Static from sanding?

[Matt Bacon]

Hi, all.... just been  removing the (very faint) mould lines from a Tamiya Jag body shell, and it seems to have literally become a dust magnet. Evey tiny shaving of plastic, bit of crud or fragment of masking tape seems to leap straight at it. I can't believe my workbench is suddenly much dirtier, so is it possible my sanding sticks and the body styrene have somehow interacted to charge the thing, like old school vinyl albums? If I just give it a wash in water, will that discharge it, or do i need some cunning special fluid like you used to get for records?

best,

M.

[NOBLNG]

Yes it has become charged. The wash should fix it? I have had panel line accent “jump” off the brush to the model also. I wipe it with a used dryer fabric softener sheet to reduce the static charge before applying accent.

Edited May 14, 2020 by NOBLNG

[mr moto]

Yes, a good wash with detergent is usually the easiest cure. Also, Tamiya makes an anti-static brush that works very well. I think it's a little pricy, almost $20 IIRC, but a good investment.

[gman]

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/74078brush/index.htm

^^ as mentioned

I saw this being used by a well-known modeller in his painting videos. I used to have an anti-static gun for record albums that did double duty for model purposes.

https://www.amazon.ca/Milty-Zerostat-Anti-Static-Gun-Blue/dp/B0033SHDSS

^^ a quick internet search revealed something similar, though it is shocking how much the pricing has changed