Clair Greenwood
At 55 years old here it's really hard to stand on my head, if you go into advanced settings you can turn your photo's to face correctly. I know because I have to fix all of mine too. Have fun with the photo etch, thats actually my favorite part of building a model. You'll need a folding jig to do really nice bends, and for glue I've used and had great results with Clear Nail Polish, Microscale's Micro Kristal Klear, Mig Ultra Glue, and of course super glue. For positioning I do a 2 step process when my pe part is ready to install, first a tiny dab of Microscale's Micro Liquitape and let it dry a few minutes till it turns clear. It in now sticky like a very light adhesive and can be placed and manipulated into just the right position, then a dab of your choice of glue. If you go with any brand super glue and it's the thin kind I highly recommend a Glue Looper set, very cheap and will last forever. Clean up old glue on the tip with a cigarette lighter. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your build 🙂

Danny Ray autor
I've done a terrible job with my first ever part.
Glue looper? Why have I never heard of these things? lol we are practically twins. Well, I'm 56. With the modelling skills of a 5 year old 😳😂

Danny Ray autor
@lorraine are there actual female modellers? Clair is that a male name where you live? Surely there aren't 2 female modellers on earth? I'm showing my 1970's attitude here. 😳😂
By the way Lorraine cute cat. I have a dog but he's scared of cats. In fact he's even scared of doors! lol

Lorraine Lin
Danny, female modelers are relatively fewer in China, especially military modelers. But we do exist😜 And I also see many females in this community.

[img1]

Clair Greenwood
Thats ok Danny, Im 55 and act about 5 lol. I get along with my 3 year old grand daughter on the same level 🙂 Clair is a dude unless there's an e on the end usually. I have 2 cats, the one is super skittish, I remember when he was a kitten he farted, it scared him n he ran a good 15 feet before turning around to look at his butt. Hahaha

Clair Greenwood
Oh and to get that paper off use some nail polish remover. It dissolves super glue pretty quick. Then touch it up.

Rui
Great conversation going on here!

I have to catchup:

1st - I'm in the same age bracket at 59 with the modelling ability of a 90 year old who can't find his glasses 🙂

2nd - whats this I here about using a lighter to cleanup the tip on glue! How does that work? Is it for super glue cleanup? I'm always dealing with nasty clogs.

3rd - Where I live in Canada we have very few female modellers. In fact, I have never seen one. I have a theory that females can be amazing modellers because of small fingers. I don't have fat sausage fingers but they are big enough to get in the way of intricate work.

4th - @Danny I know another modeller on here named Jennifer. She is relative new to the hobby and already quite good. Lorraine's work is amazing!

Lastly - I have cats. I use to have dogs when I was younger, but now it's cats. They drive me crazy and I think the little assassins are trying to kill me, but I love them to bits.

Danny Ray autor
I love this site. So much good advice and just when I felt like giving up I get lots of lovely people encouraging me to carry on. Thank you. I also need to give a shout out to Jakko. I drive him crazy with almost daily questions and he's never once told me to stop and leave him alone! 🙂

@Rui, I'd love to see a few more females in the hobby. In fact I need a new wife and one who could help me build a model would be a definite bonus. It's all about the lack of sausage fingers, as you say 😂

Lorraine Lin
For PE parts, I use lighter to clean up the instant glue. It works very well, 100% burned up.

And sometimes, I wish I had a third hand, help me to hold the small parts so I can glue them together😛

Thomas Mayer
Remove superglue from a glue looper, a needle, blade, or whatever metal item you use, by holding it into the flame of a lighter. Let the tool cool of, remove residue with a paper towel.

Thomas Mayer
Glue loopers:
SCM Search: Glue applicators looper*

Danny Ray autor
Thanks Thomas.
@lorraine a third hand would be invaluable! In fact on a serious note are there items you can get to help with that? I often find myself wishing I had something to place a model in when I need to add a tricky part. I bought a small jewellers vice that I sometimes use but if there are other devices I'd love to try one!

Lorraine Lin
I bought a soldering helping hands in electronics store. It helps sometimes.

Danny Ray autor
I think I'll get one too Lorraine. By the way I'm seriously impressed at your skill. Are you a professional model maker? Or something similar? Film business?

Robert H.
I have the same kit on my workbench right now, take care the instructions have a few errors and some missing steps to do, just in case you haven't noticed

Lorraine Lin
Danny, I'm not a professional modeler. Building
models is just a hobby in my spare time. I've learned a lot of skills in this community.

Clair Greenwood
I have 3 or 4 helping hands of different sizes but this one is on my "snag it eventually" list : amazon.com/gp/produc..8B8CMKBF3NX&th=1 , should prove handy when I am repairing electronics as well.

Danny Ray autor
@Robert yeah I've noticed one error so far. I bet yours comes out a lot better than mine!

Danny Ray autor
@Clair, thanks I'll look at that. I think I'll buy one! 🙂

Danny Ray autor
@lorraine how long have you been modelling? You really are skilled. I'm very new to it but I think it'd take me at least a decade to get to your level!

Robert H.
@Danny, t's not about better, it's just about fun !! and you learn and get better with every model you build - may you've noticed that K3 and K4 track parts the designations are swapped, some drill holes that need to be made are not shown, best you download the instructions of the original Academy kit, last page shows some corretions .... scalemates.com/products/img/5/1/1/839511-44-instructions.pdf

Clair Greenwood
Well said Robert, without having a fun time we'd all be doing something else instead.

Lorraine Lin
@Danny, about 6-7 years. Agree with Robert and Clair, it's all about having a fun time. I enjoy those few hours late at night when I build models. I can fully immerse myself and forget about other worries. And I also enjoy to learn and to share with all the friendly mates here.

Danny Ray autor
I agree but I'm at the stage where I'm messing everything up. I think it'll be a lot more fun when I get a bit better and I have a system for doing things. I mostly make (so far. I have 61 kits and about 2/3rds are AFV) tanks. Can't decide whether it's better to spray the wheels and tracks before adding them or once they're glued in place. I'm veering towards the 'before' scenario. Same with the tools and things like machine guns and rifles (from my universal carrier). I don't feel confident at all with figures. In fact I'd even say they scare me. 😳😂

Robert H.
@Danny, take it easy, may start with your more simple kits, to mess something up sometimes is part of the never ending learning process and fortunely on armour models you can easy hide a mistake by covering it with something, at least mostly 😉 I airbrush the assembled main groups, hull, turret, wheels, tracks... separately. I also glue small things like tools before airbrushing to the hull, I've no problem to paint small things with a fine brush after... just look always what makes more sense. Figure painting is also not such a big deal, many tuturial on YT, start with simple guides.... and don't try to paint eyes, mostly not necessary at all 😮

Clair Greenwood
Danny bro,. you didn't mess anything up... Thats the beauty of modelling war machines, Battle Damage 🙂 I've been building models on and off since '74 and I still make colossal goofs here and there. I was doing a Santa Maria all wood kit and guess what, I goofed and cut off in scale probably about 10 feet on the poop deck. I just planked and kept going, now it's a pee deck that bring your own bottle Hahahaha. We all screw up dont fret just learn and do better on the next one buddy 🙂 As for painting, I always paint parts separately, my hands shake a good bit anymore so I'd make one hell of a mess if I didnt.

Danny Ray autor
Thanks chaps. Great advice. That made me laugh clair. Pee deck and bring your own bottle. 😂
I actually thought this yesterday. Why am I worrying about a rip in a wire mesh on a machine that's had dozens of armour piercing shells slung its way? Of course it's gonna look beaten up! That's a sure sign that I've not (yet) done any weathering whatsoever! 🙂

And Robert I agree. It's a good job I've (now) got 62 kits (just bought another panzer iv by Ryefield oh and a hetzer by Takom so 63 kits! (They were so cheap on temu. The Ryefield was just £11! Well with my discount.
I have now stopped buying. For now 🙂

Danny Ray autor
@lorraine. I hope I'm half as good as you in 6 years!

Lorraine Lin
Danny You surely can do better. Because I just joined this community last year, while you've been here since the very beginning😜

Danny Ray autor
Not me Lorraine. I only joined in November. Or thereabouts 🙂
You did say you've been model building for about 6 years? I might have mixed up your comment with someone else. It's my age! Lol

Danny Ray autor
Can somebody take away my credit card please? I just saw a Takom 1:35 panzer III Ausf.M mit schurzen (armour skirts) on Temu and it was only £15. God knows where I'm gonna put these models once they're built? I'll need at least 3 more houses. Maybe I can build a few model blocks of flats? 😂

While I'm here, do any of you use those PE bending tools to help you? Some are like metal rulers with lots of different shapes to bend around. Another type is a square with another square with shapes cut out and there's a screw down clamp to securely fix the part down when bending. I can get one of each type for around £7 with my current discount . Are they worthwhile or just a gimmick?

On a similar note, I wish I could find a solution to my many different diameter circle masks. Being primarily interested in AFV builds, I find I need (especially if the road wheels are rubber edged and therefore painted in black(ish), I know you can buy specific wheel masks for many kits but they're not cheap. I was wondering if there's a good universal solution. A tool or technique where you can make your own masks or stencils. Bearing in mind, I have the abilities of a not particularly bright or gifted toddler 😂😂😂

Clair Greenwood
I use a Bug from the Small Shop and it's simply a must have to get great folds on the first try. Each bend at the same spot makes brass weaker. So yes, definitely get a screw down type.

As for question 2 >>> Tadah!!!!! scalehobbyist.com/ca..00000048/product.php

I bought one, seems nice quality but haven't needed to actually use it yet.

Danny Ray autor
Thanks Clair. You the man. As they say. Funny to think I thought you might've been the (wo)man before you educated me about the different spellings of your name! 🙂 then again (I'm assuming here yet again) you Americans do love to change the spelling of the mother tongue! lol 😂😂😂😁😁
But seriously, thanks for the reply and advice. It does make it feel like I'm not in this arms race against 1940's nazism alone. Even though I'm building German tanks 😁😊
You've convinced me. I'm gonna buy a screw down clamp thing. I mean, for equivalent of ten US dollars, you can't really go wrong?

Danny Ray autor
I wonder if that stencil you linked would cover the British tanks too? I see that panzer iv is mentioned. I have all the British tanks to build. Churchill, Cromwell, valentine, crusader, Matilda as well as the Brit versions of American tanks like Grants, Lees, Stuart's, and shermans ? I guess it'd be expecting a bit too much to have a single stencil to cover all German, American and Brit machines? 🙂

Robert H.
@Danny, I have this USTAR UA-80026, covers all wheel diameters, at least I didn't have one where it didn't fit in scale 1/35. For bending PE parts just a small tool which is usually sufficient for what I need it [img1] [img2]

Danny Ray autor
Thanks Robert. I've just bought something similar on temu and a square one that you can screw down. Because I've been buying a lot of kits from them I had some discount. The screw down type was originally £20. I got it for £6. Hopefully it'll be decent quality. I'll have a look at the wheel mask. As well as the one Clair suggested. Thanks to you both.

Ben M
Helpful tips abound here. Sorry I missed it til now. Photo 5 looks nicely done. I apply superglue with a sewing needle with the end of the eye cut off like a tiny little U. When it gets gummed up I burn the glue off with a lighter. In my late 50's as well.

My girlfriend builds models as well but isn't on scalemates. I like to build things with my kids also.

Clair Greenwood
Gee Ben, that's a really smart idea there with the needle. I like the ingenuity bud 🙂

Danny Ray autor
Hi Ben. I forgot that I bought this little tool from Temu. It's a very fine needle on a small spring and it unscrews from the handle where it's safely stored away. Basically you just dip it in the super glue then dot it where you want it. When it first arrived a couple of months ago I was disappointed but it really has helped. Though I obviously had to remember I had it first! lol
So your whole family model build? That's great 🙂

Danny Ray autor
@clair shall I post a link to the needle tool I bought? It's just a small bullet looking piece of metal that unscrews then you screw it in the other end. It's just a really fine needle on a small limited movement spring like joint. A lot more handy than I first thought! Bear with me I'm not good with computers/phones. I've added a picture of the tool in the project/build photos. See it? They sell them on Amazon too but it was half that price on temu.

Clair Greenwood
Actually Danny yeah I'll grab me a few next week when I get my ssi in.Thanks man I'd like to give that a shot, looks very useful.

Danny Ray autor
You're very welcome amigo