I feel like I’ve asked this before, but does anyone wash their model sprues before assembly?
Nope, not plastic. I do wash resin as i have had problems with painting, but i have never washed a plastic kit.
I do, if they feel greasy. The Kitty Hawk XF5U-1 is one of those. I found that Purple Power is a great lazy man’s sprue cleaner- just pour some into a container, dump the sprues in for a few hours, rinse with water, a little scrubbing with a toothbrush in the nooks and crannies, and air dry. Wear gloves, as PP will cause burns.
Have taken to it. Have issues with paint peeling when masking. Might be on bare plastic of finger oils with MM acrylics… Most likely my fault in any case. Might have to start using primer and a light wash just prior to paint.
No,I have not found it necessary,nor have I experienced problems from not doing so.
I like to wash the sprues with a small amount of dish soap, rinsed thoroughly and patted dry. It puts my mind at ease about mold release or other factory residue, and more important, it’s an opportunity to examine the kit piece by piece. Kind of a modelling “zen” state, a chance to really look things over before before the first cuts. Besides, it’s the most fun a person can have with an old toothbrush.
Happy New Year!
Mike
No. But I do wipe down the assembled model before painting, a real must.
I have washed the parts once or twice in the past, but have found that it isn’t necessary. All the handling of the parts during assembly will put all kinds of skin oils and fingerprints on them anyway, so I don’t bother with the preliminary washing. Once the model is ready for paint, I wipe it and the unattached parts with denatured alcohol, let it dry a few minutes, then paint. Never a problem with that technique.
I do out of habit.
I haven’t done so in a long time, and there’s never been an issue. I use enamels mostly, which may mitigate any problems the mold release may present
Every general introduction to this hobby that I’ve read recommends at least a wash in detergent, and so always have. Will wipe down all possible parts before painting, in addition.
I think I must be doing something wrong. Every time I wash my sprues, I loose parts in the “spin cycle”. [sml…]
Before assembly?
No, it’s completely unnecessary until you are in the painting phase, and then again, most modern Armor manufacturers are putting out pretty clean kits these days. The only models I wash are car models because most of the molds are pretty old and gloss paint is so notoriously finicky with adhesion issues. If you prime your models, washing isn’t necessary at all unless you’re eating greasy fries while assembly.
I see no point in washing the sprues before assembly. I handle the parts with my greasy mitts during assembly, so I’d have to wash it a second time before painting. Why wash it twice?
Of course, there are ocassional exceptions. Like the time I spilt diet soda all over an open kit.
One of the advantages of belonging to a club, or participating in online forums, is that I frequently get warnings of kits with excessive parting agents or other contamination of the plastic. Styrene kit mfgs have gotten very good about giving us contamination-free kits these days, and I have gotten out of the habit of washing all kits. I still get bit occasionally if I am the first one I know to build a certain kit. I find contamination to be more of a problem on less popular brands from Eastern Europe. I have had very little problems lately, and have been warned about some kits. I did have one problem that caught me by surprise, but that was an old kit I bought from a guy who had it in his stash for years, an old AMT sci-fi kit.
Years ago I thought the makers used some sort of mold release, it seemed to me that I sometimes saw/felt a light greasy sense of the parts. Then I did wash the parts while still in the sprues, not a big expenditure of time, so out of habit I continue now. Likely overkill, but what the heck.
As I handle the parts during construction, I keep a small sponge dampened with alcohol on the bench and frequently wipe my fingers on it, just to avoid contamination. That’s especially true for the big bits, fuselage, wing halves, tail surfaces and canopy.
What is a definate must is like the others said, a good wipe down of external surfaces prior to primer and paint. I use alcohol, not sure if branded Plastic Prep is still around, I don’t find it at my LHS, seemed like good stuff.
Patrick
Same here. I always wash my hands prior to handling the plastic and keep a wipes container on the bench just in case.
I always wash the sprues in water with a little dish soap added, then rinse. I keep two designated plastic dishpans for this. I also wash the pieces again, after I get them cleaned up to remove sanding dust. Major assemblies (like fuselage-wing assemblies) get wiped down with window cleaner before painting. I did have problems years ago with paint lifting along with the masks, so I got in the habit of doing this all the time. If it can’t hurt, it may help.
This was absolutely required once. I was building the ICM (Alanger) IT-28 kit and it had a coating of hardened grease agent on the sprues right out of the factory sealed bags.
Not mine but looked exactly like this:
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aer/images/aer_t-28_parts05.jpg
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aer/images/aer_t-28_parts08.jpg
Dishwashing detergent did not work on this fly-catching-weather-proofing agent so I dunked each sprue into denatured alcohol and then agitated vigerously for about a minute each.
I do this now with all vinyl tracks before primer coat, just to be sure.
One of the biggest freakin’ failure modes I ever pulled off. Washed a big PE fret in alcohol, then wiped it with a cloth.