The Scale Modeling Thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I loved building models as a kid/teenager/young adult and have decided to get back into it. As I love battleships, I have begun work on a 1/350 model of HMS Prince of Wales, the King George V class ship that met an unfortunate demise off the coast of Malaya in 1941.

I decided to give this thing a shot without having an airbrush - I figured I’d invest in one if I wanted to stick with this hobby - and already wish I had one because I love this but, yeah, brush painting sucks. Painting is definitely not my strength, which is an obvious drawback because building a model is really not about gluing the parts together. It’s about painting them.

I should have this thing done by Christmas.

Who else builds or used to build models?

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Still do, continuously, since I was 7.

And you need an airbrush. It’s never too late. A simple single-action Badger is sufficient for most work. You’ll need a small compressor. Don’t waste money on propel cans.

3

Used to build 1/72 tanks and planes.
Now miniatures soldiers for war-gaming, both historic and fantasy.

4

Paging @Rocketeer!

I used to have a bunch of car kits. AMT, Monogram, etc. Last one was a '55 Nomad in a box just like this; got through painting in red & cream similar to this then lost interest. Put all the pieces back in the box, where they have remained for nearly two decades.

5

Should I get gravity-fed or the ones with little tanks underneath the airbrush?

6

Depends on how good you are using one. :slight_smile:
I used a single action badger 350 for years.

https://s.yimg.com/aah/yhst-172526971-2/badger-model-350-airbrush-sprayer-2.jpg
It does good for solid colors and simple fades. It basically puts out one paint pattern. If you want to do complex camo, especially dots and lines

you probably would want a double action, where you can control both the amount of paint and size of spray pattern.

There’s a lot of personal choice in airbrushes, that’s why I always recommend simple to start.

7

Oh, boy, I used to be way into models as a kid. My parents subscribed me to the Model of the Month club. Monogram would sent a model every month, alternating between cars and military devices (planes, tanks, trucks, etc). The city I grew up in had an excellent hobby shop so paint and other supplied were always a bike ride away. I got one of those canned propellent airbrushes and never really got it to work properly. I nearly froze my fingers off with a valve mishap, then I nearly choked to death on the noxious gas cloud the mishap created. I was undoubtedly too young to use it without adult guidance. I could see taking it up again in retirement, maybe in 75 years.

My brother got into building buildings from the model railroad side of the store. They were pretty cool. too.

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That’s the same one the monks used to do this, right?

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I used to build all the time. Was in the Model of the Month thing, too. They would send the weirdest shit. A real ugly helocoptor, a tug boat, whatever. Got into the Tamiya F1 car kits as I got older. Started collecting all I could find once I got on ebay. Then I got into the motorcycle kits. Built a few years ago. Now I got about half-million dollars of unbuilt kits on the closet shelf. My hands and eyes ain’t what they used to be, and I’ll never get around to building them. But the boxes all look really cool.

Got 2 of them airbrushes. Haven’t used them in 40 years. Don’t even remember where I got the second one.

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And the air compressor was powered by a bunch of monks turning a wheel as they chant. The technology was lost for hundreds of years after a fire at the abbey.

And it was a double action. Sheesh. You can’t get fine detail like that with a single action.
:slight_smile:

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I recommend you join your local modelling club. The Canadian branch of the International Plastic Modellers Society IPMS Canada has chapters across Canada and puts out a very good magazine for members. You will get all kinds of advice and help from people at the meetings (whenever they resume).

Bookkeeper, IPMS Canada # C1513

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I used to build gliders out of balsa wood. Then I moved on to elastic band power and finally tiny motors.

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Oh man I built lots of models as a kid. Mostly warbirds, but some jets, ships, tanks, and race cars. Monogram, Revell, and Tamiya mostly.

Have fun, RickJay!

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I started building in earnest in fifth grade; car models. I built cars almost exclusively until maybe fifteen years ago, when I suddenly realized that I had no further desire to spend my time polishing paint jobs or wiring engines.
I started building figure kits and fantasy spacecraft, and haven’t looked back. No research necessary, nobody can nitpick your build, totally up to you what you build. I love it.
Lately I’ve been building less complex projects. I built what is probably my magnum opus, a very large & complex fantasy spaceliner, in 2017, and I probably won’t take on a project like that again; it takes an absurd amount of dedication and perseverance to pull off a really big project.

I fumbled along with a simple Badger airbrush for a long time, but a few years ago, I bought a Grex. The Grex is easy to operate: Just pull the trigger, more pull, more paint. I usually use Testors enamels in it, but now Rustoleum owns Testors and is ceasing production of the enamels. I’ve done a very limited amount of airbrushing using acrylics; I had problems with clogging and it was hard to clean the airbrush afterwards. But it looks as though acrylics are the wave of the future, so I’m going to have to develop some expertise.

A very large & complex fantasy spaceliner

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This thread came up when I entered “scale modelling” in search, so, cool!

No idea, at all, what came over me, last Dec. - walked by a hobby store, went in, saw the 1:16 scale Jungle Jim funny car on the shelf, and thought back to my stupid teenage years ('78? '79?) when I attempted it, and barely even got started on it, when, well, who the hell knows what happened to it. (went “poof”!) Prior to that, I did one or two half-assed 1:25 attempts glue-bombs, so, not a great showing.
Fast forward to 45 years later, and I find myself thinking - should I try modelling again? and plunked down the (gulp) $120 for the damned thing, determined to actually do it this time.
Again, not a great showing, but completed! :clap: :clap: :clap: [small] That’s sarcastic applause, btw) [/small]
Got 30+ minutes to waste, of dreary gluebomb analysis? (cross-posted from an earlier thread that I shouldn’t have posted it in - this was the one I should have posted it in)

About two months ago I embarked on no. 2 - Tony Nancy’s Sizzler dragster (again - 1:16 awesomeness). Definitely upped my game on this one - my first attempt at brush and spray painting (not ready yet for airbrushing - also - living in a condo makes that tricky) and crazy decalling with some nutty, personalized modifications on my part. Hence, its name, on the wingtops. :slightly_smiling_face:

If you’re not a facebooker, let me know and I’ll put up some pics. I’m a total noob among these salty old pros, who’ve been very helpful, and probably wondering who this annoying upstart is. I’ve SO TOTALLY gotten the bug now - WAY more than I did when I was a kid. I don’t want to know how much money I’ve blown on supplies these past four months, or on the models, such as what’s coming down the pike!!!

Just opened this box…No way I’ll do as good a job as buddy, here…

oooo 1:12 scale! Ostentatious-looking!

Again - no way will I do as good as this guy…

I should probably curb my spending on all this crazy stuff.
But damn.

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I mainly do sci-fi/fantasy stuff, Warhammer and the like - I post pictures on my Instagram, which is linked in my profile. I’ve thought about doing a historical infantry army, though, one of the regiments mentioned in the Flashman books. These look neat.

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It’s amazing how bad I am at this. But I’m learning.

PROTIP: Use primer if painting something white.

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Learning too.
Can get frustrating at times, but that usually gets eclipsed by the problem-solving aspects of it for surmounting setbacks or obstacles. “Rebounding” (or “recovering”) from what was going to turn out to be an unfavourable result - and then it ends up to be a highlight - is like a little dopamine hit. (maybe carrying it a bit far, but I personally find it quite satisfying) An example would be using the hobby knife and tweezers to recover - from the bottom of a cup of water - a completely curled-up, prized decal, and somehow eventually flatten it out enough to have it land in one flat piece on to the model, and in place. (almost go into surgeon mode!)
By the time of build no. 2 (Sizzler dragster), I had absorbed a ton-load of youtube videos on various types of supplies/hints/showings, especially for my niche of 1:16 scale high performance cars, along with the aformentioned help from the facebook pros,* and used white primer for the yellow and ornage spraypaint and pink primer for the red. I’d use primer, now, for any colour, which, AIUI, seems to be the usual course.

When I mean pros…There was one thread called “Show us your closets”…ridiculous…post after post after post of folks showing their closets filled, from floor to ceiling, plus width - seemingly every cubic inch, with quite often doubles or triplicates (or more!) of the same model. I found it jaw-dropping. I’m like - ok - I’m really out of my league, here, so I was glad the Sizzler has gotten a really warm reception in that group so far.

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Crazy - I entered The Dodge Doug (from the facebook link in above post) in my first modelling contest a month ago, and landed a bronze in my category! YAY!

Build update - on to model #3 - Richard Petty’s '73 Dodge Charger. (1:16 scale)

This has been a much greater challenge than the Dodge Doug, with missing as well as improperly-fitting pieces and sometimes skewed directions (heck, the kit was manufactured in '74). (as was the Dodge Doug, mind you)
Lots of fun toothpick painting, like the five-colour rocker bar underneath the engine’s clear valve cover, or the ignition unit (on floor; right). Or crazy needle painting, on the shift nob, which I could’ve centred better.
Before I install the engine, will work on dash. Looking into setting up a tiny LED lighting system for it - this model came with clear dash guages, so, hoping to capitalize on that.

No way I’m the only one working on builds right now - show what ya got!

[Album] imgur.com
[Album] imgur.com
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Virtual kitbashing is coming to Steam.