bessiere
Aedile
Painting my way from Vienna to Moscow
Posts: 70
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Post by bessiere on May 16, 2019 3:26:15 GMT
I just got a variable temperature woodburning tool today and was quite pleased with the results you can get in gently pulling out mold lines. Rough areas can be smoothed over and I believe with the right tips and temperatures you can create some textures as well. Rather than digging with a razor I'll be doing most of most clean up along the exterior edges using this. Was just wondering if anyone else had tried it? I have yet to use the hot knife but I'm hoping it will be good for head and arm swaps. I intend to grind down some of the tips so I can get in hard to reach areas. Will let you know how it progresses but so far so good.
cheers, Bessieres
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Post by minuteman on May 16, 2019 9:11:26 GMT
Hi Bessieres, I don't use this technique for conversions myself, preferring precision cutting, gluing and filling, with thin wire supports within the figure where required for strength. I only occasionally use soldering for specific things eg: on the odd occasion when I have to fit an old-fashioned horse with plastic hoof-pins onto a corresponding plastic base - the old Airfix style. However, I know that some modellers do use low temperature soldering irons and the like and achieve some good results. One such individual is a gentleman in the UK called Rod who operates a Wargaming blog at: rodwargaming.wordpress.com/ .There are various mentions of his conversion techniques on 1/72 figures in this excellent site. It's worth a look anyway - some of it harkens back to the early days of wargaming when it was Airfix and not much else if you wanted plastic figures....feels like a long time ago! There are also some useful articles on warfare in the 'horse and musket' era. Minuteman. |
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Post by Ironsides on May 16, 2019 10:22:20 GMT
I use a cheap variable temperature soldering iron for welding, sculpting, textures and repairs... but I'd be interested to see your results on mould lines etc as I'm always looking out for new methods for this kind of thing... I have read that the hot knife feature is usefull for conversions (cutting and joining)
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bessiere
Aedile
Painting my way from Vienna to Moscow
Posts: 70
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Post by bessiere on May 16, 2019 14:07:00 GMT
Thank you both for your replies. Precise temperature is key and the first thing I learned is too hot and plastic sticks to the metal point. Keeping the points polished and clean is a must. Going to try coating the tip with a little petroleum jelly to see if that helps prevent sticking, I tried it out on a variety of plastics and found it especially helpful with softest plastics. A set of Austrian horse artillery is made of this and it doesn't cut or finish well. I managed to drill a hole for the cannon barrels and finish the end using the tool. Came out looking good, I will take pictures before they get painted so you can see the results,
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