I think that one of the biggest health hazzards that we often ignore are the vapors that are created when we sit down for some of those long modeling session on our days off. I have found that even with a window up and fans on I have gotten headaches. Like a lot of us when we get headaches at first I thought it was eye strain. After all I thought to myself I had plenty of ventilation in my work area. My ventilation consisted of a box fan in the window to suck vapors out of my work area. On top of that I had a small fan on my workspace that created a cross breeze to keep me from ( so I thought) from breathing bad vapors. Even with all that I would still get headaches from time to time. Then I got smart. I started gluing my pieces for maybe a half an hour , then I would totally remove myself from my model workbench. Go do my chores or whatever. The headaches stop. That's when I noticed that I must be very sensitive to glue vapors. Now I don't get any headaches while modeling because I've learn to listen to my body. And if there are any young modelers out there take headaches seriously, Headaches are not always caused by looking at those tiny plastic parts. I also use an extra bit of protection for my lungs when I am cleaning up with solvents of any kind by wearing my respirator. You can find those at any hardware store for about thirty US dollars. Wishing all of you happy and safe modeling in 2006.

Excellent advice you can also get the same problem if you airbrush with enamel paints like me. Everything I do is in a well ventilated room. I also invested in a set of those pop up magnification visor's to protect me from eyestrain. If you can get a few pairs of surgical gloves use those when airbrushing if you are like me and hold your model to paint angles and such. I won't even go into knife safety but cutting away from your body is the best advice I can give here.

Cant be to safe these days.. take a look at your bottle of Tenax.. A product used by a lot of us.. Contains tolulene, and a warning that it is known to be a carcinogen..


Dave

I seem to be more sensitive to chemicals than I used to be. I have to use non-toxic glues, accrylic paints, etc. I won't work to the point of a headache, because it seems that if I worked an hour on modeling and got a headache, it might be 8 hours before I can work on it again.

Hey guys whats next rubber body suits ? :-) :-) Just playing. This is great advise not just for the young builders out there. It cannot be said often enough, guys and gals pay attention to what your body is telling you. We deal with some pretty toxic stuff. Just use your head, and be careful. Travis, this was a great idea for a post.

to a happy and healthy 06
Harry

another small thing that is often ignored : When sanding resin, use waterproof sandingpaper and be sure it is wet when you start sanding.... that resin dust is a bad one for health too !

thanks for the update and reminder. my modeling space is about 9x6 feet and u shaped. i keep the ceiling fan going and a window unit provides cross breeze, seems to work well, but i do get up and take the short break upon the hour too.

have a happy healthy new year.



reb

I will fully agree with this important warning as many years ago, I had problems with getting addicted to Isopropanol alcohol, which was cheaper to use to thin Tamiya Acrylics for airbrushing instead of their own thinners. This alcohol when atomised is an aneasthetic.

So now I try to work more safely.

Happy New Year.

John

I've never gotten headaches, but I have had my eyes water from CA, and have gotten bad stomach aches from using Humbrol enamels... Thats why I don't use them much anymore.h

I'm started using one of those filter masks for construction when I start cutting a grinding stuff. I know that does not filter out vapors but at least when I blow my nose I'm not blowing out dark color residue.

How true. I've been modelling since my early teens, and almost fifteen years ago, I had brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor . Needless to say, it has been a trying experience that keeps popping up with related sideffects once in a while more or less every 5 years. I can't ascribe this malady entirely to my modelling hobby, and I refuse to do so anyway, but another person I knew, passed away from brain cancer. She used to work with enamels and such solvent based paints.

As for myself, I did paint with toluene based Floquil paints(Railroad Colors and others) in my youth. However, nowadays I try to stay away from lacquers and enamels as much as possible, and mostly paint with acrylics, yet do flat and /or gloss coats with enamels. But I keep my exposure to such toxic agents to a minimum. I don't know, maybe it was just my bad luck, but do be careful, guys. I love this hobby and don't intend to stop, but I am more carful now.

Cheers and have a Happy and safe New Year!

Martin

P.S. Wearing a mask when sanding resin parts off the sprue or whatever, is a wise idea, for that mask will protect your lungs from the carcinogenous solid particles of the resin, but that mask will not protect you from the fumes of paints or cements. For that you will need a different type of mask that I forget now what it's called.

Sounds like some you guys need one of these: http://www.archertransfers.com/suit.html

But seriously, I've been lucky not to be too sensitive to any of the chemicals I use in modeling. The only problem I ever had was when I was stretching some sprue and got it a little too close to the flame. The smoke is horrid -- talk about coughing up "dark colored residue"