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  1. Littlemarten

    thinning tamiya bottle paints for airbrushing

    I've been advocating this for years, even wrote an article including the procedure for FSM, decades ago. This is exactly the testing that paint manufacturers do to determine the long term shelf stability of their paints, though they do it with more care and precision.
  2. Littlemarten

    thinning tamiya bottle paints for airbrushing

    If the Vallejo flow improver works, it works. If you want to check compatibility, mix up some paint using your ratios and put it in a glass bottle with an air-tight tight lid. Let it sit for several weeks, then examine the paint. If it's a gummy or chunky mess, or it looks grainy with gentle...
  3. Littlemarten

    Trumpeter 1/48 Cessna A-37B Dragonfly

    Aves is USA, so shipping would be way too high, especially if you are happy with the products you have now.
  4. Littlemarten

    Trumpeter 1/48 Cessna A-37B Dragonfly

    Well, I was involuntarily retired at 55. "You can get retired any time." So planning for a long retirement is a good idea. And if you die before the money runs out, your heirs will thank you.:D
  5. Littlemarten

    Trumpeter 1/48 Cessna A-37B Dragonfly

    How long you will live is something you will hopefully never know until you die. Worrying about when you are going to die is a great way to make it happen sooner. As a very good doctor once said to me: "You can die any time." That scares some people, but to them I say: "You can choose to live in...
  6. Littlemarten

    Trumpeter 1/48 Cessna A-37B Dragonfly

    Believe it or not, I've never used Milliput. Aves makes a variety of materials, of which Apoxy-Sculpt is only one. From what Jakko says, it may be superior. Use their Safety Solvent for cleaning and keeping it from sticking to tools. Aves.
  7. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    The only place I've used Quinta Studios 3D decals is in the cockpit, where they appeared to adhere quite well—but there's no masking to be done. I have a suggestion: repaint over the exposed primer. Paint the rivets on the decal sheet the exterior color. Reapply the rivets with the kit decals...
  8. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    I hate to say it at this point, but in some of those pictures, the rivets look out of scale—too big. I just spent half an hour browsing pictures of Va's, trying to find those showing the underside of the tail. Not many, but in what I could find, I saw no visible rivets at all. Maybe it would be...
  9. Littlemarten

    Using a Food Dehydrator to cure paint quicker

    Gentle airflow is good, especially for the impatient who don't want to wait until the paint is "dry to touch" to begin forced curing. Too much airflow will get dust on the surface. Ninety-five percent of the time, I put the freshly painted part or model in an unsealed sheet-cake container once...
  10. Littlemarten

    1/35 Bell 47D better know as the M*A*S*H copter

    Speaking as a geologist, I'd say your groundwork is pretty good. :cool:
  11. Littlemarten

    B-25

    I never use tape of any kind when gluing parts together. I use clamps instead, well away from any seam I'm working on. When the clamps can't work, I've been known to sit there and hold the parts together until the plastic rehardens. (One of the reasons my builds are glacially slow.)
  12. Littlemarten

    Tamiya 1/48 P-51B Mustang

    Looks good! Is Tamiya now including pilot figures? It's been awhile since I built a Tamiya kit.
  13. Littlemarten

    "Reinforcing" small delicate parts that are partially broken

    I prefer to always use a hand-held tool for the small bits. You can make one out of a pin vise, they are also available online.
  14. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    Yeah, I know you just dropped the "t," but sometimes this phrase is all too accurate! :D
  15. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    I've used the technique to sculpt broken off fingers and other details on 1/48 scale figures. It's actually like an acetylene welding technique. For things that have to be precise (rivets), practice and experimentation with different applicators is a good idea.
  16. Littlemarten

    "Reinforcing" small delicate parts that are partially broken

    When you get the replacement part, replace the thin shaft with hypodermic tubing. Well, I just found out they no longer sell to private individuals. Anyone know of another source of hypodermic tubing?
  17. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    Why not just CA? Apply accelerator to the model surface, then apply tiny drops of medium viscosity CA to the surface with a fine point.
  18. Littlemarten

    Using a Food Dehydrator to cure paint quicker

    NOT a dumb question! It depends a lot on what your lowest oven temperature is, what paints you are using, and how much you trust your oven to hold a set temperature. It's also wasteful of energy because you are heating a large space with a few small things in it. I would not use this technique...
  19. Littlemarten

    Trumpeter 1/48 Cessna A-37B Dragonfly

    That's a sweet Tweet!
  20. Littlemarten

    Kotare 1/32 Spitfire Va as flown by Douglas Bader

    I have found that if you remove the raised lines, you can cut recessed lines to replace them and it doesn't look bad at all. I've used the rivet decals, too, and they work. The only problem is removing the raised lines to the point they meet another raised line, so the transition isn't as obvious.
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