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Forums - News / General |
For General modelling or hobby-related topics that are not covered by any other specific forum. Please keep to topics concerning the hobby. |
| Topics | 2990 |
| Messages | 22338 |
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| Subject: | Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? |  |
| Date: | Sep 11, 2006 |
| From: | Al Crawford | |
I'd like Aber's tool clamps rather more if the brass was up to the fact that they're workable. Being able to clamp and unclamp is neat, even if it's not something you do every day. When the brass that the clamp is made out of breaks almost immediately, that's less good.
While Aber are still my favorite, especially in terms of requiring you to do really ridiculously insane things, for clamps I switched to the Eduard kind. Once assembled they're indistinguishable, and they're pure "origami" - one piece, fold, fold fold, clamp. They're just as cheap as the Aber ones, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Aber's insane stuff though - some of the combinations of pieces they pick out and print "Soldering is better for joining metal to metal" beside are nuts. I won't disagree on the notion that a good solder joint is a *lot* stronger, but until someone comes up with an iron that's got a tip that's about 0.25mm so you can apply flux with a 000 brush and then use 0.2mm solder on it, careful use of superglue remains my preferred technique. While I've not had a chance to try it yet, I've got one of those Cold Heat Pro things (plus Tix, flux, and anti-flux) so I can give soldering a second chance for things that it seems more suited to, like fenders or boxes where I can do the solder joint on the *inside*. Anyone used one of these? My previous soldering iron was just too clunky and only succeeded in burning holes in things, including me. I've had the Cold Heat for nine months, but work's kept me away from building kits (but not buying them) so I've not had a good chance to use it.
I'm not sure what my favorite Aber insanity is though. I love their multiple volume sets where, by the time you've bought them all, there's almost nothing left of the original kit - sort of a PE version of Formations' Chaffee update. Then there's the various reasons for making tiny little springs, grilles where every slat has to go in place, the legendary working toolbox, any scale PE rivets that are too small to see with the naked eye, their entire set for the FAMO w Sd.Ah 116, and my most recent favorite, the set for the late model Sd.Kfz. 11.
This is a *weird* one - incredibly detailed grille and radiator, you have to construct the cooling fans by attaching the blades individually, they have you build the hood in a manner that suggests you're going to slide a wire down the middle of the hinge to make it openable - then they have you glue it shut, presumably because somebody realized that there isn't an engine in it. I suppose you could pay a fortune for the HobbyFan engine, or get the Dragon Sd.Kfz. 250 Engine & Workbench set (nice idea, but the engine itself is simplistic and none of the vehicles that you could use it with has a usable engine compartment.
Stlll, can't complain - with Aber, Part, Eduard, Voyager, Lion Roar, and Royal Models all producing armor photo-etch and more kits including it, Eduard's cut their prices to compete, and there are occasions where a nice simple Eduard set is all you really need. Wish there was the same level of competition when it came to aircraft - Eduard's prices have't changed a bit there. It'd also be nice if Royal Models did the same - they do some nice sets but I flat out refuse to spend $150-$180 to add photo-etch and a little resin to a $30 kit.
Al
PS Oh, yeah, and a pox on anything that shrivels up and evaporates if you don't keep the brass in constant movement when annealing. I'd like to see more places split stuff into "this fret is big things that bend - anneal it" and "this fret is little things that melt - don't anneal it" rather than mixing them up. |
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 | Photo etch......how important is it really? - Glenn Bartolotti - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Philippe Blumenthal - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Domagoj Kamenjarin - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . can't live without it - Mike Bedard - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: can't live without it - R.C. Hill - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: can't live without it - Mike - Sep 12, 2006 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: can't live without it - Eric Scurlock - Sep 13, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Paul A. Owen - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . All things in Moderation - John F. Steinman - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - "panzers" koenig - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Al Crawford - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Damon Agretto - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Al Crawford - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . It really depends on the subject matter - Roy Chow - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Gary Cooper - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Gary Cooper - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Before Eduard - Roy Chow - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . . . . More Before Eduard - Saul Garcia - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Brian Bocchino - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Satisfied - Mike Tittel - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Depends on the kit... - Bob Muckley - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: Depends on the kit... - Damon Agretto - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: We hates it we does.... - Eric Scurlock - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Paul, looks like we need a new forum.... - Glenn Bartolotti - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . Re: Photo etch......how important is it really? - Tim Streeter - Sep 11, 2006 |
| . . . lost parts - Mike Bedard - Sep 12, 2006 |
| . . . . . . Re: lost parts - Philippe Blumenthal - Sep 12, 2006 |
| . . . Photo etch......Value is relative - Nemanja Pavlovic - Sep 13, 2006 |
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