Time for me to tackle some of those rolling stock kits that have been waiting since the summer. I got some good info about glueing techniques on this forum…now a another question about a simple matter…
Plastic kit builders, what is your best tool/technique for despruing? I am still at the “hack it with a razor knife, bend it shake it and make a mess of it” style.
I see Micromark has a special despruing nipper…looks like a nail clipper to me.
SS,
I find that a good set of flush-cutting nippers works well. For really fine parts (e.g. grab irons on a Branchline boxcar), I support the sprue to be cut against the long edge of a small block of 1 x 3 so that the part doesn’t break. I then use an #11 X-acto blade to cut the sprue.
Tom
I have those tweezers from micro-mark great for real fine parts also use a pair of “flush cutting pliers” the small ones for the heavier parts
I have the Micromark tool and had to grind down the back of it to get into really tight spots, especially when I was assembling my Branchline rolling stock. Another technique I use is to heat up either a single edge razor balde or #11 Exacto blade with a heat source (in my case a light bulb in the 150 watt range) and cut the part loose with the hot blade. Beware you don’t burn your fingers. Another heat source that would work is a heat gun or hand held hair dryer.
There is no one technique for removing parts from sprues. I use wire cutters, track nippers, fingernail cutters and an exacto blade as a guillotine to chop parts off. Sometimes I will cut the sprue apart just leaving the area where it attachs to the part before surgically separating it. Just don’t bend and twist them off or you will take a chunk of the part with it sometime.
A file
I usually use the “rail nipper”, or an Exacto knife. Never twist the parts apart ! A fine file or sand paper will help smooth the edges. For tight access spots, remove the surrounding plastic, and then make sure that the smoth side of the piece is agaainst the wooden “cutting board”. I check the smoothness by sliding the exacto knife blade along the edge, toward the cutting board. Lay fine sandpaper on the board and pass the styrene edge over it. Bob
I’m surprised nobody mentioned actual “sprue nippers” (Not the pliers kind). They get into the small spaces, cut flush so little or no filing is necessary, and are simply the best tool for the job.
You can get them from any good hobby shop, or those tool guys that are at most major train shows. They come in straight, angled, fine, coarse, etc. so you may want to pick up a couple different ones (I have fine and coarse).
Here’s a link to one brand, as an example, but there are others as well:
http://www.p-b-l.com/PBL2002/TrickTools.html
HTH,
Steve
I have the tweezer style nipper and like how it works. For some parts a brand new blade in the Xacto knife is still a good way to remove parts.
When removing the grab irons and other ultra fine parts, do the work in a situation where you have good light and no mess – so should the part go flying in air you can actually find it again.
I was reading a back issue of MR and the author mentioned that he lost a grab iron and found it – on the back of a pill bug that was crawling away from his workbench! Keeping the floor swept and having a powerful light is a good way to find stuff that ends up on the floor.
Dave Nelson
Hey all you pros, nobody mentioned the Xuron product. It works great!!
Thanks for all the tips. Right now I am using a new shop single-sided razor blade…and a little bit of square wood stock as a cutting anvil when needed.
In the meantime, before I order the special sprue tools, I found this in the wife’s drawer: works like a charm.
Do you know what it is?..I do…she came looking for it the next day, but I won’t give it back!
Give up? No, she doesn’t build models with it.
I use the chisel blade of an X-Acto rather than the angled blade. That way I can exert the force evenly and in a downward direction against a stable surface. It cuts cleaner and more accurately. The nippers from Micro-Mark that others have mentioned are also good.
John Timm
Hi Saintsimeon
I use a Games Workshop brand sprue cutter, and an emery board for really small parts care is needed not to cut the part.
Do not use any brand of tool marketed as a sprue cutter for anything other than cutting sprue, or you will ruin the cutting edge.
Also Never I repeat Never bend and twist parts from a sprue.
regards John
I use 4" flush-cutting sidecutters which are made for electronic work. They do a good job.
Ok, Saintsimeon, what is it?
It is a cuticle/manicure tool. It seems precision made and fairly “pointy”, but actually costs a little more than some despruing nippers I have seen online. I would hope a despruing tool would have a little longer nose on the nippers.
As long as she didn’t use it on her toes, use it on your kits. I suppose if you are one of those “foot” people you wouln’t even mind.
But if you are stuck and it is snowing and you can’t get down to the city LHS to get a tool immediately, this will do the trick and you may already have one in your house.