Figure painting

[rogruth]

Now we know another of Sarges jobs.
I will keep my eyes open for him.

[Nev]

I'm watching I have a few myself to paint.
The Scaceman has many talents.
I'm eating an Ice Cream it's 87Deg and falling sssslowy at 20-00 hrs looks like a hot night coming up and I don't mean physical!
Nev.

[healey36]

Now we know another of Sarges jobs.
I will keep my eyes open for him.

Sarge gave me some tips on how to solder a lead-composite figure using dialed-back power on the iron. It worked well...better than the super-glue I'd been using.

Back to the twenties in a couple days...time to stoke the fire.

[Steamfan77]

Healey,

I think you did a great job on the figures, looking forward to seeing more.

Andy

[MurphOnMillerAve]

... a few pic's from the 2015 MFCA (Miniature Figure Collectors of America). These are 54mm, so a man stands 2-1/2 inches tall:







I'm pretty sure they did not use the "dip" method, lol...
Healey

Wow! Zounds! Spectacular! And pretty neat, too!

[sarge]

I just heard about this being discussed. Soldering white metal is a pretty standard skill in UK railway modelling (white metal castings abound in kits; more common than the American lost-wax brass castings norm) and for military figure modelling.

It's very straightforward once you get past the notion that (unlike soldering brass) screw-ups are melt-downs. For those who want to try your hand at it, my irons are standard pencil irons plugged into a Variac. Adjustable temp irons ("soldering stations") are available new. A box with a dimmer switch in it works, though the adjustment is a bit coarse. You play and practice with scrap until you get a feel and you know what settings work.

I use a liquid flux I got from the UK for whitemetal soldering. Diluted phosphoric acid works fine.

Solder comes in various temps but isn't very commonly used in the States so not that easy to find as solder, but "Cerro-bend" alloy is. Cerro-bend makes an outstanding 70C/158F melting point white-metal solder. I have a hexagonal pour of Cerro-bend that will outlast me and I do a lot of this both in railway modelling and repairing and modifying military figures.

I intend to teach Healey how to do this; in return he can paint some figures for me.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Cerro-bend makes an outstanding 70C/158F melting point white-metal solder.

It's also ~10% Cadmium. I'll get you some more gloves.

[sarge]

Most decent low-temp solders do, often with lead as well.

Soldering is a process to be respected; hot irons dripping with molten metals, torches, acids for fluxes, lead and cadmium still components of the more useful solders...

I'll take the gloves; in purple again, please.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'll take the gloves; in purple again, please.

Will do. Purple if possible. Lead may make the uninformed run about wringing their hands, but there are some many far worse things to be concerned about that get lost in the noise.

When I cleared one of my labs for renovations a few years back, the environmental guy was so agitated that he was literally hopping back and forth from foot to foot - was going to send him to the men's room. "We found traces of lead and mercury!!!!!!" My response: "I hope so. I have 40 tons of lead....... Oh, by the way, have you found the thorium yet?" and walked away.......

[sarge]

Ah, mercury...

I always (wrongly according to the health and safety wombles) held it wasn't the pure mercury but the crap that grows in mercury that one should be conscious of, but I digress...

Idle conversation until Healey paints that figure.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Ah, mercury...

I always (wrongly according to the health and safety wombles) held it wasn't the pure mercury but the crap that grows in mercury that one should be conscious of, but I digress...

Far worse are organo-mercury compounds.......

Idle conversation until Healey paints that figure.

Indeed. Then again, I'm taking a break from painting detail parts. It get tedious and waiting for the paint to dry simply lacks real entertainment value.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Ah, mercury...

I always (wrongly according to the health and safety wombles) held it wasn't the pure mercury but the crap that grows in mercury that one should be conscious of, but I digress...

Far worse are organo-mercury compounds.......

Idle conversation until Healey paints that figure.

Indeed. Then again, I'm taking a break from painting detail parts. It get tedious and waiting for the paint to dry simply lacks real entertainment value.

Maybe if you intently watch it dry, you'll drive more entertainment value from it? Really put your back into it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It get tedious and waiting for the paint to dry simply lacks real entertainment value.

Maybe if you intently watch it dry, you'll drive more entertainment value from it? Really put your back into it.

Ok, on that note, and since I really don't want to deprive you of this level of entertainment, come on by and we can watch it together, and then we can go down to the corner and watch the lights turn, or better yet, we can go up on the roof and watch the stars burn out until the heat death of the universe arrives.

Oh, what fun!

Than again, maybe it's time to dig out that DIY colonoscopy kit and give that a good testing!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It get tedious and waiting for the paint to dry simply lacks real entertainment value.

Maybe if you intently watch it dry, you'll drive more entertainment value from it? Really put your back into it.

Ok, on that note, and since I really don't want to deprive you of this level of entertainment, come on by and we can watch it together, and then we can go down to the corner and watch the lights turn, or better yet, we can go up on the roof and watch the stars burn out until the heat death of the universe arrives.

Oh, what fun!

Than again, maybe it's time to dig out that DIY colonoscopy kit and give that a good testing!

Now, that was a low-blow.

[healey36]

Dammit, I just had a colonoscopy...what's the point of being on here if folks don't share that there's a kit available?

(and yes, the downstairs bathroom has been repainted since the ordeal...)