EZ cutting up of Revell Gato

[Rpmtech1]

This will save you some headaches on that Revell Gato conversion. Styrene is terrible stuff to cut, minus for scribing and breaking or snips because it has such a low melting point, it usually gums every type of saw in no time.

A propane plumbing torch, an old snap off razor blade and a pair of vicegrips and slice up those styrene models like butter! Do it outside, there will be burn off of plastic every time you heat the blade. Heat that sucker just about red hot and have at it!

[redboat219]

That gives me an idea. How about using a soldering iron with a custom built blade to cut the plastic?

[Rpmtech1]

Too slow and cold dude. Even with a red hot blade you'll only get like 2-3" on this Gato before a blade reheat.

[Steampunk]

That gives me an idea. How about using a soldering iron with a custom built blade to cut the plastic?

I realize that this may have been an April Fool's thread, at the start ... but in all seriousness: while the soldering iron idea doesn't work well, at all (on most styrene kits I've tried, anyway: don't know about the Gato! Heehee!) and while even my Weller temperature-adjustable soldering station only half-works, at best, this product works GREAT for doing custom modifications to styrene kit bits:

http://products.mmnewman.com/category/hot-tools

I first saw that tool in use, in a 1986 article in "FineScale Modeler" magazine. Turns out that exact tool is still readily available ... and fairly cheap, to boot. I picked one up, some ages back (year or two? I'd have to go look at the receipt) and have been experimenting with it, ever since. It's now indespensable, to me!


Since this is a tips and tricks thread:

One of the major problems with soldering irons, for this sort of work, is that they "recover" too quickly. Plastic doesn't! Plastics need to be treated a lot more gently, in my experience, than a soldering iron is capable of. That one specific, low-wattage, just-right-temperature woodburning tool seems ideally suited to plastic work.

Most plastics I have played with tend to under-react to heat, at first (tempting you to over-do applied heat) ... and then, all of a sudden, hit their melting point ... at which point all of the excess heat you've been applying, to get it to do something, catches up with you ... and you end up badly melting far too much of the kit, all at once. I've found that very localized amounts of heat are needed, to weld plastics together ... that is, without distorting everything around the intended area.

After much playing around with several of the tips the company offers, I did indeed custom-grind one of their blank, make-your-own-tips to a specific shape. It has several "zones" on one tip -- which takes some getting used to, at first -- but with that specific tip shape I developed, the tip and left side can cut or scoop, as needed; and the bottom and right side are there to blend and smooth areas.

Used in an advanced way, (meaning: after you have really practiced using the woodburning tool, and this custom tip), I've found that a person can sort of gently score, score, score a very limited area (like making rows to plant seeds in; sort of) with the tip or left side of the tool; and then, using the bottom / right sides of that tip, just over that now-locally-heated-almost-to-melting-point area, you can blend and smooth out some of the lumpy / bumpy things like bits of sprue used as welding rod. Sort of pre-smoothing work ... since it's best to give the plastic LOTS of time to get down to room temperature, before you "attack" that area a second time.

Timing is key. It seems like you have to melt enough stuff, accidentally, to gain a firm internal sense of what's too much time for the hot tip to be in contact with the type / thickness of plastic(s) you're working with; and what's almost enough, for right now.

There's a "heat, then wait; then, when it's safe, heat some more" mentality going on.

Once you've mastered the timing element, enough, all sorts of things that were once pretty much impossible to do, using other means, fast approaches feeling "trivial".

There's definitely a learning curve -- not to mention safety concerns, from not wanting to breathe nasty fumes! -- but welding plastics together, using heat, is something I'm becoming very comfortable with, over the last year or two; and something that is fast replacing even the best of the automotive fillers and such, for modeling tasks such as standard seam-filling work; filling old as-manufactured panel lines (to scribe new ones, elsewhere); and even radical recontouring chores.

I've been tempted to buy myself a spare Hot Tool, and some more blank tips. I may do that ... and see if I can't talk HappyFellow into accepting one, as a gift. (A way to get him to try it out, since he's probably one of the few brave enough to try it!? ... and then, report his findings to the Cabal ... but also, as a student of his, I'd just like to repay a bit of the debt from his kindness in sharing what he knows with students.)

What say you, oh Kind Mr. Dark Lord, Sir? If I picked up a spare woodburner and custom-ground a tip, and sent them both to you, would you promise to totally misuse 'em? ;-)



Anyway ... back to tips-and-tricks sharing, with this info-hungry group:

I wrote quite a bit about resculpting kits, etc., in a ("Maximillian") kit restoration article that was seen in the 17th issue of "Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller":

http://www.scififantasymodeller.co.uk/English/welcome.php

They still sell back issues (as do places like CultTVman dot com; or Fab Gear USA) ... if anyone wants to see the original article I did, about plastic welding.

I try to give those guys exclusives on the stuff I submit to them ... but since I'm a proud pupil of The Dark Lord Himself (HappyFellow, as some folks call him, around April!) and since that article is now almost a year old ... maybe I'll submit the most-relevant portions of that older article's text to David, to "do something with," hereabouts?

-- Ward Shrake --

[Kazzer]

I've tried cutting this plastic by continually scribing along the cut line, then bending it until it snaps off. Whether this would work on the Gato or not is another thing altogether.

[greenman407]

Has anyone tried the Dremel diamond blade? It works great on GRP but I have yet to use it on plastic?

[Steampunk]

That same "Hot Tool" I mentioned above has a really sharp, needle-like tip as a cheap, easily-available option.

Just sayin... in part because I'm using that tip, this evening, to gently cut through some really thick blobs of combined "tube glue / petrified plastic" on a pair of old Deal's Wheels "StinkRay" (cartoon corvette cars) I got on eBay; so that I can take those kits apart, and clean off all of the glue marks and such, and end up restoring at least one old 1970's kit from the "junkyark" parts. I use that tip, along with the one I custom-ground, so often that I tend to forget it's not the sort of thing that everyone has in their tool box ... or I'd have mentioned that needle-like $7 tip that you can just order, along with the $40-some dollar Hot Tool device.

I also used the custom tip I mentioned above, this evening, to weld together several ripped-apart VW Van kit body pieces, that had come as bonus bits in that lot of old cartoon car parts. The seller had said right there in the auction's text, that the Van was "too rough to restore". And my 'toon car buddies had agreed with him; and told me "Good luck". I got the parts in, this morning. I timed the initial restoration work, this evening. It took me fourteen minutes and thirty one seconds to get the two badly torn body halves tacked together, and straightened out; along with one other major body part; and one window surround piece, while I was at it.

Not tryin' to say I'm some sort of a genius ... no, sir! Just sayin' that I know a great tool when I see one; and having practiced a lot, I love that welding technique!

-- Ward Shrake --

[redboat219]

Anybody tried using a piece of string to cut plastic? How about a guitar string as an improvised wire saw?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Has anyone tried DOING IT THE WAY I SHOWED YOU?!.....

I buy you books, I send you to school, what do you morons do?! ... you eat the Teacher!

David,

[Kazzer]

Has anyone tried DOING IT THE WAY I SHOWED YOU?!.....

I buy you books, I send you to school, what do you morons do?! ... you eat the Teacher!

David,

They're all still worrying about the numerous times they've seen you with a bandage wrapped around a finger!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Oh, that! *dismissive shrug*

Real men laugh in the face of spinning sharp things.

David,

[Roddersuk]

What's wrong with mini hack saws?

Until I bought a model makers cutting set I used broken hacksaw blades or 6" mini hacksaw blades to cut my models. I cut my Gato and Type VII hulls using these. With the mini 6" hacksaw blade you can maintain a good amount of control, and, as you are not operating it like a fiddlers elbow then the plastic doesn't melt. Also for drilling holes in plastic I have a variable speed hand held drill so drilling speeds can be kept low and the drill doesn't melt the plastic and get clogged. In my model makers cutting kit there are several small saws and are ideal for cutting plastic.

[Von Hilde]

Ive used Dremmels with engraving bits and fine circular saw blades and x acto razor saws for years on plastic models, with no slag problems. It takes patience and practice.