Modeling Mediums 103

StephenLawson · 16 July 2003, 05:57 PM

Greetings all: Herein to fore we will sallie forth into the dark realms of Modeling Mediums. This course is designed to help those specifically that have had experienced serious setbacks and or concerns in the arena of various multi media kits and their construction. Your input is highly critical.

The areas that are to be discussed involve the materials that make up the essence of the parts that you find in modern model kits these days and their construction. They are:
1. Polystyrene or Butyl type plastics.
2. Resin.
3. White metal.
4. Etched metal fret (especially brass.)
5. Wood (hard and soft types.)
6. Fine wire.
7. Monofilament.
8. Paints, (enamels, acrylics and lacquers.)
9. Adhesives.

In all we would endeavour to help the viewers deal with materials that another might be less experienced with. This may take some of the aprehension away from builders who are trying a resin kit for the first time. The same with photoetch, or acrylics etc.

Pop Quiz: What is the element involved in the manufacturing of some modern kit resins that won't allow it to cure more than 87-91%?

topgun56 · 16 July 2003, 09:49 PM

Sorry, Stephen but plastic has ruled for decades and cures 100%.....is easy to glue and sand and Phil , paint and looks beautiful when you complete the model. There is very little that can not be modeled in plastic. Plus it shapes, cuts and carves very well.

Ans to pop quiz....no compound cures 100% If it did it would crack.

NeilE · 17 July 2003, 06:07 AM

Professor Stephen

Me?

I hate PE. It is my white whale, my nemesis, my Javert, my bete noir. Rotten stuff never holds properly and usually drops off after gluing , bends incorrectly, and is a bugger to clean up. I have a few kits with PE that sit on the shelves grinning evily at me. I would rather scratch build a close facsimile of a part than use a PE variety (except for seat belts and they are easy).
And what sadist invented PE control horns and turnbuckles? We hatess them, yes we doesss.

The Good Herr Doktor had it right when he refused to look at Eduardo and Dymphna's etchings in 1936. He knew what spawns of the devil those little chemically induced frets really were....

Phew...I'm glad I got that off my chest...

Also what is the point of providing sets of PE (Pure Evil) control horns and turnbuckles without any instructions or guides as to which are appropriate for what aircraft (as PART do)?

Not to mention trying to make struts out of PE....

Evil, Evil, Evil.....

All the Best

Neil E
(If only the Good Herr Doktor Von Humbrol were here!)

topgun56 · 17 July 2003, 09:57 PM

Neil......You tel em mate

18 July 2003, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Professor Stephen

Me?

I hate PE. It is my white whale, my nemesis, my Javert, my bete noir. Rotten stuff never holds properly and usually drops off after gluing , bends incorrectly, and is a bugger to clean up. I have a few kits with PE that sit on the shelves grinning evily at me. I would rather scratch build a close facsimile of a part than use a PE variety (except for seat belts and they are easy).
And what sadist invented PE control horns and turnbuckles? We hatess them, yes we doesss.

The Good Herr Doktor had it right when he refused to look at Eduardo and Dymphna's etchings in 1936. He knew what spawns of the devil those little chemically induced frets really were....

Phew...I'm glad I got that off my chest...

Also what is the point of providing sets of PE (Pure Evil) control horns and turnbuckles without any instructions or guides as to which are appropriate for what aircraft (as PART do)?

Not to mention trying to make struts out of PE....

Evil, Evil, Evil.....

All the Best

Neil E
(If only the Good Herr Doktor Von Humbrol were here!) *

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You young man have a hand of thumbs thats why you could not get used to P.E.

StephenLawson · 18 July 2003, 04:25 AM

Dymphna: Guess you've never heard of a hard return Hhhmmmm?

NeilE · 18 July 2003, 04:04 PM

Curse You Dymphna!

We know all too well your adherence to those evil little bits of brass. But I agree with the Good Herr Doktor's analysis regarding your evil ways.... You hate modellers. Your unhealthy obsession with PE and very small parts (not to mention swarthy gigolos) has mired you so deep in AMS that you never finish a model. We at the E-Cademy have tracked you all over the world, through all the world's steamy armpits, we trace you by the trail of unfinished models you leave all over the world! You are seething with envy and hatred at us modellers, who have renounced these tiny devils and can complete our models.

But there is hope, even for you. Book yourself in here at the E-Cademy and we can cure you. After doing our 24 step program, you too can build and finish any model you undertake. You'll be happier for it, believe me. and we won't charge you either, all we want is a detailed confession regarding the evil you have spread throughout the modelling community.,,,

But seriously... I don't like working with PE. Can someone please help me with a basic primer on how to work with this stuff. I need basic training. One thing for certain I need to know is how do you use PE control horns?...I need someone to spell this out in words with very short sylables for me......

All the Best

Neil
Director,
M.O.D.E.L.

PeterL · 18 July 2003, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Professor Stephen

Me?

I hate PE. It is my white whale, my nemesis, my Javert, my bete noir. Rotten stuff never holds properly and usually drops off after gluing , bends incorrectly, and is a bugger to clean up. I have a few kits with PE that sit on the shelves grinning evily at me. I would rather scratch build a close facsimile of a part than use a PE variety (except for seat belts and they are easy).
And what sadist invented PE control horns and turnbuckles? We hatess them, yes we doesss.

Thank heaven for that. I thought it was just me! PE is the pits, and more so when used inappropriately. Struts have been mentioned already, pressure pumps are another ludicrous example. The Early Eduard kits were full of the stuff. What on earth possessed Czechs, still the worlds best at resin, to offer an origami machine gun in fifteen trillion parts?

Control horns may be one of the few items in PE that are actually useful though. I attach them at an early stage, usually prior to painting. A tiny amout of white glue in the smallest depression scratched carefully at the location with a scalpel will hold it in place and the paint will secure it. A drop of paint applied to the area before the final paint job helps with handling during construction.

topgun56 · 18 July 2003, 09:50 PM

Dymphna

Are you really my Ex Wife?

And what the heck is PE. Wood glue?

I once build a boat and glued it together with white glue. It was beautiful until the water dissolved the glue. Ever wonder why Borden ( a diary comp.) makes it? Because its made from milk.

PeterL · 18 July 2003, 10:06 PM

TG: "And what the heck is PE? *Wood glue?"

Photo-Etched detail parts, usually brass, sometimes nickel. It was a big thing with ship modelers and railway modelers for decades before we *aeroplane people caught on. Harry Woodman with his background in scratchbuilding warships had a lot to do with the crossover but it's origins as a modeling material are in the US I believe. Very nice for ships hand rails, locomotive parts and so on, but as I get older and grumpier I am less happy with some the applications in our area of the hobby. For instance, etched wire wheels, at first a breathtaking inovation, look very crude alongside a scratchbuilt equivalent. Machine gun jackets are fine, particularly in larger scales, control horns, bomb racks, stuff like that, but there are an awful lot of things that just don't work IMO.