So after 4 hours of looking I finally found the Hobby Shop I was searching for in Hiroshima. When I got there I found a Tamiya Brewster Buffalo kit in 1/48. I picked it up for 1800 yen(about 17 dollars). I also picked up a few bottles of Tamiya paint while I was there. I got them for a little over a dollar a bottle.
When I got the kit home I opened it up and took a look at it. I have to say that I am excited about this build. It’s been about 3 months since I have touched a model and this should get me back into the groove.
I was looking around the internet and Eduard offers a nice color PE set for this model. Now the Photo Etch costs more than the model itself did but I am wondering if this would be a good time to give it a try.
Now to be honest I don’t know the first thing about PE. It looks like there are all kinds of small bits and pieces that could easily get lost or broken but looking at some of the kits that use it the results are phenominal.
What kinds of tools would I need to get started trying to use it?
My experience with PE is fairly limited but my observations would be:
You need some way to detach the small parts from the fret or tree. This can be an X-acto knife or better is to use a side cutter of some kind designed for cutting PE. Micro Mark and some LHS offer versions.
When detaching the parts, they tend to fly away just as they are cut free. You need to hold onto the small part somehow just as you cut it loose.
CA or cyanoacrylate glue is the usual method of attaching the small parts. Use the medium or thick viscosity. Use adequate ventilation when using CA glue
PE is obviously only two dimensional. Brake lines, control handles and some other parts are three dimensional. This can sometimes be a problem.
Use a magnifying glass of some kind to work with the small pieces. It relieves a lot of eye strain.
What yardbird78 says is basically correct, but I’ll add a few of my observations and tips that I’ve picked up.
Use a sharp number 11 blade to cut the parts off the fret. You’'l also need a hard base on which to cut the parts on. Glass is the best I’ve used.
I mostly use CA glue for glueing them to the model. But, if it’s your first go, you might like to try a slower drying glue (like a 5-minute epoxy or white glue) so you can have a bit of time to move the part around into the right position before it sets.
For folding and beding parts, hold the part down on the glass with a straight edged blade (or something hard with a straight edge) along the line you want to fold. Then slide another blade under the loose end and lift it up to the correct angle. You usually need to bend it a bit past the angle you need because of the metals tendancy to spring back.
If you need to sand any burrs off, make sure you sand along the length of the part. It’ll be less likely to bend accidently that way.
Just take your time with it, and you’ll be fine. Good luck.
…And of course, when you get into it properly, you should pick up an Etch-Mate or some kind of folding tool, as it just makes the job SO easy compared to using knife blades. Againm Micro-Mark carry these.
Here’s a tip too - if you’ve got a throttle lever with a bulbous tip, and as Yarbird said, it’s 2 dimensional, just dip the tip in some white glue & set it aside to dry. The surface tension of the glue will leave you with a nice round-tipped lever, that looks 2 dimensional!