Electrostatic electricity

An old trick: wipe it with the anti cling sheets that go in the dryer.

I'm having a new problem with static!  I am trying to rig a very small ship, the 1:350 Cutty Sark. Those clippers may have looked big, but compared to a modern warship they were tiny.  Anyway, I am trying to rig upper areas with 5 mil monofilament thread.  Something picks up a charge,and I cannot thread it through small areas. It just zips over to the nearest plastic surface and sticks there!  Pushing 5 mil thread is like trying to push a wet noodle!

Right! Or an air ionisator might be handy - I heard they were fashionable decades ago!

Good luck with your projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Either the model surface or the air around it needs to be conducting.  Increasing the moisture content of your building area increases air conductivity.  So does radioactivity, but it is getting harder to find radiation sources.

Hello!

The problem with charging insulators is, the charge gets distributed evenly on the surface of the whole object. Now when you ground (by straps or mats) a metal (conducting) object, the whole charge flows to the ground. If you ground an plastic object (insulator) only the charge immediately at the point of grounding goes to the ground - the rest stays where it is. Rinsing with water grounds the whole wet surface at once.  Making the surface conductive is key to removing the charge. Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

You can try using an anti-static wrist band with adjustable grounding.  It's a common and relatively cheap device mainly used by those working on electronics or computers.  You can also store it on a wooden desk or buy an anti-static mat.  

I use hand sanitizer prior to messing with my models because I do have cats. I try to remember to keep my workbench cleaned of hair weekly. yes I agree with Fox if you can find a mat it may help. I know technican who work on pc have them.

Rinsing under anything but super soft or distilled water will discharge a model, but the charge may soon build up again.

I've never had a problem with static electricity ,but, I'm a retired Lab Technican. I can't seem to remember the name of it, but, we used to have these small mats attached to the workbenches. We had a strap attached to our wrist that had a long wire with a snap at the end. As we moved from workbench to workbench we attached the wire to the mat. It dissipated any static electricity we might pick up. Never heard of anyone using it for building models but it might work.

Jim 

Possible dumb question. Does rinsing under running water dissipate a static charge?

Would shaving the cat help, I always did like a shaved cat if you get my drift!

Thanks for that info I have a Zerostat here somewhere that I bought back in the dim dark ages late 70's I seem to recall I used it for my old phonograph records (read vinyl LP's). I'll have to dig it out, I know it's here somewhere as I never toss any thing out "incase I might need it one day"

Thanks for all the other replies I got too guys, I'll give them all a try sooner or later.

Cheers

Doug

Almost impossible to avoid static,  You must find ways to dissipate it.  Spray cans or airbrushing inherently is a static charge producer.  Wiping off junk on styrene charges it.  Lots of normal modeling operations either generate or increase static charges.  Styrene is a very good electrical insulator- the better the insulator, the more handling something will charge it up.

And don't pet any cats!

Wet sanding helps, in my dry climate, it's almost a given.

Don't walk on carpet wearing socks. LOL!

I've used a ZeroStat.

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/zerostat.shtml