I wanted to share a technique I kind of stumbled upon last year. #0000 Steel Wool (#000 = “Four-Ought”). A bag of 12 pads costs $4.00 and will last a year or more through countless models. I use the steel wool to smooth finished seams, after putty, sprue-goo, etc have been scraped / sanded away. The steel wool actually POLISHES some plastics to the point where you can see minor surface defects when held against the glare of your light source. Obviously it’s not going to polish clear canopies, but could be used as a mid-grade abrasive in the seam removal process. It’s also good for gently rubbing along all the edges of ALL model parts before or after assembly; especially where flash has been cut / scraped / sanded away. Since it conforms to any contour, it’s the perfect sanding medium for a final finish. I also use it to LIGHTLY rub the entire model down before primer. Everyone knows that shiny surfaces don’t hold paint as well as microscopically scuff-sanded surfaces do. It knocks the shine off of the parts so to speak. Anyway, I thought I’d share the tip. The guys in my model club had never heard of it. Just be sure and flow all the tiny steel wool particles off of / out of the model prior to painting.
I’ll give it a try.
Thanks for the tip ! [:D]
Sounds like a great tip, I’ll have to give it a shot as well.
Good tip. You ought to send this one in to the Mag. They’ll pay you 15 bucks for it when published.
Nice tip! Thanks.
I have used it a few times. The problem I have with it is that the tiny pieces of steel wool that break off- a sort of steel “dust” seems to be harder to remove than ordinary sanding dust.
Don, I have a package of 0000 on my work bench. I usuallly forget to use it (then I forget a lot of things lately). Steel wool works great, but it is a good idea to crank up your airbrush and hit the model with it before adding paint!
Absolutely. IME, micro pieces of steel wool are more difficult to remove than sanding dust. If you use tack cloth (or something similar) to remove steel wool debris, you’ll end up with a ton of micro sratches on the surface (i.e., steel destroys plastic). Moreover, steel wool debris seem to stick to the surface more strongly than sanding dust.
Yes 0000 steel wool will polish the plastic. I just hate that leftover fuzz that is anoying to remove as it goes everywhere so if you blow it be careful with your eyes. I’ve heard that bronze wool is even better because it won’t leave the microscopic scratches that steel wool leaves.
What about a thorough rinsing in a water bath?
Let the debris settle and let oxidation turn the debris into a “rust” sludge that can be filtered and dried for eventual use in small amounts on armor builds?
Is that feasible?
I have tried making that soup and it did no go well at all.
Distilled water, a bunch of 0000 wire wool, stir/breakup/polish a bit of steel/etc. main point is to collect water/sludge in a jar & allow to dry.
Genuine 1:1 rust, I added it to red colour to paint exhausts with, but not much else.
There are such good rust colors available in hobby paints it seems like a lot of effort to make your own rust. Also, for weathering powder, real rouge is basically just rust.
From doing some woodworking it’s cautioned that you shouldn’t use a water based clear finish after using steel wool because you’ll get rust spots. I assume the sdame holds true for plastic. I’d aoid using it.