Model Building 101 - Display Shelves

My small scale fleet collection all started with my getting Hallmark Ornaments for Christmas presents.  As the years progressed and my collection grew, I decided that I wanted to display those ornaments along with the rest of the collection.  I accomplished this by redesigning some bookcases to allow me to hang up the ornaments.  This worked well because for some of my models, I've installed eye hooks to allow them to be hung as well.  Over the last two years, the size of the collection has exploded.

Bookcases 1-3 = Star Trek Starfleet Ships

Bookcases 4-5 = Star Trek Alien Ship

Bookcase 6 = Space Battleship Yamato Ships

Model Building 101 - Decals

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

As I am writing my review articles, I sometimes come across a challenge that I encountered that first time modelers would benefit from having some advice for.

I have finally started reviewing some kits that I applied some sort of decals to.  I figured we should finally talk about the art of decal placing.  At least in the realm of water slide decals which is the majority of the decals you will encounter.

For the longest time, I shied away from putting decals on my models.  I'll admit it, they intimidated me.  Some of them are tiny and I have big hands.  And yet, some of them are are pretty darned big and if I try to pick them up, they will curl up and make my life miserable.

Eventually though, I could no longer avoid using decals.  I finally built some models that required the use of a decal because my intermediate painting skills would never have been able to accomplish the level of details needed to give the model any sort of good look.

Hornet Class Landing Deck Decals

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 5 - Stands

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

I have been writing a short mini-series of articles to help assist me with some resin kit reviews I'm doing.  I figured that instead of boring my more experienced builders with material that they already know, or repeating the same helpful hints in article after article, it would be far easier to just reference these smaller articles like footnotes in any reviews that require some extra advice.

This is the last article in the series for now and it is more of a Do It Yourself article that covers making stands for your smaller models.

Some resin kits come with a base to make a stand for your ship.  However, I have yet to find a garage kit maker that has supplied a rod that goes with the base.  This is probably because making the rods is a bit time consuming and every modeler has thier own preference on how tall of a stand they may want.

I like my stands to hold the ship about 2 inches of the ground so this method I'm about to show works really well for me.  You could of course modify the length to your liking, but as you will see, you'll go through more of the base materials.  At two inches, I get two rods for each piece I cut.

The first step is trying to locate a source of sturdy rods that In my case, I found that these little guys were my best friend.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 4 - Filling Seams and Imperfections

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

I'm writing this short mini-series of articles to help assist me with some resin kit reviews I'm doing.  I figured that instead of boring my more experienced builders with material that they already know, or repeating the same helpful hints in article after article, it would be far easier to just reference these smaller articles like footnotes in any reviews that require some extra advice.

And so, we come to my fourth article and this one covers filler material.

At the end of my reviews, I have a small disclaimer section and one of the things that is said there is this; "due to the nature of resin casting, not every kit is going to be the same.  Excess resin and air pockets are a part of the game when you get into this sort of model building.  The kit that I got and built may be slightly different than your kit as far as minor quality issues."

There is a reason I say this.  Resin pouring is not an exact science.  Some of the garage kit makers have very expensive equipment to produce higher quality kits than others, however, you will eventually run into minor flaws in you model kits.

This sort of thing is to be expected when you delve into this kind of  model building so you should always be prepared to deal with these minor flaws.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 3 - Glue

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

I decided to write a couple small helpful hint articles to serve as footprint references in my Resin Kit Reviews.  This will save my more experienced readers having to read the same stuff over and over again, yet give my first time readers some extra help and advice when I feel it is necessary to give it.

This next article should be a relatively short one as it involves gluing resin.

My experience is that you can not use your standard modelling cement.  It just does not bond well to the resin like it would to styrene.

My best results have come from using super glue.  And it doesn't even have to be brand name stuff.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 2 - Warped Parts

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Since I've started doing reviews on some resin kits that I've built, I figured it would also be a good idea to give some helpful hints and tips for those of you who are new to building this unique form of models.  I can then refer back to these articles without re-quoting the same text over and over again.

My next article is going to cover warped parts.

No, not WARP parts, but instead those parts you get that may be slightly bent the wrong way.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 1 - Washing Your Kit

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Since I've started doing reviews on some resin kits that I've built, I figured it would also be a good idea to give some helpful hints and tips for those of you who are new to building this unique form of models.  I can then refer back to these articles without re-quoting the same text over and over again.

My first article is going to cover bathing.  No, not your bathing, but rather, the bathing of your resin kit.