The Ship Model Forum

Are all the parts brass? Can you try soldering them, if so?

I find that making masts of brass parts soldered together makes them incredibly strong and does not allow much flexing when stringing stays and aerials.

Don

Whether the CA dries white or clear doesn't really matter, since you're just going to paint over them anyway. More important is whether they dry as thick lumps or not, and that's just a matter of using it sparingly - try applying a small dab after you have the two parts held in position.

You may also use white glue (PVA) for this, even though it's not as strong. I tend to use both - CA on one surface and white glue on the other, to provide both strength and resistance to temperature changes.

If you think you need to magnify the model a bit, I can recommend an Optivisor or similar. It really helps me seeing what I am doing for the tiny parts.

CA sometimes releases all kinds of white fumes that you can remove with water or alcohol. However, it looks like you may have used a bit too much on the top of the mast. I usually put a drop of CA on some cardboard or spent DVD and use very fine wire (0.1mm brass) to pick up a droplet and deposit that on the model. This way you have full control over how much glue you use. You need to trim the wire after each use and add a new drop of CA regularly. I waste a lot of CA this way, but my bottle of CA typically goes bad long before it is empty, so a) I do not mind and b) buy the smallest batches of CA I can find.

Hello,

I'm working with a more complex PE set than I am used to and so have run into PE Masts and yards for the first time. Below are images of what I've constructed today:

http://imgur.com/7KT97gS
http://imgur.com/IiOc9nD

These pictures don't really show the problem well, but the CA glue has dried very white, giving the joints an almost powdery look. I've scraped much of it off, so it does not look too bad, but I was hoping this could be cleaner. I'm using a thin, fast set CA here. I generally prefer the thicker, slower stuff, but it can dry in a glob and I didn't want to loose any detail here.

So, any advice? Would clear nail Polish be thin enough for this? Different glue maybe?

As an aside, these little rings around the masts are just stupidly small. I thought my vision was pretty good, till today!


James