I've just finished watching the "Dealing with Photoetch" in preparation for my first photoetch project. I have a few questions I was hoping y'all could help me understand before I get into the project:

* I noticed a lot of small assemblies being soldered together, but the video doesn't really cover much about the cleanup of those solder joints. Does that mean that a) the sanding? scraping? heat-based solder cleanup? is just something that wasn't covered OR b) if you're soldering right, you shouldn't need to do cleanup?

* If a) above - what are the best techniques for cleaning up the solder joints?

* The video used super glue to at times... but only with the tiny pieces or two glue metal to plastic. But I've also heard that plenty of people use super glue for all construction. Any insight here? Obviously solder is better, but is super glue always a bad option for metal-on-metal?

* How do you properly clean the photoetch parts after all the flux and solder and glue so that paint will properly affix?

* Are there better/worse practices for painting the metal vs. plastic? Is there a need to prime the metal differently than plastic?

* Anything else I should know??

Thanks!

when using photo etch, it is going to come down to what works best for you. Soldering makes the parts more rigid. The parts are bonded well versus using super glue where the parts can still possibly come apart. Very small assemblies, i still use glue because it is almost impossible, for me anyway, to solder the tine parts to other parts.
I have used super glue for attaching all pieces and have recently starting soldering them. it is possible to use nothing but glue, but it will come down to what peices are being joined and your personal pref.
depending on the parts that you joined together, i use a small metal file or sandpaper to clean it up. i may also use my hobby knife to scrape away excess, if req.

once the part is complete, i dip my parts into thinner to clean the flux and then use a qtip to dry it off and remove excess thinner from it. Once the part is ready for paint, i prime it just as i would anything else.