Oh well it doesn't matter now!

[my 70 chevelle ss]

This hobby is getting to complicated for me & expensive I just remember the good old days. Anyway Yap I screwed the PE parts up but at least I'm helping the economy!.One thing is for sure I am learning a lot about these paper thin things no big deal it was my fault I used double faced tape to hold them down but saved two I need. So I'll have plenty of time to play with them before the next set comes. I'm putting more money in this model than I do my 70 Chevelle SS & at least I can drive that. Just born stupid!

[RodneyBad]

don't let it get to ya.

It's only PE..

I hardly use them because of that and other.

It's all Practice Practice Practice.

Relax, it's only a Hobbie for Fun and relaxation

[Blake Rogers]

thats the way they are man you will get a hang of it soon enough

[elan]

PE parts do have a learning curve. I like them, but some of them seem kind of pointless. I don't worry about things I can't see

[Karmodeler2]

Hey Will,

If you don't want to do the tape thing, or have problems with it, there is another way.

Get a gallon zip lock bag. Take some wide masking tape (I use 2 inch) and tear off a piece and fold it against itself so there is no sticky side anywhere. Maybe two or three folds and make it about 2 inches by 2 inches. Place it and your photoetch in the bag and shake it. Just kidding. Put them in there though, and put your photoetch on top of the piece of tape cushion that you made, and cut your photo etch off the tree. If it is MCG photoetch, use a optivisor and if you look really close, on the detail side (front), you will actually see a small line between the tree frame and the little "arm" that is holding your part. Your razor blade will actually rest in this little groove. Every MCG I have used has this. The tape will give you a cushion and the bag will keep you from looking for the lost part.

Good Luck.

You can also polish the photoetch before you part it off. Take a piece of glass, put your photoetch on it, put some liquid polish on it (wenol or flitz) and use the dremel polishing cotton wheel that is about the size of a matchbox wheel or slightly bigger. Keep you polish always present (prevents the wheel from grabbing the parts) and always keep the rotation of the wheel so that as you get to the edge of the photoetch frame, it's always spinning down and away from the edge of the frame. Otherwise, as you move to the edge of the frame, your wheel will lift the frame and bend it.

It would be good to practice on the one you have already ruined. This one will be a great teacher. You will be amazed how shiny this stuff gets when you polish it. Looks like chrome,

David

[Ddms]

Photoetch taught me that tweezers are the devil's own handiwork.

That's something I finally figured out after boldly launching about fifty precious PE details into the cosmos, never to be seen again.

Even if you use Karmodeler's bag - a great idea, BTW - to cut the stuff, there's still the problem of moving it from the sprue to the model. Now, instead of tweezers, I use a toothpick with a little piece of poster tack around one end. The poster tack grips the PE well enough to get it to its destination, and it will (usually) release it easily once it has arrived.

Karmodeler also mentioned an Optivisor. I love my Optvsr. It makes handling all small parts a lot easier. It's good for lots of other things too - like painting details and trimming masking tape and BMF.

[Karmodeler2]

Great tips and like Mark said, I use some techniques that I assume everyone does and don't think about mentioning it when talking about photoetch.

When it comes to adding them to the model, I start with a clean (well, somewhat clean) work area. I lay out the parts, sometimes still in a small bag, until I need them. I take a piece of wide masking tape, sticky side down. I put a small drop of clear and spread it out so that it is a thin film. If I have to, I will add a drop of lacquer thinner to thin down the clear. I take a toothpick, lick it, then pick up my part with the toothpick. I wipe it through the film and then using the toothpick, move it over to the model and put it in it's place. If you don't want to use clear paint, Future works good too. If you are still uneasy with this, then use Elmer's or Krystal Klear and this way you can practice and remove it without messing up your model. If you need to, you can remove it, and use a moistened q-tip and the glue will turn back into glue from a dried state when you use water.

When doing your body work, It's a good Idea to NOT completely remove the molded in scripts. It will give you good placement and spacing if you leave just a little bit of relief for a guide for you photo etch. I sanded the letters "E L D O R A D O" almost completely off, and the little relief I did leave was a helpful guide in letter placement for the photo etch.

Also, if you don't have the letters or relief on the model to use as a guide, you can take a piece of masking tape, mark lines, perpendicular to the edge of the tape for spacing of letters, and place the tape on the car with the tape going left to right and the lines used for alignment running up and down. You can rest the bottom of the photo etch on the top edge of the tape and the lines will give you spacing.

I hope this helps.

David

[Ddms]

I take a toothpick, lick it, then pick up my part with the toothpick.

Oh. Spit! Why didn't I think of that?

I wipe it through the film and then using the toothpick, move it over to the model...

The film is another great idea. I've been putting little glue dots on PE pieces, but the glue always squishes out and makes a thick, shiny border around the badge or whatever. The wet film is a much cleaner and neater method.

I usually use Tamiya X-22 Clear Acrylic for small bits of PE. It dries thin and clear. (Considering my use of glue dots, I guess that's good; if I'd used anything else, my PE would look really terrible.) X-22 can be thinned with water, alcohol or Tamiya Acrylic Thinner. I think the Tamiya would be best for the film method, since it has little surface tension and doesn't dry too fast.

Using tape to "pre-align" the piece is the way to go. There's nothing worse than looking at a placed piece and thinking "F_*&# all!! It shoulda been more to the left!"

For attaching large pieces, like long chrome strips, I picked up a nifty idea from the mad genius Gionc's WIP on the Porsche 356 Speedster. You lay the strips upside down on a strip of double-sided tape. I use carpet tape stuck to a piece of cardboard. Then go outside and lightly spray it with 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive. While the goo is still gooey, lift each piece with a toothpick, flip it, and carefully place it next to the masking-tape strip you've put on the car. Sometimes an end will spring up off the surface, and you have to press it down again, but eventually you'll get good adhesion.

By the way, carpet tape is great for a lot of things, but it's too sticky for holding small pieces of PE. When you need the piece, the darn tape won't let go.

Skills threads like this one are great! There's nobody in this hobby who doesn't have plenty to learn. Like the man said, "The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know."