Hi guys
I bought the Aber PE for my Jagdpanther it was the set he had in stock and the guy at the hobby shop sain he used it before. So far i'm impressed,but it was a little fustrating at first. One thing I have to say I took Sabot's advice and bought a "hold and fold" worth the money!
But, i do need some advice on some things. How do you guys hold those little itty bitty bits?Then how do you put the bends or curves on the bits? Any other advice that you can think of would be helpful!! Thanks Scott

To hold all of the little bits, I use a pair of smooth-jawed needle nose pliers. I use my Hold N Fold to do most of my bending, but on some wee little parts I will hold them at the bend spot with the needle nose pliers and bend them with my finger. For curved pieces, I roll something round like a dowel rod, the handle of a paint brush, toothpick, etc. over the piece to get it to curve. I just bought the Aber Jagdpanther set myself as well as the Aber Jagdpanther side skirts.

HTH

Duh !!! I have a million dowel laying in the workshop same with the pliers. I guess next time I'll open my eyes!!! !! So far I think I'm hooked on the PE. Scott

i've used that set, too and i looks nice. i reqomend a ball point pen for raised beeds in the ferders. it comes in handy. also a pair of fine tip tweezers will help in getting the parts to the tank. happy building stug

There is a stamp collecting tweezer (I think that's its true purpose). They have a slight sliding lock on them. They can hold a wee PE piece for placement.

My only advice for PE is that you don't HAVE to use every single teeny tiny part, especially those flat grabhandles or (talking Aber here) working tool clamps or travel lock chains..
Some of that stuff is for the pyschotic... -meaning no insult to actual psychotics....-grin-

I had read somewhere that you can glue the PE part to a bit of the thinnest sheet plastic with CA, trim around it, and then glue the part to the kit with regular model cement.

It supposedly has the advantage of , since the plastic layer is quite thin, also simulating the weld bead around the part.

I plan to try this with the tool holder frames on a panther soon and will report back.

Mike
Mike

If you've got tweezers Put a piece of heat shrink tubing over it to act as a lock.

A little trick for not losing as many pieces into you PE eating carpet...While working with PE what I do is place a box top on my knees and push it up against the underside of my work bench so every time I drop a piece ..it falls into the box instead of dissappearing forever into no where land .Still haven't got a trick for the deadly PE launch that sometimes happens ...Isn't that the worst !!

Richard

Bear


Try a peice of masking tape, sticky side up... that should hold the PE from launching into oblivion...

Sergeant:
What the hell is a PE. :

PE=Photo etch. Flat pieces of brass or stainless steel that have detail parts etched onto them with acid (called a "fret"). Eduard is one of the main manufacturers of PE and Aber and Part, as well as Verlinden also do PE. Tamiya, AFV Club and RPM do PE specifically for one of their own kits, sometimes including these sets in the kit boxes (AFV Club Wiesel for one).

Detail is amazing on many of PE sets. Some modelers look for PE availability prior to purchaing a kit. These miniscule parts have a tendancy to launch into space at inopportune times. Try to picture a 1/35 scale padlock hasp or mesh screen. Some pieces are very tiny.

Thanks General:

Building all of the PE is the most fun part of all!
Also, losing pieces is a challenge because you have to make a new part out of spare fret, YAY!
What Adam Avukich said is the best advice I can give.
Use all the parts though as they really ENHANCE the look of the kit.

Andrew