The Ship Model Forum

Just a thought, why not buy a reasonably cheap 'add-on' set, eg a catapult from NorthStar

https://freetimehobbies.com/1-350-north-star-models-us-navy-p-6-catapult-2-pcs-in-a-set-resin-and-pe-parts/

just to get practice before spending 50% of the GNP of Honduras on a full set from Pontos (highly recommended though they are!)

Cheers Jabb

..

Thanking both for the fast response, both of you have confirmed what I had suspected, which is fantastic, as the pe sets I'm going to start working with are expensive (pontos for a 1/200 missouri) and your info will enable me to start with a little more confidence

I use the same... more or less.

I have all three grades of Zap superglues which I prefer of all the types I have used over the years.

Pink - Thin, I use to run a thin bead along lines... its thin enough for capillary action to do most of the work and is clean and neat.

Green - Medium, which I use mostly for simply gluing and probably gets used the most.

Yellow - Thick. This is also called Slo-Zap and is good for gap filling and sands really well.

I know a lot of modellers solder.. but although I solder a lot for work, would never use solder for brass. Most of the PE I use is tiny and distorts and I can never get anything like the fineness of application soldering things. I would use this only for major components and even then, would probably avoid it.

The bond is probably the strongest and I'm sure highly skilled practitioners of soldering would make very neat joins in brass.. but for me, it just feels too crude. (But then look at EJ's work... he soldered his 350 scale pom moms... and how he did that is totally beyond me!!!

Masts on the other hand - I would solder brass rod (or tube) masts. And they clean up rather well, too, with sanding and polish finishing.

Application is by very fine wire... probably similar in thickness to a single bristle as per the previous reply... but I actually like the idea of a single thin/fine bristle from a paintbrush in preference to slowly reducing my ultra fine wire stocks and will look into that, too.

Everyone's going to give you different answers, which will just leave you confused! I prefer a medium thickness CA and apply it with a
paint brush bristle (a big paintbrush - one for house painting). One paintbrush will give you hundreds of applicator bristles for a couple of dollars. Gives you just a dot of CA for spot glueing the part, then run a bead along the joint to consolidate it. I squeeze out a couple of drops of CA onto a screw-top cover as a well, and just dip the tip of the bristle applicator for a dot of glue.

I'm pretty new to large scale ships, and the pe sets for shipping. For a long time I've built 1/32 scale jets, and the pe sets for aircraft are normally flat, not forming a 3d structure. I have the folding tools for the job, but what type of ca glue is best.
I use the zap brand of glue and debonder, but is the thin or thick glue the way to go to go for those near perfect finishes I see in the build threads?