The Ship Model Forum

I am trying to get some ideas from others builders about when, during the course of thier projects, is the most appropriate time to add PE railings to a kit....
For years I have been adding ALL photoetch parts to a kit before primer & paint. The challenge with this is that the delicate PE railing makes masking off parts of the project rather problematic at times. In contrast, I see many people posting pictures of their projects showing a mostly painted and completed kit, but without any railings yet applied as it seems that they prefer to add these last...
Now, I would think that adding PE railing pieces to a assembled and painted model would pose its own set of problems with shaping, fitting, and painting but is there some trick or method being used that can make this easier? I was always under the impression that Gluing painted pieces together was a No-No.

Thanks!
Quinn B

i am pretty new to modelling so you can take what i say with a grain of salt, but, it seems easiest to bend and finish everything seperately before gluing or painting, the big problem there is obviously glue smears but a little care there will minimize this. then you can increase the complexity of your finished product by subtle (or not so subtle) color variations in a given area. so far i have found no amount of soaking these brass parts makes paint or glue stick to them any better. ive tried soaking in alcohol, acetone, and mineral spirits, and still the cyanoacrylate still mostly slides right off, it seems to take about three coats of acryllic paint to get a thorough coat. so i have been finishing whatever surface i am attaching p.e. parts to and then cutting the brass to fit, bending into place, test fitting, then painting, and then gluing the finished piece into place, the parts seem to hold the glue a little better with a coat of paint encasing them, is this the right way? i don't know but it is working! hope everything doesn't fall off in a month!

have you thought of paint everything than were the rail goes to scrap the paint so that the glue would bond to the wood/plastic/resin??

I think there is no 'absolutely right' way to applying PE. I can give you my basic approach however. On most of my projects I work in subassemblies. PE parts are added to that subassembly if they are subject to even a minumum of force. This means all PE parts except large radars, rigging supports and railings. Railings are added after priming, large radars are treated as seperate subassemblies and only added at the very last moment (this has to do with too much experience in knocking a model over -:( ). After priming and adding railings I paint and (if neccesary) wheather the subassembly. After all subassemblies are added to the hull (which was painted and rigged before) I only have to add the radars / build the masts and rig the vessel. This approach lends itself perfectly for limited scratchbuilding and small additions like I'm currently doing on Henri IV. I want to a have a see through wheelhouse, so the old one is being replaced without interfering with conscrution of the rest of the vessel.

My methodolgy so far has been to glue it to me or any part of the ship that I don't want it glued to. Pull it off. Roll it in a ball. Throw in garbage can. I hope things get better.

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Any ship larger than a Destroyer is a waste of metal.

Les; you ought to introduce a cat into the mix... they seem to love to chew on it!

I do both, if the area doesn't need masking then I'll attach it before hand. Otherwise I'll paint first, attach the PE later.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
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