In a recent article in FSM about using foil Aaron Skinner suggests using cotton swabs for rubbing down the delicate stuff. He recommends “tightly wound medical swabs” which appear much firmer and sharper than the good old Q-tip. I leave little cotton residue all over with Q-tip and would like to switch to something that is more robust. Am just not sure what type of gizmo Aaron recommends. Amazon has lots of “medical” swabs but doesn’t really describe what is meant. (One company offers foam swabs.) Suggestions?
Do a search on Microbrushes or visit your local drug store and pick up some foam makeup applicators. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. These soft foam applicators have many uses for scale modeling.
Buy the Tamiya or Gunze ones once. Figure out what works best. Then take one with you to the cosmetics section of the drug store… Or if you have a medical supply store go there… And you can get a sack of them for 1/10th the price of the 10 pack from Tamiya or Gunze.
The Beauty supply store near me probably thinks I am a 6’4" ridiculously ugly transvestite with all the emery boards and odd applicators I buy in there.
Next time you’re in the supermarket, buy the store-brand version of baby-safe swabs. They’re more tightly wound and because it’s the knock-off, they use less cotton. You get a box of 200 for like $3.