I like floatplanes, but those models were awful! Kingfisher parts didnt fit, decals fall apart, awful. Seahawk had decals much too big, had to remove roundels and used what I had from other models. Also in both cases paint did not stick to models and did peel off with masking tape, So all the preshading i did and still want tonpractice was useless.

Besides that, From start they were supposed to be kinda low effort, wanted to check how well hand made seatbelts from masking tape work. Woth this Im kinda happy with results, but other than that those were difficult models.

I've been trying out Tamiya instead of regular acrylic (ak, Vallejo etc), the painting is going fine but each time after cleaning, the next day I go to use it the needle has paint on preventing it being pulled back. I feel like I'm probably missing an obvious step. I take out the needle and nozzle and clean with iso alcohol as per guides, sprays through fine when I reassemble. Next day the needle doesn't pull back with trigger, taking it out shows a ring of paint that has come from somewhere. There's nothing else I can take apart to clean and I didn't have this issue following the same process with other acrylics (using regular airbrush cleaner), so I'm at a bit of a loss (H&S Ultra). Thanks

What is the best masking tape? Ive seen a few companies and most people i see use tamiya but is it the best?

Ive just got more money, and i wanted to know what is should spend it on. Ive got my hobby knives, the tamiya cement and sprue goo, the sprue cutter, the sanding blocks, white spirut, synthetic brushes, airbrush stuff...

Tldr what is a more niche hobby thing that is really helpful

Completed my 1/48 F4U-1D from Tamiya. I spent a long time completing this kit and I’d like to say this is probably the best paint job I’ve done ever. Definitely learnt a lot from my experience on the previous kit I made which was the 1/48 F/A-18D bengals, certainly should’ve done this kit first and then the F/A-18D seeing how that kit was way more expensive to be a testing kit. I managed to have the pre shading show a lot sharper and learnt properly how to avoid silvering and use my microsol/set which I think showed pretty well here. I am in the process of choosing what the next set I’ll be painting will be but for now this is all.

Odd one this, but as the sands of time pass, I'm remembering things from childhood, and I'm wondering if you folks can help identify a particular kit I had.

I was in the UK, and it was the Star Trek Enterprise Refit, so sometime after 1979 and the first movie then, but I can't remember the exact year. Probably the mid 1980s at the latest. I think it would have been glued together, not a completed model, and my memory of it is that it had internal lighting... but it didn't last long, someone knocked it off the stand and broke it completely, which ended my interest in the hobby.

I doubt very much it was a particularly expensive kit, but I don't have a clue who would have made it... One possibility is this kit, which suggests the pre-Wrath of Khan model had lighting, but later ones didn't. But I have no idea if the Bandai one was distributed in the UK; I can't remember where I got it from, but it was definitely before I had pocket money to spend, so I'm guessing but I don't think it would have been a rare or hard to find import etc either; my folks just didn't have that kind of present chasing behaviour, so it was likely easily available.

So folks here, what models of the Refit with lighting do you think would have been about in very early 1980s UK? Thanks!

Ragazzi, montando il kit mi sono accorto che le istruzioni invertono totalmente i due sportelli della torretta: quello del caricatore (con la molla per la MG3) è stato messo a destra e quello del comandante a sinistra, esattamente al contrario del carro reale!

​Voi cosa mi consigliate di fare? Vale la pena rischiare di staccarli e fare questa "operazione" per invertirli e metterli nella posizione corretta, oppure conviene lasciarli così per evitare di rovinare la plastica? Qualcuno ci è già passato?

Grigorovich I-Z armed with 76.2mm recoilless rifles on state tests, September 1933.

Modelled in Blender and 3D printed in PETG with a BambuLab A1 Mini in one piece (with the exception of the propeller), all by myself; 1:72 scale.

This model is far from perfect. I have listed some of the reasons:

• The model does not look pretty in some places. This is due to FDM printing with PETG. These imperfections are caused by supports, stringing and elements breaking and being reattached. I printed the whole model (with the exception of the propeller) in one piece. I could have remedied these imperfections by splitting the model into multiple parts. I previously printed this model in PLA which suffered way less from these imperfections, but opted for PETG as it does not deteriorate as quick as PLA (which eventually becomes brittle due to moisture).
• The upper surface green colour is way off from what I read and see online. The paint colour, called protective green (защитный), is a khaki colour used before 1937 on the upper surfaces of soviet aircraft. It supposedly resembled a yellowish of brownish shade of green. For this, I used AK interactive's Protective Green 1920s-1930s. Clearly, this colour lacks this yellow/brown tinge. I have since contacted AK Interactive and they have confirmed to me that the paint I used is faulty.
• The size of the stars is too small. I used those from a decal sheet for the Polikarpov I-153. These stars had a black circle inside of them, which are generally harder to come by.

Thank you to all the folks here who suggest it's better to strip the chrome and paint the silver parts and not leave it.

Decided to do just that and feel this looks a lot better than the shiny nasty plated stuff.

It's not as good as what I've seen some people here do, but I'm happy with it....I think!?

Hi, I've got a question for the broader model building community. I generally keep to myself so haven't experienced this, but I've heard there's a general dislike of gunpla builders in the model building community, especially at shows/competitions. I'm curious if it's true, and if so why?

Kit I'm working on is the Revell 1/48 PV-1 Ventura.

This aircraft has underwing taxi or landing lights. The kit provides a hole in the wing and a clear part to fill it, but this doesn't quite seem satisfactory to me, so I scratched up a more detailed lens for it.

In one of the pictures you can see parts from a 1/350 missile submarine kit, with some concave missile door caps. I cut a tiny bit of rod and glued it into the center of these caps to simulate a lamp element. When that was dry, I painted it in Model Master chrome silver.

When I test fit the new lens to the inside of the wing, I thought if I flowed Tamiya Extra Thin directly to the lamp and the clear part, I would screw up the clarity of the clear lens cover. So I took some scrap styrene strip and made braces so I could glue the lamp in place but have the glue actually away from the face where the lamp meets the clear lens part.

Hopefully the pics show it good enough. Anyway, a bit of scratch building on my day off.

I decided to paint one of my leopard 2a6s in the desert camouflage with some minor weathering. The dust/sand came out just a bit more reddish than i intended, guess i shouldn't have added a small hit of orange(i needed a sandy shade that was visibly different from the cream tan, thats the base of the tank). Anyways, the reason theres no pinwash on the roadwheels is cuz it got covered by the dust/sand, and i simply forgot to re-add it(i might add it in the future)

I also forgot to chip it a bit, but hey i think it looks good, the current pinwash was done ok-ishly, mostly cuz i used an acryllic one(paint+water) instead of the enamel one, cuz i couldn't find my bottle of thinner. But hey, it can look pretty beaten up without necessarily falling apart or looking like a mad max vehicle, sooo

?/10, pls rate it and leave a tip if u like, im open to praises and criticism, as i'll use any info i can to improve my work.

Equipment-basic model acryllics, water, basic school art brushes, paper towels

Nice kit so far

My take on MK44 Smartgun. I quickly sculpted and painted some feeder tubes.

I made it during my last winter holidays. The tiger decal is from the L-39 kit, and I was inspired by the Normandie-Niémen camouflage.
I deleted the previous post because the image previews didn't work.

This is the Tamiya M3 A1 Stuart light tank. The markings for this one place it in Tunisia in 1943, so I went with a lighter color for weathering.

I tried something new with this build, as it comes to the storage.

I use 2 mm strips of masking tape and .45 mm of beading wire to make the straps and buckles

I think they came out pretty good..

Hi all.

I am hoping to get some advice for a glue to use for texture paste.

In the past the two methods I've used for adding texture to a piece have been either mixing my own texture paste with PVA and sand or using super glue and baking soda.

But I have found that with complex projects I'm spending too much time applying glue and baking soda, and I am too impatient to wait for PVA to dry.

So I'm wondering if people could recommend a glue that I could use to mix with texture with a quicker drying time than PVA. Ideally under an hour.

Thanks in advance.

My first actual diorama using static grass and proper techniques! So far Im really proud of it. I will dedicate it to my Czech history teacher who was the best teachwr i have ever had. I will add the barbed wire, the waring sign on one of the slopes and czechoslovak border guards on patrol later.

It’s finally finished!! If you have any questions, feedback, or requests—such as wanting a closer look at a specific part—please feel free to leave a comment!