Magic thread!
Very informative!
I've never used PE before on anything ( I model aircraft, ships, armor and whatever takes my fancy after that, I've been modelling since 1967 or so, I'm now almost 51), and I must admit I've been baulking at starting any new projects or repairing and updating long damaged models that would benefit from the added detail PE can give as I just couldn't work out the best way of attaching/finishing the PE I had without unsightly blobs and heavy paint.
I must admit that PE is very expensive on a very limited modelling budget and that when a purchase is made your forced to make the most of your purchase, so NO mistakes can be made (nor any practice runs), this really puts the pressure on to produce great results first time and puts the brakes on any project when you don't have the skills or info to carry on with your build. Mostly I resort to scratch building details as best I can but I've always avoided railings as I couldn't guarantee consistent, believable results.
I've not posted any of my model ships before here on the forum as none of them have this sort of detailing and fall far short of the standards set by the members here.
Here in Oz we don't have the PVA glues you talk of, so I'm still trying to work out the correct way to attach details in general without unsightly 'blobs' of glue.
This is an example of my modelling so far without the use of PE, Skywave 1/700 USS Fletcher DD992 built 30Aug1993, hopefully I'm not going off topic with my pic.
Thankyou all for this informative post.