Tweet
Tip:
Here's a technique-in-development that you guys may want to hear about.
Your mileage may vary, but I've had very encouraging luck with this, so far.
Basically, I've been experimenting a lot with "Sharpie Juice" (that is, the ink or whatever, from inside Sharpie-brand markers).
The "fun" part is getting the juice out of your old, random, worn-out Sharpie markers. Using gloves to simply squeeze the juice out of the "sponge" thing inside the marker works ... barely. You end up getting the very-quick-drying liquid all over the gloves (where it almost instantly dries!) more than into the container you want to use ... so, that part of things, I'm working on improving. (It occurs to me that an oral syringe might act as a good "wine press" sort of device; perhaps in conjuction with a sink faucet screen; but I haven't tried that yet.)
For storage bottles, I'm using the little plastic squeeze bottles that eyedrops come in. (Specifically, the ones by Visine: their tips just push off, sideways; and can then be filled, again.)
I have found that Sharpie Juice can be used to dye various glues and other liquids. I've dyed Tenax 7-R with it (just a few drops suffices for a whole bottle); and have recently also learned various ways to dye Zap CA's really thin, water-like super glue.
Although Tenax can apparently be mixed up and stored, long term, the CA product cannot. The Sharpie Juice slowly hardens that CA glue; over the course of, say, hours or maybe days. (Not ultra-fast ... but fast enough to "use once".) The dyed Tenax seems to last okay, without ill effect that I've noticed, over the last few weeks / months.
In general, I'm using the various dyed glues / liquids I'm experimenting with as sort of what (model) car guys might call a "guide coat". I hate having to build up a zillion layers of primer, to find flaws -- and dyed glues and such let me assemble plastic or resin kit parts; sand the once-visible seams; whilst quickly and easily seeing if the seams are actually "blemish free" ... long before primer gets near the kit. (Dark areas remaining after sanding indicate a low spot. On lighter plastics or resins, it really shows up well.)
I've recently also dyed straight lacquer thinner with the stuff; and found a useful way to put that liquid to use: which I'll discuss here.
Experiments so far have pointed towards the idea that, when used as a localized wash near / around pour stubs on cast resin parts, that it's ideal for clarifying where the pour stub ends and where the kit's surface begins ... making it very easy to see when you should stop sanding; or when you should keep going. (Start sanding off the thin coat over the kit's surface, and it's time to stop! But if there's still a visible resin-colored bump or island standing proud in the middle of a "sea" of slightly-tinted resin kit bits ... you haven't sanded that area down, enough.)
I'm only adding maybe six drops of Sharpie Juice to a Tenax-or-Alclad sized bottle of lacquer thinner. Even three drops makes looking through the bottle difficult if not impossible; but that's largely due to trying to look through a 3/4 inch thickness of the dyed liquid. In the usual in-actual-use coating thickness, dyed products are more like a transparent dark gray "wash".
Besides what I've mentioned above, I'm finding that thin grayish wash has a nice tendency to collect, in a slightly darker way, at the interface of those two areas on resin kit bits: making it even easier to see where the exact "cut to here; but don't over-do it" line actually is. One coat may do; but I've noticed that two coats (with drying time between applications) leaves a very clear and sharp demarkation line, between the "remove me" and "leave me alone" areas on cast resin bits. (Assuming that edge is relatively sharp to begin with; not a smooth "blob".)
Yes, part of me does worry a bit that using a lacquer thinner wash may damage the resin parts in some way ... but so far, experiments I've done haven't indicated that's the case. Also: I know of some folks that recommend washing new cast-resin kit bits in straight lacquer thinner, to get rid of stuff like mold release products on the surface; and I habitually use fairly hot, lacquer-based auto primers on even injected plastic kits, with no noticeable ill effects. (I tend to put on only one thin coat of primer at a time, and then I give it plenty of time to dry ... so maybe that's why I'm not having problems. I'm limiting the amount of chemical attack by limiting the amount of that hot chemical!)
As with anything: experiment with all due care, of course ... but I'd be curious to hear of others that have tried this; and what their results were.
-- Ward Shrake --
Here's a technique-in-development that you guys may want to hear about.
Your mileage may vary, but I've had very encouraging luck with this, so far.
Basically, I've been experimenting a lot with "Sharpie Juice" (that is, the ink or whatever, from inside Sharpie-brand markers).
The "fun" part is getting the juice out of your old, random, worn-out Sharpie markers. Using gloves to simply squeeze the juice out of the "sponge" thing inside the marker works ... barely. You end up getting the very-quick-drying liquid all over the gloves (where it almost instantly dries!) more than into the container you want to use ... so, that part of things, I'm working on improving. (It occurs to me that an oral syringe might act as a good "wine press" sort of device; perhaps in conjuction with a sink faucet screen; but I haven't tried that yet.)
For storage bottles, I'm using the little plastic squeeze bottles that eyedrops come in. (Specifically, the ones by Visine: their tips just push off, sideways; and can then be filled, again.)
I have found that Sharpie Juice can be used to dye various glues and other liquids. I've dyed Tenax 7-R with it (just a few drops suffices for a whole bottle); and have recently also learned various ways to dye Zap CA's really thin, water-like super glue.
Although Tenax can apparently be mixed up and stored, long term, the CA product cannot. The Sharpie Juice slowly hardens that CA glue; over the course of, say, hours or maybe days. (Not ultra-fast ... but fast enough to "use once".) The dyed Tenax seems to last okay, without ill effect that I've noticed, over the last few weeks / months.
In general, I'm using the various dyed glues / liquids I'm experimenting with as sort of what (model) car guys might call a "guide coat". I hate having to build up a zillion layers of primer, to find flaws -- and dyed glues and such let me assemble plastic or resin kit parts; sand the once-visible seams; whilst quickly and easily seeing if the seams are actually "blemish free" ... long before primer gets near the kit. (Dark areas remaining after sanding indicate a low spot. On lighter plastics or resins, it really shows up well.)
I've recently also dyed straight lacquer thinner with the stuff; and found a useful way to put that liquid to use: which I'll discuss here.
Experiments so far have pointed towards the idea that, when used as a localized wash near / around pour stubs on cast resin parts, that it's ideal for clarifying where the pour stub ends and where the kit's surface begins ... making it very easy to see when you should stop sanding; or when you should keep going. (Start sanding off the thin coat over the kit's surface, and it's time to stop! But if there's still a visible resin-colored bump or island standing proud in the middle of a "sea" of slightly-tinted resin kit bits ... you haven't sanded that area down, enough.)
I'm only adding maybe six drops of Sharpie Juice to a Tenax-or-Alclad sized bottle of lacquer thinner. Even three drops makes looking through the bottle difficult if not impossible; but that's largely due to trying to look through a 3/4 inch thickness of the dyed liquid. In the usual in-actual-use coating thickness, dyed products are more like a transparent dark gray "wash".
Besides what I've mentioned above, I'm finding that thin grayish wash has a nice tendency to collect, in a slightly darker way, at the interface of those two areas on resin kit bits: making it even easier to see where the exact "cut to here; but don't over-do it" line actually is. One coat may do; but I've noticed that two coats (with drying time between applications) leaves a very clear and sharp demarkation line, between the "remove me" and "leave me alone" areas on cast resin bits. (Assuming that edge is relatively sharp to begin with; not a smooth "blob".)
Yes, part of me does worry a bit that using a lacquer thinner wash may damage the resin parts in some way ... but so far, experiments I've done haven't indicated that's the case. Also: I know of some folks that recommend washing new cast-resin kit bits in straight lacquer thinner, to get rid of stuff like mold release products on the surface; and I habitually use fairly hot, lacquer-based auto primers on even injected plastic kits, with no noticeable ill effects. (I tend to put on only one thin coat of primer at a time, and then I give it plenty of time to dry ... so maybe that's why I'm not having problems. I'm limiting the amount of chemical attack by limiting the amount of that hot chemical!)
As with anything: experiment with all due care, of course ... but I'd be curious to hear of others that have tried this; and what their results were.
-- Ward Shrake --
Comment