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Files or sandpaper?
StUkaWang
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Singapore / 新加坡
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:24 AM UTC
Hey there, I was thinking about whether to file my cut out parts or use fine sandpaper. Which is better?
matt
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:29 AM UTC
It really depends on the amount of mat'l to be removed. I useally use files then sandpaper.
basturk
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:43 AM UTC
Hi welcome fellow singaporean! I usually use sandpaper for plastics. A file may be too harsh on the fragile nature of plastics............ But if i need to sand off a great amount of resin I would prefer to use files or even a dremel tool.............
slodder
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:46 AM UTC
It depends also on if you can get sandpaper into the location. A lot of times I'll use a file because its a tight squeeze.

No set rules, just whatever does the trick.
FAUST
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:50 AM UTC
I use mostly files
sometimes sandpaper if I need to do big areas I prefer the dremel

slodder
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 05:58 AM UTC
It depends also on if you can get sandpaper into the location. A lot of times I'll use a file because its a tight squeeze.

No set rules, just whatever does the trick.
Favorisio
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 06:47 AM UTC
I use files almost all of the time, they seem easier to control than sandpaper to me. I find after a couple of coats of paint it is impossible to see any scratch marks that may be left by a slightly rough file.

Roger
Holocaust59
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Posted: Friday, January 10, 2003 - 07:01 AM UTC
Got to aggree with most of the other posts here, I mainly use files. Although for very fine finishing I do sometimes use emery cloth instead of sandpaper.
If you get a set of ten needle files of various shapes they will cover almost any requirement and they are much easier to be precise with.
modelnut4
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Posted: Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 02:22 PM UTC
Hi Stukawang

I like files mostly because they seem to give better control. A hot tip is to get a file card or a steel bristled tooth type brush. Whatever material I have filed on, they all share one thing in common, they clog up your files like mad. Once it's clogged, pressing hard will compress the material in the teeth to give for a bit, but soon you won't be cutting, you'll just be burnishing and that usually leads to making your nice neat rectangle or square shape suddenly lopsided. Clean out the teeth by going across the file at the same angle the teeth have. Also, don't try to use a sanding stick as a file, too much give in the backing foam layer.
Instead of keeping your carefully planned for angles to make that 57 degree angle corner and have both sides match, you'll wind up with a rounded edge that may or may not be able to be glued at the desired angles and still fill the hole as intended. Sanding sticks are great for working the flat spot round when youscrape down your seams on wings and fusalage joins and such with a hobby knife. I use them to work out odd shaped molding lines on figures and such parts that would be too easily damaged by a hobby knife blade or an off the wall place you just can't get to otherwise. They can also be cut into what ever shape fills the neeed. Sand paper is good for laying flat and getting matching halves to actually match and working down painted finishes or primed surfaces.. When you start messing with the primer and paint, save yourself a lot of hassle and go take a shower with your part. You'll be cleaner and your part will get a wet sanding, much better on finishes than dry sanding.
Anyway that's my angle on the file, sandpaper, sanding stick issue. Of course, being an inveterate scratchbuilder, I've used everything for just about anything at one time or another, just to try and get someplace with the project at hand.
Keep on bending the plastic.

Jay
Las Vegas, Nevada
Delbert
#073
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Posted: Friday, January 24, 2003 - 03:55 AM UTC
I ue sanding sticks.. and sanding pads.. seems to give better control than sandpaper and sands better than files.. unless you can't get to it then I use sandpaper or files as neccesory.

stugiiif
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Saturday, January 25, 2003 - 01:47 AM UTC
Like Delbert I use sanding sticks as well. I get them from www.squdron.com for about $7 a set and i also get 2 or 3 tri-grit stick at a time. the nice thing is for tight spots i take a set and cut a point on one end of the stick and use that for tight areas, and they are flexible enough to to componud curve with flattening them too much. and the the tri-grit sanding dticks are a good thing to have around if you ever do aircraft cause they will leave a nice smooth, shiny surface for a natural metal finish!!!!! have fun stug
StUkaWang
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Singapore / 新加坡
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Posted: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 08:22 PM UTC
1.Thanks for the replies, it was valuable.Anyway, whats a dremel tool ?
2. How do you make the rubber tracks "stick" to the wheels?
3. Wots a Der Sonntag Bund
Danke
MrFritz
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Posted: Friday, February 28, 2003 - 12:59 AM UTC
Go to Walmart, my favorite store, and go into the women's cosmetic section. There they have very cheap emory board sets that have 4 grades of courseness on a set of 3 different boards. These things work great because they are semi rigid, and the different grades allow you to go from a thick seam or injection pin, down to a polish that looks like it was never touched.

I pissed my wife off by confiscating all of her nail boards until I went out and got a couple sets of these myself. They are great, and you pay alot more for them in the hobby stores...........so what's the point of buying them there? Walmart has several different sets of these. The best ones have a black, red, blue, and white finish. You can rewally do a nice job on mold marks with them.

Have a good one,
4-Eyes71
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Posted: Monday, December 15, 2003 - 04:33 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey there, I was thinking about whether to file my cut out parts or use fine sandpaper. Which is better?



When you say file, I take it you are referring to those metal needle files? I would not advise it. They leave scratch marks.

I recommend you use an emory board, the one used by manicurists in filing fingernails. But I only use them in sanding off excess sprue after removing them from the parts tree.

You may want to try this, if you have popsicle sticks or those stirring sticks (you can get them at Starbucks or Seattle's Best), cut strips of sandpapers about the size/thickness of these sticks, stick them on with Elmer' s glue and voila, you gave your own sanding sticks. Have a set of varying grades handy.

If your working on a wide surface, cut your sandpaper into strips as thick as your thumb. Best to work them in a circular motion and gradually move up to a higher grade to emlinate the scratch marks. HTH.
4-Eyes71
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Metro Manila, Philippines
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Posted: Monday, December 15, 2003 - 04:35 PM UTC

Quoted Text

1.Thanks for the replies, it was valuable.Anyway, whats a dremel tool ?
Danke



It's the brand of a motor tool with many uses to make modeling work efficient. It's used for cutting, drilling, sanding/grinding and polishing.
Major_Goose
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Kikladhes, Greece / Ελλάδα
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Posted: Monday, December 15, 2003 - 06:37 PM UTC
i d say i use 50-50 files and sandpaper depending the area , and the work i wanna do . Sand paper works slower but makes better finishing and shaping. For multi material tear off i use files and my Dremel but not many times cause it might be hazardous for some plastics even in the slow speed
scoccia
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Milano, Italy
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Posted: Monday, December 15, 2003 - 11:07 PM UTC
It actually depends on what I have to do, but usually I prefer wet sandpaper that if needed I can glue to cocktail sticks cut to fit my sanding needs to create my own ad hoc sanding tools. If Y have to work wit resin pars that often need some "straightening" then I use files...
Ciao
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