Model Making Guides
Free tutorials, tips, and techniques to help you master the art of model making.
Showing 1-16 of 16 guides
A Basic Guide to Electronics
This guide provides a beginner-friendly introduction to basic electronics, focusing on simple circuits and lighting components. It explains essential concepts such as voltage, current, and resistance, and illustrates how series and parallel circuits function in practical applications. The document also offers guidance on safely connecting MES bulbs and introduces the advantages of modern LEDs. Designed as a straightforward reference, it helps newcomers understand how to build and power small lighting circuits effectively.
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A Guide to LEDs and Resistors
This document explains how to correctly calculate and use resistors when working with LEDs to prevent damage from excessive current. It outlines the formulas needed to determine appropriate resistor values for both parallel and series LED circuits, with worked examples using a 9-volt supply and standard LED specifications. The guide highlights the importance of matching supply voltage, LED forward voltage, and current, and provides practical diagrams to illustrate safe circuit design.
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A Guide to Mould Making
This guide introduces the fundamental principles of mould making, explaining how to choose appropriate moulding materials based on the master’s shape, the required detail, the intended casting material, budget, and number of reproductions. It outlines when to use release agents and sealants, and emphasises how surface preparation affects the final mould. The document then describes basic open moulds and more complex multi-part rubber moulds, including the use of jackets, keys, clay scrims, and release barriers. It concludes with casting considerations and a brief overview of alternative moulding materials such as alginate, moulding compounds, and polyurethane rubbers.
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Adhesives Guide
This guide presents a comprehensive compatibility matrix showing which adhesives work best with a wide range of modelling materials, including plastics, foams, woods, metals, textiles, and composites. By cross-referencing materials against common adhesive types—such as plastic weld, contact adhesive, epoxies, PVA, superglue, Copydex, Gorilla Glue, balsa cement, double-sided tape, spray adhesives, and heat-activation—users can quickly identify suitable bonding options for any combination of materials. Designed as a practical reference for modelmakers, the chart helps ensure strong, safe, and appropriate adhesion choices across diverse project needs.
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Create a Seafoam Tree
This guide outlines a step-by-step method for creating realistic model trees using twisted wire armatures combined with sea foam foliage. It explains how to form the tree structure by twisting and branching wire, then shaping and texturing the trunk with hot glue and filler before painting. The guide shows how sea foam is applied to represent fine branch structures and how foliage is added using PVA-based textures. A full list of recommended tools and materials is included, making the guide a practical reference for modelmakers seeking naturalistic, custom-sized trees.
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Creating Snow Effects
This guide introduces a range of materials and techniques for creating realistic snow effects in scenic modelling. It outlines how to use the Deluxe Scenic Snow Kit—which combines snowflakes, icy sparkles, and Scenic Bond adhesive—to achieve natural snow coverage on urban and rural scenes, trees, grass, and architectural features. The sheet also describes alternative snow products, including NOCH Snow Powder, white flock fibres, and frost/snow-effect spray, explaining their uses, coverage, and application methods. Practical examples demonstrate how these materials can be layered to build convincing winter landscapes for models, dioramas, and props.
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Creating Water Effects
This guide provides an overview of the range of materials available for creating realistic water effects in scale modelling, from still ponds and deep pours to waterfalls, rapids, waves and ripples. It explains the properties and uses of various products—including resins, heat-activated compounds, water-effects gels, and clear textured sheets—and outlines their strengths, limitations, and ideal applications. The document also covers supplementary techniques using PVA and heat tools, helping modelmakers choose the most suitable method for producing convincing aquatic surfaces and dynamic water features.
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Guide to Polish
This guide provides an overview of three specialist polishing products—Metal Shine, Brass Restorer, and Polishing Paste—used for cleaning, restoring, and refining a variety of metal and plastic surfaces. It explains the purpose and suitable applications of each product, from removing tarnish on metals to reducing scratches on plastics and preparing surfaces for painting. The guide outlines correct preparation, application methods, and clean-up procedures, and highlights the importance of using lint-free cloths for achieving a high-quality finish.
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Guide to Using EVA Craft Foam
This guide introduces the different grades of EVA craft foam used in prop making, costume design and cosplay, outlining their properties, densities, and ideal applications. It explains how standard EVA sheets, premium CF65 foam, and high-density CF100 foam can be cut, heat-formed, sculpted, engraved, and glued using appropriate adhesives. The guide also covers complementary EVA accessories such as foam balls, rods, cones, and foam clay, along with finishing tools like Plasti Dip coatings and pyrography tools for adding texture and detail. Together, these materials provide a versatile system for creating durable, lightweight, highly detailed props and costume elements.
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Hotwire Cutting
This guide introduces the essential techniques for shaping Styrofoam using a hot wire cutter. It covers preparing accurate templates—either hand-drawn or printed and spray-mounted onto card—and explains how to set up the cutter correctly, including wire tension, alignment, and temperature. Step-by-step instructions outline how to achieve clean, smooth cuts by maintaining steady movement and controlling cutting speed. The guide also includes tips on finishing foam shapes with knives and sanding, providing beginners with a reliable method for producing precise Styrofoam components.
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How to Connect LEDs - Parallel Circuit
This guide provides clear, practical instructions for building a safe and reliable parallel LED circuit. It explains how to calculate appropriate resistors and choose a suitable DC power source before beginning assembly. A detailed equipment list is provided, along with a warning about the hazards of sharing a single resistor across multiple LEDs. Step-by-step instructions show how to solder individual resistors to each LED, arrange the components into a parallel configuration, attach wires, connect a switch and battery snap, and insulate exposed joints. Designed for beginners, the guide helps users construct a functioning LED strip with correct polarity, consistent brightness, and safe operation.
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How to Make Miniature Plants
This guide explains how to prepare, paint, and shape brass etched plant sheets for use in architectural models, rail layouts, dioramas, dollhouses, and miniature scenes. It covers proper handling of the brass, priming with spray primer, and applying base colours and detailed shading using acrylic paints. Instructions are provided for removing individual plants from the fret, adding raised vein textures with fast-drying PVA, and bending the etched pieces into naturalistic shapes before fixing them in place. The guide highlights the versatility and customisability of these fine-scale brass plant components.
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Metal Casting
This guide introduces two practical methods for small-scale metal casting: sand casting and silicone-mould casting. It explains the essential principles of working with low-melting metals, including achieving the correct pouring temperature and avoiding gas absorption. Step-by-step instructions cover preparing moulds in silicone or casting sand, creating registration keys and pour channels, and safely melting and pouring metal using a controlled melting pot. The guide also outlines common tools and materials, troubleshooting considerations, and the limitations of each method. A summary of 4D Modelshop’s bespoke metal casting service is included for users who prefer professional production.
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Shaping Styrofoam
This guide, adapted from David Neat’s model-making methods, explains practical techniques for shaping styrofoam into smooth, accurate or concave forms. It covers marking and cutting strategies, making custom sanding formers for controlled curves, and using knives, saws, rasps and wire brushes to refine detail or add texture. The document demonstrates how to build composite forms from layered foam, achieve precise edges using template “stops,” and create rock or carved effects. Guidance on suitable adhesives, bonding methods and surface preparation for mouldmaking—such as sealing with coloured Vaseline—is also included. The techniques provide a reliable workflow for producing clean, repeatable geometric shapes as well as more organic sculpted surfaces.
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Soft Soldering
This guide introduces the essentials of soft soldering for modelmakers, covering suitable metals, recommended solders, fluxes and soldering irons. It explains how to prepare joint surfaces, tin the iron, and apply solder correctly for clean, reliable bonds. Practical steps outline how to pre-tin both parts, assemble the joint, and reheat to fuse the solder layers, with guidance on working along longer seams and cleaning off corrosive flux residues. The guide helps beginners achieve strong, neat soldered joints on materials such as brass, copper, steel, tinplate and nickel silver.
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Working with PVC Foamed Palight
This guide introduces the versatility of foamed PVC (Palight) for modelmaking, highlighting its ease of cutting, carving, bending and sanding, as well as its strength, stability and light weight. It explains how to apply printed templates, build precise forms by layering and laminating pieces, and glue components effectively using superglue. Examples demonstrate construction techniques for intricate details, curved architectural forms and surface texturing, including methods for simulating wood grain through sanding and embossing. With its forgiving surface, clean cutting behaviour and compatibility with paint after priming or sanding, foamed PVC is shown to be a highly adaptable material for both structural and decorative model work.
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