More Supplies

I bought a bunch of stuff over the last two weeks and am starting to experiment with them. Here's the Aves Apoxie Sculpt, which comes in two containers instead of a tube like the 5 minute epoxy putty. It also has a working time of 1-3 hours instead of 5 minutes and comes in various colors - I got white to match the tone of resin.


The safety solvent lets you smooth and feather this stuff out nicely. It also seems to work with regular epoxy putty, but there is a finer difference in the putty grain with Apoxie Sculpt. I think this stuff will work out really nice, was actually cheaper than the tube stuff by weight, 1 pound for $12, and it supposedly can be frozen to extend the shelf life.

I also got this 5 second gel resin to try out. Originally intended for use on fingernails to smooth out the surface before painting, you brush it on and it fills pin holes ready to be sanded in 5 seconds. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. I'll have to see if it really does on the next kit, it was pretty expensive too, so it'd better work!

And last, a new nozzle for my G44 airbrush, which had started to feel like I was fighting it to get a fine mist. I knew nozzles and needles would wear eventually and need replacement, but since I'm still fairly new to this, I didn't know how to tell when it needed replacing. Well, I think when you feel like you are fighting with your airbrush after having just cleaned all the parts, it needs replacement. ^^;; Comparing the two nozzles under a loupe, it's easy to tell the opening has grown larger on the old nozzle (it's trumpeted) due to perhaps excessive force cleaning it or just regular wear. After replacing it, it's like night and day and back to being a joy to use. Best part - it was just $4 for a new nozzle. ^^

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Push-molds

So, I've been experimenting with push molds made out of sculpey after that horrible failure using InstaMold. Having limited success, I've gotten to the point I can now cast some decent shapes I can actually use:


This is another try at making a pinky style head, this time using a push mold. As the mold isn't flexible, there can't be any undercuts to the object being cast and it turns out, it's really hard to remove an object from the mold. I've tried dusting with baking powder and using cooking spray as some forms of release, both which sort of work, but have their issues.

What seems to work best so far is simply boiling it. After pushing the sculpey into the mold, boil the whole thing for 10 minutes and the cast will partially cure. Once cooled, it actually had dislodged itself from the mold and was easily removed without deforming. The surface texture isn't so great though, but that might be because I used Sculpey III and not the super smooth kind. In any case, it should be easy to fix, like a resin part. The hardest thing is kneading the sculpey into a consistent mixture with no air bubbles or folds. If these are left in the cast, it has a tendency to crack when curing.

Anyway, I had an idea when browsing the pinky mods, so I'm planning to use this as the start for that project.

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Dust Control

Morning coffee with biscotti, Mmm... Thought I would share something that worked out really well for me. I've been doing my sanding and cleanup by wet sanding with sandpaper and needle files because I like the control and it doesn't get resin dust everywhere. But with my last kit, this was going too slow, so I decided to break out the dremel with a flex attachment and a vari-speed foot controller. I bought these a while ago, but only used them once because resin dust got everywhere. I looked around the house to find a solution for this problem and found a large plastic biscotti jar from Costco.


The opening of the jar is about 4" in diameter, which is perfect for placing a hand in with enough room to move a flex tool around. I cut the bottom clean off which gives a large opening for even the biggest parts and enough room to move around inside. Since the jar is clear all around, there isn't an issue with visibility and you can still see all around the part while working on it.


It's still hard to clean up detail areas with the dremel, but for knocking down seams and removing excess resin, it goes very fast. Still wear a respirator while sanding though, as some dust will escape and don't want to be breathing that stuff in!

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Mold-making

I gave away all but one of the moyashimon and have been thinking about learning to cast again. I bought this stuff called InstaMold at Michaels and experimented with it a little.


Don't let the "just add water" and "E" for easy fool you, this stuff does not work as advertised. I mixed the "strong" ratio which was supposed to set in 3 minutes and after 10 hours the mold still had not set. So far, absolute failure.

It is interesting to note that this stuff is endothermic. After 10 hours, it was still wet, but very cold to the touch and the surrounding air noticeably cooler. Perhaps hot water is needed to start a reaction, but cold tap water just didn't work at all. A quick google suggests this stuff is junk.

So now I'm thinking it might actually be easier to make a push mold out of sculpey itself. At least I know I can push an object into soft sculpey and bake it, so long as it doesn't have any undercuts (which none of these do) and the object can be removed. Not sure how much detail it will retain, but I think it's worth a try this weekend.

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Hobby Supplies

I picked up a bunch of these wood plaques at Michaels when I went to look for something suitable as a base for Satsuki. These were $1 each, roughly 5"x7" in varying shapes, and are made up of 7 wood veneers sandwiched together with beveled edges. It worked great painted, leaving one veneer of wood showing, though the rough surface is still visible after painting. I think something like gesso, then sanded down might give an absolutely smooth surface to get rid of the grain under paint. I also looked at solid wood boards, but it was impossible to find one that wasn't warped. These veneered plaques were cheaper and perfectly flat. I'm going to use the oval one to make a proper base for Yuki.


I also picked up a block of Sculpey III after watching that Plamo scratchbuild video. This stuff is a bit strange to work with though. It starts out hard and crumbly, but after kneading it for a while, it becomes soft and slightly sticky. I played around with a small ball of it and came up with this after 10 minutes, something similar to a Pinky head.


At this point, it was really too soft to continue working with. Any pressure would deform it, so I let it rest hoping it would harden again, which it did overnight. Michaels has one of their rare 25% off entire purchase coupons tomorrow, so I think I'll grab some more stuff.

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Mixing Paint

I mixed a batch of flesh colored paint when I first started building kits and it's lasted through 4 kits. There's still some left, but it's dry and clumpy, so it's time to toss and mix another batch since I'll be needing it soon. Except for specialty colors which can't be mixed, I usually just buy paint in basic "pure" colors (W/K/Y/R/G/B) and mix my own. Here's a flesh tone using just basic colors:


The ratio is a "ballpark" starter that will get you something close depending on the actual paint you use (not all paints use the same pigments or density!). It will be different for everyone, but this is what works for my paint and you must adjust it yourself.

A common rule for mixing paint is that dark colors and denser pigments will overpower. Start with the lightest color in your mix, in this case white. Then add the next lightest color (yellow) and so on. When adding darker/denser colors (reds, blues, blacks), don't add the whole thing at once. Add them in small amounts (even a drop at a time) until fully mixed and then add more only if necessary.

Another rule for mixing paint is that paint dries darker than when wet. Before darkening your mixture, test it out first on a piece of scrap. You may find that it darkens to the color you want when it dries. If you mix a lot of paints into jars, a tip is to the paint a brush stroke of the mixture on the cap. When you come back to it later, you'll know exactly what color is in the jar when dry.

Unless you're a machine, you'll never mix the same color twice. Make sure you mix more than you actually need to use in case you need to repaint or touch up. It's just paint and if you learn to mix with basic colors, it's inexpensive too.

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Out of air

My air compressor died this weekend. It was a Campbell Hausfeld QuietAir 2 gallon compressor (FP2040) that wasn't very quiet to begin with. The pump started making even louder knocking noises about a week ago and taking longer and longer to fill the tank. This morning the tank was empty and wouldn't fill at all.

I disconnected the hose and closed all the valves to see if it would just fill the tank on its own. No needle movement on the guage, not even 1 psi. I took off the compression fitting to the pump and checked the air coming out of the pump. No pressure at all.

So, off came the pump head to take a peek inside. The piston uses a cheap plastic outer sleeve that does not center and wasn't sealing against the cylinder. The cylinder lifts straight out and there were large clumps of metallic dust under the piston, which had been grinding away against it. In other words, it's a piece of junk.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I'm mad because I bought this compressor instead of some cheaper ones as it was supposed to be quiet and my experience with it hasn't been good. It wasn't quiet (louder than a vacuum, but tolerable since it wasn't on all the time) and it turned out to be junk. I didn't expect it to last forever, but if I average two hours of duty time per kit, the total duty time of the pump was under 10 hours. Replacing the pump will cost almost as much as a new compressor and I don't think it's worth it.

On the other hand, I'm glad this is broken now so I can get a quieter compressor. The problem is, a lot of people recommended the QuietAir, so one person's "quiet" isn't the same as another. I'd like to find something 50db or less, so I can expand my spraying time into late night. Right now I can't spray after 10pm due to local noise ordinance. Though, hardly anyone lists the db rating for compressors - instead using labels like "quiet", but quiet compared to what?

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Flaking Chrome

After cleaning my G44 airbrush using my ultrasonic cleaner, I noticed some of the chrome around the cup joint is flaking off. Searching about it on the web, it seems that the windex I'm using to break down the acrylic paint is also breaking down the chrome. I understand windex on automotive chrome if plated on acrylic, but plating on metal?


Luckily, this is just cosmetic as there's no chrome on the inside of the airbrush and it still functions perfectly. It's a cheap airbrush anyway and I'm not too concerned since I really do abuse it. However, I will try other cleaners when cleaning my Eclipse as a precaution. I'm not sure if there is a good solvent that can break down acrylic, that won't affect the chrome. The Medea airbrush cleaner that came with the Eclipse does nothing on dried acrylic, it's like expensive soapy water.

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Ultrasonic Cleaning

I just bought an ultrasonic cleaner to clean my airbrushes - disassembled them and put all the parts into the cleaner, filled with water and the manual suggests a few drops of liquid detergent, but I put in a few drops of windex instead to help break down any dried acrylic. I wasn't expecting too much, but they actually came out very clean - and much easier than what I had been doing.

I picked up the ConAir model JC3SB from a local Bed, Bath and Beyond using a $25 Discover reward card and a 20% off coupon that seem to breed in my mailbox. The total came to around $18 out of pocket, so I am quite pleased. I'm not sure if it can be used to clean resin parts too, but I think I will give that a try in the future.


Above: Disassembled dirty Masters G44 in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Below: Reassembled clean Masters G44 on the left, Eclipse HP-BCS on the right and cleaning brushes on top which are still useful for daily cleaning.


Also, here's my home-made spraying booth using a surplus filter fan mounted in a box with exhaust duct. It cost about $30 for the fan with filter and $20 for the wood, duct and reducers. The "hood" is made from an amazon.com shipping box, which I have plenty of, so it is easily replaced.


It's a down draft design, so air flows down with the overspray (taking advantage of gravity), but the vents are mounted facing back so I'm not spraying directly into the filter. Most of the overspray hits the hood and vents and anything left gets sucked into the filter, which is washable and reusable.

It works really well, even at high pressure spraying, though I still wear a respirator just in case. The large binder clip on the right side makes for a cheap airbrush holder when there's paint in the cup.

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Airbrushes and Paints

Someone asked me what kind of airbrush and paint I used, so I thought I would write a post about it.

For paints, I only use non-toxic water-based acrylics, which also do not have any strong odors/fumes. I have used two brands so far - PolyScale floquil and Delta ceramcoat. The PolyScale is good for detail and shading and the Delta is good for base coating (it is an inexpensive craft acrylic found at Walmart or Michaels). I have intermixed them for custom colors with no problems - in fact, I have very few colors of each and just mix the proper color when needed.

For airbrushes, I started with a MAS G44 (ABD-180) found at tcpglobal.com. I think this is a near perfect brush for painting kits of this size. I'm told it is a .2mm clone of the Iwata CMC-plus, but for these kits, you don't really need the pro precision at 6x the cost. On recommendation, I recently bought the Iwata Eclipse as a second brush. A bit more expensive than the G44, the Iwata is clearly a better made instrument - the chrome surface is impeccable versus a few nicks on the G44. That said, I think the G44 actually sprays better for kit building.

I'd been asked how I get the painted surface so smooth on my figures. I don't really have an answer, since I don't really do anything special when painting. However, I've been trying to paint my current kit with the Eclipse, but each time I end up stripping it and going back to the G44. Using the same thinned paint, I will say the G44 atomizes much finer. It takes longer since I have to paint in more layers, but the finished part looks much better to me and in the end that's all that matters.

One nice thing is, I've found the needle cap from the Eclipse will fit the G44, instead of using the crown cap, which makes backflowing possible. It's easier to clean this way, and can also be used to mix the paint, though I usually paint without any cap on - just be extra careful with the tip.

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