spikey

Yes, and I wish it would go away! Anyhow, thank you, kind sir. Well done. I honestly thought it sounded like a brass band practicing ...

I'm assuming this stuff does in fact dry matt (as opposed to semi-matt), but does anybody know if it's actually safe to use on top of acrylic model paints?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxPRWZSy54I This came up as a YouTube recommendation last night and is now driving me nuts. I feel I should know the tune that's being played in the background between 6 and 7 minutes in and again after 9.00 but I can't put a title to it. Anybody know what that is please?

Thank you gentlemen. Points noted - and artist's colour wheel ordered!

I have some brick red Vallejo acrylic model paint which straight out of the bottle is exactly the colour I want for a chimney stack - except for one thing. It's the right colour, but it's too strong/loud/saturated. If I try to mellow/fade/quieten it down by adding white, that doesn't seem to work. I get a paler colour, but it's not actually a washed-out version of the original. What I'd like to achieve is what I got as a kid with my ordinary paintbox watercolours i.e. not much water gives a strong colour, lots of water gives me the same colour but a weaker version of it. But that's not going to work with my brick-red acrylic, because if I simply thin it to any extent, it doesn't cover ... So ... how do I "weaken" a colour? Can that actually be done?

Me neither. The only reception punch-up I ever witnessed was between two oiks who were City traders, and the only venue-trashing I knew of was at a very prestigious venue at which some of the guests took exception to the bar being closed at midnight. Those responsible were chartered accountants.

Greetings to anyone else here who celebrates today rather than on Monday. Here's to the turning of the light.

Ref wanting to have the speeches before the meal, some venues won't go with that for two reasons: the service time of the first course is then entirely dependent upon how long the speeches actually take, and they have to keep paying the waiting staff for longer.

Thankfully Jukebox Radio is back from wherever it disappeared to, so I'm now back to quite happily skipping from that to Radio Paradise, Flower Power Radio, and Radio Dismuke - the latter on account of my liking for some music of the 20's and 30's

Speaking as an ex-wedding photographer who's sat through over 400 sets of wedding speeches, IMO what sort of a speech is required also depends a lot of the type of do. What's appropriate for 200 guests at an upmarket venue where you also have to contend with a toastmaster would probably go down like a lead balloon with 50 half-pissed family and friends in the back room of the local rugby club, and vice versa. Be that as it may, you've had plenty of good advice above, to which I'll only add that one of the most cringe-making things any wedding guest can endure is listening to somebody making a mess of a speech he's been dreading giving. Far far better to just be sincere, keep it simple, keep it short, then hand over to the groom. One other tip: bear in mind that you're going to photographed on the day, so get your other half to check you out the day before, and also make sure during the meal that you still look presentable. And go for a pee just before the sit-down ...

As Crompton 33 suggests, you can pay £50 + post for a headband magnifier from Farnell's, or you can pay £6.79 including post for much the same thing from various bods in China e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Head-Magnifier-with-2-LED-Lights-Magnifying-glass-hands-free-LED-Lamp-Headband/272867104103?epid=922596085&hash=item3f88259567:g:ozsAAOSwZJBX~dJv IMO that's got to be worth a try, but if you're in a hurry, the same thing's available from several UK suppliers at a tenner, posted. I'm in much the same boat as the OP eyesight-wise, and if nothing else can vouch for the fact that the first thing to do is improve your task lighting as much as you can. Bright lighting really does make a big difference.

Ahah! It does indeed seem that the least-matt finish I got on the bits I was painting was when I was being a bit heavy-handed in my haste to get them done, so thanks for that. Hopefully the bad worker will no longer blame his tools now. I'd still very much appreciate suggestions for colours though ...

Thank you gentlemen. While I'm on the subject (and also on a very tight budget!), can anybody please suggest useful Model Air colours to get for ... Slate roofs Brickwork Stone walls (warm Cotswold-y shades rather than greys) If there's any other colours that are particularly useful for buildings and maybe even people, I'd be very glad to know of them.

As far as I'm concerned, happiness is a mix of Greenscenes 408 and 411 in the ratio 2:1, held in place with Deluxe Materials' Ballast Bond. And the end result's a darned sight quieter-running than granite + PVA!

Gosh, indeed it could! I'd never have thought of that, Tony, so thank you. Off now to pop an M5 stainless nut in a couple of bottles, shake 'em to death and see what difference it makes

So I'm new to airbrushing and to Vallejo acrylics, and despite the rather steep learning curve, I'm very happy with the results so far except for one thing: according to the shops I bought the paints from, Vallejo Model Air dries matt. To my way of thinking, it does no such thing: it's not matt at all, but rather a semi-matt, which is no good for the buildings and scenery I need to use it for. I need matt, not semi-matt, and according to the internets there are two ways forward: I can add a touch of Tamiya Flat Base (X-21) to my paint, or I can spray the finished model with matt varnish. I tried the former without success, and I don't want to do the latter. So what's a chap to do? All I want to do is standardise on one range of nice airbrush-friendly acrylics which dry matt. Not semi-matt, but flat matt like Tamiya flat acrylics dry. Am I doing something wrong with the Model Air? Or is my best bet to cut my losses now and jump ship to Tamiya? (I stress that I'm not painting rolling stock, therefore I don't need "authentic" colours.)

Ah. In the UK, "rubbing alcohol" can be either surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol. Anybody know for sure which one works with Tamiya acrylics? ETA - just been reliably informed that IPA works, as does Wilko's concentrated screenwash, apparently!

Love the positioning of the Bantam next to that Rapide

Double-action, compressor with tank and trap. Thanks once again, gentlemen.

Thanks gents - but as this is completely new territory, I can't help wondering how one knows when a problem is due to paint consistency. Assuming a correctly set up airbrush running at the right pressure, I guess that if it's too thin, I'll simply get poor coverage at full paint flow. But what happens if it's too thick? How will I know it's too thick? Come to think of it, might it be an idea to simply get myself some Model Air and try to match the consistency of that until I get the hang of it all?

My shiny new airbrush kit should be here Monday and although I've done my homework here and on YouTube, there's one thing I'm completely in the dark about. I'll be using Vallejo Model Color (i.e. not the ready-to-spray Model Air), and I have no idea how to thin it. Given that however thoroughly I shake my paints (each with an M5 stainless nut in the container), the consistency varies somewhat between colours, how do I arrive at the correct consistency for airbrushing? And how will I know when it is thinned correctly?

Thank you gentlemen! 250ml of d-limonene now on its way for me to have a go with for a fiver, delivered

OK, I'd never heard of Limolene, so I have to ask - why that rather than one of the MEK-based solvents? And do you use that for general sticking-together of plastic card, or just for laminating embossed sheets onto it? (BTW, I'm talking here about the thin Slater's embossed plasticard - not the thicker Wills mouldings)

That's exactly what I was concerned about. So I guess it's solvent if the bit I'm doing's small enough to allow evaporation round the edges and double-sided tape for bigger areas, with trial and error teaching me when I change from one to t'other?

I'm just about all set to have a go at this scratchbuilding lark, beginning with a simple low-relief warehouse in 1.0mm plastic card. This will be covered in Slater's embossed plastikard, but how do I stick one to t'other? What's the best method?