working with photoetched parts

Joe.......1st and foremost is p a t i e n c e........practice..........& perseverence..
& to each his own once you've discovered what's best for you......

none of this is cast in stone but, works well for moi......
.....the sharper the cutting tools the better consisting of:
a small pair of side cutters or an xacto knife with new blades (#11 or #10)......a small pair of duck bill pliers (flat nose).....a set of (hobby size) rat tail files & CA glue & CA accelerater.
if you're gonna remove the piece from the sprue with the side cutters, be holding onto the subject part with tweezers or the flat nosed pliers for reasons given below....
if you're gonna cut the PE pieces from the sprue with an xacto knife, i'd recommend a piece of tempered glass, & some doubled sided tape......
in that PE pieces love growing wings and zipping around the room never to be heard from again......so,
glass on bench, tape on glass, PE on tape & cut away.......
now, extricating the cut PE piece from the tape, hold the piece with the flat nose pliers and with a smallish flat rat tail file clean the remaining tab & voila.............

my means for picking up & attaching flat PE parts consists of a round toothpick with one end cut flat & with that end slightly wet touch the toothpick to the PE piece & transfer it to a pair of needle nose or duck bill tweezers.......apply a tiny drop of CA glue to the subject piece and subject area & carefully attach.....
i'd recommend a CA glue that is NOT a quick setting type in order to have the time to position the part accordingly........then if you choose you can touch a drop of CA accelerater to the area & if the modelling Gods are kind, you're in business.....

hope this helps........& best of "luck" to ya

well i see already what one of my problems was.. i was trying to cut the PE part off on top of one of the self healing mats... guess thats why it flexed.. off to the arts n crafts store i go for glass!! and some time pliers.. =)

thanks very much!

Good advice from our Irish Colleage ther. But another truth is no matter how much you prepare, PE flies, and flies well. You know I got a real seat belt and threw it... didnt fly nealry as well as a PE harness. Go figure.
The most important tools youll ever need with PE is pateince, a room you can cuss in where the kids wont hear and decaf coffee. I also have grieg playing in the background too, seem to have lot less tweezerpult when greig is playing.

as i contemplate starting my first PE job tomorrow morning (eduard zoom set for the Italeri Me262) all this is invaluable to me too ! it just occurred to me that zoom isnt a very nice name for a PE set. what with tweezerpult and the like....... hmm...........

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Cut your small parts in a bowl of water.
the parts will float or sink, and you can fish them out.
much more convieniant then crawling around on the floor with a flashlight trying to find a lost piece.

Iroc, that is a great idea!

cool! I am about to embark on my first PE job with a corsair and an HH-65 (remake). This has been INVALUABLE here... I like the idea of the bowl of water, never would have thought of that on my own!

I just leave the parts in the bad they came in and cut the parts through the bag - no problem there. It's when you are trying to bend, locate and finally glue that PE parts have a tendency to "fly off the handle" per se - for me anyways.

I keep a box of gallon clear freezer bags I got at the dollar general store (two gallon would be better but don't see them very often) and when I cut PE, there's just barely room for both hands, the PE and my cutting tool of choice (I use Exacto knives and a pair of very fine tipped Xuron flush cutters to remove PE from the fret). 99% of the time the part stays in the bag. (which is a lot better average than I have cutting something off of sprue). BTW - how the heck to you secure your bowl of water? I know how my luck runs and think there is much potential for wet humor around my household if I tried that.

actually, id use a baking tray and id guess that Iroc does so too. make sure that the SHE who must be OBEYED doesnt feel like making you a cake or she might be a little cheesed that you are using baking trays for brass