Holy Bubbles Dr. Strangebrush! What's Wrong With My Airbrush?: Episode 147

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Voice of Bob (Baer) (00:11):
Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a
podcast dedicated to scalemodeling, as well as the news
and events around the hobby.
Let's join Mike and KentuckyDave as they strive to be
informative, entertaining andhelp you keep your modeling mojo
alive.

Mike (00:40):
All right, Mojovia, thanks for joining us for episode 147.
Dave, getting a little earlysampling of fall weather this
weekend weather turning thiscool in late August, early

(01:09):
September in Kentucky.

Kentucky Dave (01:10):
it's not what we wanted for this year.
So, yeah, it's already feelinglike mid-fall, not just early
fall, but mid-fall.
Well, it's not going to last.
That's what they say, and I amhoping you are right, because I
want to get in that pool alittle bit more before we have
to close it up for the year well, it's got a heater, so you
ought to be good well, that'strue, but you know, if I wanted

(01:32):
to heat that pool, it would bejust as easy to take giant piles
of money and set it on fire anduse that to heat the water.

Mike (01:40):
It's not cheap well, enough of that, my friend.
What is up in your model sphere?

Well, I am still basking in the afterglow of the
Nats.
In fact, I did a Facebook poston the dojo with a photo that we
all took at the end of our Natstrip when we were all getting
ready to leave and so I'm stillenjoying it, reveling in it, but

(02:09):
, by the same token, I'm lookingforward to upcoming model
contest.
Our local contest is here inthree weeks and I'm looking
forward to that.
And, in addition, I broughthome a lot of reading material
from the Nationals.
I bought I think it was ninebooks and unfortunately, as you

(02:33):
and I have mentioned on thepodcast several times, life has
been a little hectic lately andone of the things I've gotten
away from is sitting down anddedicated model-related reading.
So I'm going to do that.
I bought these books and I wantto get some of them read

(02:56):
because some of them are justsuper interesting.
So my model sphere is positive,my model sphere is high, my
model sphere is doing well, butit can always do better.
How about yours?

Mike (03:11):
Well, I got quite a bit going on.
I think I mentioned lastepisode, or was it on the dojo,
I can't remember, but the MooseRude Cup kit came in.

Yes.

Mike (03:19):
It's a curbside automobile kit.
It's a Mazda Miata from Aoshima, from some anime I'm not
familiar with.
I've got a plan, I just got toget cracking on.
It should be a quick build,though it's all going to be
paint and finish, I believe wellI'm I'm looking forward to
seeing what you do with it.

You and I've talked about it a little bit and
and I really kind of like whereyou're going.

Mike (03:44):
Well, in addition to that man, I've been just watching all
the fallout from the revocationof the de minimis exemption.

Yes.

Mike (03:52):
Man, it just seems like some stuff's going to get hard
to get here for too long.

Yeah, I'm of the opinion In fact, I was talking
to Jim Bates this afternoonabout this very thing and I'm of
the opinion that this thing'sprobably going to be fairly
short-lived, that it's going tobother enough people in enough
ways that they're going to workout a workaround here of some

(04:17):
sort.
They're going to eitherreinstate it or they're going to
have some sort of workaroundbecause, yeah, it really is
starting to have an impact.

Mike (04:30):
Well, I hope this gets sorted out in a manner that's
workable to all concerned, andlikewise I hope our cottage
industry friends can weatherthis in the short term.

Very much so.

Mike (04:40):
It appears that the way it's structured currently, as
far as those folks are concerned, it's really punching down yes,
which is unfortunate.

Yeah, no, the bigger manufacturers and the
mainline distributors they'rebig enough that they can deal
with this sort of thing smallcottage industries who are doing
some really fantastic stuff andmaking things that we modelers
really want to have, who aregetting impacted the most, and

(05:14):
so I'm hoping that, like I said,I'm hoping this whole thing
resolves relatively quickly.

Mike (05:21):
Well, that's it for my model sphere man.
So there's probably more, butwe don't want to get into all
everything.
Got to save some for next time.

That's right, mike, we're recording, so that
means modeling fluid, what yougot.

Mike (05:34):
Well, usually it does, and tonight's no exception.
I've got a Woodinville straightbourbon whiskey finished in
port casks.
Ooh, that sounds good FromWoodinville, washington, and we
were not real good about takingnames at the Nationals, but I
think Tim Nelson brought this tothe Airbnb dojo one evening in

(05:55):
Hampton.

I believe he did.

Mike (05:58):
If not, somebody please tell me and we'll correct that.
But I think that's what I think.

Tim is who gave it to us.
I think Too Tall.
Tim Nelson brought that to theAirbnb one night.
So if we're wrong, whoever didbring it, please reach out and
let us know.
Tim, if you're listening,please confirm that it indeed
was you.

Mike (06:20):
Well, that's my modeling fluid tonight.
Dave, what's yours going to be?

I have a very special modeling fluid tonight.

Mike (06:30):
Oh, I know what that is.

Yeah, I'm sure you do, Listener Don Gilman from
Texas.
Don came by the table, broughtus a beer that he home brewed
and he and I got into adiscussion.
He's been home, brought us abeer that he homebrewed and he
and I got into a discussion.
He's been homebrewing for like25 years, so he gifted us a

(06:53):
bottle.
It's a lavender beer and I'mgoing to take a taste right now.
Oh yeah, Now Don, me openingthat bottle was the second time.
I opened it because my wife sheis a beer snob and when she

(07:13):
heard I had this, she insistedon getting a taste.
And so about five minutes ago,right before we started
recording, I opened this bottleand gave her a taste and she
immediately wanted to know if wehad more than one bottle.
She really, really, reallyliked this beer.

(07:37):
She is super impressed by it.
She was very disappointed whenI told her that we had the one
and only bottle, but I just hadmy first sip and I can see what
she's impressed about.
It is really, really good beer.
So I'm going to enjoy this inthe episode.

(07:58):
I have no idea what the ABV isor any of that stuff, I'm just
going to enjoy it as we recordthis episode.

Mike (08:07):
Well, you've blown all the details for the end, so I hope
it's about 14%, so you can say abunch of dumb crap at the end.

Okay, well, no, I still haven't described it or
anything.
We'll get into it.
There's plenty to talk aboutbecause it's good.

Mike (08:21):
There is, and a lot of it is listener mail.
Okay, we've been doing prettygood with the listener mail,
this go around, so let's getinto it.
Man, you got it.
First up is Luis Toledo andhe'd written in a couple months
back and he'd copied a number ofthe other podcasts on his email
and he was just thanking us forall taking time to answer him.
He was wanting to know about,or what we thought about, folks

(08:47):
who possibly looked down onother modelers who did not
participate in the competitiveside of things or the show entry
and that sort of thing.
You remember that?
Yep, I do.
So, luis, I hope we gave you asatisfactory answer and you're
very welcome and we welcomequestions like that.

So yes, we do.

Mike (09:02):
Thank you very much.
Up next is David Kettler and heis a member of the West
Michigan IPMS and they've got ashow coming up in October, so
that makes me wonder if we oughtto bank this one and see if
they might be interested in aspotlight segment.

That's a good idea.

Mike (09:19):
Cause we don't have any for October yet.
So, david, I'm going to do that.
I'll be in touch because that'sgoing to get out a little later
in the month and your show'searly October, so should not be
a problem.
We'll be in touch and just youknow along that vein, if clubs
are out there and would like tobe considered for one of those
model show spotlight segments,please just just reach out and

(09:39):
ask and we'll we'll take thoseunder consideration and let you
know.
And we really only have time todo a couple every month, but
I've got a swizzle in mind forthat short that may help us at
least touch on a few of theothers at the very end or
something.
But we like doing it and itseems to be helping some of the
folks.
So, yeah, if you've got stufflike this, please send it in and

(10:00):
if you really think you mightwant to have an appearance, let
us know.
Well, dave from SouthernMaryland.
Mr Justin Reed, he has answeredyour call for folks run down on
their national attendance, soI'm going to forward that on to
you because we're going to dosomething with that Probably.
I will mention, though, he didhave a great time and even

(10:22):
picked up one of our rare,limited edition plastic model
Mojo rock glasses, which will beavailable at the MMCL show at
the end of the month.
If somebody's in our region andmight want to get their hands
on one of those and hopefullythey won't be that rare and
limited, we probably get somemore once we run out.
But appreciate the folks whopicked those up at the show and

(10:43):
thanks for answering our callthere, Justin.
Some of this is goodinformation and we're going to
sort through it and see what wecan do with it.
Well, David Waples has writtenin and it's in the theme of
modelers helping other modelers.

We like that.

Mike (10:59):
He's been working with an Otto Gerza at rcsubscz.
Oh yeah, I know who they areand it's for a 1 to 144th scale
and a 172nd scale 3D printedresin Los Angeles class
submarine flight one Mm-hmm.
And he said there's anexcellent set of plans that were

(11:20):
made by Greg Sharp of Deep SeaDesigns that are no longer
available and he had noticedthat Jeff Groves, the Inch Eye
guy, used these same plans onhis 72nd scale Los Angeles
submarine.

Yeah, that he did as a vacuform, self-made
vacuform.

Mike (11:36):
Well, he reached out to Jeff and Jeff just sent him the
plans.
Dave says he offered to pay forthem, but Jeff just sent them.

That is so, Jeff Groves.
It's not funny.

Mike (11:47):
Consider us not surprised at all.

Exactly.

Mike (11:53):
So we'll give Jeff a handshake at our show.
We'll probably see him ifthings go as planned.
So, dave, thanks for makingmention of that.
That's really cool.
I love the informationexchanges and it was good to see
you at the National Conventionas well.
Another show, dave, steveHustad.
He sent us in the Nordiconflyer.

(12:16):
It's the same day as our show.
Luckily it's a bazillion milesaway.
It shouldn't affect, but it's agood show.
We'll post this flyer on thedojo.

A couple of things he wanted us to mention
about the show.
If you don't mind me taking aminute, no, go for it.
Obviously the date and time.
It's September 27th, from 9 amto 4 pm.
What he really wanted tomention was that you know how
we've been talking about howshows have been changing,

(12:47):
judging how displays becomingmore prominent, et cetera, et
cetera.
Yeah Well, nordicon for anumber of years has done both a
contest and a display, and thekind of unique thing for them is
all the models are on the sametables.

(13:09):
There's not a display area and acontest area.
What they do is you put yourmodel in whatever category it
would normally fall and ifyou're doing a display, only
you've got a different colorform and that tells the judges.

(13:30):
Okay, I don't have to judgethat one, but you still have all
the 72nd scale single engineaircraft together on the same
place on the table so that youget that seamless effect.
You don't have to go find thedisplay area, and they're very

(13:50):
proud of having done that.
And I hope other shows thatstart to emphasize display do
that because, frankly, I thinkthat's probably the best way to
do it, so that people can seeeverything in a particular scale
or particular subject matter,and all whether it's for display

(14:13):
or whether it's for contest,and I think it would encourage
people to bring in their workfor display, but he wanted me to
mention that particularly.

Mike (14:25):
Well, we'll put the flyer up on the dojo so people can
have all the information.
Yeah, I need to link these inthe show notes as well.
But one more thing from hisflyer that I'd like to mention
is that this show is likeco-hosted by five different
groups.
Yes, so there's a lot of them.
Twin City Arrow Historians,which I think Steve and Mark's
club yeah, the RPM Model Club,oddball Modelers Group,

(14:47):
minnesota Military FigureSociety and the Minnesota Scale
Modelers.
Wwwnordicconcom yeah,n-o-r-d-i-c-c-o-ncom.
So we'll help folks get thisinformation.
But thanks, steve, he wasworried it was too late, but
it's not too late.
Still got almost a whole monthto get that one on somebody's

(15:07):
calendar.

That's right.

Mike (15:09):
Another show related one, dave, is from Drew Savage, who
also saw at the NationalConvention.
Drew wants to know what processdo people in local clubs use to
determine a theme for a contest.
He says the club he belongs tohas traditionally picked themes
tied to a specific event date.
He says the club he belongs tohas traditionally picked themes
tied to a specific event date orgenre 50th anniversary of blank
, the end of World War I, starWars, whatever and he thinks

(15:30):
that limits the people that cancompete for that particular
award, the theme award.

He's trying to move his club in the direction
of finding themes that can hitevery category or most of them
anyway, where all builders canfind a way to qualify Well, and
our club has been mindful ofthis, mmcl.
And so, just to give you anexample, the theme for this
year's contest is the Great War1914 to 1918.
But we don't limit it to justmilitary items.

(16:11):
So if you build a vehicle thatwas 1914 to 1918, it qualifies.
If you do a figure 1914 to 1918, whether it's civilian or
military, it qualifies.
Say, you do a train car from1914 to 1918, french railroad

(16:32):
train cars, that qualifies.
So a lot of times it's not justsaying well, you can't use a
historic event, it's thinkingbroadly about that historic
event and using more the timeperiod rather than the combat
itself, like Korean War combatwhere you limited only to

(16:54):
airplanes and military figuresand armored vehicles.

Mike (17:00):
Yeah, but even still with World War I, the Gundam and
Mecha folks, people were tryingto get into shows and the real
space guys and that sort ofthing.
Broad is good.
Yeah, it is a noble effort totry to get something that
everyone can cover.
Yeah, I don't think it'scompletely necessary all the

(17:20):
time, but the broader the betterI get where he's coming from.
Necessary all the time, but thebroader the better I get where
he's coming from.
But I think he's got a themethat for their 2026 show that is
going to actually accomplishthat.

Oh good.

Mike (17:33):
It's heavy metal.
Best use of natural metalfinish.

Oh, that is a good one.

Mike (17:39):
So that can pretty much touch on just about everybody.
Be curious what the nauticalfolks are going to do.
It's probably something outthere I don't know about.
Yeah, but Drew, yeah, I thinkwe've said it there.
Yeah, our club strives to be asbroad as possible but depending

(18:02):
on the makeup of the club, thatcould certainly bias things
toward more narrow themes.
I can see that happening.
It's just the nature of thebeast, I guess.
But I think you're doing goodto consider this and be curious
how that theme goes down.
It should go good.
So it's a little ways off yetbut we'll see.
Good theme.

(18:24):
Well, Mark Doremus has writtenin again, Dave, and he wished he
had saved episode 146 before hewent to Thailand last week.
So he's on another excursion toAsia and hitting all those
great shops he's found overthere.
But he just wanted to say heappreciated our interview with
Doug Reed for our Spotlight ofthe Oregon Modelers Jamboree.

(18:46):
He says Doug's a really greatguy and all that managed to come
out in the interview.
Doug hosts three Zoom meetings,sessions a week for modelers in
those areas that he's in and hejust lives and breathes
all-inclusive modeling.
So glad that resonated withsome people.
Lives and breathes,all-inclusive modeling so glad
that resonated with some people.
And hopefully, Mark, you makeit to the show.

(19:07):
Yeah, Because you're certainlyin the geography to do that.
And he says there are up to 10tables now claimed by local
clubs.
So the club-sponsored tablesseems to have grown since we
talked to Doug in our last shortsegment.
So, hopefully he'll show us howthat went down.
We'll get some photographs ofall those club tables.
Looking forward to that.

When I was talking to Jim Bates earlier
today, he mentioned that showand that he's going, so I've got
him committed to getting uslots of pictures.

Mike (19:37):
All right, my last one from the email side of things.
Dave is from Special Agent 003.
Where is he now, brandon Jacob?
Where's he now, brandon Jacob?
Where's Waldo?

That's right.

Mike (19:49):
He says Mike, thank me later, but I strongly recommend
that you put the airbrush downfor an evening and go enjoy the
music of Fish at the Bourbon andBeyond Festival in your
hometown.
You have been warned, brandon.
Thank you for the suggestion,but jam bands are not my jam,
and this reminds me of somethingmy father said.

(20:10):
This comes to mind when mymother asked if he would like to
join her and her sister on amotor coach bus tour to New York
City.
His reply was honey, thanks,but I wouldn't get out of the
electric chair to go do that.

Thanks, but I wouldn't get out of the electric
chair to go do that.
Although, if you are a musicaficionado, bourbon and Beyond
is a three-day music festivalthat has a very, very wide
selection of bands.
It's really, really enjoyable.
15, 20, 25 different bands.
It's really really enjoyable 15, 20, 25 different bands, many

(20:47):
of them smaller, regional bands,and it was just great.
So, yeah, if you get a chanceand you're into music, bourbon
and Beyond I can highlyrecommend.

Mike (20:58):
And you can go see Scale Reproductions during the
intermissions.
That's right, that's right.
Got to tie it back in some way.

I like the way you think.

Mike (21:06):
Well, that's it from the email side of things, Dave.
So I know you got some DMs, solet's dig into that.
I do have some.

DMs spread across a number of subjects.
Before I get into them, I gotseveral DMs responding to my
request for the Nationalsexperience from people who went.
We've got those collated, asMike mentioned earlier.
We're continuing to gather them.

(21:33):
We're going to use them in afuture episode, but we're also,
because I'm on the IPMS boardright now, I'm passing the
information anonymously to thesecond vice president, who is
the officer most directly incharge with putting on the Nats,

(21:54):
so that he gets to hear frompeople what they liked and what
they didn't like and what theirexperience was.
So please continue to sendthose in.
I don't care how you do it,just please, if you haven't
already done it, go ahead.
And if you were at the Nats inHampton, particularly if this

(22:16):
was your first Nationalsexperience, reach out and talk
about it.
Let us know what you liked andwhat you didn't like.

Mike (22:23):
And that's anonymously submitted.
With regard to the provider ofthe information Right yes, not
you.

Not me, no the second vice president knows me.
I can't be anonymous to him.

Mike (22:36):
But yeah, you could.

Right, get creative.
No, so that when I pass him thedifferent people's comments, so
that when I pass him thedifferent people's comments.
They will be without their name.

Mike (22:47):
Anonymized.

Right Anonymized so that they get the information
, but they don't know who thecommenter was.

Mike (22:55):
Well, we'll milk it for some content too, though.

Yes, we will.
On the DM side, first thing Iwant to mention is Warren
Dickinson.
Our friend from SouthernKentucky reached out.
He had just bought the IBG theycall the black box set with the
new IBG 72nd scale SpitfireMark I and II.
He was highly impressed, wantedto let me know that he also

(23:22):
promised he's coming to the MMCLshow at the end of the month
and he's going to bring it sothat Jeff Inch Highgroves and I
can take a look at it.
Speaking of Inch, he is goingto be both at the MMCL show at
the end of this month.
He's also going to theCincinnati show and we have

(23:44):
tables at both of those showsand his table's going to be
right next to ours.
So if you're going to eitherone of those shows, if you find
us, you'll find Inch right nextdoor.
Come by and say hi.
The next DM was from MikeHalliday, and Mike was looking
out for you and me.

(24:05):
He knew that we had previouslytalked about the S38 S boat by
four models, yeah, and he hadrun across one that was deeply
on sale.
I forget who the dealer wasthat was selling it, but they
were basically like half priceand so he wanted to make sure

(24:29):
that we knew about it, in casewe needed one.
I told him I had already gottenone, but that I'd pass the info
to you if you were currently inthe market for one.

Mike (24:43):
I don't know, I'll have to check it out.
I don't know, I'll just checkit out.
Send me the information.

I will Next a DM from Brian Bennett.
He and I had done a transactiononline.
I sold him a couple of kitsthat I posted on the dojo, one
of which was the old Revell CR42Falco, the little Italian
biplane fighter and he DM'd meto let me know that he got them.

(25:08):
That led into a discussion ofItalian aircraft.
We both have an interest in it.
That led into a discussionabout some of Harvey Lowe's
recent work, because Harvey'sbeen doing a lot of unusual
Italian aircraft from resin andvacuform kits and 3D printed

(25:31):
kits.
I pointed those out to Brian totake a look at.
It was just one of those niceconversations I keep talking
about how, in the middle of theday when I'm dealing with
clients and their legal problems, it's really nice out of the
blue to get a DM from a modelertalking about model subjects and

(25:53):
injects a little bit of joyinto what can sometimes be
otherwise tough work.
The next DM is from our friendMichael Grispen, the North
Carolina guy with theGerman-sounding name who lives
in England.
But Michael had previously sentus a couple of nice shirts from

(26:16):
a local brewery from NorthCarolina and he DMed me to let
me know that a model company, amodel accessory company called
Ask they do 3D printedaccessories had just announced
and come out with a 3D printedengine and cowl flaps for the

(26:42):
Tamiya Zero kit.
So he wanted to make sure I wasaware of this.
I haven't seen the actual print, but he sent me the picture of,
or the link to the picture of,the 3D, the CAD design, and,
gosh, it looks good.
If it looks as good printed asit does in that design, I can

(27:05):
see me buying multiple copies ofthat.
So thank you, michael, forhelping spend more of my money.

Mike (27:12):
Grizzabian.

Grizzabian, thank you, just popped into my head
Grizzabian.

Mike (27:18):
Now we got it.

Now we got it.
I would blame it on thelavender beer and its high
alcohol content, but I can't saythat's what's doing it.
Dr Gelbmacher, who we saw atthe Nationals, reached out
because we're mentioned is thatFort Wayne has a double-A
baseball team.
Dr Gelbmacher and Chris andmyself are all interested in

(27:57):
trying to catch a game whilewe're there.
We've begun planning one of theevenings and I'm not sure which
.
We've got to look at theschedule and everything we know.
The team is in town during theconvention.
They're doing a homestand atthat time and we're going to
figure out one evening where wego out to the ballpark and watch

(28:18):
a minor league baseball game.
So if you've got any interestin that and you're going to the
Nationals in Fort Wayne, take alook on the web and find the
Fort Wayne baseball team andplan to go to a game.

(28:40):
Three Floyds has made it to NewJersey beyond gumball head and I
told him he's not going to bedisappointed.
Three Floyds makes really goodbeer.
That they do.
Finally, our friend PaulBudsing.

(29:01):
He DM'd me recommending theIwata airbrush holders.
They make a thing that youclamp to your bench that holds a
couple of air, two airbrushes,and he's got two of them on his
bench and the thing he likesabout them over pretty much any
other airbrush holder is he saysthey hold the brushes really

(29:22):
securely, which some airbrushholders don't really do.
That, and if the airline getstugged or it doesn't get seated
in there they can fall out andthen damage the airbrush.
So he highly recommends theseand I'm here to tell you if Paul
Budzig recommends something,I'm definitely going to take a

(29:45):
look at it.
So that was it from the DM side, other than Mr Husted wanting
us to mention NordicCon, whichyou covered masterfully already.

Mike (29:58):
I don't know about that, but we did cover it, Yep, and
we'll help propagate theinformation.
Well good, so folks keepsending in the listener mail.
You can do that via email bysending something to
plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom.
You can DM us through theFacebook messenger system.
There's also a web link in theshow notes titled Give Us your

(30:20):
Feedback.
That's also kind of a quasiemail.
It's just a portal to send amessage and you don't have to
know the email address.
You can just use that link andsend it that way.
All those are great.
We appreciate all the email weget.
It's our favorite segment ofthe show.
Keep it coming, folks.

When you're done listening to this episode.
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It helps the podcast remainvisible and we appreciate the
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We're continuing to grow and wereally are focusing on finding

(31:22):
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The best way that we can findnew listeners is get a
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(31:43):
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(32:04):
Joy that we get from it is theinteraction with the listeners,
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Mike (32:13):
Don't just rate the show.
Write a review too, if your appwill let you do that, and if
your app won't, you can go tothe rate the show link in our
show notes and that portal willlet you do both those things and
we really appreciate thefeedback and reviews you can
leave there.
Once you've done all that,please check out the other
podcasts at modelpodcastcom.
That's model podcast plural.

(32:33):
It's a website set up with thehelp of Stuart Clark at the
Scale Model Podcast up in Canada.
It's just an aggregated websiteof all the banner links to all
the other podcasts out in themodel sphere.
We've got some blog and YouTubefriends as well.
We've already mentioned JeffGroves, the Inch High guy.
He's got a great blog.
Come out and see us at the MMCLshow if you want to meet Jeff.
We were talking to ChrisWallace last night.

(32:55):
Yes, we were Model airplanemaker.
Great blog, great YouTubechannel.
He's going to be our guest forShop Talk in episode 148.
So you're going to want to tuneinto that one as well.

And go watch his latest video.
It is really, really good.

Mike (33:12):
Stephen Lee SpruPi with Frets long and short form blog,
mostly 72nd scale.
Also some model railroadcontent on there.
You're going to like whatSteve's got to say.
Yeah and enjoy that blog.
Evan McCallum Panzermeister36YouTube channel Just moved to a
new house.
He's a little behind the eightball on content, right now.

We talked to Evan last night and he promised that
there is indeed a new videocoming very soon.

Mike (33:36):
And finally, Dave, you already mentioned in your DM
summary Paul Budzik and theairbrush holder, but you're
going to want to check outPaul's skill model workshop and
you can get to that throughPatreon and some of it on
YouTube.
But please check out whatPaul's got going on and I need
to talk to him.

So, yes, there are a lot of the national IPMS
chapters are run by volunteerswho are trying to give modelers
in general a better modelingexperience, so please consider
joining.
Also, if you're an armor orpost-1900 figures modeler, you

(34:24):
might consider joining the ArmorModeling and Preservation
Society, a good group of guysdedicated to armor modeling and
all of the skills and techniquesinvolved.
In addition, they're going tohave their national again in
South Bend in 2026.
And you should join theorganization and you should make

(34:48):
plans to come to the national.

The Voice of Bob (Baer) (34:52):
Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by
Model Paint Solutions, yoursource for harder and steam back
airbrushes, david Union powertools and laboratory grade
mixing, measuring and storagetools for use with all your
model paints, be they acrylic,enamels or lacquers.
Check them out atwwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.

Mike (35:17):
Well, model Paint Solutions is not just our
sponsor.
Dr Miller, aka Dr Strangebrush,is a regular personality on our
show and we've got him backagain.
Dave yes, aka Dr Strangebrush,is a regular personality on our
show and we've got him backagain.

Dave, yes, we do, and, as always, fantastic
conversations with the guy and Ialways learn something.

Mike (35:41):
Well, Dave, we got Dr Strangebrush making another
house call.
John, how are you doing, man?

Dr Strangebrush (John M (35:46):
Hanging in there.
Hanging in there.
I had my meds this morning, soI'm feeling very much like
Strangebrush, so good.

Well, it's good.
It's been a little while sincewe've talked to you, so it's
been a minute Happy to get tosit down and get some airbrush
wisdom.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mill (36:03):
Well , I don't know about wisdom.
Let's not be too grandiose, butI'll take my best stab at it.
Let's put it that way.

Mike (36:14):
Well before we get rolling , John, we want to bring up an
exchange that happened on ourdojo Facebook group where we had
a guy asking some airbrushquestions and they were referred
to you and I think he calledyou and you ended up helping him
out and you ended up buying anairbrush.

So it is amazing to you and I think he called you
and you end up helping him outand you end up buying an
airbrush.
It is amazing and this hashappened multiple times on the
dojo.
Mike brings this one up justbecause of the fact that it
happened within the last two orthree weeks.
Somebody will come on and sayin this guy's case, I've got an
Iwata.
It's not working right,something's wrong.

(36:47):
I've tried everything, I'vecleaned it to within an inch of
its life, but I can't figure outwhat's wrong.
And the funny thing is, notonly did I chime in, but like
five other Tojo members allchimed in with oh you need to
reach out to Dr Strangebrush,talk to him, he'll get you fixed
up.
And the guy apparently did.

(37:09):
You cured his Iwata problem,whatever it was, and he ended up
buying a hard-earned Steenbeck.
He posted it on the dojo whenit came in.
So we were kind of thrilled atthat.
Well, I appreciate that.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mi (37:26):
That's kind of the way I prefer to do
it.
Yeah, I prefer, you know, forguys to reach out either by
email or via phone.
I'm still a firm believer inusing the phone.
You can get so much more donewith a five-minute chat than you
can with a week and a half ofhunting and pecking.

Mike (37:48):
Yep, I agree.
Can you come talk to the under30 engineers at my place of
employment?

Yeah , Been there, done that when I
was in science me an email andthey say you know I'm having
this brush, it's spitting, it'scoughing, it's hacking, whatever
, and you know I can't figure itout.

(38:15):
Is there a time when I couldcall you?
And the conversation usuallystarts with what's wrong with
their airbrush and it seguesinto how they're diluting their
paint, which is exacerbating theproblem that they're having
with their airbrush.
And then, by the end of thecall, not only have we figured
out what's wrong with the brushbut, as I hear from an email, a

(38:35):
week or two later they'll goback to their bench and they try
some of the things that wediscussed during that call and
they come back with man, thisworks so much better, I'm so
much happier and I'm not chasingmy tail and fighting the brush
every time I want to paintsomething.
And yes, and then there is acustomer for Model Paint
Solutions.
And if I could, I'm not as fastas Amazon, I never, ever will

(38:57):
be but the difference is thefirst time that you run into a
question or a problem withanything, you can actually call
me and I'll call you back.

You mean, I don't get a call center somewhere in
Southeast Asia?

Dr Strangebrush (John Miller (39:11):
No , I'm not making any of my calls
from Mumbai.
Okay, they all come right frommy shop here, surrounded by
airbrush parts and paints, and,yeah, that's the best kind of
interaction I can have with mycustomers and that's I think.
I would like to think it's oneof the things that model paint

(39:31):
solutions can provide that othershops can't do as well.

To be honest, Well, clearly it works because,
like I said, you have such a fanbase, particularly from our
listeners and the folks who areon the dojo, that when anyone
pops up with a hey, airbrushquestion, the comments are all

(39:58):
call Dr Strangebrush, call DrStrangebrush.
I appreciate that, thecustomer-friendly,

(40:22):
customer-centric interactionsthey get and you end up solving
their problem.
And that's the long and theshort of it.

Dr Strangebrush (John Miller) (40:31):
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that you know forwhat it's worth.
You boys are in the South andI'm just going to speak bluntly
I'm from the South, I was bornand raised in the South and I'd
like to think that there's justa little bit of that Southern
hospitality and the way thingsare done at Model Paint
Solutions.
Like you, send me an email.
You know it may take a day, butI will get back.

(40:54):
If you call me and you'rehaving a problem, I will stop
what I'm doing and I will helpyou with your issue.
I call it the paint crisishelpline.

There you go, the paint crisis.
Helpline I you go the paintcrisis.
I'll use that in the future.

Mike (41:09):
Well, that's great man, but we probably ought to get on
into this Yep, yep, but beforebefore.
Okay, let me back up.
This was a stump the airbrushchump episode where you've
solicited questions and problemsfrom your, your customer base.
I have, I'm sure you're wellprepared for that.
But tonight, john, I'm the leadoff batter.

(41:29):
Okay, I've got a problem.
Oh, I know, mike.
No, not that one.

Oh , okay.

Mike (41:42):
Thanks guys.
And it's not you eitherave.
Yeah, sure it is.
So I've got an evolution that Iuse.
It's pretty much my uh go-to it.
It replaced my badger 150 whenI got that from you and when I
noticed this, when it's obviousto I'm either blowing thinner

(42:05):
because I'm cleaning my airbrushor I'm spraying some high
dilution ratio 80, 20, 90, 10paint primer.
Whatever I push the triggerdown to start the airflow, I
start pulling it back to startthe paint.
I can watch the cone increasein size, Then it decreases in

(42:27):
size and then I pull a littlebit further back and it picks up
back where it was supposed tobe, Plus probably the difference
.

That's a master seal.

Mike (42:36):
Okay, cause the needle's clean.
That was going to be my caveat.
I know that needles clean.

That's a mad sounds like a master seal
problem, and you know I work onmostly obviously harder sheen
becks.
I work on a fair number ofAwatas, I will occasionally work
on a Grex, and you know eachbrand has its strengths and has
its weaknesses, let's be honest,and HS has a lot of strengths

(43:01):
in the design.
One of the things that you dohave to watch with an HS is that
master seal, and when a brushstarts behaving as you've just
described to me, I can usuallygo in and change out the master
seal and that will fix theproblem.
It's not a nozzle seal, it'snot an air cap o-ring.
So we can go about this one oftwo ways.

(43:21):
I could send you the new masterseal with the needle seal as an
assembly, along with a littledisassembly tool that you need
to take the old master seal outand put in a new master seal.
Now when I say master seal, I'mtalking about the needle seal.
A lot of people call it theneedle seal.
But anyway, once you have thelittle HS disassembly tool, I

(43:45):
can talk you through that overthe phone.
I can point you in the rightdirection and give you some tips
on how to install that and doit right.
The other thing that you can doand I do this pretty regularly
with my customers is, if youwould prefer, send the brush to
me.
I will do the work and thenI'll mail the brush back to you
and then I'll charge you.

(44:06):
If you're a Model PaintSolutions customer, I'm glad you
brought the.
We're talking about this.
If you are a model, if you'rean NPS customer and if you
bought the brush from me, you'regoing to pay to get the brush
to me.
I'll do the work for free.
If it's an NPS brush, I don'tcharge anything for for the work
, for the labor, and I give you15% off what the parts cost to

(44:28):
do the repair and then you payfor shipping home.
So it's 50% off and shippingand no labor charge for NPS
customers.
If you're not an NPS customer,I can still work on your brush.
Depending on the brush, itranges between $20 to $30 for a
rebuild.
I usually keep these thingspretty economical, so let me

(44:48):
know what you want to do on that.
Mike, I can always get the toolto you and then I can talk you
through it, or you can just sendme the brush, either one.

Mike (44:55):
All right, we'll figure that out later, but I didn't
stump the chump, so did I win orlose?

I don't know, that's a better deal than Badger
has with rehabbing theirairbrushes.
That's a great deal.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mille (45:05):
Yes , it is, and I stand by it.

Mike (45:08):
All right, John, you're free to dig into your first line
of business.

Okay .
Well, this first one comes fromJoe A I'm not going to use last
names.
Actually he was on the FacebookDojo page and he was asking
about new parts for the HSInfinity.
Now HS has not made those partsavailable to dealers.
Actually they haven't made themavailable to anybody except.
I contacted HS with thisquestion and apparently if you

(45:37):
are an Infinity owner, if youhave the brush and you need a
needle or you need a nozzle,they will send you those parts,
they'll sell you those parts.
They're going to come out withthe parts for dealers sometime
in October November.
So, bottom line if you own anInfinity and you just ding the
needle and you need a needle,contact HS, they will sell you a

(46:01):
needle.
Or, you know, as I said,october November I'll have the
main parts for the Infinity.
On Model Paint Solutions.

Mike (46:08):
Now is this for the revamped.

This is for the new Infinity 2024
with the titanium nozzles 0.22and 0.44 millimeter.

Mike (46:17):
Business as usual.
For the prior versions.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mille (46:20):
Yes .

Mike (46:21):
Okay.

Do you think this is just the fact that these
parts haven't been available toyou as a dealer just simply
because of manufacturing lag?
They've been cranking out thebrushes and they haven't
therefore built up a parts andrepair inventory that they can

(46:44):
push out.
Or did they just not see a needup to now?
Or do you have any idea?

It's a good question.
I can't believe that theydidn't see the need, given that
everybody that's running harderSteenbeck has experience in the
airbrush field.
So I actually can't give you ananswer as to why they didn't
come out with spare parts forthe Infinity, because they came
out with the spare parts for thenew Evolution as soon as the
Evolution was released.

Okay, interesting question.

Yeah , no, and shameless plug time.
I'm just going to say it again.
I've used the new.
I have one of the new and ofcourse I do.
I'm a dealer.
I have one of the newInfinities.
It's a great brush.
It's good for fine line.
It does everything it'ssupposed to do.
I will still tell you, I'mstill in the evolution camp.
I prefer the feel of the brush,I prefer the way it handles, I

(47:36):
prefer the weight and thebalance to the evolution.
And, in addition, one of themain things I like about the
Evolution is that the newEvolution 2024 has the new
trigger design which takes theslop out of the system.
If you think about moving theneedle, the needle moves.
It's a very, very tight triggerdesign.

(47:57):
It's the same trigger design,essentially on the Infinity that
the Evolution has, infinitythat the evolution has.
But for me, the real utility ofthe evolution is that the front
end of the new evolution is thesame as the front end of the
old evolution, which means thatif you have the 0.15 tip, the
0.2, the 0.4, all of those oldHS tips will fit onto the new

(48:21):
evolution 2024.
That's the real utility of thebrush, right there.

Well, and I will tell you and I have told
everybody who has asked that theone thing I can say is I can do
things with the Evolution thatI can't do with any other
airbrush.
When you get down to the reallyreally tight, fine, super fine

(48:46):
detail that it's just, itperforms better and you can do
things with it that you can't dowith even other brushes that I
really love, like my Badger orthe H&S Infinity.

Dr Strangebrush (John Miller) (49:04):
I agree.
In fact, for my fine line workI actually took one of the old
Infinity 0.15 millimeter tipsand I put that on an Evolution
2024.
And I have never had such atight fine line airbrush in my
50 years of shooting airbrushes.

(49:25):
Unlike the new Evo 2024 withthe old 0.15 tip on it, there is
no airbrush that can outperformthat combination for fine line
work.
It's just it's not out there.

So do you have somebody else who has a problem?

Yeah , I do so.
The next up is Michael L, andthis is an interesting question
and I have to say a lot of thequestions I got and I chose a
few that there's a realpracticality to some of these
questions, and this is one ofthem.
It comes back with what do yourecommend for sequencing a paint

(49:59):
session so that you have to dothe least amount of cleanup?
That's a great question.
I thought so too.
And so if you're going to bedoing a session and you're going
to be shooting four or fivedifferent colors, how do you
arrange those colors If you havethe latitude in the project to
shoot whatever color you want?
So the easiest way to do thatis to start with the lightest

(50:22):
colors first and progress to thedarkest colors later.
And you know, as an example ofthat, let's say I have to an
extreme example I have to shootsomething white and I have to
shoot something black.
Okay, I'm going to start withthe white parts and I'll shoot
them white.
And then, when it comes tocleaning the brush, I won't do a

(50:44):
full three soaks for fiveminutes each.
You know the shot glass Forsomething like that.
I'll clean the paint cup outreally well with a Q-tip.
And then here's the trickWhatever cleaner I'm using, I
have in one of the 250 milsqueeze, laboratory squeeze
bottles on model paint solutionsand I will hold the brush over

(51:07):
the garbage can and I willsquirt cleaner into the bottom
of the paint cup.
But I have the lever pulledback.

So it just naturally flows gravity-wise
down and through.

Dr Strangebrush (John M (51:22):
Exactly .
And it doesn't put backpressure on your needle seal,
which would happen if you weresquirting into the paint cup and
you had the lever forward.
So with the lever back I'llsquirt and you can see the paint
gush out of the nozzle and thetip.
When you do that, then have yougotten all the white paint out?
No, no, you haven't.

(51:42):
You've gotten the majority ofit.
You know, let's say, 95%, 98%.
But if your next color is matteblack and you've got two and a
half mils of your diluted matteblack to go into your paint cup,
you're never going to see thattrace amount of white.
It's just not going to happen.
So I mean, that's a grosssimplification of the idea of

(52:05):
starting with the lightestcolors first and then going
progressively to the darkercolors.
You know the reverse of thatwould be let's say, you shot the
black first and then you wantedto shoot the white.
A trace amount of black isgoing to turn your white a
slight gray Right.
So with that in mind, what arethe colors that I wouldn't put

(52:28):
in this lineup unless they werethe very last colors?
Let's start with metallics.

Yeah, right, yeah , right.
Enough said, everybody has donethat, where they've ended up
with metallic black paintbecause metallic black.

Mike (52:47):
I didn't know there was such a thing yeah, exactly I was
working on it.

This had to have been probably 20
plus years ago.
I was doing a 48 scale spitfireand I it came down to the gloss
coat, after decals, the ceilingoh god no and I grabbed the
wrong brush and I put my clearcoat in there and I fired the
thing up, and before I didn't, Iwasn't using good light, and I

(53:14):
want to touch on that here in acouple minutes how really
important it is to have a goodlight source.
Yeah, when you're, when you'reshooting paint, and before I
knew it, I had the only pearledspitfire and that's that's gloss
over the decals, guys, hard tocome back from that.
It's hard to come back fromthat.

(53:36):
It was I.
I tested the aerodynamics ofthat model into the garbage can.
Um, what are you going to do?
So, first and foremost, ifyou're shooting metallics in
this, this session, you're goingto want to do those at the very
last because, if not, themetallics going to contaminate
everything.
Um, but some other colors to bemindful of is hard.

(53:58):
Bright colors like red, signalred or navy blue, especially, at
least in my hands, especiallyred, for some reason, trace
amounts of red will will tend tocolor anything that's going
into it, whether it's, you know,gray, white, whatever.

(54:18):
So, anyway, you know, just asas the way to end that, use a
little common sense when you'relining up the colors that you're
going to be shooting.
And generally, if you can gofrom light to dark and then
after you finish that session offour or five colors, at that
point go ahead and do your fullcleaning routine, whatever that
is, and if it happens to be thethree soaks for five minutes,

(54:41):
that's great.
For five minutes, that's great.
And then one of the things,another, another.
You know I don't have his namehere, but another customer just
sent me an email not more than aday or two ago asking about how
often I clean the needle.
And that's that's a goodquestion, because I do the three
soaks and when I'm usually donethree and doing the three soaks
, you know I'll call the brushclean every two or three

(55:05):
sessions.
I will pull the needle and I'll, and there's always a little
bit of residual paint back onthe end of the needle.
We're closer to the needle seal.
You'll always get a littlelittle bit of paint there and
every once in a while there'llbe a little patina of paint
along the length of the needleas well, and the rest of the
brush is usually serviceablyclean.

(55:26):
So I will take a Q-tip with myfavorite cleaner and I'll just
run the Q-tip down that needle,just, you know, five seconds,
clean it up, reinsert it backinto the airbrush, call it done
Okay.
Next is from Charles Chuck S,and this was another really good
question.

(55:46):
He sent a question about how toprepare your brush and your
paint if you're going to beshooting a long session.
Hmm, that's a good question.
Yeah, and I've been there andmaybe other people have too.
Yeah, I've certainly been thereand maybe maybe other people
have too, if you've certainlybeen there, if you're working

(56:08):
with something that, let's say,you are shooting a color and you
have to shoot it, and then youhave to let it dry on the model
for a while so you can unmasksome areas and then shoot some
more of the same color, and thebrush is going to be in use, for
, you know, with paint in it,off and on for, let's say, an
hour, as opposed to 15, 20minutes, which is what most

(56:28):
sessions you know are, you know,roughly in that range.
So clearly, charles had anissue with this.
He does a lot of builds wherehe has the brush set up and, you
know, on the bench for an hour.
And one of the things that youcan start with is, if you're
using, let's say, 40% paint, 60%thinner, try a slightly more
dilute paint, you know it'sgoing to thicken up a little bit

(56:51):
because you know the thinner isgoing to be cooking off with
time.
So take your paint a littlethinner if you can, just to kind
of get ahead of what you'regoing to be losing there, right,
right?
The other thing, of course andhere's the easy one is simply
put a lid on top of your paintcup.
This will decrease the loss ofthinner and such.

(57:12):
One of the things that I liketo do there actually is not use
the lid that comes with thebrush, whether it's hard or
steam, echo water or anythingelse.
I actually prefer using a pieceof parafilm.
Yeah, a lot more airtight itwould.
Whether it's hard or steam,echo water or anything else, I
actually prefer using a piece ofparafilm.
Yeah, and a lot more airtight.

It would and it is.

Do you poke a little hole in it?

Well, what you can do is, or do you just do
that when you're not using it?

Just pull the parafilm off of one
side of the cup and leave it on,shoot what you're going to
shoot, and then pull theparafilm back over the paint cup
, and just so everybody's on thesame page here.
Parafilm is a waxy kind ofmaterial.
It comes in a sheet like apiece of paper.
I have it on Model PaintSolutions.
It's used extensively inlaboratory settings for sealing
all kinds of beakers andcontainers, and it's a great way
to seal your paint cup so youdon't lose so much thinner while

(58:05):
your brush is sitting therewaiting to be used.

It's also great for masking large areas to avoid
overspray like onto the wingswhen you're doing something on
the fuselage of a model.

That's what I use it for, more than
anything.
You hit it right on the head,I'll have a sheet of it and I'll
pull a big piece because youpull it to make it stretchy and
I'll cover both wings and theempanage so I can shoot on my
tail, band or whatever.
And I, because I've done thattoo and once that, that yellow,
gelb, gelb for you know, yellowpatinas all over the back end of

(58:41):
your 109, you're like, oh dear,right, yeah.
So, and one more tip for thisif, if you happen to use the
shot glass technique for forcleaning, grab that shot glass
and put some of the thinner dujour that you're working with
for that session into the shotglass that you're working with

(59:05):
for that session into the shotglass, and when you're done
shooting, seal your paint cupwith parafilm and then put the
nose of the airbrush in the shotglass Just to keep the things
from drying the needle shut, orsomething like that.
Exactly.
That's actually, I think, ofall the series of things that
you can do for a long sessionshoot.

(59:26):
I think that's probably themost helpful, and I do that a
lot.
If I have the brush loaded upand I have to take care of a
mask problem or whatever, I'lldisconnect it from the air and
I'll just drop it into a shotglass with just enough thinner
to cover the air cap.
Drop it into a shot glass withjust enough thinner to cover the

(59:47):
air cap and that way the nozzle, the tip of the air cap, the
needle, all that stuff thatusually is going to get gummed
up with the airbrush sittingthere, won't get gummed up.
Then, when it's time to shoot,pull it out of the shot glass,
reconnect it to the air, blow afew times to get the liquid off
the tip of the brush, off theair cap, so you don't splatter
all over the model, and the tipis wet and ready to go with no

(01:00:14):
dry paint.
And then lastly, if you're goingto be doing a long session,
with the brush sitting there,you have to be mindful of the
paint settling.
That's especially true withmetallics and I think everybody
has experienced that.
The the one I like is I got anemail from a guy who was doing
like a 32nd scale Mustang orsomething.
Thing was big, you know natural, natural metal finish and he

(01:00:37):
loaded up a five mil cup of hisdilution and he says he's
halfway through the job when theentire finish that he's getting
with this paint changes and hewas.
You know he was having a hardtime troubleshooting this.

Kentucky Dave (01:00:55):
What was happening is that the metallics
in the paint were settling tothe bottom of the paint,
precipitating to the bottom andtherefore coming out in thicker
quantity compared to the barrieryou got it, you got it.
You've got with model paintsolutions.
You've got those little woodenstir sticks.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mill (01:01:13):
Well , there's two things you can do
there.
You can do a stir stick, andthat's a cheap and easy way to
do it.
I actually like pipetting upand down in the paint.
Gotcha, that's what I do.

Yeah.

Yeah , yeah, and for that.
I don't know if you've seenthem on the site, but I have
these little tiny mini pipettes.
Those are ideal because you canliterally just put it in the
paint cup and leave it there,yeah, yeah.

Mike (01:01:37):
Just cycle that stuff in and out a few times and get it
blended back together.

Dr Strangebrush (John M (01:01:41):
Exactly .
So if you're going to be doinga long session, a couple of
things to remember there.
Dilute the paint a little bitmore, try putting the tip in a
in a shot glass.
Cover the paint cup with withsomething and then don't forget
to stir the paint up in the inthe paint cup, even if it's not
a metallic.
Stir it up a little bit beforeyou go to use it for for your
next uh, for your next shot.

(01:02:01):
So that makes sense yeah, Ithought that was a good one.
Yeah, okay, next one, jeremy p,and you know this is one that,
if you wanted to, it's one ofthose questions that you could
expand into an hour-longdiscussion and we're not going
to do that.
But he had questions aboutshooting dry coats and wet coats

(01:02:27):
and I get this a lot.
By the way, this is the bigquestion that I get thrown at,
thrown to me pretty regularlyand he actually called me up
another customer that called meup.
We had a great talk on thephone and he was learning how to
shoot dry and wet coats and hewas following the instructions
you know that I had given himand articles and stuff, and he

(01:02:47):
said you know, I liken shootingthe wet coat to walking the wet
line across the model and Ithought that's a really good way
of describing that.
So, with a little bit of apreface here, dry coat versus
wet coat.
So let's let's take a reallyeasy example.
You got a 48 scale p40 andyou're using an acrylic, not a

(01:03:14):
lacquer, that you could shootright directly as a wet coat.
It's gonna.
You know, a lacquer or anenamel is going to be way more
prone, you know, as a wet coathit the surface of the model to
level and move on its own andgive you a nice finish.
Now there are acrylics thatwill do that, but in my hands,
at my bench, most acrylics liketo be applied first as a light

(01:03:38):
dry coat, followed by a wet fillcoat.
Now, a dry coat means fill coat.
Now a dry coat means back toour P40, we're going to be
shooting, let's say, the leftwing, the top of the left wing,
first.
Let's just say that's whatwe're shooting Now.
For a dry coat, the brush willbe held farther back from the
model than with a wet coat.
The lever will not be pulled asfar back as with a wet coat.

(01:04:01):
You're going to be deliveringless paint.
You're going to be moving thebrush as you pass from left to
right across the wing.
You're going to be moving thebrush more slowly than you will
for a wet coat.
The most important part aboutthis, though, as we were
discussing earlier, is the lightthat you have at your workbench
while you're shooting.

(01:04:21):
You've got to have good light,and I will even put on
magnification, like 1.5, 2xglasses that help me see the
surface of the model while I'mshooting.
I started doing that about 10years ago.
Maybe it's a function of age, Idon't know.
But I'm surprised I didn't comeup with that trick earlier,
because it really does help tohave that little bit of

(01:04:42):
magnification going when you'reshooting trick earlier, because
it really does help to have thatlittle bit of magnification
going when you're shooting Nowwith a dry coat.
When you're looking at that areaof the model where the paint
cone out of the tip of the brushis hitting the surface of the
model with a dry coat, you don'tever want to see that go shiny.
You want the paint to hitsemi-dry, if you will, and be

(01:05:03):
flat.
When you try to bounce a lightoff of the area that you're
shooting, that makes it a drycoat.
Now, once the dry coat isapplied let's say left to right
on the top of our P40 wing I'mgoing to cycle back pretty
quickly and start spraying thewet.
I once had a guy send me anemail and he says I just

(01:05:31):
finished the dry coat yesterdayand I want to talk to you about
shooting the wet coat today.
Yeah, that didn't go well.

Mike (01:05:41):
Missed the bus.

Yeah, I remember you telling people before, but
explain the logic behind drycoat and then a wet coat,
especially with acrylics, whatit does to bond the paint.

Sure , sure.
So, first and foremost, withsome acrylics.
If you try to go right to a wetcoat, they will bead, and I've
had that happen too many times.
So this is one way of makingsure that you're not going to
get beaded paint on the surface.
The thing about a dry coat isit's a way of getting more paint

(01:06:16):
on the model while at the sametime decreasing the chance of
getting runs or spiders, whereyou've got so much paint it
starts waving on you, if youwill.
So with the dry coat, really,what that dry coat does, what
that layer of semi-dry paintdoes, is it acts as a catch for

(01:06:37):
the wet coat to come on top ofit.
And if you time it right, whatyou end up with is a dry coat
that serves to catch the wetcoat, decreasing spiders and
runs.
Decreasing spiders and runs.
But if you time it correctly,the subsequent wet coat will

(01:06:58):
actually solubilize the dry coatthat's already on the model.

For want of a better way to describe it, it
melts into the wet coat.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mille (01:07:05):
Yes , you could think of it like
that.
And so what's you know, at theend of the story, what do you
get?
You get more paint on the model, hopefully in a way that the
paint will be wet enough to moveand level and give you a nice,
smooth finish.
That's what we're going for.
And so when you go to shootthat wet coat again left to

(01:07:30):
right on our P40 model right,the wet coat is going to be shot
closer to the model You'regoing to pull more lever to
deliver more paint.
Most importantly, you're goingto have to move the brush faster
.
With a dry coat, you're doingthese kind of slow light passes.

(01:07:50):
With a wet coat, you should beputting enough paint out such
that, as the cone of paint hitsthe surface of the model, it is
shiny, it is wet and in order tolessen the chances of runs or
spiders, you have to increasethe rate at which you move the
brush across the surface of themodel.
Once you get the trick down,you can start your wet coat back

(01:08:13):
to our P40 at that left tip ofthe wing and once the tip goes
shiny, okay, you can.
Then, as you're moving thebrush up and down across the
wing, you can then walk thatshiny portion from the left tip
of the wing all the way to thewing root by watching the shine

(01:08:35):
as you lay your paint down,which is which was what jerry's
germ is way of saying.
Walk you know, walk the wetline from you know, from one
side of the model to the otheras you're lying the wet coat
down.
That's a really great way oflooking at it well, good yeah,
hopefully that'll help somebodyout there who's working with dry
and wet coats.
And one more thing on that Iget a lot of guys who say, yeah,

(01:08:58):
I'm going to work out dry andwet coats and I have a paint
mule.
That's great.
I actually suggest, and I getbetter results in my shop when I
have somebody face-to-face foran airbrushing session.
If you're not adept at shootingthese things, it's actually
easier to learn on just a sheetof styrene.
It's flat, you have a largesurface area to work with so you

(01:09:20):
can calibrate your distance andthe rate at which you move the
brush, unlike a paint muleespecially if it's an aircraft,
it's rounded.
It's smaller.
Now you're going to have tograduate to a paint mule before
you move on to a model.
But if you're just learning thebasics of dry versus wet coats
and how to apply them, you can'tdo any worse than going on

(01:09:41):
Amazon and getting a sheet ofevergreen sheet styrene and
using that as your paint mulefor at least an hour or two,
just to get the basics down.
All right, okay.
The next one is from pat pat s,one of my older customers,
actually he's been, he's beencoming to model paint.
Now do you mean long time, ordo you mean older?

(01:10:02):
I have in pat's case and I knowhe won't mind me saying this
both oh, I thought that's what Ithought you were gonna say.
He had a great question he'sgetting into using retarders in
his paint and he's happy withthe results.
And he picked up some, mr Hobby, mr Retarder.

(01:10:22):
And then he asks the questioncan you use this with all kinds
of paints?

That's a great question.

Dr Strangebrush (John Miller (01:10:31):
It is a great question and you
know what?
It's not an easy answer.
It really isn't.
There are so many differentbrands of paint out there right
now.

Right.

That I can give you some general
generalities.
Let's just talk about the twoprimary retarders that I have on
model paint that are probablythe easiest to find out there,
one of which is Mr Hobby, mrRetarder.
Tamiya makes a good retarderthat's very similar to Mr Hobby.

(01:11:00):
The ones that I also use aremade by Liquitex.
I use both Liquitex Flow Aidand Liquitex Slow Dry.
Now, mr Retarder is one ofthose reagents that works really
well, even in hardware storelacquer thinner.
So you can think of Mr Retarder, mr Hobby, mr Retarder, as the
retarder you're going to want toadd if you are using a really

(01:11:23):
strong lacquer-based paint, likeyou know, let's say, hardware
store lacquer and tamiya, whichsome guys do now to me.

To me of the lp line sure or to me as a, to me
as a alcohol base just lookingfor clarity there.

Yeah , no, no good, it works with
both.
Now, at the opposite end of thatspectrum is the liquitex
reagents that really leantowards more of the I will call
water alcohol versus alcoholwater, if you will and we talked
last time I was on way backwhen, whenever I was on, we
talked about that thatprogression of of of paints that

(01:12:03):
you can go from the hardcorewater loving acrylics like
Lifecolor or Mission or the oldModel Master Acryl line those
are very water-loving acrylicsall the way up to what some
people call the acrylic lacquers, which are paints that do well
in both more water-lovingthinners as well as more
lacquer-like thinners.

(01:12:24):
A good example of that is theold Tamiya line.
So the best way if you'reinterested in adding a retarder
or a slowing agent to whateverthinner, whatever paint that
you're using, really the bestway to find out if what you're
going to combine is going towork is simply do a test, An

(01:12:59):
easy way to do that is to usesome of the small spin tubes
that I've had on Model PaintSolutions ever since we opened
the virtual doors 10 years agonow.

And if you've ever purchased anything from
Model Paint, I often throw acouple of spin tubes into
shipments just as a way ofgetting them out there.
So guys will use them, and Ihave the ones you have sent to
me I have used time and timeagain.

Yes .

Mike (01:13:21):
Now, spin tubes for the uninformed are basically
centrifuge tubes.

Yes , centrifuge tubes.
I mean they're made for proteinsamples, dna, rna and they come
in a lot of sizes.
And they come in a lot of sizes.
They come in a lot of sizes.
I think the two most commonsizes are the 2 mil and the 5
mil.
I have both of those size tubeson model paint.
I like them because they havegradations on the side.
You can use them to dilute yourpaint.

(01:13:47):
When you're done shooting, youcan take the unused amount of
paint, put it back into the spintube, snap the spin tube closed
, put it in a rack and it willbe ready years later.

Mike (01:13:58):
I had pre-mixed paint and spin tubes for my E16 Paul
project.
A year they're in the tubes andused on and off for a year.
You're absolutely right.

Yep , I mean, these things are good
enough to store DNA and RNA.
So yeah, they're good enough tostore basic, basic paint
dilutions.
What I like them for arebasically testing New paints
with new thinners or, as we'rediscussing here, what retarder
is going to work best with agiven thinner.

(01:14:31):
And the way to do it is verysimple.
Let's say, I prefer to use the2-mil tube so you waste less of
your thinner in your reagenttesting.
So you take a 2-mil spin tube,you put a mil of your thinner
that you're testing in the tubeand then you grab whatever
retarder, whatever slowing agentyou want to test.
Add roughly to I don't know toa mil.

(01:14:55):
You'd probably add 10 drops,let's say, of your retarder.
Snap the cap, shake the tube,take a look at what you get.
If the solution turns cloudy,if it starts clumping up, that's
not a good mix.
If it stays clear, sometimesthey'll go slightly cloudy when
you first shake them and thenthey'll go clear.

(01:15:15):
That's a good sign.
But once it goes clear, set iton your bench and wait for a few
hours.
It's still clear, because Ihave had some combinations look
good and then I come back anhour or two later and they have

(01:15:36):
what we would call flocculants.
Yes, it was one of them.

one of them one of them $10 words.
Reblease for the uninitiatedyes.

And you know you don't want that.
Where is that going to comeinto play?
Well, it could lead to clogging, tip drying when you're trying
to shoot.
You know paint in that mix.
The other thing you want tothink about is if you're going
to put your unused portion ofpaint back in the spin tube and
save it.
If that's a bad reaction that'soccurring between, let's say,

(01:16:09):
your thinner and your retarder,that paint's probably not going
to be good a year from now whenyou go to grab that tube.

Or 30 minutes from now, or 30 minutes from now
exactly.

Mike (01:16:19):
Yeah, that would be my question.
Another point to watch is if itsettles out and separates, if
it looks good, but then after 30minutes hour day, whatever it
separates out, yep, will itre-blend or not?

Yeah , that's exactly right.
I use this all the time.
I mean I get a lot of newpaints coming through my shop,
both because guys are bringingnew paints in and they want
lessons with the new paints orI'm helping somebody online.
I will run into my shop realquick sometimes, grab a spin
tube, grab whatever paint.
You know that that you knowwe're we're wanting to test and

(01:16:59):
I'll take the paint right intodifferent thinners in spin tubes
and you can tell right off thebat if it's a bad mix, because
the paint turns into cottagecheese.

New paint?
What are you talking about?
There hadn't been a new paintline in years.

Well , I thought it was 15 minutes.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah , and we're going to talk about
how we're going to approach thatright.
Yeah, absolutely.
So maybe we ought to just touchon that right now, real quick,
quick.
One of the things that you knowas we discuss what we can do on
our next session with thepodcast is try some of these new

(01:17:39):
paints and discuss how theyhandle, how they dilute, how
they spray during the podcast,and then I will put up an
article that shows pictures ofthe paint.
You know, on sheet styrene,we'll do the masking masking
tape test, a gloss coat, youknow, overcoat test.

(01:18:01):
And you know, maybe for some ofthe newer paints, like Adam
Adam paints or the new Acuraenamel paints or AK third gen or
you know you name it we'll takeone or two of these new brands
on.
You know, when we talk nexttime and I'll do my best to try
to give folks suggestions as tohow to get the paint you know

(01:18:23):
diluted and get it working andthen let them, you know, do the
final dial in at their bench.

Yeah.
So, Yep, that would be a goodidea.

Okay .
And then how are we doing ontime, guys, we got time for two
more.
Two more, we do.
Okay.
So, fred H, this is my favoriteone.
This is the one I get more thanany other airbrush-related
question ever.
This is number one.
Bubbles in the paint cup I wasgoing to is number one bubbles

(01:18:54):
in the paint cup.

I was gonna say bubbles in the paint and this is
the one you saw for me, and Iwas amazed that I I completely
understand why everybody hasthis problem and cannot figure
out what's going on.
Yep, here, you told me, and itwas like oh my god, that works

(01:19:15):
it's brand specific though yes,yes and yes and no, and.

And I actually spent a couple of
minutes in my shop earlier thisafternoon making bubbles in my
paint cups I would have to getyou some therapy.
I don't get much.
I don't get out much, guys, youknow how it is.
So you can get a badger to dothis by just by loosening the
air cap.
I mean, I think I won't sayit's universal, because there's

(01:19:45):
always going to be a brush thatdoesn't, but for most of the
major brands out there, fixingbubbles in the paint cup is
strikingly similar, irrespectiveof brand.

Mike (01:19:55):
Well, you can also get on a badger when you split the
little brass nozzle tip.

Yep , and there, exactly.
So my favorite scenario here isa guy will get bubbles in the
paint cup.
He will assume that there is aclog somewhere downstream of the
paint cup, let's say somewherein the nozzle.

And this guy's name is David Knights.
And this is before he calls DrStrangebrush and says what am I
doing wrong?
Because this is exactly thescenario we have.

So , poor Dave, poor Dave.
He breaks the brush down Threetimes and cleans it Right Three
times and cleans it, and hekeeps getting bubbles in the
brush down Three times andcleans it Right Three times and
cleans it, and he keeps gettingbubbles in the paint cup.
Worse than that is the guy thatbreaks it down, cleans it,
doesn't really find anything.

(01:20:46):
But when he reassembles it, hereassembles it tighter and the
bubbles go away and then hemakes the assumption well, there
must have been somethingclogging the nozzle, which is
what I dislodged when I cleanedit.
So next time it bubbles I'mgoing to clean it again.

Right.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mil (01:21:04):
Right .
So what's the answer here?
The answer is usually, when youget bubbles in the paint cup,
it means that you have a leak,an air leak at the air cap or at
the nozzle, either one.
Now let's just take HS brushesfor an example.
Hs brushes have an air cap thatspins on that screws onto the

(01:21:29):
tip of the brush and there's ablack O-ring under that air cap.
That O-ring wears and once itgets to a point where it will no
longer seal the air cap to thebody, it leaks.
And when it leaks air at thatO-ring you get bubbles in the
paint cup.
The other place with an HS brushthis is also true for gallery,

(01:21:49):
this is also true for a WADAbrush, this is also true for
gallery this is also true for alot of just this different
design is a leak at the nozzleand not the air cap.
Now on HS you have a littlewhite Teflon seal that's on the
bottom of that nozzle.
That seal will wear withcompression.
You know, every time youtighten the air cap, sooner or
later it's not going to sealanymore.

(01:22:11):
And a leak at that nozzle sealwill also give bubbles in the
paint cup.
How do you fix it if you getbubbles in the paint cup, first
thing you're going to want to dois release the lock nut on the
needle, pull the needle back ayou tighten the air cap gee, I

(01:22:35):
wonder why dave split his uhnozzle yeah, yeah, okay, I
call it the wily coyote musketsyndrome.
Yes, yep, and I.
I won't mention his, butthere's a very well-known
builder right here in Seattlethat was having an issue with

(01:22:56):
this, and this guy is very, verysmart, very, very good with his
hands, just wicked fast, and itnever occurred to him to pull
the needle back before he typedthe air cap.
So you can be a really smartguy with a lot of experience and
miss this one.

Oh yeah.

So ergo, dave, so pull the needle
back a little bit and then,after the needle is clear of the
air cap, tighten the air capdown.
You can white-knuckle tightenthese things.
You're not going to break them,okay, unless?

Mike (01:23:31):
you have the needle locked in its operating position.

Then you get the Wile E Coyote
musket syndrome.

Mike (01:23:37):
Or that's why it was never tight in the first place.
They went just hand tightagainst a fixed needle and it
never sealed Right.

Right , right.
So the other thing that you canthink about for this is, again,
as too many, I think, folks aredoing you go to Amazon for
everything.
And, sure enough, if you go toAmazon and you search soft-jawed
pliers, you will find thatthere's a whole selection of

(01:24:10):
pliers that have Teflon inserts,or the jaws themselves are made
out of Teflon.
They are excellent for workingon airbrushes.
So invest, you know, $12, $15in a pair of soft jawed pliers
and you can get those pliersonto the knurled collar that's

(01:24:30):
on the bottom of the air cap.
On an HS, you can get a third,maybe a half a turn on the air
cap.
The bubbles will go away.
Now what happens when youtighten the air cap down and the
bubbles don't go away?
At that point you have toassume that either the black
O-ring under the air cap and orthe white seal on the back of

(01:24:53):
the nozzle have worn out andit's time to replace those seals
.

And you might as well do both at once.
Instead of trying to figure outbecause the O-ring and the
Teflon seal or neither one isungodly expensive, just go ahead
and get them both and replacethem both Exactly.

Mike (01:25:14):
Exactly, exactly.
I think I want to see Dave dolike four hours worth of AB
swaps trying to figure out whichone it is.

Yeah , exactly that's the easiest way
to do it it really is.

Mike (01:25:25):
No, no, it's not.

Younger Dave.

Mike (01:25:28):
No, replacing them both at the same time is the easiest
way to do it.

Yes , it is, and, as you say,
they're cheap I think they're $4to $5, and you get three of
each in a bag and if you pushout I don't know, eight to ten
models a year, whatever, youmight go through one or two
O-rings with that much volume,which isn't bad.

Mike (01:25:52):
I've got to imagine why Dave's even having a problem
with it then.

Well, thank you.
Thank you, Okay, mike.
Wow, it's getting rough.
Yeah, I know, and it alsodepends on if you're using
enamels or lacquers or acrylics,because obviously you know, a

(01:26:15):
little bit of the thinner mediummay get on those and enamels or
lacquers are much moreaggressive than acrylics and may
start to soften those.

Dr Strangebrush (John Mi (01:26:35):
That's especially true for the black
O-ring under the air cap.
If you're an HS guy, so you canshoot the nastiest lacquer
through HS brushes all day andit won't hurt them.
But that black O-ring isexposed on the outside of the
brush.
So if you spill lacquer thinneron it or you soak the air cap

(01:26:57):
with the black O-ring on it inlacquer thinner, it won't last,
it'll just dissolve and thenyou'll start getting bubbles in
the paint cup.
So okay, last one.
This is when everybody applauds.

No.

Mike (01:27:10):
I'll put that in later.

No we listen.
Every time that we do one ofthese episodes our, the response
we get from all of ourlisteners is when's he going to
be on again?

Each one of those guys costs me $5.

Mike (01:27:28):
Well, do you want the applause or the laugh track?

Either one.

Mike (01:27:32):
I'll take both.

Okay.

Or both, all right.
Last one, ronald T.
Now, this was a good one.
Ronald called me Again, one ofmy customers.
He's been a customer of minenow for three or four years and
kind of watched him progressthrough various stages, of
newbie through somebody whopretty much knows what he's
doing, and he sends me picturesof his model.

(01:27:57):
He's a car guy and the glosscoat looks horrible, it's pebbly
, it's textured, and he and Ispent probably way too much time
on the phone trying to figureout what in the heck was going
on with his gloss coat.
And we spent way too much timetalking about dilutions and

(01:28:20):
including retarders and yada,yada, yada.
And finally, after kind ofexhausting all the other
possibilities, I asked himsomething I should have asked
him from the get-go, which isfor a 1-24th scale car model
what size tip are you using toapply your gloss coat?

(01:28:41):
And he came back with well, Ionly use one size tip, doc, it's
the 0.15.

Mike (01:28:52):
He's likely one clogging yeah and that was the.

He was gloss coating a millimeter
at a time you know, the thing isthat he, he came, he developed
a technique right where he wasgetting gloss onto the model as
a wet coat.
It was shiny.
But here the deal he waspulling the lever all the way
back to the stop.
He's getting a lot of haloeffects.

(01:29:19):
You got it and you know.
This gets to a brief discussionon what the window, the ideal
window of lever throw is for anynozzle needle combination, any
nozzle needle combination.
And in my hands, once you getthe throw past about 60% into 70
, you can look on the outside ofthat cone and you can start see

(01:29:40):
stipple, start seeing stipplebuild up around the comb.
That's paint that's not beingatomized and it's coming off in

(01:30:06):
drops Just blowing out of there.
Brush went back and shot youknow another car model and got a
gloss coat that looked like youknow 10 foot deep glass is
absolutely beautiful.
So all of that work he didnailing his, dilution, nailing
his, everything else you knowworked out in the end, once we
figured out where the problemwas and the moral to the story

(01:30:28):
is, in general at least in myhands I find it's it's it's best
to match the tip size thatyou're using to the job and if
you're going to be shootingsomething like a primer or a
clear coat and you're working onsomething like a 48 scale
aircraft kit, 35th scale smallpiece of armor, you're going to

(01:30:49):
be wanting to run something likea 0.4 or 0.45 millimeter tip
for primers and clear coats.
You know, the opposite end ofthat spectrum of course is if
you're doing fine line andyou're trying to get a one
millimeter wide line, you'renever going to try to do that
with a 0.45 millimeter tip.
So at that point clearly thejob dictates a smaller tip.
And for fine line, you know, Ilike to say if you can get down

(01:31:11):
to 0.15 with the HSie Dave, I'man airbrush junkie.

I'm there with you.
I currently have six, so I'm oh, that ain't nothing, I'm there
with you.
Do you tend to actually swapout the needle and tip on
airbrushes, or do you have onethat's a 1.5 tip and another
that's a 4 tip and anotherthat's a 2.5 tip, I mean so that

(01:32:00):
you don't have to ever botherdoing the swaps?
Or do you go ahead and you have, you know, one, one evolution
one?

Mike (01:32:09):
man, that's a first world pro?

yeah, I guess it is.
I completely admit that yeah.

So it's a great lead up to what I
think is the the real utility ofof having a brush with
different size chips versus abrush where you've just got the
one size.
To answer your question, backwhen I was a wee baby modeler
and wasn't a dealer in hardersteam bag brushes, I only had
two or three brushes that I usedall the time.

(01:32:36):
Now I have a collection ofbrushes that go back literally
to 1973.
I still have the first Badger Iever got.
Okay, so I won't tell you howmany airbrushes are in my
collection, because it'sembarrassing.
How many do I actually use?
Because it's embarrassing?
How many do I actually use?
Back before I was a dealer?
Maybe two, and at that point Iwas changing out the tips and,

(01:33:05):
unlike an Iwata, where to removethe nozzle, you need to get
that tiny little wrench andthose tiny little threads that
are just trying to getcross-threaded when you put it
back in.

And they're done that have the receipt.

Mike (01:33:16):
Right and the broken airbrush.

Yeah, exactly.

Right Now.
The utility of the HS design isthat there is no wrench
involved.
As you guys know, you screw theair cap off and the nozzle
literally just pops right out ofthe air cap no wrenches
required.
So, because I was using HS wayback when, I did take the time
to change up my tips from 0.15to a 0.2 to 0.4 to a 0.6,

(01:33:43):
whatever I needed, depending onthe job.
To answer your question nowthat I'm a big fat HS dealer
with access to everything I'veever wanted yes, I do have a
brush configured just for fineline.
I have a brush configured formy normal work, which is an.
They're all evolutions.

(01:34:04):
I'll tell you honestly, they'reall evolutions.
I am an evolution fanatic.
I think it's the best brushI've ever used.

I don't disagree at all.

Yep .
So I have a fine line evolution, I have a general work
evolution, I have a primerevolution primer and clear coat
evolution and I have, I think, acouple of infinities configured
for fine line as well asmetallics, if you can afford to
have a brush that's dedicatedjust to metallics.
Talk about a first world problemyeah that's an easy way of

(01:34:37):
making sure that you never get apearled spitfire.
Yeah, yeah, but it costs moneyand not everybody can afford a
dedicated brush just formetallics, so you don't have to
have that.
Of course you know that.
I mean you can get any brushclean enough after metallics.
You can go through it to youknow to shoot a clear coat and
not have a problem.
It's just going to be more timeand work on your part to do.

(01:34:57):
Yeah, you just got to do ityeah, you do.

but it is nice to be in the position where you've
got those brushes lined up andyou can just without having to
do the swaps.
Although, especially on theEvolution, the swap is very easy
, it is Because that tip is adrop-in fit rather than a
screw-in fit.
You just pop that nose cap off,you drop in the new tip and

(01:35:34):
then you take the needle thatyou've taken out, you put the
one in that's sized for the.
It's not a four to five minutejob to actually do that.

Mike (01:35:39):
But you see what he did there, john, what he just split
his freaking nozzle.

No, I had the needle out first.

Mike (01:35:47):
It's like when you get on YouTube or the internet for a
DYI car project disconnect thenegative battery terminal.
It's the first step of everyDYI car project.

Yeah.

Mike (01:36:02):
So for airbrush work, for an HS evolution it should be
Take the needle out, Back theneedle out or take it out.

Yep the needle out, back the needle
out or take it out.
Yep, you know, if I, if I couldadd one of the things that, uh,
that hs changed relativelyrecently, a couple of years ago
is they went to the new v2needles which had the little
bumps machined on the back ofthe needle yeah, that's nice for
keeping them straight.
It really is, because beforethey they had practically no

(01:36:32):
markings that were easy toidentify.
But now that you've got a onebump, two bump, four bump,
whatever, that makes changingtips really really easy and darn
near impossible to mix matchthe wrong needle with the wrong
tip, as long as you're lookingat those bumps, yeah, yeah, and
with that gents.
That is my last stump, thechump question.

Well, as always it has been, a time has flown.
We've been sitting here talkingwell over an hour, and I would
swear it was 15 minutes.
As I always say every timeyou're on, I learn new things.
That's true, true as true today, as the first time we talked

(01:37:15):
and it was too long from havingyou on previously.
We need to either have thatpaint talk or do something.
We need to have another talkand not let it go another eight
months or whatever.

Mike (01:37:30):
Well, it's going to be paint talks, plural Talk.
Okay, that's fine.

That paint talks plural Talk.

Okay , that's fine, that sounds good
to me, that sounds good.
I always enjoy it.
Guys Truly do.

Mike (01:37:38):
All right, john.
Well, thanks again.
It's always a pleasure to haveyou on and the information is
always very valuable, and Ialways have an opportunity to
make fun of Dave while we'retalking to you, so it's all good
.

It's so easy.
It's not the only time he doesit, though.

Take care guys.

Mike (01:37:59):
Hopefully we'll figure out my master steel problem and my
evolution.

Yes, first of all , john's just a really nice guy.
He's also a natural teacher.
He has information and he wantsto share that with other
modelers, which is what makeshim so good at helping people
when they contact him withairbrush problems.

Mike (01:38:22):
It's always good to have him on and I think we got some
good plans for some morefeatures coming up in the future
.

Yes.

Mike (01:38:29):
And look forward to having him back, Dave.

Me too, yes, and look forward to having him back.

The Voice of Bob (Baer) (01:38:36):
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(01:38:57):
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(01:39:18):
.

Mike (01:39:20):
It's the Benchtop Halftime Report, Dave, just in time for
college football.

And you know what ?
I've got a benchtop that'sactually doing things.
Good, let's hear about it.
The Bearcat is 99.9% done, or,as I texted to you, very, very,
very, very close to finishBasically, I'm adding some

(01:39:46):
exhaust stains, a littlechipping, then I've got to slap
the gear in and it's done.
And in fact I was DMing with DrGeldmacher because this needs
to go to be with the collectionof models that we had for
Hampton this year.
It looks like we're tentativelyplanning to meet in

(01:40:09):
Murfreesboro at the Murfreesborocontest in November, because
that's kind of in the middle forboth of us.
Tentatively, I'm planning toattend that contest in November
where I will hand over theBearcat to him, but it should be
done next 10 days.

(01:40:30):
Just again, the things that areleft to do are almost nothing.
Then I will immediately.
Well, I've, additionally, I hadthree Bearcats that I was doing
all at once, two dash twos andone 1B.
The two dash twos, one of themwent into the trash when I

(01:40:52):
ruined it.
The second one is the one thatis 99.9% done.
The 1B is all painted, ready togo.
And if you remember, mike,because you were sitting in the
Airbnb with me, I talked withPaul Gloucester extensively
about masking because he haddone a Red Bull Air Racer that

(01:41:16):
had been done all with masks,and I want to do masks and
stencils.
I've got the Cameo but Ihaven't used it much.
That aircraft is going to be aproject that sits on the side
and from time to time I pull itout and I'm using it as a
masking and stenciling mule andI'm counting on Mr Gloucester to

(01:41:41):
hold my hand and walk methrough that.
Additionally, two other things.
The SAM will then go back on toget the underside oil treatment
, and the SAM is pretty darnclose too.
So my idea is I'm going tobring that back into the queue

(01:42:02):
to get it finished.
I'm also going to finish upthat Vespa BT-7.
And then I talked to Mike aboutthis the other day.
Chris Meddings provided some 3Dprinted stuff that he's been
doing and he did some 72nd scaleVickers K guns, which are

(01:42:24):
machine guns that were used bythe British for machine gunner
rear machine gunners.
For machine gunner rear machinegunners.
The Japanese copied the gun, soit also applies to many early
Japanese kits and I was tellingMike the other day I pulled
these things out and just primedthem just to see what they were

(01:42:45):
like.
The level of detail isunbelievably impressive so
impressive that, frankly, I'mamazed that you can get the
level of detail that he did onsomething this small it really.
Once I had primed them and thencut one or two off of the

(01:43:07):
support structure and took alook at them under a magnifying
glass and took a look at themunder a magnifying glass, I was
just blown away.
I'm going to start playingaround with those a little bit
just because I want to get acouple of them done up, and I'm
going to send a couple to Miketo have him look at them.
And, chris, if you're listeningto, this color me impressed.

(01:43:31):
These things are freakingamazing.
So that's what my bench lookslike.

Mike (01:43:36):
Now you got to come up with a project to use them.

I know, I know, but believe it or not, that has
been nagging at me ever since Iprimed these.

Mike (01:43:44):
So it sounds like a way I would get into a project.

Yeah, that's exactly.
That's exactly right.
So that's what my bench lookslike, and things are moving and
I'm motivated.
Post-snats, everything's comingup roses, I'm happy and the
mojo is high, so hopefully thatwill continue.

(01:44:06):
What does your benchtop looklike?

Mike (01:44:09):
Well, send some of that my way, because I've been
struggling lately just to getmotivated and I don't understand
.

Well, it's not necessarily you're struggling to
get motivated, but you, you've,you've got so many things in
mind yeah, it's, it's not alldirectly putting parts together
kind of stuff.

Mike (01:44:27):
I got a lot going on and, uh, I get in these modes where
I'm just doing a lot of researchand solution thinking and I
don't know, I kind of drown inthat sometimes.
So I've been trying to take atleast one thing approach at the
workbench every day to keepthings moving.
So I don't know, I think I'm atthe point now where it's going

(01:44:47):
to start moving forward again.
And one thing I've been workingon folks have been seeing it on
the dojo group the radiatorsfor my KV-85, done a what I'd
call Verlinden-esque boxingblank with the detail down
inside of it to put up under theopening in the tank proper.
And man, that just took all thejoy out of painting those

(01:45:11):
things.
I stated on the dojo I felt likea failing kindergartner because
I was trying to paint thisstuff down inside this box and
just paint was getting all overeverything I didn't want.
It was better just to bendthose and jump back into CAD and
break the thing apart into twopieces and then print them
separately.

(01:45:31):
So now I've got a radiator andthen I've got the blanking box.
The blanking box just has to bepainted black.
The radiator's got some flataluminum colors and some grays
and some stains and stuff.
I know what I want to do withit, but now that it's free of
the vertical walls around it Ican get to everything I want to
get to and paint the full thing.
So that's where that's going.

(01:45:51):
I haven't done much else pastthat because I've got to get
these done before I can seal upthe back of the engine deck.
So I just need to get thesepainted and get them assembled
and we'll be good to go forwardagain.

Okay, Well, you're making progress and I'll
tell you, you brought that KVkit to the Nationals and had it
out on the table and it reallylooked good.
I mean, you've made some reallynice progress on it and I'll be
honest with you, I'm justanxious to see it in primer
because I really want to seewhere you're going to go from

(01:46:23):
there.

Mike (01:46:24):
Well, in addition to the KV-85, I've been doing kind of
front-end work on the Musaruproject, the Miata.
And front-end work I don't meanstep one and two of the
construction sheet, I meansorting out the paint scheme I
want to do and the markings I'mplanning to do on this car and
figuring out how I'm going to dothat.
So once I'm comfortable withthat, we'll probably start that

(01:46:47):
one next month.
I think it's a curbside kit, sothere's not a lot to the model
itself.
It's more paint than assembly.
I think, yeah, it's a curbsidekit, so there's not a lot to the
model itself.
It's, it's, it's.
You know, it's more paint thanassembly, I think.

So sure Should be fun you got to get that KV and
primer.

Mike (01:47:00):
I do, I do, and it's not.
It's not that far off.
I think it can happen fairlyquickly If I I created for
myself.

But then you solved it yourself too.

Mike (01:47:12):
So that's great and this one's.
It'll be a little bit of asurprise.
I've had an, an HO scalestructure in the back of my
display case for a number ofyears.
It was a, a kit that I ended upbuilding as a, as a shallow
relief facade to like go againstthe backdrop.
And I started this thing afterI'd gotten out of model

(01:47:34):
railroading, for the most partbecause I saw what decently
painted structures were sellingfor on ebay yeah I mean really
selling, not what some joker wasasking for, it right.
But you go into a sale soldauction and see I'm like, okay,
I know I can build one and paintone better than that and that
that was worth that guy's time.
So I started this thing and alot of the base painting and the

(01:47:57):
masking, the doors and windowsis all done.
It's just been sitting sothinking about using this as a
Kickstarter to get back intokind of the paint mindset before
I get the KV that far along.

One of the things that makes really good modelers
really good modelers, from whatI've observed, is that they
paint regularly, that they'vealways got something that
they're airbrushing orweathering, and those are skills
that I've said this before onthis podcast those skills, I

(01:48:28):
think, are perishable.
I think are perishable, and soone of the things I think is a
good idea is to always havesomething like that or in
process, so that you don't gomore than a week without having
picked up an airbrush andpainted something.

Mike (01:48:47):
And a lot of the stuff I need to do on.
It is applicable to otherthings.
There's going to be a lot oflayered painting effects and
stuff on it, so I might do that.
I haven't decided yet.
There's some parts I have tolocate for it to finish it out
right.
But again, it's mostly togetherand it's already been base
coated.
It's been sitting in there fora number of years I can't even

(01:49:09):
venture to guess how long beforethis podcast initiated.
So definitely more thaninitiated.
So definitely more than five.
So that's my bench man.

All right.

Mike (01:49:17):
That's quite a bit sort of .

I haven't done a whole lot, but we're looking
forward to hearing about greatprogress in two weeks.

The Voice of Bob (Baer) (01:49:27):
Classic Model Mojo is brought to you by
Squadron.
Head on over to Squadroncom forthe latest in kits and
accessories, all at a greatprice and with great service.
Squadron adding to the stashsince 1968.

Mike.
Manufacturers continue to rollout kits at an amazing rate,
everything from the mainline bigmanufacturers to these 3D print
companies which seem to besprouting up like mushrooms.
So do you have some faves andyawns?

Mike (01:50:04):
Yeah, I might disagree with your generalities about how
fast that's been coming out,but I got a few.
Okay, my first fave is from acompany called Sarmat Models and
it's in 135th scale.

Okay.

Mike (01:50:17):
It is a 76.2 millimeter regimental gun, model 1927.

I know what that is.

Mike (01:50:24):
I know you do, because you picked it in all your early
campaigns for your Red Army inclose combat.
Cross of Iron video game.
Exactly Because it's all youcan afford to get.
Yeah, that's right, but that'sthe gun it is.
I don't think it has a splittrail, I think it's got a single
trail arm, you know,rectangular shield, short barrel

(01:50:44):
.
It's a really interesting gun.
I'd like to have this kit, butunfortunately it's from a
Russian manufacturer and youknow, and you know what that all
entails.

Right, that's no-go, at least for the time
being.
Has anyone done that kit, thatgun before?

Mike (01:51:02):
I need to go dig in the stash I've got remember I picked
up those .35-scale guns.
It was at our show a coupleyears ago.
I want to think one of them isthis gun, but I don't think it
is.

Because I bought them as well.
I know they had the little 45millimeter anti-tank gun.
But there was another gun.
Almost can see it from whereI'm sitting.
I don't think it's this gun,but I can't, so I can't tell you
.
But as soon as we're donerecording, I'm going to go over
there and look.

Mike (01:51:32):
So am I, but in my stash, not yours.

There you go.
Well, my first one's going tobe one that I've already
mentioned the resin detail, orthe 3D print detail.
Company ASK A-S-K has come outwith the 72nd scale 3D printed
engine and cowl flaps for theTamiya Zero, and David want,

(01:52:00):
david want bad, and so I'm goingto have to figure out how David
can get those relatively soon,because, man, if it is as good
as the CAD looks and I've seenother products from this company
and they are really good, soI've got no reason to believe
they're not going to be, and Ican just see all sorts of

(01:52:24):
possibilities with this thing.
So I can't wait.

Mike (01:52:27):
Including complicating your greatest kit builds and not
getting any of them done.

All right, thank you, yes, rub it in All right.
Thank you, yes, rub it in Allright.
What's?

Mike (01:52:35):
your next fave, it's from A-Model in 72nd scale.
Okay, rds-6s, rds-27thermonuclear bomb on carriage
Yep.
Very interesting subject.
I wonder the quality of thiskit, but it's a pretty
interesting thing.

I can tell you I have their Tsar Bomba kit, which
looks very similar to this, bythe way.

Mike (01:53:00):
Is that a song by Richie Valen?

Yeah, that's right, tsar Bomba.
And let me tell you if it'sanything like the Tsar Bomba kit
, it's rough, it is rough, rough.
I can see why you're interested.
I'm interested too.
I like the nuclear weaponsstuff and the missile stuff, but
I'm not sure.

(01:53:23):
Speaking of not sure, I'm goingto give you a yawn before
another fave.
A company called Old Model Kitsannounced a release of the
Vultee Vengeance in 72nd scale.
At least they're honest.
Yeah, that's right, because Iam absolutely positive from the

(01:53:48):
box art that this is the oldfrog kit, and the frog kit
wasn't that great when it wasreleased.
This aircraft is made, I think,special hobby, or somebody
released a kit a number of yearsago.
I cannot think of any reason Iwould want, or anyone else would

(01:54:09):
want, to buy this kit.
Stay away.

Mike (01:54:15):
Go ahead and do your fave.
We'll finish on mine, becausemy yawn's a generality.

Okay, it's commentary my fave is there's a
company out of Ukraine.
Boy, there's a lot of greatstuff coming out of Ukraine and
I don't understand how, giventhe nature of what they're
dealing with, but also verythankful for it.
There's a company called KellikK-E-L-I-K that does 3D printed

(01:54:44):
decals, kind of like the Quintathings.
They've got a set for theBristol Blenheim and they've got
a set for the new Arma HobbyHawk 75 A1, slash A2.
I've seen not this company's 3D, but Quintus Studios and some

(01:55:07):
other companies' 3D decals,interior decals and boy, they
really can enhance a model.
I mean really, really nice.
I'd like to get my hands onthese and give them a try.
All right, mike, go ahead.

Mike (01:55:26):
August was weak sauce Dave .

About what.

Mike (01:55:29):
Releases.
They gave me nothing, man.
Now it's all I got.
All right.
Much of the stuff that got myattention was from Russian
companies, so they're kind ofno-goes.
I mean, if what was going ondidn't bother you, the logistics
of getting them is probablydamn near impossible right now.
And at this point, man, if 3Dprinted bits and bobs were rain,

(01:55:52):
we'd be building an arc.

Yes, which, by the way, reminds me to tell the
listeners if you buy somethingfrom a 3D print company, please
post on the dojo, post picturesand then post your comments
about the quality, where youobtained it, et cetera.
Evan recently posted a coupleon the dojo of some 3D print

(01:56:19):
stuff that he got, and it wasreally helpful because these
were companies that I'd hecknever heard of, much less dealt
with, dealt with, and so ifthere was anybody who was
interested in those types ofthings from that company, it was
nice to know what he thought,and it's not just limited to him

(01:56:41):
.
Any of the listeners who buysomething from a 3D print
company, please take pictures ofit, post it on the dojo along
with your comments, so that weall know the good and the bad
and the ugly yes, and the ugly.
It's a real service to all yourmodelers.

(01:57:02):
I'm happy Evan did that and Iwant to see other people do that
as well.
We're almost at the end of theepisode.
I'm assuming you're probablytoward the end of your modeling
fluid.

Mike (01:57:19):
Yes, which was the Woodinville straight bourbon
whiskey finished in pork casks.
And how was it?
It's an interesting palateshift, and I say that because
it's young, so it's got a hintof that leather note from the
lack of age, and I think theport cask finishing really
tempers that.

I like almost anything finished in port casks.

Mike (01:57:42):
Really, I don't get much of the port at all in this as
far as flavor.

Yeah.

Mike (01:57:48):
But I get this tempered youngness out of it, so it's a
nice sip.
I could enjoy this one fromtime to time.
I think it's a pretty goodthing.
So Woodinville out ofWoodinville, washington Not bad,
not bad Thumbs up Good, good.

Well, mr Gilman, I want to thank you for a fine,
fine beer.
I will tell you, this is thebest home-brewed beer I have
ever had.
It is just a great sip.
It's got no bad characteristicsat all.
It's just a very easy drink.
I wish I had a six-pack of thisstuff.

Mike (01:58:29):
Maybe it'll run into you again somewhere.

That's right, I may have to travel to Texas.

Mike (01:58:35):
Well, I think we did pretty good on the modeling
fluids.
I think we did.

We now are truly at the end of the episode.
Do you have a shout out or two?

Mike (01:58:49):
I've got two.
First up is Alan Tackett, whowe saw at the National
Convention.
He gave us each a coffee mugfrom his club chapter at the
National Convention and thatslipped through the cracks last
episode.
So, Alan, sorry to not mentionthat, but we appreciate the gift
.
Thank you very much.
They're nice, they're big.
They paid the big bucks to getthose made.

Yeah, in fact, mine is sitting on my desk at
work.
I use that as my work coffeecup now.
Well, if you've got one, goahead.
Well, I'd like to shout out MrChris Meddings for sending us
that 3D printed sample stuff andtell him how utterly impressed
I am by the work.

Mike (01:59:30):
I believe Chris is selling that stuff under the ITA3 brand
name and I think some of it'sbeing printed in the US now to
help him with some of hislogistical challenges.
So yeah, I've got some partstoo.
Mine are mostly armor related,but good stuff.
Hope he does more.

Very good, so you got another one.

Mike (01:59:47):
I do.
I want to shout out all thosewho have elected to support
Plastic Model Mojo through theirgenerosity, and we'd like to
extend our gratitude to you witha heartfelt thank you, most
recently, folks like Paul Goganand Dan Strohschein.
Thank you, gentlemen, forhelping us out there a little
bit.
And now to the generallistenership.
If you enjoy the show and youlike what we're doing, we'd like

(02:00:10):
to ask you to consider becomingpart of our growing list of
supporters, and we've made itpretty easy to do through
several avenues.
You could become a patron with areoccurring contribution
through Patreon, or you can makea single contribution or manage
your own recurring contributionthrough either PayPal or Buy Me
a Coffee.
All of these links can be foundat wwwplasticmodelmojo under

(02:00:30):
the support tab of the main menuor in the show notes of each
and every episode.
So thank you very much.
We appreciate the help.
It helps us keep this thingmoving along and help us bring
you new stuff.
So thank you.
We can't thank you enough.
Agreed, dave, you got any morebefore we get out of here.

No, I think it's time for us to get going, man,
get to modeling.

Mike (02:00:51):
All right, man.
Well, as we always say, so manykids, so little time, dave.

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The Joe Rogan Experience

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