Got a chance to use my first piece of Photo-etch last night, cut it from the sprew, got the tweezers on it, and it promptly zinged away into the Shag carpet[:0]. Needless to say I couldn’t find it and had to make the piece out of sprew instead. Is this a bad omen or what!!! I am almost afraid to cut anything else off but will try again tonight. I am building a 1/700 Indianapolis and the PE will make it much better, if I can put it on the model instead of the floor:-)
Welcome to the wonderful world of PE Miller41. You are not alone by any means !
miller,
take a piece of masking tape and lay it on the PE. flip it over and cut. The tape will keep the part in place and it won’t end up lost in shag…
Mike
It’s either that, or assemble everything in a plastic bag. My advice would be to work somewhere that has no carpet, such as a garage, kitchen, or even your bathtub. Not while taking a bath, of course.
Recently I came a across an article that the author would cut the pieces directly in the packaging. He/She would keep the parts in the bag with the cardboard backing. And with an Xacto knife cut the pieces. What’s nice is that the pieces stay in the bag. Note: only cut the ones you need at the time or you will end up with a bag full of pieces and no idea what they are (from experience).
I lost a small clear part on a deep pile rug recently. I put some panty hose (wife wasnt in them at the time) over the vacuum cleaner brush and it found it for me. I admit there might have been some luck but maybe its worth the try
cnstrwkr
Off-Topic: I noticed your quote. As I recall that is from Farnsworth labs during the quest for inventing TV. Do you work in TV or related field?
No Dmodeler, I am in construction, a co-worker of mine from the early 70’s used that phrase. I always thought it appropriate.
Dmodeler - are you talking of Philo T. Farnsworth ?
Yes Pixilater. Philo and his labs. I believe the actual quote was: “The difficult we do now, the impossible takes a little longer.” It is one of my favorite quotes and sits next to a Philo award for cable TV producing at my work desk.
D “moving images” modeler
I’ve gotten pretty good about detatching the part from the fret without losing it, but I’m still trying to find the “best practice” for attaching it. I’m trying tweesers, and am going to try tape on a stick with the sticky side out, but problem is when I try to attach it. I’ve also recently bought a bunch on insulin syringes on eBay to use as the CA applicator. My problem is one hand to attach it, one hand to apply the CA, no hands left to apply the accelator, or do I just practice Zen and try to hold it still until the CA hardens?
Hello guys
About accelerator on C.A., I would like to propose you an experiment: gather several brands of C.A., several brands of accelerators and make a kind of matrix (er is, a table with a crossing of C.A. brands and accelerator brands). I did it, and when I saw the results in open air (and not inside a model) I decided I would never use accelerator again and would wait for the C.A. to dry. But it is just a personal opinion.
Why? Does the accelarator damage the model?
Steve,
Try attaching the PE part with clear enamel. Brush some on the backside, let it dry until it is a bit tacky and stick it on. You can fine-tune the position with this method, unlike super glue.
Thanks, I will give it a try. Does the enamel hold it sufficiently, or do I need to follow-up with some CA after I have the part attached?
i pretty much solved the problem of “parts in the shag”, by spreading a white (an old one) under the table and chair and about a foot either way outside the chair. I also keep a flashlight handy to use if i do get on in the shag
Steve,
a possible solution to the “three hands” problem if you are going to use a CA applicator/syringe:
try ( on a scrap piece of PE fret and scrap plastic! not a kit !!!)
putting a (mini) drop of accellerator on the PE piece first.
then put it where you want it to go and then giving it a touch of the CA.
i have had some success w/ this approach doing plastic to plastic.
ed.
Thanks, I will give it a try.
Two weeks ago I was using the rub your foot on the carpet to scratch it method and felt something very painful, it was a piece of pe railing I used for my Titanic 2 yrs ago. It was also my first try at pe parts and I lost that first piece too. Too bad I gave that model away or I could have finally “finished” it, with the long lost piece.
Steve,
The clear should hold it, I’ve attached PE scripts on cars using this method. You didn’t mention if you will be painting after the PE is on; if so, the paint will help nail it down. But if you would get a warm fuzzy using CA, get some small diameter wire, dip it in a puddle of CA and apply with that. Try unraveling a strand of 18 guage wire and use one of those. Very small wire will transfer tiny drops.