i have three on the work bench as of now
1.hobby boss ZTZ 99A MBT
2.AFV CLUB ATGM STRYKER
3.TAM M48A3 PATTON
was going to put another layer of clear on the 48 this weekend and crack went my testors airbrush so back on the other two

... so much plastic... so little time ...

Greetings ...

ha ha tell me about it. speaking of lots of plastic that afv club stryker has a ton of it

Hi Craig,

got some nice projects going there. Id love to see some more on the M-48. its looking nice! that sux about your airbrush, but i didnt even know Testors made an airbrush. good luck man!

Gary

thanks gary ill post some pics soon i did not like the few i took so far.my wife got me the air brush as a gift.its a testors/aztekA430 with a bunch of tips you can change out eazy to clean works for me i have been looking some other ones not sure what to get

Hello friend.
You have big projects and a lot work to do, this part it's so good, I like to process paint, I'll follow along!

Hey Craig,

Oh yeah! Aztek, i forgot about that. My bad man. Craig, there are alot of decent airbrushes at realy good prices. If you want a finely tuned piece of equipment that with care will last indefinately, and you have the extra cash, Iwata is the one. I use 2 types of Iwatas an Iwata Eclipes HP-CS which is my work horse and an Iwata High Performance Plus for the complex camo jobs and percision work. anyways, thanks for sharing man!

Gary

i was looking that those on line the other day as far as price not bad at 250+i buy sanp-on tool for my job talk about $$$ how are they to clean and keep going?what are the diffrence between the two?is badger any good i saw one apart looks like a pain to get back together

Hi Craig,

The Iwatas are easy to take apart and clean especially the Eclipse. they are very well engineered, and high quality materials. I got my Iwata Eclipse at this link. and they have free shipping.

http://www.merriartist.com/Iwata_Eclipse_Airbrush_p/i-ecl-4500.htm

best purchase ive made so far towards my modeling skill.
I cant speak to the ease of cleaning the badgers, but the new breed of badgers are supposed to be really good.

Hope that helps man!
Gary

more work on the hobby boss ztz99a today still waiting on air brush to come back from testors and my new iwata eclipse hp-cs to show up if you have one of these kits be warned that the instructions for the fenders are backwards the final drive do not fit worth a lots of play. tracks not so good also so i got the bronco ab3530 workable combat tracks on the way.

hear are some more shots of the ZTZ99A fenders iam still working on to make them fit better the top part fight really tight so much so it warps or bows the fender iam hopping that slotting the pin holes fixes this had the same issue with the left front turret armor. the oil drums are on the way from spure brothers 3.99 ordered two i have the B version of this kit with the leggo cammo

Hi Craig,

I have not built any Hobby Boss kit. how would you rate them?
Yuors looks pretty cool.

Gary

this is my second one they are weird some parts fit really well others not so good i would say like a c in that dept.but the detail is really nice imo did a lav 150 had some major issues with hull i had to put in hot water to get them to fit. i got both ZTZ99 A and B kits from squadron for 19.99 the hobby store hear sells them for like 58 or something like that.
this one is my 6th build.i really like tamiya and avf club is really nice the stryker fell together just a lot of parts

Craig,

$19.99! heck yeah, i would deal with some fit issues for that price. squadron is about 20 minutes from my house. when they have their model show you can get access to there warehouse, ive been in there 3 times, OH MY GOD! its like paradise in there. its huge!

Gary

all day long at that price few bucks for shipping way worth it in the long run it will give me a better skill set in the building dept.can you go their on normal days and get stuff or is it only when they open it.

Hi Craig,

Squadron isnt like a hobby store you can go shopping, its just a big warehouse for their online store. they have an open house and 40% discount when they put on the eagle quest model show at a hotel. i think they make exceptions for out of state buyers that want access to the warehouse. I live 20 min. away but i cant go shop there. I usually buy from sprue brothers anyway. I order from sprue bro's i get my orders in 3 days. i order from squadron and it takes a week or more to get to my goodies. makes no sense!

Gary

you think it would be their next day with you being 20min away they use fedx its like a week and a day or so but my driver that is my area comes at 8 at night supre bros is quick 2-3 days tops
you have any pointers on cleaning this air brush some do and donts

Hey Craig,

I can tell you my process. I use Tamiya paint and primers. i also use Future clear. when i clean up after spraying Tamiya paints i clean up with Klean Strip brand lacquer thinner. ill spray about a half a color cup full then add a little and back flush, pour that out wipe clean the cup and add clean thinner and spray again. i repeat a couple times then ill take my needle out and wipe it clean, a spot of AB lube and back in it goes.
when i use Future clear i do basicly the same thing. only this time first i spray a color cup full of Windex through, wipe clean then i spray half a color cup of water to flush the Windex (which is corrosive to the AB) out good. wipe out cup and then i do the Lacquer thinner process. The way i do it is only one of many ways. I just know that i keep my air brushes in tip top shape and what i do seems to work great.
Of course you have to break it down and clean every thing at times after heavy use but i still use lacquer thinner to do the job. my airbrushes have Teflon seals and ive not had any issues with useing Lacquer thinner.
Never use any kind of houshold lube. it can fowl up your airbrush. use AB lube only. what kind of airbrush you use?
If there is anything ive not adressed, please feel free to ask. hope that helps!

Gary

i pretty much do the same thing with the testors ab i have never lubed it who makes the ab lube?and where is that put on the ab??? the testors is a sealed brush i pop the tips in an ultra sonic cleaner i used when tattooing before changing over to throw away tubes
how is the model air shoot threw is brush.it seams that iam shoot the stuff at30 psi thinned down with their thinner and some water.
not sure what happend to the testors brush before the crack noise and the spring tension left the trigger.stilll waiting on a answer from testors i hoping they will replace it but the new brush should be hear tuesday
thanks gary

Hi Craig,

I dont know any thing about the testors AB but i have Iwatas AB lube that came with my Eclipse. Ive heard that Badger makes a great lube called "Needle Juice" you should be able to order some. you pretty much lube the moving parts from tim to time. trigger and the air valve that it seats on. and a spot on the needle towards the end so it lubes the seal. thats what i do anyways. if you have an ultrasonic cleaner, thats awsome. thats the way to go, so ive heard.

Gary

the combat tracks came today lets see how theses go. ihave have issues with the hobby boss tracks not staying glued to each other i have used gator glue tamiya ultra thin and super glue.i have done a few sets ofthe afv club and white metal tracks before.

gary thanks for all the help with the ab questions testors got back to me today about the ab i guess the trigger spring broke some how

Hi Craig,

Not a problem at all man! Im happy to help.

Are the hobby boss tracks rubber band/vinyl tracks? if so they wont glue together. you have too melt them together or use staples. I despise vinyl tracks. Gator glue is acrylic glue made only to glue PE brass to plastic. i have 2 bottles and i dont like it. i cant get it to hold anything together. i stick with super glue. Tamiya extra thin cement is the type i use exclusively for plastic kits no matter to quality of the plastic it has always worked fabulously.

The tracks and barrels you got look great. you gonna start back on that kit?

Gary

no they are no the rubber band type i really do not like that type at all i dont think i will ever use that type of track set up unless i have no choice.the hobby boss track are 81 indy tracks. the plastic is hard and when glued together are weak and have broken a few times not sure on how or what method will work the best to get them to fit i was trying to avoid tracks and road wheels on the tank when painting.and was not going to be lazy and just do the track you just see (side skirts)the rear drive fits not so good that is why i wanted to the workable tracks in hopes that would put some pressure on it to pull it straight.
i work on the tank each am i get up at 5 and a bit when i get home from work

this is pretty cool

got the oil drums put together just need to find some brass or some thing to make the straps any tips?the fenders are done and after slotting the pin holes the bowing went away they fit nice up next for this project "guan yu" my buddy calls it city tank (south park)is the bronco tracks that look like a bunch of fun.dont know when ill get back on the stryker not thrilled with the tires that look like the dont have any weight on them.last but not least the m48 will get more done this weekend my air brushes have came back form being replaced by testors and i got a new iwata eclipse hp-cs