I’ve recently taken up modelling and have built 8 or so kits over the past few months, all 1:35 and all German WW2 Armour. I’m really enjoying it and I’ve liked the finished products although they haven’t been to the same high standard I’ve seen on this forum. That will come with time and practice I guess (i hope).
Some of the kits I’ve built have had photo etched parts included and for the life of me I can’t see what value they add. I find them difficult to work with and would much prefer an equivalent plastic part. I must be missing something. Once they are painted, don’t they look the same as plastic anyway? Can anyone enlighten me as to the advantages that PE parts give? I feel like I’m missing out on something.
I’m kinda new too, but I think it’s mostly for modelling areas that are hard to do in plastic and be in 1/35 scale accurately. For instance, the little PE brackets for the tools, PE can look thin like the real thing in 1/35 scale, but the plastic version looks blocky and out of scale for thin metal. Just limitation to plastic injection molding I guess.
Hi Mike! PE are there to reproduce the “part” but in closer scale. A plastic part cannot be thinner than what its structure allows it to be. I.E. Look to a shurzen bracket… it’s like 5mm thick in real life… how tick is it in 1/35?.. PE is closer to the relative scale than what plastic can be. Right now, I’m building a 105 version of the marder 1 and the PE adds alot of detail to what I could normally do…
PE adds definition to certain areas. You’re correct in that PE isn’t a cure-all. Sometimes, lead foil, some plastic sheet pr rod and wire go a long way in super detailing a model. However, in some circumstances, PE adds considerably. I built the trailers to the DML 8.8cm Flak 36 – it’s extremely accurate and detailed. However to add the “extra punch”, I used the Lionroar PE set. I wish I could show you the “before” photos.
Click to enlarge the photos
Admittedly, this was probably my most complex attempt. However, the quality of final product is light years ahead of what could have been accomplished OOB, in my honest opinion. It took 2 solid weeks of modelling time to build these trailers but I feel it was well worth it.
Another area in which PE excells is engine grills and exhaust grills. Many times these are molded solid in plastic. PE allows a scale grill to replace the solid piece.
PE adds a level of detail that just can’t be fabricated in plastic. As in schurzen, or armor shields for a FlaK 38. Alot of times plastic kits will bevel the sides of a piece to give the impression of a thinner piece. But you, or at least I can tell the difference on a completed, and painted model. Once you get a couple more kits under your belt, you should really give PE a try.
And if you don’t think you can do it, try anyway. Trust me on this, it gets easier as you do more. My first PE tool brackets were ugly, my second ones a little better and the third ones good enough.
No kidding Manstein! I’ve been adding PE to my Italeri M4A1 and it has been an exercise in frustration and patience! I’ve been working on&off for 3 weeks adding the PE and would have had the model completed by now if not for the PE. Granted, this is my first serious applicaton of PE and I’m still learning, so maybe there’s just a large learning curve. Gotta admit though that the end result is looking quite nice…something that simply can’t be accomplished with injection molded styrene alone.
It’s not as much a learning curve as a learning-vertical-incline. I’m actually considering replacing some of the PE in my PzIV with .3 mil styrene, my preferred medium. I’d lose out on the scale thickness, but it’s infinitely easier to use and glue. Doesn’t work at all for sharp bends, of course, and has no stress-bearing capability at all.
