Photoetched drama

[Mixalz]

Rant: Is there anything else worse than hearing the dreaded ping of your PE flying out of your tweezers. Luckily my eyesight is good and I saw the landing site sight (in between model boxes) so I had a small area to search but even with a magnet took 30mins lol.

[peteski]

You are lucky that the part was magnetic!  When you lose brass or nickel-silver parts the magnet doesn't help.

Actually most photo etched parts I work with are non-magnetic. Even the stainless steel parts are usually only slightly magnetic.  That is when you have to get the vacuum cleaner and a some pantyhose out.

[torinobradley]

That is when you have to get the vacuum cleaner and a some pantyhose out.

Yeah, try explaining that to the wife...

[Mike999]

Here's one way I avoid that (sometimes):  get some "Simply Tacky" or "Blu-Tack" adhesive putty, sold at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc.  (Pic below.) I put a dab of that stuff on a toothpick or an old Micro-Brush with the tip stripped off, and use that to pick up the photo-etch and position it on the model.

To keep the photo-etch piece from flying when I cut it off the sprue, sometimes I stick it to a piece of double-sided tape. That has another benefit, it leaves a little adhesive from the tape on the back of the photo-etched part.  I used that method on one of my worst photo-etch challenges: the 1/35 scale Hobby Boss EBR-10 French armored car.  That thing had 44 tiny photo-etched rivets, 22 each for the front and rear hulls.

I thought the Carpet Monster had been exorcised when I got a basement with a concrete floor.  No such luck.  Don't have to worry about parts hiding in the carpet now. But when parts hit that concrete floor, they bounce.  Apparently into another dimension...

 

[iamsuperdan]

I just put a couple of strips of that Tamiya tape across the back of the photoetch sheet.