preserving details when scribing

[redfinger]

Hello guys,

Yes I did a search, couldnt find what I needed....

I have a ship I am working on that has a very detailed hull, however they panel lines are fine, and raised. I am wanting to rescribe the lines, bu the probelm is that the panel lines a flanked by some very fine detailed rivets.
I would like to keep the rivets, but I am not sure how to scribe the panel lines, then go back and clean them up w/ out damaging the rivet details.

I was thinking the more invloved way, and harder too, would be to scribe the model, wet sand the entire model, then use a small drill bit and go back and add the rivet detailis???!? That would be alot of work!

Any other tips or ideas?

Ashton

[Jonas Calhoun]

Put tape over the details, and use Dymo tape as a scribing ruler.

Dan

[redfinger]

Put tape over the details, and use Dymo tape as a scribing ruler.

Dan

I dont have a problem w/ keeping my lines straight, it is just the details I want to keep....wont the sand paper eat throught he tape as I sand? Although that is a good idea..

Ashton

[Jonas Calhoun]

The Dymo tape isn't necessarily to ensure a straight line, it's more so that the details don't get nicked by your scriber (hey, accidents happen).

And the tape is there so that you can see when it's worn away, and put more tape down--thereby going through the tape, and not the greeblie.

Dan

[Kylwell]

Dan's right. Even paper masking tape will work so long as you never go through the tape.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

I concur with the tape suggestions. MAsking tape or label tape will work great.

Kenny

[Warped Speedster]

I would like to keep the rivets, but I am not sure how to scribe the panel lines, then go back and clean them up w/ out damaging the rivet details.

As a straight edge for your scribing project, I'd use one of those metal drafting rulers with the cork on the bottom to lay on the plastic. The cork stays in place pretty well, and it is soft and shouldn't damage the rivets. Of course as mentioned, using tape to protect the rivets is a good idea too. I like a hard straight edge for really straight lines though so I'd use a combination of both.

Then after you get the scribing done you may want to make a little sanding tool to clean up the new groove edges. (You may want to leave some tape on the rivets to protect them through the whole process).

I've glued 400 grit sandpaper to a small piece of Evergreen square stock (1/16th" or 1/8th") so that it folds around two sides of it giving sort of a 90 degree V shaped sanding block. It will clean up your scribed lines without doing damage to surrounding details. Then use a paper towel to finish up. Paper towels inherantly have a certain amount of grit in them which will do a pretty good job as a final sanding-buffing medium without damaging your rivets even with the tape removed.

Actually you can make the sanding block any length or width you want, and any degree V-shape you need to get it into the tight area of work. You can glue the sandpaper to it with CA or Elmers. I use Elmers, it's slower to dry but less problematic than CA. I sand the evergreen a bit to give it some tooth for the Elmers to stick to better. It glues pretty good that way. (Fold the sandpaper first before trying to glue it on of course)

Or, just fold a piece of sandpaper in half and use it as a clean-up tool as is, without the plastic block. That often works just as well.

If you have one of those V-shaped files with the curved tip, that works good too for cleaning up a scribe. They even go around bends. But they are a little more aggresive with soft plastic. They can result in the scribe that looks too wide after filing. It all depends on the size model you're doing.

Sometime just using a paper towel alone as a clean-up tool is good enough, using your fingernail to carefully guide it through the grooves.

As has already been mentioned in many other discussions about scribing, going really really slow is a very good policy. For your job, I'd say go about ten times slower than that even, for both the scribing and the clean-up. Repairing really tiny bunged up rivets is next to impossible, as you probably know.

Hope this helps.

[Warped Speedster]

I don't think we talked about your "Raised Panel Line" problem.

To help get those raised lines down a bit before scribing, you may want to also make a couple narrow sanding blocks out of Evergreen stock. I don't know the tollerances you're working with so you'll have to decide what width it needs to be, and what grit paper you'd need to remove the plastic without causing any surface damage. Maybe start with a 220 grit block and then finish up with a 400 grit block. You could protect the rivets with tape while doing the sanding work. The taped edges would be a guide too.

Just glue a thin strip of sandpaper to the narrow edge of the Evergreen strip. I've done this many times and it works really good for a close quarter sanding block.

To assure a nice flat sanding surface on the block, clamp the block and paper between two larger flat pieces of plastic until the glue dries. Like you would when laminating thin wood sheets together.

You could use CA to glue the paper to the block, but superglue likes to soak through sandpaper sometimes and sorta gum up the finer grits. That's mainly why I use Elmers glue for this.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

I use the raised panel lines on models as straight edges themselves. Works like a charm. then, erase them with careful sanding as warped speedster suggests.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

[redfinger]

thanks for all the tips guys!!! I found something that works really well that I would like to share.....A toothpick!! I took one and rubbed it repeadetly in the new line and it smoothed thigns out very well!!!



Ashton