Pierre Sacha Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 I've always had trouble painting the yellow/black firing handles due to the minute painting involved, so I thought there had to be an easier way. I found it. It may take some time but you can make a lot in one go and store it for later use. Take some round-section sprue, heat it and stretch it to the approximate firing handle thickness for the scale involved (1/32, 1/48 etc.). Now take a longish piece of this streched sprue and spray it yellow. Remember, you want to make a lot for future use. Let dry thoroughly. Now comes the fiddly part. Take some Tamiya tape and cut a very thin strip ,again depending on your scale ( 0.5mm for 1/48) with a sharp knife. Take this strip and wind it around your stretched sprue in the chevron/barber-pole pattern of ejection handles, making sure to leave gaps as wide as the strip in- between. This is easier as it sounds. Now spray the masked sprue black. Be careful not to spray too wet or the paint will seep under the tape. After the paint has dried thoroughly just remove the tape and you are left with a perfect yellow/black pattern as on the real thing. Just cut an appropriate length off, loop it around a toothpick or something and superglue the ends together and there you have it. Looks good too, try it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Migrant Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 If you can find some yellow sprue to stretch in the first place you can save yourself a step (I have some brightly coloured sprues from a Revell snap-together 'Smart Car' kit. Shhh...). I'm not sure I'd go to the trouble of masking the black stripes, couldn't you just paint them with a fine brush? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MoFo Posted August 13, 2003 Share Posted August 13, 2003 Or a pen. Seems a whole lot easier. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ghost Posted August 27, 2003 Share Posted August 27, 2003 i found one of the easiest ways is painting it yellow and then drawing the black lines with a VERY fine black pen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scalephantomphixer Posted August 27, 2003 Share Posted August 27, 2003 I made mine the "old" way: a strip of brass, shaped and soldered. Then the yellow paint. I hand-painted the black stripes with a 0.35mm Rotring rapidograph marker. Note that the black strips spiral all around the wire: it one single line. Tricky to do, but looks pretty good. Pierre Photo of my current project: F-4J (1/32). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TF51GREGWISE Posted August 28, 2003 Share Posted August 28, 2003 i found one of the easiest ways is painting it yellow and then drawing the black lines with a VERY fine black pen DITTO, I use a fine line black sharpie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Keith Diamond Posted August 28, 2003 Share Posted August 28, 2003 I use an old grease pencil. Like what they use in the AF. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike W. Posted August 28, 2003 Share Posted August 28, 2003 I haven't tried this, but I read somewhere that you take a piece each of yellow and black thread and twist them together, then rub them down with diluted white glue to hold them together. I don't know how well it works, but it sounds good. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 Twisting black and yellow thread works just fine. The white glue holds it all together and stops any fine, stray fibres from spoiling the effect. It is possible to make 15cm or more in one go which is an awful lot of ejection handles. ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 hey Kiwi where in NZ are you at? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 Down in Dunedin, Raymond where are you? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 wellington thought i was the only Kiwi on here! :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Looks like the Kiwi contingent just increased by 100%!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MoFo Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Looks like the Kiwi contingent just increased by 100%!! 50%. There is... another. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwi Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Ok so there are 3 Kiwis, not bad out of over 1,000. Where you from MoFo? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.