Cutting plastic....

 

In a general sense porkbits(love that name!).....I have used a scriber for a quick pass.....then follow those lines with the backside of a #11 blade.....little by little. Pay careful attention to rounded corners on some panels. You can always dress up the hole, but it's tough to repair the 'door' you are cutting out!

A little light sanding of your 'hole' should be all you need. 

namrednef wrote:

In a general sense porkbits(love that name!).....I have used a scriber for a quick pass.....then follow those lines with the backside of a #11 blade.....little by little. Pay careful attention to rounded corners on some panels. You can always dress up the hole, but it's tough to repair the 'door' you are cutting out! A little light sanding of your 'hole' should be all you need.

:-) MMMMMMMMMMMMM, pork.

Thanks for the tips. I think the panels shouldn't be too hard, but I'm concerned about cutting out that section of the ejection seat back rest. It's a fairly thick chunk (much thicker than the actual plane fuselage half) that'll I'll have to freehand. I can imagine myself hacking away, making a horrible mess of everything while slicing off a couple of fingers. I'd leave it as is, but from the Eduard instructions, looks like the PE seatbelts have to be attached within hole that's left behind, if that makes any sense.

PB

For something like this, I use a small drillbit chucked in a pinvise.  I drill around the perimeter of the panel and then you can use an exacto to easily cut it out.  Then just sand the edges.

Takes a little more time, but it's much harder to mess up the surrounding area that way, too.

-Fred

 

 

Without a photo of the seat........my first thought is to use a razor saw. They come at least as thin as .020".....maybe some thinner than that. Micro-Mark sells them.....called a Zona saw. Also Gerald of HawkeyeHobbies (a member here) sells a cool micro saw that a lot of folks are using....

 

namrednef wrote:

Without a photo of the seat........my first thought is to use a razor saw. They come at least as thin as .020".....maybe some thinner than that. Micro-Mark sells them.....called a Zona saw. Also Gerald of HawkeyeHobbies (a member here) sells a cool micro saw that a lot of folks are using....

Hmm...a saw might work, if it can cut little bits with precision. The seat is in 1/48 scale.

Here's a pic of the Eduard instructions. Red indicates the section that needs to be cut and removed. Orange indicates areas that should be filed down and removed:

All those techniques mentioned will work, but for your particular cut for the seat, I would use this...

 

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=14345 

For the panels, I would use the drill method followed by scraping to get a groove, then use this blade to finish the job.

That blade looks like it might do the trick. :-)

Thanks!

PB

warning..the blades that are pictured are pretty flimsy and bend easily..I dont like this tool all that much

 

http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/detailsets/razorknife.htm

someone mentioned this earlier....this is the one you want

Doh! I already ordered the other blade set. :-( :-( :-(

But this blade does look a lot sturdier. Hrm.

PB

my opinion is that you need both types. The razor saw is great for removing resin blocks and cutting away larger areas. But to cut out panels, etc... the razor saw is simply too big. A combination of drilling, scraping, and finishing the cut with knife saw blade will get you into much smaller spaces.

Hrm. Have I sparked another Religious War about tools? ;-)

Well, as you can see from the screenshot I posted previously in this thread, the seat section that I have to remove probably won't be more than 1/8" wide, so I'll definitely need a blade that can cut with precision in a limited working area.

PB

Nahh, no wars, you never have enough tools! Sometimes i think I spend more $ buying tools than models. But you can definitely use a razor saw, a more traditional single sided one, or the nice new one pictures above that have recieved raved review recently.  You most likely can even use the razor saw to cut the seat with a 2 passes and a little cleanup. I was thinking more panel removal where there is no space to slip a big razor saw in is where the smaller blade will come in handy.

I also use this blade, its skinner point chucked to a #2 handle really lets me get into some tight corners and also allows me to cut fairly a tight radius 

I got them here... 

http://www.modelexpo-online.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?FNM=06&T1=EX20015&UID=2008061215004824&UREQA=1&TRAN85=N&GENP= 

Here's a picture of a cutaway model I did using both saws. You can see the cowling cut was from edge to edge, so a razor job did a nice quick job there. But the the panel removal within the airframe is just too tight for razor saw. Makes the job easier when you have just the right tool for the job.

 

 

 

 

 

WHOA!.....nice build there Waikong!......and great advice too!

Hey, guys, sorry to flog a dead thread, but I have another question about the Eduard instructions.

In this photo of the instructions, note that the red areas need to be removed, and the orange areas need to be ground down:



As you can see, the sides of the CQ ejection seat bottom as well as the tabs on the side of the seat back need to be ground down. According to the instructions, the seat bottom sides should be shaved .5 mm.

Why?

As far as I can tell, these modifications don't affect how you attach the PE. If anything, looks like it would make attaching the sides of the ejection seat more difficult. Is this merely for accuracy vis a vis the real seat? If so, I'll probably skip.

Thanks!

PB

I would say that it has to do with accuracy as well as fit. Removing the plastic from the sides of the lower seat will be replaced by the thickness of the PE. In many circumstances I have found that not following the suggestion leads to frustration when the part won't slide in between two sides...such as a cockpit tub. The best course of action IMO would be to do a little measuring and or test fitting to see how much space you have. Remember seats DO NOT rub against the cockpit walls...hard for a seat to eject if it is bound at the sides.

Have you tried a jewler saw? It should do the trick nicley. with a nice fine blade you can cut the entire section out without removing the saw a single time.

waikong wrote:

Nahh, no wars, you never have enough tools! Sometimes i think I spend more $ buying tools than models. But you can definitely use a razor saw, a more traditional single sided one, or the nice new one pictures above that have recieved raved review recently.  You most likely can even use the razor saw to cut the seat with a 2 passes and a little cleanup. I was thinking more panel removal where there is no space to slip a big razor saw in is where the smaller blade will come in handy. I also use this blade, its skinner point chucked to a #2 handle really lets me get into some tight corners and also allows me to cut fairly a tight radius  I got them here...  http://www.modelexpo-online.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?FNM=06&T1=EX20015&UID=2008061215004824&UREQA=1&TRAN85=N&GENP=  Here's a picture of a cutaway model I did using both saws. You can see the cowling cut was from edge to edge, so a razor job did a nice quick job there. But the the panel removal within the airframe is just too tight for razor saw. Makes the job easier when you have just the right tool for the job.

I've got some of those. They're handy...one of those things I rarely use but when I want it...