Yoryi (puntocom) offers a very useful application to calculate and convert measures in any scale. You can download to your computer by clicking the download button. The converter is in Spanish but still usable.

In tight spaces, the flying vapors from thinner while you clean your airbrush are very unpleasant and may pose a risk to your health. There is a cheap and simple solution to build a trap for this fumes. Simple, stuff a small cardboard box with tissue paper (will work as absorbent). Then make a hole on one end, just big enough for the airbrush tip. When you clean and rinse your airbrush, you will notice that the box will trap most fumes and are absorbed by the tissue paper.  Alfredo Jurado

When you start painting your model and need to mask some details or cavities like engine nozzles, painted cockpits, wheel wells, etc. you can use wet toilette paper or tissue to fill those cavities, instead of regular masking tape that can remove small parts from your model when you strip it after painting. The wet paper fill every hole and can be removed easily with a pair of tweezers without damaging paint or small parts.  Alfredo Jurado

Start with a base mixture consisting of clear orange and yellow. Paint the canopy with this mixture and a brush, let to dry and place it near the photo to check the tone.  It is important to experiment till you get the tone of the tinting color correct. After the correct tone is achieved, add 50:50 Tamiya clear. This enables you to gradually build up the tone using your airbrush in the final stage. Do not airbrush straight colors, because this makes the canopy too dark in the first pass. Finally, add a very small amount of Tamiya gold to give it a little metallic shine.  Then airbrush the canopy outside, left it dry and buff it using Tamiya compound. Kaan Goek

This clear lights are NOT clear, I've discovered a very easy technique to fake clear lights without surgery. I painted the model with gunship gray, gloss coated it with acrylic clear. Then with a 00 brush I painted matte white enamel onto the light area (Humbrol is the paint I prefer to use as it covers very well with brush). If you make a mistake when brushing on the white enamel, then you can remove the white with tiny amounts of enamel thinner without harming the clear gloss. After the enamel white is dried, I painted the lights with Faber-Castell transparent permanent waterproof acetate marker. Kaan Goek

Try to have an uncluttered background for your model.  Do not take photos with your model on a cluttered table.  Viewing a cluttered photo distracts the viewers attention from the model to all the other items in the photo. Make sure you have enough light in your photo. A second lamp can be added and the model is well lit and the focal point of the photo with no distractions. Steve Bamford

Buy a plastic container, cut a hole in the bottom and mount an extractor fan at the booth. These are bathroom extractor fans and weight about 1.4kg. Get a flexible 6” diameter aluminum hose. The exhaust fan end was an aluminum housing which makes my job a lot easier as all I had to do was slip it over the plastic casing of the fan. I could secure it further with duct tape but the fit was so good I didn’t need to.

First thing to do is cut out a piece of foil roughly the size of the area you want to cover. Smooth out all the wrinkles with a Q-tip. Lay the foil dull side up and apply a thin coat of Micro Scale Metal Foil Adhesive. Once the adhesive becomes transparent it is ready to be applied. Make sure you start burnishing from the center towards the edges. Keep burnishing the foil with a Q-tip until the panel lines become visible. Trim away excess foil along panel lines with a hobby knife. Burnish the foil into the panel lines by lightly tracing them with a toothpick. Polish the foil with 3M Rubbing Compound to get the shine, or use fine-grit steel wool to dull the foil and give a realistic metal sheen. Alex Popojan         

Disclaimer: This tips have been researched from the internet and therefore are considered of public domain and are of total responsibility of their authors. Under no circumstances IPMS Guayaquil shall be responsible for any damage caused by following this tips. If you have an idea or advice you want to share with other modelers, or we have included your idea without the credit, please contact us at webmaster@ipmsguayaquil.com