Some serious questions in a different format....

True or False:

A. Toothpaste can be used to polish my canopies in place of polishing compound.

B. Rubber cement can be used as a masking agent (specifically to mask the inner part of an aircraft wheel)

Am I nuts or did I hear of these techniques somewhere? Thanks!

Both are true... you need the tooth paste... not the gel type.

Grumpy's right. I've seen / heard about the toothpaste before. Maybe even in a FSM book.
The paste style toothpastes actually have a fine abrasive (sand?) in them like in some polishes.

The rubber cement one is a good one, but I hadn't heard of it before.

Yes, both true. Most toothpastes contain a fine abrasive and Maskol and other masking compounds are basically rubber solutions.

You are not nuts....
They are used...
The toothpaste I don't know how much any more, but sure.....
The rubber cement - I use it!

Is that for when you want to paint the weel? if so i have i tube of rubber cement. i had to bought it for school but i have never used it. If it works with painting than i can use that and didn't spent my money

Yep,both true.Also,the toothpaste can be used on 1:1 car finishes as a 'spot' shot And as I learned as a broke college student,white toothpaste makes a great spackel for filling nail holes and small holes in walls before painting.
cheers!

Just make sure it's WHITE, not one of those multi color pastes or gels with sparklies in it. I've had to clean up behind fools who didn't know the difference.

Real men don't use 'sparklie' toothpaste gel

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Can you use rubber cement as a mask with an acrylic (Tamiya) base coat? or must it only be used an enamel base coat? any down side (as compared to purpose made modeling masks)?

Cheers. Richard

I have used both items (Colgate works best for me but, of course, I haven't tried every tooth paste out there) without any problem.

:-) Certainly number 1 is true. During Op Granby (Gulf War 1) I was lucky enough to have one pair of highly sought after sand goggles (typical British Army supply system, not getting enough). But mine had a terrible scratch straight across the plastic lens. So I polished it out using the cheapest white toothpaste! It took a while but it is an abrasive so it polished up beautifully!

Correctomundo Mike:

On both points. But I will say that here in the
American Heartland as to polishing canopies to
look really great, most modelers are now using a
product in a tube called "Flitz". It is great stuff.


And if you're an air craft contest modeler
you know the judge wants
to see a canopy that is crystal clear and
squeeky clean. . . altho in real combat situations
those windscreens may not have been "always" that
sparkling. I'm sure the reasoning w/ the judges is that
glazing or glue marks are a common gig on an a/c
model canopy so they want the canopy to sparkle,
thus no points off.

Since nobody answered this question, I'll repeat it:

Hi StillHawk:

I am sorry no one answered your question about using
rubber cement as a product like Maskoll, (sp). I've used
Rubber cement as a masking tool on all kinds of
painted surfaces, back in my aircraft building daze. I
used it over enamels, acrylics, etc. without any trouble.
However, I would suggest two things. In the jar or can,
rubber cement starts to thicken up rather quickly, in a
few weeks. Atho this is an added expense, I would
suggest you also purchase the rubber cement thinner
at the same time. Lastly, I let the paints I was using
dry good and hard for over a 24 hour period, depending
on the humidity or weather conditions, BEFORE I
put any rubber cement masks over those painted
areas. Hope this helps and sorry no one caught the
fact that we didn't answer this question. Good luck

You can also use your rubber cement to attach your paper mask. Just apply it to the paper, let it dry, it will hold the mask in place just like the low tack stuff on post it notes.

"Flitz" also works great for polishing up any white metal parts to a chrome like appearance-it really is a metal polish.... :-) And does anyone remember good old "Brasso" bet that still works!!!!

You can also use rubber cement to represent peeling off paint, or rubber molding. Shep Paine wrote about it "Building Dioramas". If I recall he used it on the Lady Be Good diorama. I think that is the one....the B-24 Liberator that went down in the desert. Anyway yes rubber cement can be used for masking and other stuff.

Cheers,
Salvo

btw, please don't forget that the famous "Future/ Kleer" is actually floor polish. It's not designed for modelling use.

Nor is Blu Tac, Wood glue, SuperGlue, Plasticine, Window screen, Mossie killer, Gunk, Windex/windowlene, Pie dishes, take away dishes... Oh, go and pick something out there.. Some modeller has found a use for it somewhere.

:-) :-) :-)

Dunno what it's called elsewhere in the world,but Copydex in the UK is just like Maskol.

Mothers brand aluminum polish also works for polishing clear plastic.

Also, regarding the "salt paint chipping technique", you can use rubber cement in place of salt. Problem with the salt is that it can be easily blown away with the airbrush or dissolves on the model if you apply too much water. Just use little dabs of rubber cement instead.

Chuck B.

And, for the love of God, make sure you floss!