Sanding of ladders and doors

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

How do you sand doors and ladders off the superstructure of ships without removing detail around them?

2

Apply masking tape to the bulkhead surfaces to protect details. Then sand with a sliver of sanding stick/emory board, not a whole piece wraped around your finger.

I’ve found some commercially available - called Twigs. They look to be the left overs from the manufacture of beauty shop nail files. They are about 1/8 inch wide. They are firm and square and can get into the deck/bulkhead corner

3

Ed, those sound great. Where do you get them?

I have used the Flex-i-File for some applications like this and others where you are trying to sand a rounded part and don’t want to square it off. The tool looks like a letter U with a narrow band of sandpaper strung between the uprights. WS

4

The pricetag is from Hobby Lobby, but I’ve also gotten them at the LHS. They come in packs of 20.

5

Ed,

thanks for posting that information. WS

6

Another thing to try is a hobby chisel, which is usually my first tool of choice with my 1/700 ships (talk about no room to manuever). I got mine from Micro-Mark, and if you don’t use too much force, you can remove a watertight door with one or two swipes and have a clean surface remaining. If you do use too much force, or the chisel happens to slip, well … Band-Aids are always a good thing to have on your workbench. [;)]