Badger Paint Mixer Review and Dimensions

I finally took the plunge and spent $10 of my hard earned cash and purchased the Badger Paint Mixer. This is an immersion type mixer that goes inside the paint and mixes it up. The downside is that you have to clean the mixer but it's not that bad. I keep an old pill bottle with Windex on hand and when I'm done, I just put it in the pill bottle and turn it on. Other paint mixers are agitating devices that you strap your bottle to and it shakes the bottle for you.

I wanted to do this review because I had a hard time finding the dimensions of the mixing blade and wondered if it fit inside the Akan paint bottle. I specifically wanted it for Akan paint because although it's an awesome paint, it settles out something fierce and it's a bit of a pain shaking it enough to redistribute the pigments. Metallic paints are also a challenge to make sure all the metal pigments are off the bottom with shaking.

It comes in this box in two parts, the mixer shaft and the mixer body.

The mixer shaft slides on to the shaft nub of the motor protruding from the body. The mixer shaft fits over the motor shaft with a friction fit that is pretty snug.

The width of the mixer blade is 0.385", if you can't read dial calipers.

The angle of the picture is a little weird here, but the usable shaft is about 4.5" in length.

The mixing blade can fit inside of these paint pots. It will not fit in Vallejo and Ammo paint bottles.

On/off switch at the front and 2 AA batteries go in the back.

Other than that, it mixes paint just fine, put it in the pot, turn it on and in about 5 seconds nicely mixed paint. No more shaking for me!

Verlinden 200mm Roman Centurian Bust Review

There is a Tube of You's channel that I subscribe to where the primary focus is painting figures. For some reason, I thought, "I should try this". What was I thinking? I never painted a figure before, but you have to start somewhere I guess.

Here is the box. If it didn't have that big picture on it, I think I would have lost it.

The parts so unceremoniously tossed in a thick zippy style bag. The material is resin and not the typical styrene plastic that model kits are molded in. The detail is typically much greater, but may be hazardous to your health. I heard an explanation that the dust particles of resin are like microscopic shards of nastiness in your lungs, precautions will have to be taken during cutting and sanding I think.

Assembly is rather minimal. There will be some cleanup, however.

Here are the side face guard flap things that attach to the helmet. The detail is really nice here. I like the ancient motif.

The base will required some cleanup, but it has a very subtle wood pattern on it. Can you see it? You can click the picture or some such, maybe it will take you to a bigger version? How do these Internets work?

The feathery thing that goes on top of the helmet. So many technical terms in this post. The feather detail is very beautifully sculpted.

Some weird light distortion with my lamp, but ignore that.

It's a face! Very nicely detailed and great detailing on the oak leaves. Maybe they are not oak leaves?

That is not where the sideburn goes, it's where the face guard helmet flap thing attaches to.

A touch of cleanup on the back of the helmet.

Gasp! A pin size hole on the top of the head! Easy enough to fill, will have to be careful of the detail that's right next to it.

The folds in the cape are quite exquisite as well as the detail on the armor.

Look at how that fabric drapes in the back. Freaking awesome.

Some cleanup at the bottom required.

This will actually be a bit bigger than I previously anticipated. Maybe I should have started with something smaller?

Highly detailed, minimal cleanup and assembly. I'll get adventurous at some point and give it a shot. I have a couple of small Beethoven and J.S. Bach busts that I've had for years that I will be practicing on first. I'll probably be using acrylics to paint all of them. The great thing about that is, if I don't like it, which is a very high probability, they can just soak in some Windex overnight. I have name all picked out for him when he is complete and will reveal at a later date.

Tamiya 1/48 A6M3 Zero (Hamp) Review

Now that I have a few kits under my belt, I'm starting to be able to compare kits and details between each other. I recently picked this kit up from Amazon and is next on the "bench". This kit wasn't what I had in mind a month ago, and due to dragging my feet a bit, Amazon no longer carries the kit I wanted directly. I have to buy it from a shipper and pay out the nose in shipping. I'll wait on that kit and see how it comes out. I've never done a Japanese aircraft before, so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime here is the review.

Here is the box. So pretty.

There are a total of four sprues. Definitely not too many parts to keep a track of. The instructions have a copyright of 1982. I really don't think the detail is up to today's standards anymore. The detail on the exterior is "soft". I'm not sure I can explain what that means at the moment.You'll just have to deal with that.

The wings as well as the fuselage have a mix of recessed and raised panel lines. I really hate raised panel lines.

The "second" sprue is the lower wing assembly. The bottom of the wings are one piece, similar to Tamiya's Mk. I Spitfire. Again, the details are soft and a mix of recessed and raised detail. The wheel well detail is rather nice. The plastic on the wings and fuselage seems pretty thin.

The "third" sprue. You get seven different dudes.

The pistons that forms the engine. Nicely detailed, albeit plain with a pesky seam line running around the circumference on outside on top of the detail.

The struts are pretty nicely detailed although, there are seam lines and ejector pin marks (EPM's) in hard to reach areas.

The engine cowl. I think it was part of a sprue, but was floating around like an orphan.

The "fourth" sprue. You have two canopy options, open or closed.

Tamiya decals. Pretty standard here. A bit thick.

As far as instructions go, this is it. One fold out, pretty straight forward. I think I'll pretty much not be following it.

You get a few different options for markings.

Some measurements for you.

When completed, I think it will be a tad smaller than the Spitfire.

That's it. Overall, I would say this kit is not too bad. We'll check the fit when it's being built. Tamiya typically hasn't been a problem in the past. Details are a bit of a disappointment with raised and recessed panel lines. Some EPM's in hard to reach areas, but good quality for the most part. What's "quality" you ask? You must have taken a project management course.