7mm On Heather's Workbench - Prairie ago-go

Etch Extrication Tools and Techniques
  • Heather Kay

    Western Thunderer
    I love it when a thread wanders off course! :thumbs:

    For what it’s worth, and basically reiterating what the others have said, I use different tools depending on the job. Here’s my current armoury:

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    I, perhaps heretically, will say that I find the Xuron snips singularly hopeless. Unless used with extreme care, more often than not the cut will fail, with the component flipping up and between the blades. I tend to avoid them when I can. The end cutters are used to snip back long tags on thicker etch material, once extricated from the fret, where other snips can’t get to it without bending or distorting the material.

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    This is a pretty standard brass etch fret from our own David J Parkins. It comes from his Flightpath range of 1/72nd scale vehicle kits. This one will, one day, when I think my eyesight can stand it, be a Humber general service truck. With the parts economically and tightly packed on the fret, the safest option is a reasonably new No10 blade which can be rocked across the tag, close to the required component's edge, to break through the very thin material. If necessary, tags can be carefully trimmed back with the Fiskars scissors once the part is free.

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    I'm not sure what they make their blades from, but this pair of Fiskars scissors has been through about five brass and nickel-silver kits and are still keen. In this case, I’m using them to free the component from the etch, snipping away from the part as there is a healthy gap to get the scissors into. Sometimes, it’s necessary to attack - as Mick said - from outside the fret and cut through the supporting material before you can free the part you want. On hefty etches, that’s where the Draper snips come in. If the tags are thin enough, the Stanley knife will do the job well enough.

    I find the standard self-healing cutting mat good enough to use knives and scalpels against when cutting parts out. Your mileage may vary, of course.

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    Here, I’m using the Fiskars again, this time aligning the blades with the edge of the part to trim back the remains of the tag. On this thick etch material, I’ll finish with a file, as there’s also a nice cusp to be dealt with. Small scissors like this can’t always deal with tags in awkward places, such as concave edges. In such case, if a knife can’t deal with it, I have to find a way to support the part and carefully file the tag away. The short length of the Fiskars blades also cause problems with leverage, where it isn’t always possible to snip off something using the extreme end. My generally weak and feeble fingers and thumbs don’t help there, either. :mad:

    I hope that’s of interest. Like many of us, I’ve picked up tools and techniques as I’ve developed skills with kit building. Every modeller has techniques they like to use, and those above are just mine. I never profess to being an expert.
     
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