Ejection Handles

[Ranger_Chris61]

Anyone got advice on doing the black stripe on them?

[toadwbg]

Sharp point (like 0.25mm) Black permanent marker was my standard for years.

[Rhinolover]

Agree....Sharpies all the way. I do however spray the handles with a flat yellow to give the marker something to grab onto.

[Robert K]

Ejection handels

Rob.

[konbini]

I have yet to try myself - but read somewhere that if you take two wires (very thin types, like the bundle you find in electrical wiring.. or whatever gauge you feel suitable - maybe 0.25~0.2 or below). Paint one yellow and the other black, and twist them together.

My take: as some paints are quite brittle, I would recommend first spraying the wires with a metal primer (tamiya metal primer), then the paint would not flake... according to SAC. I asked them a question about some landing gear stuff earlier (unrelated), but the answer came in handy for this thread. After priming the thin wires, just paint one yellow and one black - could probably try lacquer as it bites into the primer (not sure about the metal primer, but I'm assuming it does bite into that). Twist them together and when you've achieved your desired "stripe angle", shape them into the type of handle you want, then coat them with a suitable top coat to smooth out the surface.

I saw it done somewhere... maybe on ARC (???) and thought it looked pretty darn neat, no fat/thin human drawn lines, so that's a plus. The wiring/gauge would be small enough that the intertwining of the wires would not result in obvious "flaws", and no need to worry about painting both sides of the wire. Another plus: its relatively easy to do and would probably save a lot of frustration.

Hope this helps!

David

Edited October 3, 2009 by konbini

[RedHeadKevin]

I like the twisted-wire idea. If you could find yellow sprue somewhere (maybe car people) You could do yellow-and-black plastic, rather than relying on paint sticking to wire while you twist it. OR, perhaps you could find yellow and black wire. Craft stores usually have colored wire in the jewelery making department. You'd need quite a bit of clear coat, I'd imagine, to make the whole twist smooth, rather than looking like twisted wire.

[ed_s]

Along the line of the twisted wire. In 72 scale, I have used fine black and yellow thread. Twisted them together and then coated them with white glue (i.e. Elmers's). If you make a 6-8" section, it will last years since you just cut off a short piece for each seat.

Ed

[thegoodsgt]

I use a high-quality 000 brush (Windsor & Newton Series 7) and a steady hand.

[Cunumdrum61]

I use the twisted wire technique on 48 and 32 scale aircraft. The method you describe is correct. I start out with two lengths of copper wire about .20 in diameter. I scrub them first with scotch bright to give the paint something to bite. I paint one red and the other yellow. I then put both together and end is placed in a pin vise. I then twist them slowly so they come together and keep looking so I get the desired twist that I'm looking for. When I'm done I will usually coat them in Future a few times to seal the paint and to blend the wires into what looks like one strand. I will then later hit them with some flat varnish to dull them down. In 32 scale I will drill out the red part of the support handle that they attach to and feed them through just as the real ones are. Trim and you’re done. It takes a while but it looks as close to real ones as I think you will get.

Maybe I should take photos next time and submit is as a tips article.

[JimC]

Maybe I should take photos next time and submit is as a tips article.

Please do...I'd love to see some pics of this technique.

Jim

[konbini]

One other thing that might be handy - on the wires, perhaps instead of one or two thin coats, put on coats on the wires that have a little bit more thickness (just a fraction i guess..), do the twisting thing mentioned earlier, shape em up, and then douse it in lacquer thinner (or some volatile solvent) for a split second, and allow the paint on the wires to melt very very slightly so that the paints would come together, but not mix. This would require some experimentation on the timing, but if done correctly, I believe the melding of the paints would level out to cancel out the "twisted wires" effect, and will be just one single wire striped black and yellow (or whatever colors you wanted). This should probably be done after the shaping/bending to reduce risk of flaking.

The roughing up bit is a good idea and should further more reduce risk of peeling.

David

Edited October 4, 2009 by konbini

[squezzer]

The twisted wires technique works fine to me (I built mainly 1/72 jets). Just a little trip more: when the wires' paint is fully cured (I use enamels for this job), I deep them in Future. It helps to avoid the cracking of the paint when you twist the wires. When they look OK, I deep the twisted wires in the Future again. It avoid the wires to untwist when you cut them to the lenght you need.

[Cunumdrum61]

I do exactly that. I keep dipping them in future to build the wires up so they look like a single piece. I use the future to fill the viods between the wires so to speak. When all is dry and I am happy with them I coat them in flat varnish to dull them down.You can use white glue but I find it doas not level as well as future does.

[The Loggie]

I second the twisting together of yellow and black yarn/sweing threads. Dip them in white glue or Future to bind them into a single piece. One of each for 1/72, 2 of each for 1/48. Experiment.

George, out................

[FEDE]

Twisted one black thread and one yellow thread together for 1/48, looks good for me.

Look this.

I Hope to help you

Greetings

FEDE