1/700 detailing problem

Hi chefpi,

I'm just finishing up my Tamiya 1/700 Scharnhorst, set in my first attempt at a "at sea" water diorama. I'm also detailing her with an Eduard PE set. Bruce hit the nail square on the head when he said you need patience and a good magnifier. Actually a "great" magnifier would be better. Anyway, through many sessions of frayed nerves and eyestrain, I managed to get the PE parts on. It wasn't the most enjoyable part of building the model, but it certainly was well worth the effort in the end. She looks great with her PE. The last "miracle" I need to perform on her is to get the railings around the length of the ship on. That should provide me the opportunity to "make up a few words" before that part is over.

I tried using the two single edge razors, but for the most part even they were too big. 1/700 PE is t-i-n-y, I had pretty good luck using a pair of tweezers that are angled and have a straight edge the length of the grip. Grip the PE with the tweezers, making sure the straight edge of the tweezers is along the line you want to bend, and carefully bend the other end with your finger, making sure you bend the entire length at once. It worked pretty good for me. I'm sure the two razors used for bending would work great on 1/350 PE, but I found them not easy to work with in 1/700.

Ted

Yes, there was an advertisement in the magazine for a specialized tool that did that. From the picture in the mag it should be easy to adapt something.
Keep the band-aids handy!
bruce

thanks the suggestions
i fonud an easy way to bend straight PE using two razor blades.

Patience and a good magnifier.
One thing I use for rigging might help, and that is a set of modified sewing needles. You file parts of the eyes away to make hooks, probes and whatever. Should work for PE too, although I must admit not to having much experience with the stuff.
Regards,
Bruce