Hello;
I need some tips and tricks for picking up small PE parts and placing them in position.
Bill
I think I saw a tip in the current issue of FSM. Use one of those little plastic micro brushes, dip the fuzzy tip in water, and blot out the excess. Touch the damp end of the micro brush to the PE part and it will pick it up, and you can now place it over a dot of glue that you have previously put on the model. The author said he liked Gorrilla acrylic glue because it is nice and tacky and will grab on to the PE part readily.
I lick my finger tip, then touch the part. This puts it on my finger. Then I use tweezers to pick it off of my finger and put it on model. However, I am rethinking this. Any slight pressure on the tweezers that misaligns the jaws sends the part flying.
My other method, which I am starting to use more and more, is to roll a very small, BB sized ball of blue tack (poster tack) and put it on the end of a toothpick. This picks up the part and does not grip to strongly. I then can position the part and push it against the model with tip of a #11 blade or squeezed-together tweezer end.
It really depends on the size of the PE part. I used fingers, blue tack, wax coated sticks, etc.
Thanks guys those are some really good tips. I have blue tack but never thought of using it for PE. I also have little tub of wax for securing model railroad figures. Maybe some on a toothpick just like blutack.
thanks
Bill
I think the author uses Gator Grip acrylic glue. I love Gator glue for PE, small parts & painted parts. The bond is super strong and, best of all, it dries transparent.
Yes, I stand corrected. He did say he used “Gator Grip” acrylic glue. I’ll have to give that a try next time.
Thanks, Chrisk-k.
Check out a product called “Micro Stix” made by the Microbrush people.
One end has a small blob of clear jellylike sticky stuff. Comes in several levels of stickiness.
Originally designed for dentists.
Available at Hobby Lobby in the model section.
Works great for picking up small delicate things.
The only weakness of Gator glue is its long curing time (10-15 minutes). But when gluing small pieces, it’s not a problem at all because Gator glue is very tacky. Its long curing time is a blessing, too, because you have 10-15 minutes to clean up excess with just water. Even if you don’t clean up, nothing to worry because it dries transparent.
Since I bought two bottles last year, I haven’t used CA at all.
Where do you get it?
I usually get a toothpick wet with spit, and pick up the tiny etched parts with that. Then set them down with a two part epoxy mix. If they’re large enough, I’ll use a pair of self locking tweezers, but for those tiny tiny parts, spit on a toothpick works well and lets go very easily when you want it to. You’re just creating some surface tension.