Acronyms, Abbreviations and Terms

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LyleW
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Acronyms, Abbreviations and Terms

Post by LyleW »

Some of the common and perhaps not-so-common. You can add or change information. Please keep it in alphabetical order and use the list button when adding. Posts may be edited as needed. As I incorporate your suggestions, I'm deleting the post to clean up the thread. If that isn't ok, let me know.

A
  • AB, a/b - airbrush. The air powered paint applicator!
  • ABS - a type of plastic. Often used in figures. Cannot use styrene glues on this.
  • AF - Airforce -
  • AFV- Armored Fighting Vehicle
    • AM - after market. Things like wheels, engines, seats - anything not included as a part of the kit.
    APC- Armored Personnel Carrier


    B
    • BMF - Bare Metal Foil. Can be a brand or a type of finish
    • Braille Scale - Usually refers to 1/72 or smaller.

    C
    • CA, Cyanoacrylate - commonly known as "Super Glue". Many brands now. Usually three viscosity levels, thin, medium and thick.

    D
    E


    F
    • Fiddly Bits - those little bitty parts that are small, hard to hold and can be frustrating to install.
    • Frets - Sort like the plastic sprues that contain the model part. They usually contain the PE or photoetch parts.
    • Frisket film - a sheet or roll product that can be used to make stencils, stickers, and a number of things.
    • Future - known by several names over time in the marketplace. Currently found as "Pledge with Future Floor Shine" or something like that. Used to give models a clear, glossy finish for decaling, etc.

    G


    H
    • HB - Hobby Boss

    I
    • IP - Instrument panel
    • IPA - Isopropyl Alcohol - a good cleaner and thinner for acrylic paints

    J


    K


    L
    • LHS - Local hobby shop

    M
    • Ma.K. - Maschinenkrieger
    • MEK, Methyl Ethyl Keytone - a "hot" plastic adhesive. Quite strong, and regulated.

    N
    • NIB - New In Box
    • NMF - Natural Metal Finish - Usually on aircraft.

    O
    • OOB - Out of the box - refers to building a kit using what came in the box. No AM or after market.
    • OOP - Out of production. A dastardly tactic used by producers to charge higher prices and gougers on ebay to exploit the masses... :evil:

    P
    • PE, Photoetch - Usually an after market purchase, but may be included in the kit. frets of parts such as cockpit dials, placards, hinges, seat belts, storage, etc.
    • PS - Photoshop a useful photo editing program from Adobe.

    Q
    • Quarter scale - term for 1/48 scale

    R
    • Rattle cans - traditional cans of spray paint. They rattle when you shake them to mix.
    • Revell-o-Gram, Revellogram - a contraction of Revell and Monogram. . . kit manufacturers
    • RoG - Revell of Germany. European arm of the Revell company.

    S
    • SdKfz- Sonderkraftfahrzeug, special purpose vehicle
    • SH - Special Hobby
    • SIB - Sealed in Box
    • SOB - Straight out of the Box.
    • Sprue - the plastic frames that hold the parts of your kit. Save these for other uses.

    T
    • Tamigawa - a contraction of two manufacturer names, Tamiya and Hasegawa
  • TMMI - Tamiya Model Magazine International

U


V
  • Vintage - This is an over-used term applied to old kits being sold by folks. Some are truly vintage. To me, the original 1961 Phantom P-51 Mustang from Monogram is a vintage kit. The 1974 issue of the blah-de-blah is not.

W
  • Wash, washes - mixtures made up of paint colors and thinner. These can be commercially bought or made. Used to create shading, wear-tear effects, weathering.

X


Y


Z
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