Hi Lou. If I lived closer to you, I'd definitely join your model club. I think Asheville may be a longer drive than would be practical, unfortunately. But I'll continue watching your shows with relish, my friend. Peace.
Sir, that's already looking spectacular! Your videos are really inspiring me to get back into modelling. I've always fancied building a good quality Apollo lunar module kit 😊
Beautiful work Lou!! Once again your use of LEDs makes the kits come alive. The matte you sprayed on top of the decals sure made everything blend in perfectly. I was curious to see if that was going to happen cause you could definitely see a difference with just the gloss and decals together. Glad that worked out.
I swear by the Vallejo 71199 Matt Varnish. Great stuff. I thin about 50/50 with clean tap water(!) and spray at anything that suits you (usually about 18-20psi for me). Have used it for years, and never had a problem. Dries beautifully smooth and matt.
That was a great dithering, mumbling sign off! Had me laughing. I love your new franchise, Lou-- lots of luck with Light Boxes 'r' Us! I too had my serious reservations about the decals-- not "glad' exactly to see my imagination can still see that sort of thing but, brother, you did as well as possible. The only thing I can see that might be better -- and I take nothing away from my learned colleague PaulBo, is a simple set of brass outlines to be rendered in white. Not the whole blasted thing in brass (with his oh so perfect half-etch... darn his lights!). Because then you have to paint those high brass bits in white-- trading one set of fuss for another. Anyway-- I think spotted a few more grey hairs at the end of the decaling sessions! But that Vallejo varnish tied things up with a bow. Nice results. Consider this: you view will be limited and seeing the white outlines in dim interior lighting will make the overall perception one of perfection. All the agida notwithstanding, I think it'll be near ideal. Very nice report, Lou! Looking forward to ALL lit up interior...
Hi Lou, I was watching your latest video today as I have for the last 5 or 6 years , after I had back surgery. Well, I heard you say that the name of your local hobby shop is called "HANGAR 18" and I wanted to let you know I owned and ran a hobby Shop named HANGAR 18 from 1991 to 1994. It was located in Meadville, PA which is about 25 miles from from your hometown of Franklin. I currently live in Guys Mills, PA and you might know where that cross-roads is. I just finished (about 99%) a U.S.S. Reliant, a kit I've had from my old hobby shop. I have to build the light board which wont take too long. I am also going to finish a 1/350 TOS I started 3 or 4 years ago.I enjoy watching your videos so keep up the good work! Bill Maloney
Tongue firmly in cheek - 2001: An Aztek Dummy Parody.. 'Open the pod bay-doors HAL' 'I'm sorry Lou, I'm afraid I can't do that' 'What's the problem?' 'You've been drinking Vallejo Matt Varnish again Lou' Back to reality - fantastic work
The soft foam bags that come wrapped around new TVs and computer monitors make good diffusers, and one bag will make a big number of diffusers! Only on LEDs that run cold, not for anything that makes heat! Instead of light blocking the back of white light boxes, it might be worth painting the boxes transparent red to add to the red lighting for the interior?
Lou the photo etch from Paragrafix is perfect for these decals. You put the decals on the photo etch and then you just drop the photo etch over the kit parts
@@aztekdummy lou you're gonna laugh at me, I bought the Voodoofx light kit thinking it would be easy to light up my EVA pod. When I got it its parts only leds Resistors and a circuit board with separate wires. Looks like I'm gonna have to learn how to light it from scratch like you did with this kit.
Hey Lou., Love your progress!!! Starting my build. Can you share the make or source for the double count LED strips you used? Also, what voltage are they? Thanks in advance
Dude, 3D printing would save you a lot of time and trouble as far as scratch building stuff. I got an Ender 3 for under $300 and love it (didn't take long to get into the printing groove once I started). Plus Tinkercad would be more than adequate for what you would need which is free and a web-app so it works through the browser.
Cool update Lou. I was thinking about the decals that go around the buttons. What if one painted surfaces black as you did, then used a small enough square or straight edge and dental pick to lightly scribe the white lines around the button banks instead of dealing with the decals?
Nice video Lou. Could you please show us your shirts at the start of the videos? I could see it was a Monty Python one, but could only see the helmet tops.
Wow, that Matt Varnish really did help things along. If you're calling it a possible Polly Scale Dust replacement, then I gotta know, how did you spray the Vallejo? Thinning, pressure etc. Keep it up!
Perhaps just glue a white sheet of paper behind the buttons to diffuse the light like the others? That way the brightness will be comparable instead of using plastic sheet.
Did you consider cutting away the decal area over the buttons and lights so that the decals could kinda lay flat "around" them? seems like some super tedious Xacto knife work might've made that application easier in the long run...
the decals do have "holes" in the carrier film for that purpose, but they are not quite big enough. I've been slicing them at the corners to open them up a little more.
@@aztekdummy Ah... I misunderstood your comment about the darts then... I thought you were slicing the outer edges of the decals to get them to lay to the contours better...
