**** DONE: 1/48 Bf 109F-2 - Winter War / Eastern Front WWII

[Crimea_River]

Not too shabby there Geo.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Andy. The post mentioned in Post#34 has been remove and the P.E. part has been bent and placed for a photo...

The trim wheel assembly requires 8 pieces and aligned. This is my first major P.E. project so it will be slow.

Geo

 

[dneid]

Geo, I use PVA as a glue quite often with PE. It is thicker and tends to hold in place and seems to be solid enough if handled gently.

 

[Crimea_River]

"handled gently" for sure. PVA, although commonly used to attach clear parts, does not stick well to plastic, let alone PE.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys, going to stick to gator glue for now, plenty of time to fiddle about until it sticks. These two pieces took about 5 minutes of fiddling before I was happy with the placement...

...I also noticed in the photo, that with all the fiddling of trying to square up the two wheels in three dimensions, I inadvertently placed the crappy part of the wheel up into view. Hoping it will be less conspicuous when it's against the sidewall and closed up.

Geo

 

[rochie]

Good start Geo, dare say won't see much once closed up but looks good to me

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Karl, did a test run and it looks like it should be OK. Any thought on how to deal with the metal tabs on the edge of the pieces? This is my first P.E. set with such small pieces, 5 removed and no pingers....yet.

Geo

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far Geo!

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Dr.Gnomey. While giving my eyes a break from trying to file those metal nibs off and making my very first box(Yea me), I rebuilt the sidewall ribs I destroyed filing off the detail to make room for the P.E. parts.

Geo

 

[Vic Balshaw]

George, those annoying little PE tags can be either snipped off if you have the right type of shears or as I usually do, place the part on a sheet of glass, I've a bit from an old photo frame, take a sharp knife and while holding the PE part either with your finger/nail tip or tooth pick, cut the tag off with the knife blade. The PE is not hard and will cut easily as long as the blade is sharp.

Nice work your doing as well.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff, Vic's suggestion is how i do it or tweezers and a fine file....

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep, same here but not glass. I generally try to cut the PE close from the sprue in the first place so I don't have to deal with those tabs.

Geo, are there different kinds of Gator Glue or just one? I've heard good things but have never tried it.

 

[fubar57]

Andy, here's a link to an IPMSUSA review which mentions Gator P.E. glue though the Gator Hobby Acrylic glue says it can be used for P.E.
IPMS Product Review: Gator's Grip Hobby Glue
http://gatorsmask.com/

Geo

 

[JKim]

Thanks for the tip on Gator Glue... I'll check it out since I don't like how fast CA glue sets up on PE parts. I use a magnifying glass to try and cut the PE piece as close as possible to avoid the connection tabs. I've also gotten into the habit of attaching a piece of tape to the PE piece prior to cutting just to minimize the loss of pieces that go pinging off the work table.

 

[fubar57]

Nothing has happened yet...yet, but in the future, I may need some CA debonder. If I use it to free 2 pieces from each other, do I have to get the pieces squeaky clean of the debonder; will any left on prevent a bond? Anyhoo...just spent 10 minutes trying to crazy glue a 1x1.5mm piece of plastic rod to the P.E. throttle quadrant.

Geo

 

[dneid]

Hey, Geo, another tip when cutting your PE pieces off the "sprue". I use dbl sided tape stuck on a 3x3 inch ceramic tile. I stick the PE fret to the tape and use a fresh blade to cut as close to the PE piece as I can. The tape minimizes the pinging effect and cutting as close as you can minimizes the nibs that need to be filed down. When I do have to file, I use the same tape in some jaws of my tweezers (I use a piece of wax paper between the tape pieces to prevent the jaws sticking together.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[fubar57]

While awaiting a minor disaster to pass, I thought I would work on the oxygen hose, needs a little more tightening on the right...

...minor disaster you ask? Anyone want to hazard a guess at how far Vallejo paint will travel when you squeeze on a new bottle that has the tip plugged and then it suddenly lets go, tip and all. Let's just say, it was on the wall, 3 feet above the table and still climbing, the remnants of which can still be seen on the paper towel.

Geo

 

[fubar57]

Double post because of 504 code.

Geo

 

[Wurger]

I got the same a while ago.