.

so far ive just been using the old paint on in layers latex.

im just curious if there is any technique to just slightly shrink down the latex shell from the head so i can cast the head slightly smaller?

[eddie372]

Newwave, ever heard of the "head- shrinkers" of the Amazon jungle???

Eddie

[newwavepop]

are you saying i should try filling the heads with hot sand?

[aferguson]

so that's how you shrink a head, i've always wondered. I'll have to remember that, in case i start a new hobby.

[Moth]

Did you notice that nothing has been posted for a very very long time after you said that....

lol, just joking

BUT it is true...

I smell headhunters... be on alert everyone...

[Coreyeagle48]

Some tips that I have found worked well.

1). Using custom decals, as we all know, sometimes the color inks for the yellow serials do not show up well on olive drab when using your color printer, well there is a solution to this

What I do is print out the decal on decal paper, then paint in the numbers using whatever color paint, such as white or yellow. Then do the clear sealer/clear coat over your decal, let it set for 24 hours, then dip in water. The paint will not come off and you can use the clear decal instead of frustratingly try to cut out numbers that are small from white decal paper.

2). I have found that those very small craft beads that kids use for projects work very well for the little port and starboard lights on airplanes, especially 1/32 scale birds. They may not be perfect but if you want a real cheap way to do it, that's easy to do.

3). I have found that to do very little touchups or maybe paint really little circle designes, a mechanical pencil is awesome. I simply dip the tip of the pencil in my paint, and touchup the small detail. It is a great tool to use to work on a very small area. This is how I did the little black areas on my B-25 around the wheels.

4). If a model is back heavy or not balanced for you, use some nuts and bolts and some simply play doh or model magice and hide weight in it. This will work well. You can also use play doh or model magic or even poster puddy to hold down small items on dioramas and not have them go anywhere. This is great if you recycle your diorama details such as fuel drums, ammo bunkers, etc.

5.) Want to get a decal off something, try the Avon product skin so soft. I have had very good luck using this to get decals off old toys for customs. Word of advice though, do not use on newly painted model paint or on a decal you just put on. It will take your paint off. After you use it you will have to clean the model as skin so soft leaves a very soapy oily type substance on the model.

6.) Keep your models while being worked on out of the reach of pets! Sounds funny but if you have a curious cat, your propellors off your model may be gone when you wake up in the morning. LOL

[kevrut]

I'm posting pics of what I use to hang my planes. This first pic is the stuff I use. You can get it all at WM. The swivel ceiling hook (#1795) is really handy. You can point your plane in any direction without taking it down off of the ceiling. I also use wall anchors (#3006). You don't have to drill as big of a hole in the ceiling as you would with the built-in screw that the swivel hook has. I take a large paper clip (#72580) and cut it into 3 equal pieces. I bend a hook on one end and a loop to tie string to on the other. I use Trilene 17 LB. fishing line. (#XTVS17-15) Each plane hangs from 3 points. I tie a paperclip hook to each end of a piece of string for starters. The hooks can hook to any opening on the bottom of the plane. I use the gap in the wheel wells. It's best to loop the ceiling hook twice with the string when hanging it. This will allow you to control the roll of the plane in its pose. I pose them all with a certain degree of banking so I can see more of it. The third paper clip hook just goes straight from the tail section up to the ceiling hook. I hope this helps.

The base stays on the ceiling. You can take the hook off of the base without taking the string off of the plane. (Risking dropping it.)

You can trade places with any planes in just a few seconds.

I've only had to use one hook with any one fighter plane.

It holds all of the big ones. Nine months and still hanging in there.

[chunks]

Great idea with the hooks for hanging. Earlier it was posted a way to find 1/18 animals, has anyone found horses or other draft animals and harnesses?

Regards

[KAMIKAZE]

I have a cool little trick I just used to make my own Chinese pattern Mig-15.

1. Mask of the cockpit, insignia, and any details not to be painted with (blue) removable painters tape. Trim edges with exacto knife.

2. Spray entire plane with Walmart Camo tan paint.

3. Here's the cool part. Use silly-putty to make irregular worms all over the upper half of the aircraft. It will dry in about 15 minutes. Then paint the entire plane with testors medium green paint. Let dry. Then remove the Silly-Putty. This will look aproximately like the S2 Mig coming later this year.

4. Paint underside a light blue color.
Silly-Putty goes in the bag for the next project.

Note: It takes about 6 double packs of Silly-Putty to do this job but the result was incredible.

Mark

[VMF115]

I have found out that one can use different types electric guitar wire for many uses, i.e. fuel lines. Other wire can probably be used for hydraulics lines also.

[p51]

Bumping this up since it was thought to be lost.

[pickelhaube]

Here is the easiest was to apply zimmermit . Forget about the solder irons and the quick epoxy. Use tile mastic !! Thats right. You need to use multi purpose mastic. The paint on the model is arylic. Mastic is an arylic. The mastic can go on with a small notch trowl ,saw tooth , screw driver what have you. It will scim over in about 1/2 hour. It is water clean up. It is goof proof. If you do not like what you have done just wipe it off and start over. Let it dry over night and you are good to go. 2 days drying time will be better. YOU NEED TO USE ACRYLIC PAINT TO PAINT OVER IT. NO OILS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[STUKA]

good info - do you have pictures of something completed with tile-mastic?

what about the metal Tigers, PZ IVs etc? probably wont work...

[pickelhaube]

I have stuck tile to steel with mastic and that was about 15 years ago and have not have a call back to fix anything. I am going to have to get one of you guys to hold my hand so I can post some pictures. I have to ask my son how to turn the digital camera on. I just don't get it . If you slighty sand the surface the mastic will stick even better. The mastic is like spreading magerine it will stick to almost everything. It is hard to get out of your clothes. The dried mastic does not get hard or brittle it has a little give. That is why arylic paint will work . Oils and enamels get brittle and will crack. But tamiya paint and the like works fine with no problem

[MIGMADMAVIS]

What I do the weather models, for anyone who wants to know, I just use a small dab of Acrylic black paint, and I rub it on the Spots I need weathered, and once you have done that you your finger, or a paper towl, and stroke backwards to give it a streak look, and also you can get the paint in the crevices or the panel lines, and then just wipe off the surface its as easy as that and another thing I do is I take dirt, and pile it on the airplane, something some of you might not want to do, and then I just shake all the excess dirt off, and leaves a fine line of dust which makes it look really cool, Ill post some Pictures later of some finished products for anyone who is interested, and just remember not to over do it, cause sometimes it does look bad if it is too weathered <a href="http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/25 ... pNRh"><img src="http://inlinethumb24.webshots.com/1687/ ... 500Q85.jpg" alt="bf-109 f"></a>

[VMF115]

How to fix the How to fix the gray tires
on the 21st century P-51 D Mustang.
You know what I just took my wheels of my p-51 RR and painted them black,,,,,,Its sooooooooooo easy.

I used Acrylic Flat Black and just Brushed them on. they look good

If you have the precision small screwdriver set “you know the really small ones, you take the smallest flat head, wiggle it under the metal tab, it should come out a little bit then using a small pair of pliers pull it out.

The tail wheel is just as easy.

[Jay]

Adding to what VMF115 said. You could then dry brush the tire with a dark grey to bring out the highlights of the tread pattern and add some artificial dimension to the tire.

[VMF115]

For those that have the FW190 Dora pilot you know the butt ugly one, well if your tired of looking at him you can shave his face off with a hobby knife and replace the face with another 1:18 figure.

Here is what I did; sorry I don’t have a digital camera

I removed the face off of the BBI f-18 pilot “I have a few extras” then I super glued the face on to the head of the FW-190 pilot

I had to crave out some of the plastic behind the face and light sand, to get a good fit
It took me about 45 min to do.

[newwavepop]

does anyone know a good online site to buy basic tstors acrylic model paints?

im trying to find that kind of mustard color that hitler used on his uniforms.

[1958Zelda]

www.squadron.com should work.