Decided to not stall this anymore and ventured into my first Eduard photoetch. Started off with the Tamiya BMW WW2 bike as the guinea pig.


got this set from HHQ earlier last month. There's still quite a lot of Eduard stuff there for those interested.


the original front wheel. Needed to clean off the spokes, registration plate and back mud guard fender.


used a prokit drill with a tiny drill bit donated from a old schoolmate dentist. Apparently I'm not the only patient asking for drill bits.


the attempt without filling of the gaps yet especially around the spokes.


another shot


I must say, these photoetch really can rescue out of date kits as the amount of detail now is much better. More to come. If this turns out OK, might just make it into a tamiyacom entry.

:huh: Wow! Looks beautiful so far. Those PE parts do scare me sometimes. So fragile.

Looking at the instruction sheet from Eduard, this is the easy part. The rest is going to be a real killer. The metal really bends easy and you really have to concentrate wellto make sure you don't distort the metal.

In a nutshell, the back wheel, seats, stowage, muffler and a lot of the engine parts need to be cut out and replaced. Wish me luck.

Loo, welcome to the PE world. Hope you would use all the PE pieces for your bike.

Loo,

looking good bro..
and i see you already venture into the dark side (PE bisnes..)
dont let the dark side put you down... good luck and pls update ur progress...

nice work on the spokes. i love the detail that pe parts offer but hate working with them more than i hate working with resin.

good luck!

rather than joining the dark Side, it's more like being upgraded from Jedi Knight into Jedi Master!

I agree that PE parts really creates finesse when applied to models. Call it the 'wow' factor.
Look at the wing nut on the rear of the fender!

Having said that , CK now moves into the super advance category in the Tamiya competition and leaves us more chance to menang..kakakakaa :lol:

Sil and myself are in the beginners punya category.

sllim

the funny thing with these PE sets especially on bikes, the spokes are still incorrect, just thinner. Wouldn't it be a killer if we could model each spoke? Now that would be neat and would need a freak! :lol:

Loo, believe it or not, some PE parts can be wrong. This is especially true if you are building the Dragon's 1/72nd and 1/35th T34/76. The PE grill provided so nicely by Dragon is wrongly designed. Ref shows that the engine grill should be fix outside engine cover frame and not from inside as provided by Dragon. I made this mistake in one of my T34's.

thanks for the info kenny

so this is why i called it the dark side...
you're attracted to the look and feel but they are evil tiny little things!!!

Sil and Arq,
what do you use to bend the parts?

Loo,
i dont have any special tool...just my trusty ol long nose pliers, rulers, paper clip, nail clipper and whatever thing that will do the job..hehe

i think kenny have the bending tool

I have a bending tool as well but very difficult to use. Bought it in JB for 80plus.
Do you guys actually sand the parts down first. What about the join lines? Superglue?

waaaaa...can see or not your bending machine?? rm80 sounds cheap...
can u pls shot a few photos of the machine...

normally i will sand most of the contact part....just to add more contact surface...
for hard to bend part, i will heat them first before i begin any rolling, bending...

thin superglue work best so far for me..for extra strong join, i use epoxy glue

how do you sand down the excess glue? really tough...messy

yeah..really tough job

that's why prevention is better than cure...and having a good set of precedure and management system will eliminate or reduce the likelyhood of this excess glue... speaking from DOSH point of view, a well prepared plan will reduce the consequence

so be carefull when using superglue....apply with the tip of a sharpen tooth pick... dont apply too much...
if there is still glue build up, remove creafully with knife when they're partially dried...

aisayman,
more complicated and painful than backside tear!!!!

Nice work Loo but looking over some of the parts I guess you'll be needing the delicate touch.....which could be a potential problem. Best bet to get the Home Ministry on this. Me I have 2 left hands so PE will always be a problem. Definitely defusing bombs will not be my preferred choice of profession.

Good excuse to avoid the darkside as much as possible. At any rate its too late for me considering Kenny has dragged me in doing 1/400 PE.

Loo, you can use Super Glue Remover for removing excess on the PE parts. Do not apply on the styrene parts. It comes in a small tube which is no good to skin.

does it melt styrene?

It reacts with styrene, causing it to become sticky. In any case, best to apply Super Glue sparingly. However, Target_J would agree with me that this Super Glue doesn't work all the time for PEs.

Loo I've found the reaction with superglue to vary. So far I've used it on Tamiya figs and DML kit for arms and legs with no dissolving of the styrene but as Kenny mentioned perhaps some styrene especially the thinner one may.

if not superglue, what does Jeremy use to stick PE to plastics?

new progress for the night of may 23rd.

I must say this thing is addictive. Its like discovering modelling again for the first time. Its actually quite fun but torture on the eyes and fingers.


the back seat structure consist of 6 pe sheet.


the difficult part was actually dry fitting where the PE is to sit without any guides. With superglue, you have to work pretty fast to align it correctly. Can't say that this kit is going to be a clean built nor nicely aligned parts


dig those gears stick and kick start stick.

Can't wait for tmw night. B)

the continuation can be found here

BMW cont...