ScaleACT in Canberra is one of the major shows we love attending each and every year, and this year was no different. Held over the weekend of 11th and 12th of November, we once again made the trip up to what is quickly becoming a must attend event for modellers across the country.  With the ute packed full of stock and some entries for the comp, I left home at just after 4am on Friday. It's an 8 hour drive to get to our nations capital from our HQ in Ballarat, but I made good time and with a couple...

Whilst we were at the Diecast Expo 2023 which was held at Tabcorp Park, in Melton, just west of Melbourne, we also caught up with our good friends (and father and son team) John and Jesse Marios from Diecast Distributors Australia (DDA).  We chatted about some of the exciting things they have in the pipeline coming up over the next few months, including the new 1/24 scale XW and XY Ford Falcon model kits.  We also took the opportunity to announce the next 6 colours in our Auto Colours range that are releasing in conjunction with the Ford kits, those...

The 2023 Diecast Expo was held at Tabcorp Park, Melton, just west of Melbourne on November 4th and 5th. As it is only a 45 minute drive from SMS HQ, we headed down to check it out and also launch a new colour range that we have been developing with Bruce Hay at Drake Collectibles out of Brisbane.   The new SMS Truck Colours range was officially released at the Diecast Expo, exclusively available through Drake Collectibles. At the time of writing, retailers will be able to order these sets through Drake alongside their super detailed, diecast trucks.  Above :...

I'm in Brisbane this weekend (September 30th and October 1st 2023) for GhMX at the Brisbane Showgrounds Exhibition Building, so I took the opportunity to jump in the hire car (the Mazda BT-50 drives amazing!) and head out to see our good friends at Diecast Distributors Australia. DDA is located in Yatala, about 45km from the Brisbane Airport down the M1. Once I got through the traffic of everyone heading off for the long weekend, I was greeted by John Marios and his son Jesse, both who helm the DDA company together.  After a quick tour of the showroom, we...

We are often asked about what sets our Premium Acrylic Lacquers apart from other, similar type hobby paints on the market and it comes down to the ingredients we use to create a strong bonding, rich pigmented paint. So, without giving too much away (trade secrets and all), here’s a run down of some of the things that we do to create our Premium Acrylic Lacquer range. The choice of solvents and binding resins is what ultimately makes or breaks a paint. The ability for the paint to adhere to plastic without damaging it (damaging by way of excessive “hot”...

We regularly get asked about whether it is safe to use a solvent based paint like our Premium Acrylic Lacquers in conjunction with other paint types like oil based enamels or water based acrylics.  The answer to this is yes, provided that you take adequate steps in ensuring that the other paint is dry before applying the next type over it. I personally have used enamels and water based paint both under and over our solvent based Acrylic Lacquers and have never come across an issue ever.  The team at FineScale Modeler recently uploaded a video doing a number of...