Hey all. Since returning to this hobby of relaxation, I am besmirched by just how much it can stress me out as opposed to relaxing me. As you can tell by the title it is the Teeny Tiny Demons From Hell that are the nemesis of my relaxation. Anyone else feel the same?
What I’m looking for is any ingenious ways that some of you have found to make life easier when it comes to getting those small parts to go where they are supposed to without becoming lost in the carpet jungle.
I spend about 20 minutes a session looking for dropped parts with a flashlight. Tile floor helps. I found one part in the window track in front of my bench! Neverndis find my f86f port speed break actuator. Long story short, I’m no help. Lol
Trouser cuffs, padded modeling chair cushion, left elbow, end of the tool.
My wife thinks- why is my husband flat on the floor, left cheek pressed against it, staring sideways?
I can never solve this problem, but it’s not hard to avoid some of the easier ones.
ALWAYs stick the decal sheet back in either the kit or your secure and easily located decal storage drawer. Never take it into the study to look at while you thumb through books- take the books to it.
When it’s bedtime and you are only partway through assembling those 16 gun barrels to the 8 gun houses, plus the mount rings and range finder hoods- do not leave them on the bench no matter how well organized they appear to be, Take the time to get out the compartment tray that has a lid and put all of the parts away.
And when I lose something, I don’t spend too much time looking for it if it’s something I can reasonable copy. No one is going to notice unless the model is contest bound.
When I cut small stuff away from a PE fret, I usually stick a piece of blue tape on the back. Otherwise they WILL ping off.
Build kits with bigger parts or brightly colored plastic parts that are easily seen if dropped… avoid parts launchers, aka tweezers, as much as possible… removing the carpet really doesn’t help, because hard floors make parts bounce farther in unpredictable directions…
sorry, no real ingenious solutions from me…
You can dip your tweezers in liquid electrical tape. You can find it in the electrical section of any home improvement store. After you dip the tips in the black liquid, hang them up and let them dry then you’ll be left with a nice soft coating over the tweezers that can grip small parts without sending them flying across the room.
You’ll find the parts that the carpet monster ate after you finish the next three models. You’ll reach for something on the bench, or shelf and “Oooh, look what I found”. Happens all the time.
Jim [cptn]
Following on MoparMadness’s suggestion, you could also try ‘pearl’ or ‘beading’ tweezers–they have little hemispherical depressions on the insides of the jaws, for holding round thingies…but they also give a little bit better grab to pretty much any irregularly-shaped object…like most tiny model parts.
Also useful are the variety of ‘sticky’ grabbers like the pencil, Grabit-Stix, and similar items. (The ‘glue dots’ used by scrapbookers, stuck to a toothpick end, will do the same thing rather more cheaply. A roll of 100 may last a lifetime.)
My solution is similar to the suggestions above. For small PE parts I find that a toothpick with a small blob of blu tac is the best way to grab and hold them. No launching with tweezers. When positioning a PE part during gluing, I just gently touch the part with the blu tac toothpick, set the part into position, and the glue will overcome the blu tac stickiness when I pull the toothpick away. Sometimes I need to coax the part off the toothpick with an hobby knife or another toothpick.
Smaller thumbs might help lol. Actually if you have an optivisor or similar magnifier practice using it…it does not slow down the speed at which the part leaves the bench but it gives you a real good idea of what it looks like.
Kidding aside, I try to prep myself for the task at hand. By that I mean deep breaths, a gentle touch, and a quick prayer to the styrene gods. Slow down, do not dread the task…simply become one with it, see it through to completion then grab the next big piece that needs a mold line remove and sand the fijits away.
Interesting idea I was thinking about some type of liquid rubber type stuff perhaps helping.
I’m gonna have to check with the wife she may have some of those, thanks for that idea.
I tried that with silly putty but the putty just didn’t grip the part tight enough. I’ll try the blu tack.
I put a piece of tape on the other side of the sprue when I am removing the parts. I use beading tweezers and try to grip as gently as possible. I also just got a cheap 4’ flourescent light and installed it under my 8’ table that I use for modeling. When I drop a part, I pull the chain and It is like daytime under the bench! If I still can’t find it I call my family to look. If they don’t find it it’s considered gone.
There is a product out there that is a soft wax to help pick up small parts. I think its made by deluxe materials.
https://deluxematerials.co.uk/collections/scale-plastics/products/tacky-wax
Looks to be a really useful product.
ultimate photo-etch placers , wax pencils are a god send for PE , easy pick-up , easy put down , and cheap ,
Wow that looks like a winner winner chicken dinner. Thanks for posting the link.
I have a cloth tacked to my workbench that extends over my lap, held up by a wire frame that extends about eight inches out from the bench. Parts that are dropped close to the bench edge fall on the cloth and do not bounce. I still occasionally drop small parts on floor when I am not careful to keep working over the bench. If that happens I frequently do lose them.
To keep from dropping them in the first place, I have found an excellent pair of tweezers. They bend only in one direction, squeezing in and out, but are wide and rigid in the other direction. This keeps the points from twisting past each other.
I have also used the blue tack on tip of toothpick bit.
I have tiled the floor with white vinyl tile. I can even find tiny clear part on it. Yes, parts do bounce on it sometimes. If I really have a problem, I use my wife’s swiffer which usually will pick it up for retrieval.
Can you see em? Two 1/700 clear parts - an aircraft landing gear and a 4 blade prop, a PE prop and a twin 40.
Standing up-
On my knees-
Looking closer-
As a last resort, for carpet or in crevices and cracks, Slip a piece of pantyhose or nylons over the end of the pickup tube or tool on a shop vac hose, push it into the tube with your finger to create a pocket, place a rubber band around the tube to hold it in place. Vac away. When finished, take the pantyhose part out and lay it on a sheet of white paper and pick away at the dust and stuff. In there you’ll find lots of stuff. I’m always amazed at the stuff I find in there. I usually find even things I didn’t know I lost.
EJ
Yes, tiny parts are difficult to deal with.
Thanks for all the great tips, I picked up some loctite brand fun tak and put some on the end of a piece of sprue and hallelujiah praise the Lord tiny parts are easily picked up and placed where ever I want to put them. I’m sure I’ll brainfart from time to time and lose a small part, but no more tweezers means less risk of losing them.