Flat32

Inspirational in many ways. That Flathead on a skid pushed a diorama start button for me. I'll certainly be getting what Tom Geiger suggests as well.

C

Outstanding. I'm going to guess 3D printed.

I want it to look good from a scale two feet in daylight. I don't remember how i did the first one, but it involved black primer. I need to nail down a repeatable process that gets me the result I seek.

Happens to the best. Part of the build process. Pinning the major panels as you set them in permanent position might be wise. Pins allow convenient alignment during the build. https://www.pinterest.com/Truthseeker40/diorama-how-to/?lp=true

Two Canadians in a row. I'm ordering the Spaz Stix pre-prep to try. I won't sell them commercially, but while I'm working on them a few of the experimental prints can be available. What would nice for me is if I could run a contest, like a community build, where the object would be to the best detailing possible. I would simply send four to qualified contestants with the caveat that they return to me one of their best efforts for judging and they keep the rest. Of course I get to keep the entry.

I would like to know your hose clamp secrets. Not asking for them though. I'll keep researching the subject. You set the bar with those IMHO.

Which of your two printers performs best for you?

I'm printing my Stromberg carburetors at 10 micron layer height with my Solus DLP printer.

If the nickel plating works I'll print some 1:16 scale and make a pair of earrings for my wife so she'll be more tolerant of my activities. Then maybe a pair of Flathead bare blocks 1:48 scale.

1/87 ?? Had to Google it and am surprised at the detail of those HO models. I struggle with 1:25.

I just did an experiment flattening the end of fairly stiff 0.032" steel wire using pliers, a new pair with nice flat surfaces right down to the pivot joint. Did two squeezes, but annealed the end first in my little butane torch flame before each squeeze. Worked fine. Drilling holes is looking like another project. Need to build the drill press.

Found a website that mentions silvering plastic, Angel Guilding. They have kits for silvering. I already ordered a Caswell Plating kit for electroless nickel plating. Metal plating isn't rocket science. It's chemistry with a little alchemy thrown in. Kind of simple to do once you get through the complexities of gathering the chemicals and supplies and find rational instructions.

Don't know. Silver nitrate is one of the chemicals I ordered though. I want to do it to strengthen my printed resin parts and use it as a primer. Nickel is what I'm focused on because I have some prior knowledge about how it's used in plating plastic. Nickel is much harder than silver and is the go to base for electroforming copper.

There is a stiffer version of foamboard called Gatorboard, Foamboard can also be purchased with plastic coating, pvc I think it is. The common paper faced board can be prepped by sealing it with spray shellac. Zinsser is the brand I use and it comes in white or clear. Two lighter coats instead of one heavy coat, Shellac seals and waterproofs and is good primer. It should prevent warping with subsequent acrylic painting. One could apply the shellac one side at a time if the four corners are pinned down on a flat surface. Once first surface is dry flip it over and pin for the second. Of course this prep would be done before cutting. I have no experience with the plastic coated or Gatorboard.

Edited the topic.

Nope. It's actually it is using a common method of electroless nickel plating. There are a couple steps before the plating dip. I know the steps and basic ingredients, but haven't pinned down the solution mixing formulas. No graphite or other conductive coating is needed. Similar or same as the "strike" coating done on plating grade plastics before electroplating chrome. I want to do it to strengthen my printed resin parts and use it as a primer for my Strombergs. If the pre-dip solutions can be applied selectively by brush It might be possible to do model trim in nickel. There are a couple commercial platers that will plate sla resin, but I think only on an industrial scale. They don't say much about how they do it and certainly won't divulge their solution formulas. All is not lost. There's a video series out of India where the guy is preparing some of these solutions step by step and giving the exact amount of each ingredient. I haven't digested all of it to know which solution he's mixing. Working on it.

This is not a tutorial, yet, but I hope to make it one eventually based on what I see here. I have a language problem slowing the effort. Spoon test

Yeah, I'll agree on the truck color. Makes that Flathead block look naked though.

Caveman here, for me there's no such thing as as a very light dusting of primer. What I need is a surface prep with no pigment that will etch the printed resin, a dip job. Next I need a binder that subsequent coatings will take to, another dip job. Think deposition similar to water spots.Then I can get to the pigmented stuff you describe. I like the metalizer suggestion, have some, never tried, since it's mostly pigment. Can't imagine buffing it on a carb that's smaller than a honeybee though. I don't have any washes, have to buy some. What's the best brand?? I have to get rid of the red resin. Optimal scenario is acceptable detail printed in gray resin on a $300 Anycubic Photon printer with how to detail paint pinned down so that a caveman can do it.

My daughter turned me on to Southpark a few years ago. It was cute then and now it's too disgusting to watch. Too bad. The characters are great. Current scripts are trash. Seems like the "in" thing these days is to test the limits.

I pondered the same question. In my case I thought real wire would look the best and while looking decent enough it didn't look right. Spokes have end attachment points that are difficult to replicate. besides that my wheels are bent spoke Kelsey Hayes type and I wanted that detail. Hand lacing is just as tedious, at least, as lacing up a real 1:1 wheel and the result will be the best. 3D printing can look good, very good, or best depending on printer used. I have no experience with photo etched spokes, but if they could be made in the style I want with nipples I'd give them a look. For real wire that gets painted I'd use insect pins, they are stiff, come in different diameters and have a black enamel coating that should be easier to paint than bare metal wire. All that said, I'm quite happy with my own 3D printed variety. There are guys working on them for sale and if you have a good CAD file of what you want I'm pretty sure one of them would be willing to print it. Shapeways currently can't or doesn't want to print my wheels. That may change, but I don't expect them to be cheap. At any rate, if no CAD file exists for your desired wheel you have to get access to an actual wheel and get all the measurements needed to create A CAD file. A hand drawn sketch that has all dimensions and angles is enough for a CAD guy or even a student CAD guy. The real work is in the metrology of it all. Google it if you don't know what metrology is. Best only comes with best effort in most things.

I had no idea airbrushing could get this fine.

Thanks. I reduced the print number to 8 instead of 12 so no failures. I like printing, haven't figured out painting. Got what I thought was the best Tamiya primer in the spray can and it didn't work like I had hoped. I like the Sharpie pens. What I really would like to see is a 1:25 scale airbrush.

If you want to see if there's dust in your painting area go in there at night, with a laser pointer, move around as you would while working, turn off the lights and see what the laser beam finds.