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Tamiya 1/48th P-51D WIP


nmertes

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The Accurate Miniatures F-6B that I posted as a WIP sometime ago is almost ready for color so I started on the Tamiya P-51D since it's too hot most of the day to do any airbrushing. I'm using the Eduard PE set that includes the fuselage details.  Photo 1 is the left fuselage half.  Photo 2 is the right fuselage half.  Photo 3 is the instrument panel which includes 5 pieces of PE.  Photo 4 is the cockpit floor/battery rack.  I've been gluing the PE in place with Ammo by MIG PVA glue except the curved piece on the left side of the cockpit where I used CA.  Glued the floor end & let it dry for an hour.  Then put a drop of CA on the top section & held it in place for a couple minutes.

A question for folks like Gil Hodges or Richard Marmo.  How do you remove the stub from PE parts that you've trimmed off the sheet?  I've been clipping them off using a small Swiss Army knife scissors then sanding the stubs off with an 800 grit sanding stick.  I'm interested in knowing if anybody has a better method.  Some of the pieces are extremely small.

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Nicolas,

For me it depends on the piece in question.  When dealing with the really small stuff, the object is to not have a stub to trim.  If I can gain access to the desired part without damaging anything, a pair of opthomology scissors does a great job.  They also are useful for trimming pieces you can actually hold that have stubs that need trimming.  Another approach is to hold the fret down on a hard surface such as a piece of ceramic tile, then use a new blade to cut the stub next to the part.  Result?  No stub.  Be sure to cover at least part of the desired piece with your thumb or finger so it doesn't fly off into never never land when you cut it free.  Another possibility is to put the fret down onto a piece of low tack tape, sticky side up, then cut close to the part so that there's no stub.  Keep in mind that another factor is that all photoetch isn't the same thickness or the same material, so you will have to adjust your approach accordingly.

Hope some of this helps.

Richard

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I picked up one of these from the Small Shop and I like it. It allows me to get very close cuts so I don't have much of a nub to remove. For what nubs I do have, I generally use a diamond file and in a few swipes it's clean. If the part is especially small or hard to file, I'll put the part in a parts bender on the flat side and clamp it down so it doesn't !!PING!! and get eaten by the carpet monster. Just my two pennies!

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