The"Dos and Don'ts"of Customising

[faithfulbutler]

I thought it might be good and a bit whimsical for all you either seasoned veterans or newbies to list some pointers you've learned working with these little pieces of Plastic.
You never know you might save someone from facing the same dilemmas you had to find out the hard way.Or you might just like to give everyone a good laugh.
Here's a few things i've learned to get started:

- Always when using a sharp knife cut away from yourself.

- Never Cast Molds,use Paint Stripper or large amounts of Super Glue in a confined,badly ventilated space.

- When you need something made of Cloth,get someone else to do it for you. ;D

- Paintbrushes work best and last longer if you clean them straight away and don't stand them on their Bristles.

- Don't eat the Epoxy.

[glorbes]

faithfulbutler said:

Don't eat the Epoxy.

But it smells so tasty!

Here are some more:

Dremel
-Wear goggles
-Wear a dust mask (especially when dremelling/sanding epoxy
-Be sure the motor has stopped and the tip has completely stopped spinning before putting the dremel down.
-Its always a good idea to wear long sleeves, to avoid being burnt by molten bits of plastic.

Other tips
-Oil-based enamels and model paints are useless for customizing...they will never dry properly.
-Try to clean up your space between projects...otherwise, your work space will look like mine.
-Be sure that all pets are out of the room before you attempt sanding or dremelling.
-If a detail on a figure is bothering you, or you know that an imperfection nagging you, don't rush the figure and avoid it. Take a break, come back to the figure, and take the time to fix it before you move on.

I may add to this as I think of more.

Good idea, Andy

[Wild Willy]

Never Krazy-glue your fingers together just to see if you can get them apart. You can't! ;D

Will

[aburabusimbutu]

Here's one-
Wear gloves when working with white fabric- very easy to get unsightly smudges on it.

[faithfulbutler]

aburabusimbutu said:

Here's one-
Wear gloves when working with white fabric- very easy to get unsightly smudges on it.

Actually"MR formerly Aburabusimbutu"now known as "Picnic-Man"[what a mouthful ]i'd like to add to the"Glove"thing since you mention it.

- Always wear Gloves when sculpting with Epoxy,cause man that stuff's sticky and a bugger to clean off afterwards.Also lessens the chance of Fingerprints being left in the sculpted areas that you have to smooth over or sand off later when it's dried if you miss them.

-Always wear a Glove on the hand not holding the Paintbrush.I find that it can be easy to damage your fresh paint with the oils in the skin.I usually fix all my figures to a Base whilst painting them but sooner or later i always end up gripping the fig by some extremity.Better safe than sorry huh?

No Glove no love! What am i saying?

[casimir]

Never put plastic in the oven. 'Nuff said.

C.

[Figuremaster Les]

Repeating cutting towards you warning!

[glow=red,2,300]NEVER do this![/glow] Ever! Even if it seems the only way to hold something, find another way to hold it. There is always another way.
And, never cut something in a hurry. Never get impatient while cutting. Take a deep breath, slow down, think...then, S-L-O-W-L-Y cut...away from you and your extremities.

Seems like such a simple thing to remember, but in the heat of the doing, when you get irritated, this logic flies out the window and it becomes a matter of "Oh hell, let me just trim this just so...for just this one second...I can make it work..."

No, you can't.
It will get you.
Trust me. No one is immune. Just keep repeating this to yourself...blade inch deep in skin...and all that comes with that...
Cut away always.

Enough of cutting warning. ;D

Have a nice day at the bench.

Oh, and never set any still running Dremel down next to your clothing...ever...unless you want little cloth tornadoes in your shirt! ;D

[darkknightreturns]

Also, don't eat the yellow snow.