Wonderful work on the drop tanks, Chad. You really are a master at using those long snakes of Milliput! How do you roll them to get them so uniform and then keep them uniform during handling?
Hello John, and thank you! I will do my best to explain how I roll milliput into uniform lengths.
I first make sure I have a clean flat working surface free of dust and debris as much as possible. For me this is just my green self healing hobby mat that I have brushed off and wiped down with paper towels. In the corner of the mat I place a small pile of baby powder to have handy. I then mix up milliput as normal, two equal parts. Once thoroughly mixed, I pull off a piece about the size of a BB, so maybe 3mm in diameter. I roll this between my thumb and index finger to form a cigar shape, then place it on the mat.
The next part is very important. Touch the tips of your fingers and thumb into the powder that is on your mat. Basically you want any part of your fingers that will come into contact with the putty to have a coating of powder so that the putty will not stick to your fingers because of sweat or oils.
With your index finger, start gently rolling the putty back and forth. I keep my finger/hand as level to the work surface as possible, especially as the putty begins to lengthen and get thinner. Pay attention to how the putty feels while you are doing this. If it starts feeling tacky or sticky to your fingers at all, apply more powder to your fingers. Occasionally check your progress and look for any places that are fatter than other areas. Work these areas by applying extremely light pressure and moving your finger down the length of the snake as you roll. This is very intuitive As you almost feel that you thinking about the action does the work rather than applying pressure. It is that light of a pressure being applied. Very much something you understand and get a feel for once you start working with the putty.
As the snake gets longer, use your other fingers to support it so it all rolls as one piece. You do not want one end to stay stationary while the other is rolled. This will cause the putty to twist, thus weakening it and breaking off. Just as you don't want your fingers to stick to the putty, you don't want your putty to stick to the mat. If you notice it sticking to the mat, work a little powder into the work surface with your finger. The powder coating on both your fingers and mat should be very thin. You should be able to feel it, but not see it except that the coated surface and fingers should be dull, not shiny, almost as if they have been Matt coated if you think of it as a painted surface. So basically, to achieve good results, don't let the putty stick, and keep checking for uniformity in girth of your snake. The longer the snake gets, the more difficult it will be to control, i.e. more prone to twisting and breaking.
Depending on how long you need your piece to be and how thin, you can break off lengths of the snake to a more manageable size and continue rolling them thinner. Use a sharp blade to cut them to length once rolled to the desired diameter. With the tip of the knife slightly damp, you can pick up the putty and place it where desired. A dampened paint brush works as well. Once placed, use a dampened brush to tweak the position of your snake and push it into place as desired, gently stroking down the length to straighten.
I hope this explanation is clear and helpful. If anything is unclear or you have a question about something I may not have mentioned, please ask, I enjoy helping others.
Chad