Chazz

Depending on where on the rigging you need to fix...whether you can reach it reasonably well...you might try swabbing the offending area with acetone on a small brush or piece of tissue held in a tweezer (this time be careful...both with the application and the ventilation). The area treated should dry fairly flat. You can also wipe that area while wet with cloth or tissue to leave a flat finish, I know,,,I can hear the screams now "Acetone is dangerous" and so forth. It certainly is but it CAN be used with care. I find it dissolves CA quite quickly for cleaning CA bottle nozzles, etc. Chazz

I use sandpaper glued to a backing for much of my shaping of small parts which does not work out with knives or saws. (However they do make less of a mess, as does scraping.) I have all sizes from flat sticks an inch by a quarter inch by a foot long to small ones a half inch by an eighth, and dowels sized to the curve they're to work on. I've never found a need for fancy glues to fix the sandpaper...I just use Elmer's Glue Pen, very water soluble and easy to use. Ir's like the old mucilage from grade school, sticky tan like honey. It comes in an applicator container and keeps forever, It dries in a half hour or so, new paper can be applied right over the old for some time and peeled off by wetting the stick. I've found that by using a backing stick much longer than the work, the sanding work results are more parallel to the worktable. .

Just an interesting possibility: Before I moved to Asheville (where Holly bushes/trees grow wild in many places) I lived in Stamford Ct northeast of New York city. My neighbors had LARGE boxwood bushes in their backyard..8 - 12 ft, high. The trunks were only 6" - 8" ion diameter but there were branches 2" - 3" thick.=, some of which were pruned off now and then. I got one piece from them of about 2 1/2" inches in diameter and about 3 feet long which seems to me to contain great wood for modelling, though my building has pretty much stopped and I haven't used much of it. My point is that there may be sources in your area which can provide resources often overlooked. I don't know whether or not this is true boxwood.The wood is yellowish not white, but the hardness and grain is great.

Whjen I was MUCH younger I used Wood Hardener from Minwax to fix (harden) rotten wood in windows etc. and then filled the result with their companion wood filler. They still sell this stuff. I have thought of this on occasion for hardening softer wood as suggested here using CA but never got around to trying it. Has anyone tried it? Chazz

Do everything else before drilling a closely spaced line of holes. Thar's just a perforated line for breaking, especially when its along the grain. Another thing if it works for you: prefinish the piece if necessary, then soak it with CA to make it stronger Chazz

Richard, I always had the same problem until I got a foot-pedal switch. Even when not essential to the task, it adds a lot of convenience, even safety. There are many different kinds, some with speed controls, some constant on, some on only while held down. Think about them, especially with bigger power tools. CW

I work in my house (not in a shed). I work at an office table/desk with a 4" deep drawer all across the front. I have found the drawer to be invaluable in working. If strong enough it offers a lower work surface when needed, it catches small objects that otherwise would fall, it offers a place to put small tools while working, you can put plans or other reference material in it while working on the material itself... Another matter I would check on is the capacity to clamp items such as lights and small vises to the top. Some tables don't have enough overhang for secure attachment. Chazz

I find that scraping does a better job removing SMALL glue stains than sanding, removing them if possible without affecting the adjacent areas. Use a quite small tool for this, not a large scraper such as is used for finishing. Micromark has a set of 4 of various shapes for $10.95, with thin handles 6" long and blades 1/4" wide. (Item no 83252). They do take a deal of sharpening in the beginning but I've found them exceedingly useful for fixing small glue goofs, planking areas just a little too high (like some edges) and so forth. The small size allows fine, close work and more control. Check them out. Chazz

Ken, The site is shipmodeling.ca. Its a subscriber site...$45 for a lifetime membership. I was (am) a member but I haven't been signed on in a long time and I've forgotten my credentials. What comes up looks just like what I remember. CW

Does anyone remember HUBERT'S "Zipseizings"? They're a preformed seizing collar made in a group on a wire mandrel, locked with CA , removed and cut to size, The parts to be seized are threaded through the collar which is then slid into the right position and glued in place. If you don't like CA that's a problem, but otherwise they do a good job once you master their making. CW

Another lesson to take from this construction exercise is that at small scale, whenever there are many similar small parts in close proximity, a jig or some kind of guide is a great deal of help, almost essential, for good alignment. At small scale any amount of misalignment stands out like a sore thumb. Chazz

Hi Chuck, I don't make paper models so I don't know whether my 2 cents will apply, but... There are (at least) two possible alternatives you might consider. One is Fabri-tak, a hard-drying rubber cement sort of stuff sold in fabric stores for doing seams, attaching decorations and such work. I have used it to lay down the hems of sails and attach cords for stitching on bolt ropes; and some tacking jobs for further gluing. It does not stain, even dress fabrics, it dries very fast..30 seconds or so, and it dries hard, not sticky like rubber cement, and it is claimed to be washable. It is easily thinned with acetone (needed quite often). When thinning with a solvent as volatile as acetone, don't use a vessel with a relatively large surface area. You'll probably lose as much to evaporation as you get into the glue. Here's a tip. When pouring a flowable liquid like water or acetone from one container to another hold a thin dowel or piece of heavy wire or such, say about 1/16" in diameter (long enough to reach the lower container) across the opening you're pouring from. The liquid will cling to the dowel and run down nicely into the vessel below. The second possibility is Liquid PSA, available from Micromark. It's a water based glue you apply to your joint, allow to dry a few minutes, when it dries to a transparent tacky film, easy to handle. When dry, press the two pieces together, like contact cement. Much easier to handle and no odor Dries hard after a couple of days. Good luck; Chazz

John, I don't know what kind of tape you used, but in addition to sticky pads there are many types of tape, such as paper masking tape, paper medical tape, write-on Scotch tape and so forth. It is good to consider how the tape will react to the surface whenever you use it, especially for masking out paint spray, etc.. For example, drafting tape looks much like masking tape but sticks much tighter and may well pull off the finish beneath it. The blue painters tape is even gentler....sometime too much so. Chazz

Chair cane is the material cane-seat chair seats and backs are woven from, It is grows as a a vine from which the outer skin is made into smaller strips...you've seen it many times but maybe never noticed it, If you can't find an old chair, the material is available on-line or in hobby stores, Relatively cheap. Chazz

Here's another unorthodox solution: chair cane. This comes in various sizes and is naturally light color but can be dyed or painted. It can be tied in knots when soaked in water (literally). The top surface is shiny but can be sanded down if desired. It can also be sanded to narrower size as needed. Do all work on the cane before soaking. Then soak in plain water for 5 to 10 minutes and wrap around your mast and clamp loosely until dry. It will hold its shape when dry and can be given its final dress-up. Chazz

The wire in kits is often too soft to hold a straight shape very long, even if you can get it so. I found a good source of nice straight fairly well-tempered wire is wire brushes, the kind used for scrubbing. They come in different sizes and the wire can be bent easily with pliers to fairly sharp angles. The biggest problem is the wires are fairly short pieces, at least in reasonably priced (for this use) brushes.

You can use a rotary tool to help in the forming of the small cleats if you use diamond bits or rotary stones...they cut slower and leave a fine finish, especially the stones. And they have curves that fit well to some of the cleat curves. But DON'T use regular steel cutters.

For small blocks, like 1/16 or 1/8 in., with wire strops, there is little need for an explicit eye. Strop the block without an eye and drill a tiny hole (#76 or #80 bit) at the ****end or otherwise work a hole with a pin or other sharp tool. The wire can be forced out some if you'd like a little more explicit look to the block. You can also put a wire at the end of the block and run the strop wire over it, but I find thar a little unnecessary work. Chazz

There's really no point in overdoing this. Although its better to remove (some) paint, all that is needed is a little scratch or a tiny hole in the deck where the wheels touch. And just slide the guns around on some sandpaper to remove the paint from them. Chazz

How about "artists conception"? Chazz

Just get a cheap pair of needlenose pliers and file down one point to what you need. Since the points are tapered, you can make several sizes of eyes from one point by using a spot further up or down the jaw. Chazz

Y.T., I'm not good at adding sketches at midnight. Just take two strips of some material of the right thickness, like brass shims, 1/2 mm. thick in this case, lay them side by side on your work surface to act as a depth gauge, hold your work piece close between them and scrape it down with a flat edge such as an Xacto blade or single edge razor blade, With the 1 mm. strip you already it should be easy work. Sandpaper might also work. The brass (or other strips of material) are guides to keep from going too deep as well as support the work both flat and side to side.The biggest problem in working with thin strips like these is breakage since they have such little strength. Chazz

Y.T., One reason you can't file a smooth form is that even the finer files have teeth that are separated by most of half a millimeter and catch on the thin edge of your workpiece. Try a fine diamond file. An alternative is to use a tiny Dremel rotary bit. Because the bit rotates more or less in line with the workpiece, it won't catch as much' However, I think you'll have a lot of trouble making a strip as small as half a millimeter. I'd use a flat edge of a scraper and a piece of your 1 mm stock and just cut it down. If you have a couple of pieces of metal of the right thickness. lay the strip between them to control the depth of cut. For something as small as this, precision of cut is all important. Chazz

Hi Al, You're probably trying too hard. These tools are relatively slow workers but they can do a good job. These purchased tools per se, which I have never used (just file my own in some scrap from a tin can or old razor blade), are probably sharp enough but just make sure. Rub the flat side on a stone or some very fine wet or dry sandpaper if needed. Then hold the tool a a 45 deg or so angle and work slowly, not trying for too much of a cut at once. Chazz

Maybe it would just be better to bite the bullet and get a quieter vacuum! By the time you finish the suggested installation you'll probably spend about as much as a new machine would cost...never mind the work. And would the installation even work as well? Then you might sell the one you have now Chazz