I am just getting back into the hobby and i have a question; I have seen people with small model parts mounted on sticks to help the painting process. When i was a kid i just glued everything together and started painting, which has its problems
What material do you guys use for the “stick” and how do you affix the model part to it? for some of my parts (the larger ones) i have used wood stir sticks and just glued them… but these parts are rather large and the mount point is in an area no one will see. This technique is not going to work for engine parts/etc.
any tips would be most appreciated and welcome! Thanks!
I take a toothpick and nip off the pointy tip just a bit to make a level gluing surface with more area. Dip the toothpick into some CA accelerator, and put a dot of CA on the kit part with needle or whatever you use for a fine-point applicator . Touch the toothpick to the glue and you are done. For a larger part I may use the longer, flat-type craft toothpick.
Adhesive putty (Scotch, Dap, UHU, Bostik and 3M all offer it) works for small parts, or masking tape looped back to expose the sticky side. Even melted beeswax (not regular candle wax, as it contains oils that are not paint friendly) works.
Personally, I take all my small parts and mount them on a piece of cardboard with blue painters’ tape. It’s handy when I prime them and when putting on a base color. I’ll then remove those that get a different color or will need brush painting.
It it has a hole in it, I’ll stick it on a toothpick. Hold it by the toothpick to paint and stick the toothpick in a piece of styrofoam or cardboard to dry. Some parts I’ll CA glue to another piece of styrene. Just a little touch of glue is enough to hold them and will still snap loose easily. I also have a bunch of hemostats that I’ll use to clamp some parts. When they get too much paint build up I’ll just drop them in the SuperClean tub. On some smaller parts I’m going to use a piece of wire or straight pin to pin them in place anyway so I’ll drill a hole, glue in the wire or pin and clamp that with hemostats. Other parts I’ll stick to a piece of masking tape. Cut the tape a little long and fold it over on itself a couple times to make a handle.
Heating sprue with a candle, then pushing the part onto the softened sprue works as well. When you’ve painted, just snap the part off. Comes away clean, I use this on sidewinders and other ordinance.
