Skinny or narrow sanding sticks?

[jester292]

What is the best skinny or narrow sanding sticks? Having trouble reaching the lower corners of a 1:48 F-15C intake. 

 

 

[airmechaja]

http://www.alphaabrasives.com

Look under modeling. Made in Canada. 

[Bob Beary]

You can easily make your own by using CA to attach sandpaper to coffee stirrer sticks, tooth picks, chop sticks etc..

 

Bob

[Stalker6recon]

On 3/23/2019 at 5:21 AM, Bob Beary said:

You can easily make your own by using CA to attach sandpaper to coffee stirrer sticks, tooth picks, chop sticks etc..

 

Bob

Speaking of making your own sticks, what grits are safe for our craft? I am just starting my first kit after a more than thirty year layoff, and I am paranoid about burning thru the details etc. I found some wet/dry paper at good prices (I now reside in the Philippines), I bought 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit paper.

 

Also, just a tip I learned on my own, you can buy ladies nail buffers in different configurations, sticks, blocks, nail file type, they usually have 4 grades of abrasion and will put a mirror shine on the plastic with very little effort. They also cost a lot less than some of the hobby sticks I have seen online.

 

Hope that helps, Stalker6recon

[Joe Hegedus]

What grit you use is mostly driven by what you need to accomplish.  If you have parts that have a significant step at the seam, you''re not going to want to try and tackle that with 1200-grit paper; you'll be sanding at it for weeks.  The only real way to not obscure details by sanding, is to not sand. You can take steps to minimize the detail loss, but you might as well either get used to restoring detail, or learn to live with the loss.

 

There is a place for pretty much any grit from maybe 200ish and up in most modelers' toolboxes, I'd say, especially if you're going to be working with larger resin pieces or vacuform parts.  My normal go-to is 400 grit, moving to 600 and higher afterward if necessary, but starting with a coarser grit is necessary on occasion.  

 

 

[Stalker6recon]

3 hours ago, Joe Hegedus said:

There is a place for pretty much any grit from maybe 200ish and up in most modelers' toolboxes, I'd say, especially if you're going to be working with larger resin pieces or vacuform parts.  My normal go-to is 400 grit, moving to 600 and higher afterward if necessary, but starting with a coarser grit is necessary on occasion.

Very good information, thanks for that. For me, I prefer to start with higher grit, then work my way down if needed. To start low is too risky in my opinion, but after a lot of practice, I won't to worry about it anymore.

 

Thanks again, Anthony

[jester292]

Thanks everyone. I bought a new set of needle files that made quick work of the tight corner.

[Dutch]

CRM Hobbies in St Louis sells a bundle (perhaps 30-40) in various grits for $5.