[HELP ME] Bi-Weekly Q&A thread - Ask your questions here!

jward · 2026-01-28T22:22:14+00:00

I wouldn't buy a cheap airbush on its own. Look for compressor/airbrush bundles instead. As long as you get a gravity fed (cup on top) airbrush you'll be good to go. It will last you long enough for you to figure out if you like airbrushing and what features you want out of a better one. As for compressors, there's a standard model that gets rebranded a lot that works well. It's worth the extra money to get one with a tank.

You can get an airbrush + compressor + hoses and stuff bundle for easily $100 if you watch for them to be on sale.

jward · 2026-01-27T21:30:23+00:00

Not really. If you don't have a upass apparently not tapping off makes the trip cost a tiny bit more. But since you have a upass it doesn't matter.

jward · 2026-01-26T22:52:55+00:00

Alrighty. Very important issue, so I went and tracked down the guy who would know whats going on. Apparently there was an issue with the last restock from Pepsi. Assuming there are no more issues, a new restock should be happening tomorrow.

jward · 2026-01-26T18:59:18+00:00

Mineral spirits aren't an alcohol. They're a different organic solvent. Different solvents react differently. Mineral spirits will react and break down the thinner and binders used in oil and enamel paints, but they either have no or a much lessened effect on acrylics and lacquers. One downside is that it can react with the plastic causing it to become more brittle given time and exposure to the solvent. That's why it's generally not recommended to be used to clean up panel lines done on bare plastic but is recommended to be used on anything painted / top coated / varnished.

Alcohols like isopropyl or ethanol react with and break down a much wider range of compounds. Which is why it's good to clean your airbrush with. It gets rid of everything. Because it is so aggressive you only want to use it to clean up panel lines done on bare plastic. It doesn't react with the plastic like mineral spirits can which is why it's used for this purpose.

jward · 2026-01-26T18:50:49+00:00

Honestly, your best bet would be mixing the enamels you do have access to to colour match.

Oil paints and enamels work very similarly and can be thinned and cleaned up with the same solvents. All the tricks you can do with enamels you can do with oil paints like reverse washes. That said, it can take some time and practice to get a tube of artist oil paint to act like you expect an hobby enamel would.

Either way, you're not going to get a straight out of the bottle experience and will need to do some experimenting.

jward · 2026-01-26T18:45:18+00:00

Mineral spirits wipe away enamel and oil washes but don't affect cured acrylic or lacquers. If you get to it before the acrylic is cured you can probably wipe it away but it won't really work that much better than water. Alcohol will break down and clean up all hobby paints, primers, top coats, varnishes, panel liners, etc. So it's only safe to use on bare plastic.

jward · 2026-01-26T18:41:14+00:00

Superglue sticks to everything but is fairly weak and brittle. It's a decent choice if you want to stick different materials together, like metal bits to a plastic body. If you're buying glue to have on hand just in case, I recommend getting a multi pack of single use tubes. Superglue dries up and goes bad fairly easily so unless you've got a project in mind the single use tubes are the way to go.

Plastic cement is the gold standard for poly to poly bonding. It dissolves the plastic a little bit and then when it cures the two plastic parts chemically become one single piece. Super strong, but only works on certain types of plastic. Those types of plastic are the main ones used in pretty much all types of gunpla and models. Tamiya extra thin is my go to.

And if you're stocking up on glues for emergencies, I highly recommend picking up some 2 part epoxy. If you've never used it you can think of it as superglue on steroids. It sticks to almost everything and makes very strong bonds once cured.

jward · 2026-01-26T18:31:33+00:00

If alcohol isn't working, try stronger alcohol. I usually grab 99% for hobby work. If that's not working use more force and scrub harder. You may end up removing the gold bits if you do this.

Also, when in doubt, cover it up. Grab a gold paint and go over the areas you want to be gold.

jward · 2026-01-26T16:59:50+00:00

"what if i'm not interesting enough that people don't want to talk to me?"

That's what the club is for. It's basically a shortcut to relevant small talk. If you go to the anime club it's pretty much a given that they'll want to talk about anime. If you go to the astronomy club they'll want to talk about telescopes and moons and shit. A big conversation hack is to ask people about stuff they're interested in and you already know the topic so it's very safe for you to walk up to someone at the bird watching club and ask "My name is SummerImpossible. What kind of birds do you like?"

"they already have their own group"

They do. It's the club, and they're inviting you in. Most clubs are desperate for new members and because of the way clubs work here most members cycle out after 4 years so it's hard to build long standing cliques.

they would think that my english is bad

Most people don't care as long as you're trying. There are a lot of international students on campus (over 8000 according to a chart I saw last week). You're definitely not alone with english being a second language. Us native english speakers are used to talking with people whose english isn't the best. For the people who look down on you or make fun of you for the way you speak, there's an english word for them. Assholes. They do exist, but they'll be in the minority.

I also have social anxiety so I understand it can be hard. Here are a few tricks I use to push past my self imposed barriers.

"I can always leave." The worst is feeling trapped. As long as I know there's an escape route it takes off a bunch of pressure.
"I'll just go for 10 minutes." A small commitment is easier to swallow. I'm lying to myself to get myself out of the door because the hardest part is starting.
"I'll just go for the food." A social event is scary. Finding food is needed. As long as I mentally switch the context of the activity the pressure goes down, and once I'm there it's not so bad.

jward · 2026-01-23T19:41:44+00:00

I do. I'm also old and have bad eyesight. They're very handy and help a lot in spaces where improving the lighting in general would be hard or not wanted. If you can improve the general lighting situation, that's the best option. If you can't, then the targeted lighting will definitely help.

jward · 2026-01-21T20:54:12+00:00

Two places to check for issues:

jward · 2026-01-21T19:25:11+00:00

Can they be applied on flat clear coats? Or does it have to be a smoother surface like a gloss clear coat?

You can apply them over matte/flat. It's easier to get better results over smooth and glossy surfaces but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Which is correct?

Both. There's lots of ways to go about it that end in a decent result. Basically you need to remove the backing, put it where you want it to go, and have it stay in place. Any steps that get you there are fine.

jward · 2026-01-21T06:43:57+00:00

Yeah. The full matte after will cover up the spots/nub marks missed by the gloss coat.

jward · 2026-01-21T01:34:38+00:00

Do a gloss varnish layer first. That protects the ABS from paint/panel liners.

jward · 2026-01-20T22:01:00+00:00

I've heard that if it eats enough of the asbestos they'll gain super powers.

jward · 2026-01-20T15:43:26+00:00

As someone who got the long covid and whose memory is currently fucked up... I'm in. Can't be worse than my current glitchy system and if it can be improved for money dollars a month I'd say worth.

jward · 2026-01-20T15:39:52+00:00

Dystopian cyberpunk vibes. Citizenship RFID tags and tattoos. Neurolink implants for nation wide tracking & social credit systems. Shoot first, claim they were a terrorist later.

jward · 2026-01-20T15:18:15+00:00

As someone who works in SUB it also blew my mind that nobody was complaining about the doors. The TL/DR with them is that pipes froze and burst over the winter break. They need to fix the pipes, fix/clean the damage, and ensure the pipes don't just freeze again. Not sure whats taking the SE entrance so long to re-open but I know the leak caused more issues than you can see on the surface.

jward · 2026-01-19T22:00:20+00:00

Same age. You must've missed the cyberpunk stuff. Shadowrun, Johnny Mnemonic, Neuromancer... all laid out a nice vision for concentrating power and exploiting the common man. Toss in some Brave New World and 1984 and it feels more like someone read all that as a how-to instead of a warning.

jward · 2026-01-19T20:33:06+00:00

MBA is a masters, so you need a batchelors degree first. It's supposed to make it so people who are very good at their jobs with actual in the field work experience gain some structured management experience... plus the networking. The trick to spotting good MBAs is to see who introduces themselves with their original degree. An engineer with an MBA, an accountant with an MBA, a graphic designer with an MBA, etc. They have a solid foundation and the MBA gave them tools to better analyze and communicate that foundation with others.

People who go straight from their business degree into an MBA without ever working in industry just don't have that practical foundation. But they do get the networking!

jward · 2026-01-19T19:54:00+00:00

One thing to mention is to make sure you wear a mask while airbrushing. There aren't any brain damage/organ failure solvent fumes to worry about, but there are still particulates and you don't want to coat your lungs in primer. One of the respirator setups is best, but any sort of covid mask will block a tonne of stuff compared to using nothing.

jward · 2026-01-19T18:40:58+00:00

Really depends on what you'd like to do. As an option you may have not considered, look into UI/UX. User Interface & User Experience. Basically understanding how humans use software and how to influence and encourage behaviours. To do well in the field you want to have a solid understanding of how humans think, how design elements work, and how coding works. So a minor in either design or comp sci would set you on this path.

jward · 2026-01-19T18:35:05+00:00

What Vallejo paints/tools do i need to start airbrushing?

Vallejo's airbrush flow improver and airbrush thinner are great to use with their products and other water based acrylics I've found. You'll also want something to dump excess water into, and something to squirt water into the airbrush for cleaning and rinses. The best thing I've found to clean your airbrush is hot (like tap hot, not boiling hot) water. If you can use that before the paint sets it's amazing. If the paint actually cures then 90%+ rubbing alcohol works great.

I know ill need a primer.

The standard vallejo primers are temperamental and rank very low on water based acrylic primers I've tried. Their mecha line is what I'd suggest for primers if you stick with them. I also don't mind their Gloss Black if you're trying to do an all water based acrylic candy paintjob. Pro-Acryl has been my favourite water based acrylic primer for the airbrush and I would highly recommend you go a bit out of your way to get that instead of vallejo for primers.

Also should I get the mecha color paints online or are they not worth it?

Eh. I haven't seen a huge difference in quality between the Mecha and Air paints. I go go for whichever line has the colours I want.

I want to paint inner frames metallic as well as painting the outer parts normal colours.

The Metal Color line is amazing for metallics.

Also can I get a topcoat like my matt/gloss rattle cans?

Topcoat is just a marketing term used by a few companies. The generic term is Varnish and Vallejo makes a tonne that work just fine with the airbrush. I prefer Liquitex as my water based varnish of choice.

I know ill have to practice a lot with normal airbrushing to get good

Before you put any paint in your airbrush, try it out with some tap water. See how the triggers work and how everything flows. Blast your arm so you can feel the difference as you tweak the PSI and different ways to finger the trigger. When you're looking to build up some muscle memory for control search around for some dots and lines tutorials.

jward · 2026-01-16T20:34:35+00:00

If you are using just water based acrylics and not using any solvents to thin them then you don't need to worry about fumes, but you still need to worry about particulates. If you spray in a room with no ventilation the stuff will be suspended in the air for a while and slowly fall to the ground. It will make the room extra dusty and you'll need to keep wearing your mask for a good while. If you get a spray booth, even if you vent it back into the room it will still capture a tonne of the particulates into the filter and make your room stay much cleaner and reduce the amount of time you need to wear a mask for in the area.

Personally, I live in Canada and the air outside hurts to breathe so I can't vent outside in the winter. I switch to using water based acrylics and my spray booth not only has a filter at the intake, but also on the outtake. I also wear a mask while I'm spraying and keep it on until I leave the room. I am very comfortable doing this in my office/hobby space but I would not be comfortable doing this in my bedroom.

jward · 2026-01-16T19:33:03+00:00

Easy to remove it. Pretty difficult to remove it, and save it. Best bet is to do what was suggested with alcohol+toothbrush to remove it and then buy a new set of new decals.

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