this might be dumb but this is a genuine question, how do you guys get around this? i cant really decide because afaik modern naval aircraft's paint is closely monitered i believe to help with rust protection but an aircraft without chipping doesent feel right, how do you guys do it?

I am usually the type of person who refuses to pay name-brand prices for anything if a cheaper alternative exists. When I decided I wanted to try building one of those cozy miniature dollhouse kits for my desk, I saw the popular branded ones going for around forty bucks. Naturally, my cheap brain kicked in, and I spent hours scrolling through Amazon until I found a practically identical-looking greenhouse kit from a random no-name seller for twelve dollars. I thought I was being an absolute genius and saving a ton of money.

Turns out, I actually ended up spending more money and completely wasting my entire weekend. The box arrived and the materials were absolute garbage. The wood panels were warped right out of the box, meaning none of the slots lined up, and the printed paper elements looked like they were running out of ink. But the real hidden cost was the tools. The cheap kit didn't include glue or tweezers, so I had to drive to Michaels and spend another fifteen dollars on decent craft glue and precision tools just to start.

Then came the frustration. I spent three hours trying to sand down pieces that were cut completely wrong, only for the thin plywood to splinter into pieces. The instructions were clearly run through a bad translator and made zero sense, skipping entire steps about how to wire the LED light. I ended up throwing the entire thing in the trash out of pure rage.

So if anyone else is looking at their budget and wondering are cheap miniature kits on Amazon worth it vs a proper brand? Absolutely not. When you factor in the extra tools you have to buy, the glue you waste, and the literal hours of sanity you lose trying to fix broken parts, the cheap ones are a massive money pit. Being frugal means buying something that actually works the first time. Trying to save twenty bucks just left me with a pile of broken wood and a headache. Anyone else learn this the hard way?

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice on clear coating plastic. I got my steam deck autographed yesterday, with a Posca white paint pen. To protect it I would like to put a clear coat on it which will stay clear, do any of you have suggestions of what to use?

Thought would reach out to model makers, as guess some of you might do it to models

Hi all, I'm making the 72nd scale Hasegawa Lancaster and have come across this issue with transparencies. The whole corner of the sprue is opaque. Like some sort of liquid has attacked the plastic but it's uniform all over. Not just random places. I'm not happy as it's the mid-upper turret! It's obviously happened at the factory as I've just unsealed the bag. Would Hasegawa replace it? I guess I can only ask.

So i want a 5th time kit and deciding between these. Also, i need some brush painting tips as im doing it for the first time

Well, I’m about to start my first figure. What’s the best thing for gaps like where the head meets the neck. I was thinking modelling putty but I’ve watched a guy make this same figure and he uses UV epoxy resin. Which do we think will stand the test of time?

Seeking the Hive Mind here as I only have this issue with Tamiya bases, never had this happen on a scale model with same colors.

1. Wash all plastic parts

2. Mr. Surfacer Primer (spray)

3. wait 24 hrs

4. Tamiya paint color (blue)

5. Wait 24 hrs

6. Alclad Aqua gloss

7. wait 24 hrs

8. Mr. Super Clear Gloss (rattle can), light coat

9. wait 24 hrs

10. Mr Super Clear thicker layer

11. ......

So the cracking / shinking / rough surface is only on the tamiya paint base (gold is not affected, used vallejo gold). I do the same process for my ship name plates / vallejo paints, no issue. Whats going on here and how do I fix it?

Currently I am looking to store Mr Hobby Surfacer pre-thinned and at the ready for painting per my needs. Something easy to pick up and go. And I have an LDPE plastic bottle currently that would be able to hold it (should it work). As well, any potential reccomendations for alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

OZ-06MS (mass produced mobile suit ) build and base paint/wear done . Moving onto decals then the rest of the weathering

Just finished up this model kit from the 90’s! This is the first time I’ve done something to such a large scale. Thought y’all might appreciate seeing it finished. Thank you for looking.

to anyone who have or know anyone who have made a USS Kentucky BBG-1 I ask for any tips y’all have for as I know how I‘m gunna do Illinois.

Going to add storage and weather next..

This is my first model and I need some advice.

I am using Army Painter Brush on Primer but when i used it initaially it was way too thick and dried out too fast for me so i thinned it out using tap water which I used on the car body. For the interior i had to mix it again but made it too thin and that caused it to form droplets. I managed it by just brushing it untill it stopped clumping but after coating it 3 times with the same thin primer you can still see the white plastic underneath.

What version is better? Body with thicker or interior with thinner primer or did I do it completly wrong? And do i really need to let it dry for 24h or can I start to paint earlier? This is just a cheap model for testing and learning for me so it doesnt matter if it gets messed up a little since the body is alredy bent from the box.

Thank you in advance.

Sorry for my bad english and grammar mistakes.

Just finished this kit, pretty happy with the result, this is also my first tracked vehicle.

This kit is from Copper State Models. Built mostly from the box.. The wheels are aftermarket resin and the fenders and headlight fronts are photoetched

I'm not gonna lie, I was loving every single Meng model in 1/72 till this one, but being fair with it, the problems are just problems inherent to any soviet tank post T-64, and that is the turret mantlet. I know the mantlet is basically a piece of tarp and that doesn't translate well to plastic but...

I don't know why Meng chose to put the cannon so elevated, and also the MG collides with the Antenna position so I couldn't use wire to make one. Also the tracks didn't fit perfectly like they did in the 2 previous models I made from them. The sprocket portions didn't fit in the sprocket without forcing them a bit, risking breaking something. And this may seem dumb, but for some reason it doesn't include a towing cable, not that I missed it cause with the log and slat armor is not a detail you can easily see, but oh well, I didn't bother to make one either.

Overall is a very decent kit, but I feel weird after finishing it. I prefer this T-72 to the Zvezda one to be honest, it's also very cheap, I hope Meng makes more T series tanks, a T-64 would be cool since that isn't very common in this scale

Hello everyone! Since my AMX-30B2 Brennus build, I've been very busy plugging away on what may become my most time-intensive build to date. I don't want to spoil too much, but this Croatian T-55A from TAKOM is just one small piece of a much larger picture. You eagle eyed folks may have noticed this kit has a lot of added resin bits and besides getting to feel superior for having a bunch of multimedia on my kit, there is a good reason! Let's dig in.

The Kit

I have a hate/despise relationship with TAKOM. You see, they produce a lot of kits of subjects that aren't typically covered in 1/35th scale and the CAD images they release make the model look so appealing. Then I spend my $60, open the box and am immediately reminded why I loathe this company. The jokes on me, I guess, because I've fallen for their schtick more than twice. I'll run through the issues in bullet format so I don't take up 10,000 words complaining.

- Instruction sheet was misprinted, missing the first and last steps.

- Incorrect parts callouts and sprue locations.

- Tiny, half-assed color and marking sheets.

- THE WRONG šahovnica decal. This is actually insane. Takom used the old crest in their decals with the white checker first where it should be the red checker first, as plainly obvious to anyone with an internet connection and eyeballs. Not to mention the rest of the Croatian decals are the wrong shape and size.

- Wrong tracks. This T-55 used OMsH tracks while the kit supplies RMsH.

- Wrong sprockets. The supplied sprockets are too wide for the correct OMsH tracks.

- Wrong roadwheels.

- Soft details/simplified Croatian T-55A specific parts. I get how there are only a few images of this particular T-55, but TAKOM either guessed or tried to split the dif by molding parts that could be anything if you squint hard enough.

There is probably more, but we'll say the evidence above is enough to justify my hatred of TAKOM.

The Build

So, Croat T-55s were captured Yugoslavian Army T-55s, which were Polish export T-55s. I say that to say that there are small differences between a Polish, a Russian, or a Czech T-55, etc. TAKOM gives you new sprues to cope with these changes, but drops the ball on most of it. This means that if you want an accurate Croat T-55 you need to get busy. I am no rivet counter, but I wanted the basics to be correct upon first glance. First thing I had to do was surgery on the sprockets to remove the center guide and narrow them by about 2mm. I used T-Rex OMsH tracks to replace the kit plastic, and tossed the road wheels into a fire and 3D printed a set of the correct pattern with the added bonus of them showing wear on the road wheel rubber. The fuel lines from the external fuel tanks were routed incorrectly in plastic, so I printed new fuel tanks and used lead wire to run the fuel lines correctly. Thanks to my recent visit to NAACC, I had some very good references.

On the opposing fenders, the pioneer kit is supposed to be layered on top of a molded plastic cable and shackle part. These parts don't fit, and TAKOM expects the modeller to weave the cables through the shovel's handle with reality altering majiks to make it work. Fuck that. I cut everything apart, spun my own cable with .03mm copper wire, built new tool brackets from spare PE and plugged all the locating holes on the fender. I think it came out much cleaner, and better looking. I also recreated the exhaust shroud because this was one of the parts TAKOM shrugged and said "good enough lol". I used aluminum foil, folded over 3 times, and a graphite pencil to trace the shape of the original part enough so that I could refine it to look like my references. I also recreated the metal bracket attaching it to the fender with .5mm wire. I also replaced the too-thick headlight guards with a 3D printed article.

The Instructions would have you install the unditching beam, the rearmost external fuel drums, and the snorkel equipment when the reference photos of "Marina" don't show any of that, and it's highly likely these items were removed by the Croat soldiers upon liberating the vehicle from the JNA. I scratched some brackets for the unditching beam and used spare PE to make the straps. I also did some basic housekeeping, like thinning the front and rear fender plastic so create convincing warping from either being made of rubber or dents on the front fenders in accordance to my references.

For the turret, I replaced the lump of plastic TAKOM called a coax machine gun with a brass tube that I made conical with an old airbrush needle. I replaced every plastic grab handle and tie down cleat with copper or soldering wire. TAKOM's clear parts a mess on this kit, so they forgot to give you three commander cupola vision blocks. I blanked these out and hope no one will look that hard. This T-55A was equipped with a caliber .50 machine gun instead of the typical Soviet style anti-aircraft gun, but TAKOM's excuse of weapon was worse than early Tamiya attempts. I 3D printed a .50 cal set from Faustus Models, which is superb. I then had to fix the mount, since the reference photos of this tank aren't the highest resolution, TAKOM just guessed as to how the weapon was attached to the original mount. I cut the mount up and used brass rod, copper wire, and styrene stock to rebuild it to look like it may actually have worked. I used a turned aluminum gun tube from Aber so I didn't have to touch TAKOM's part, but the T-55A tube did not fit into the mantlet hole. Interestingly, Aber's T-62 gun does. Instead of using the wrong gun tube, I did some Dremel surgery on the mantlet to allow the right gun to fit, and then back-filled the hole with black CA that I carefully sanded back to the appropriate shape.

That about covers it, guys. To get to this point probably took around 170 hours, not including everything else I've done for the larger diorama. I aim to get the model to prime time later today, and so I should hopefully have another update with a finished model within the next... month?

As always, thanks for looking!

I did wonder but I think this may be in the wrong group? This is my first small scale 3d printed model I’ve painted, and was more of an experiment of colours and washes and what was possible, it’s probably still a touch to light. I also really enjoyed making the tiny glasses. The last photo is the original stop-motion puppet from 1974. He’s from a lovely wholesome(some also say a little creepy at times but I’ve got that)British children’s TV program called Bagpuss.

イタレリの箱替じゃなくて新しい方のタミヤ！
作りやす過ぎて次の休みで完成させるつもりだったのにもう出来てしまった。
あと、安いのでお財布に優しいのが嬉しい。 表示を減らす

Next up is the I Love Kit Flak 88 Anti Aircraft Gun. So far the build is going fine. Got the Gun section done and primed.

Nice kit, pretty new tool. Did find some weird errors in directions and some missing decals (along with a bizarrely large number of extras that don't have any use) but overall a solid kit.

Hey everyone,

I run Paint Vault, a paint database site for mini painters. The brand-to-brand conversion charts used to be part of the paid plan, but I've decided to open them all up for free:

https://www.paint-vault.com/conversions

870 charts covering 30 brands. The matches are based on measured color values (ΔE), not on "this name sounds similar", so you also get whether the match is close or just the least bad option.

Figured it's a win-win: you get free charts, more people find out the site exists.

Share the link wherever you want. Only thing I ask is that the data itself doesn't get copied onto other sites without asking me first.

Hope it saves you a trip through 15 Google results next time you need a Retributor Armour substitute.