Arghhh! I hate working with PE! I’ve started the Eduard 1/32 P-47 Dottie Mae, and it comes with loads of beautifully crafted PE. I assumed that working with it would be easier in this larger scale, but it’s actually worse! So much more detail, which means tons of intricate bending! And the “instructions” only show the finished pieces, without telling you the correct order of bending the bits!
Arghhh! Is it really worth all this agravation? Oh and then there’s the CA glue! How… HOW do I keep gluing random bits of scrap plastic to my elbows?
Ugh… (pant, pant, pant…) sorry for the rant. I just had to get that off my chest. The build is um, progressing. Slowly. With lots of shouting.
Juat a few little tips from your Uncle Jay to ease your pain; I’ve done lots of PE and here’s the techniques that work for me.
No fancy benders for me ,I use a pair of wood chisels or a combination of a razor blade and a #17 or #18 Xacto blade (the flat chisel type)
I use Gel CA, easier to work with in most cases. Dab the part into a blob of CA and wipe some off if you hafta.
To help eliminate the part from pinging off into the wilderness from your tweezers use a "sticky stick " to handle/hold the tiny parts when glueing. You can buy them or make your own with a tiny dab of blue tack or modeling clay on a toothpick. I use “Drum Stick Wax” from a music store. Stick the part to the toothpick, dab into the CA and install, wait a few seconds and the PE will come free of the toothpick.
For me a large lighted magnifier is a must ( old eyes don’t cha know )
You’re not supposed to be using CA on your elbows!
There’s a reason momma said, "keep your elbows off the table!!!
[proplr]
For CA…I use a palette (in my case, I use the foil from a Nesquik container…a piece of foil or plastic lid…about anything really will work). I put a drop of CA on that (kept a short reach away…away from elbows!), and use the pointy end of a piece of stretched sprue to transfer the CA to the part, or in the case of very small parts, I’ll put the glue to where the part is going to end up.
I get your frustration with the somewhat vague-ness of the folding instructions…that can get quite frustrating! Figuring that stuff out is part of the fun though, too!
I second JJ’s comments. I also use CA gel to tack the PE in place, but for larger pieces go back and finish with thinned white glue (1:1). This works well on long pieces like ship railings and such.
In some cases I even use the white glue mix for the primary glue. Most PE parts are so light and low inertia that you do not need a very strong bond, as long as you do not drop the model too frequently
I will echo the above Mr. Stecks, while PE can and most of the time is an exercise in frustration and Websters “street thesaurus” the results and satifaction of getting it right make it worth the effort. This may sound silly but try outlining your pieces that you have to bend on a piece of card stock, place indications of where the fold line is, then cut the piece out and fold it up. It may help you determine what side of the object needs to be addressed first and so forth. If it gets to the point of AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH, WALK AWAY for a while, cool down and approach it later. As for glue EVERYWHERE…man that is just an unfortunate side effect of building, I wind up with fiddly bits in…well you get the point. Good luck, have fun and of course ask.
Thanks for the tips and support guys. I did switch to a CA gel on this build, that worked well for the most part. But there was one large part last night that just instantly set up, I don’t know why. And of course, it was crooked. Some shouting ensued. I quickly grabbed a razor blade and tried to get under it to loosen. Only succeded in bending up a corner, causing some of the paint to flake off. There was quite a bit more shouting at this point. lol
Never thought about trying the thinned white glue. I’ll give it a try tonight. So far I haven’t lost any parts to the carpet monster, though I kind of wish I had. hahaha…
Oh, that’s a good idea. This one particular piece that drove me nuts last night involved five different folds that all piled up on one another. I’m not sure my order was correct, but it seemed to stack up okay.
Wish i had some useful advice, but i don’t. My first time using photo etch was an eduard kit on a tamiya panther tank. Between the tiny parts, ca glue malfunctions, broken bends, vague and scary instructions (i.e remove this, file this, cut this off) and the inability to envision where parts needed to be bent it was a bad experience. I eventually ended up going through the whole instruction sheet and crossed off anything I felt was not worth the time or would add little to the build. I may have even come up with a few new curse words while doing it.
If I happen to buy a kit with PE in it, the first thing I do is throw it out!!! If you somehow manage to appy it, you can’t see it on the finished model, anyhow. Waste of time.
Well said! I have neither the time nor the inclination (not to mention the eyes or the fingers) to handle the miniscule interior PE parts. Now, if its a visible exterior PE part or seatbelts I will make an exception there; otherwise, I won’t fool with it.
I go with CA gel (as JJ said) for the little, finickly parts and Gator’s Grip (as Hogfan linked to and do not confuse this with gator grip glue you see in the big box stores) for bigger parts or whereever gel isn’t needed, which would have solved the problem with your large part setting too fast.
And in a way, I also agree with Morrison. When I got started back in the hobby, PE was the bees knees. Now I find myself losing patience with it and nobody, including me, ever sees it anyway.
Now you know why I don’t use Super - Glue on P.E. I use Aleens " Sticky Glue " . It’s a thicker form of Elmer’s like glue . It is expressly made for crafting . What I like about this , You can drag your part on edge through it .This leaves a bead on the bottom .Place it .Move it if necessary and let dry .Once dry , prime or paint over it with impunity .That is , unless your paint is as warm as tea water . Then it’ll all fall apart ( A little lightness there ).
I have found no reason to use C.A. Why ? Well , remember you are gluing on a painted surface .The join will only be as strong as the glue and the paint under . Also remember this . I build card models ( Paper ) of lots of ships . There are those that have thicker card " Lazer Cut " detail parts to mount in place of P.E.
I occasionally put down the smallest dimple of CA where I will place the PE, to hold it in place until I put down the white glue. This usually where I am putting down a long or large part, like a ship railing. The small CA dimple holds the whole piece on, while I run the (thinned) white glue along the length of the railing.
The reason weak glues work okay on PE is the small mass of the parts. That means when the model is bumped or shocked the actual force (inertial) is very small.
AND… .there is nothing that says you have to use ALL the PE. Some pe items frankly aren’t better than the plastic one, and some, like rudder pedals may not been seen once the plane is closed up. I’m not putting that one in.[:)]
Go with sheet styrene and plastic rods and bits.Scratch built.Photo etch is a thing of the past.Resin and plastic sprue is the thing.Get good reference materials and be creative.Also with plumbing and wiring.I switched from photo etch and it brought me more awards that I had fo build another garage to house my awards.
