Does anybody have any opinions on rigging using hot glue strands? I am currently building the old 1/535 Revell Missouri. Also, for brush painting, Is a half and half mixture of water and alchohal good for thining Tamiya Acrylic? Wouldn’t the alchohal evaporate? I am currently working towards slowly replacing my Tamiya Acrylics with Humbrol, Model Master, and Vallejo. Thanks.
Well in my opinion I wouldn’t use hot glue because one screw up and you got a lot of cleaning on your hands. Although if you do use hot glue I would put two pieces of sprue together and glue a big bead on the tips of both the sprues. While it’s still hot pull the sprues away from each other until you get the thickness you want. Then when it is cool cut the size you need and gently melt the tips into place. This can also be accomplished by melting a sprue or use sewing thread. And for the tamiya paint, I’m not a 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure tamiya makes it paint with alcohol, so it sould be fine (although I would just stick to acrylic thinners).
Hope this helps you and good luck on your model.
I use sprue for the kind of rigging you are considering. After a lot of trial, what works best for me is to hold a section of sprue over the flame until it literally catches on fire and parts. Then blow out (bad fumes!) and mash the two blobs together. Stretch.
For fun I tried hot glue strands on a tiny Viking ship back in 2014. It attracts dust, does not always hold to the plastic, and, when used hot, invariably attaches to the wrong spot or burns my fingers.
Use GM’s method or use Jim Baumann’s Streched Sprue process (look it up). With a good quality plastic sprue and good control, it can be stretched thinner than human hair. It’s cheaper than Hot Glue too.
Jim B posted that his best quality Stretched Sprue came from the Heller HMS Victory kit. I recall he threatened to use the yards and mast when he runs out of Sprue.
Nino
I’d use Tamiya’s brand thinner or Testors Universal Acrylic Thinner.
Tanks everybody