Sanding techniques?

[David Madsen]

I was wondering if anyone could share their methods to sanding after priming/painting for gluing parts together or sealing cracks. It seems when I tend to sand with fine paper, the paint won't come off, but when I use something that will take the paint off, it scratches the plastic and gets dusty. I also have problems getting into corners and tight spots when trying to sand down putty for sealing. Just wanted to get some more ideas on tools and techniques so I don't ruin the plastic so much. Thanks

[Jamie Tainton]

Sorry Dave, I am a little preoccupied but maybe, can you add some pics of what you mean, I'm not sure I follow what you are asking about?

[David Madsen]

Well here is an example on my T-26, when I was trying to sand the back part of the chassis from removing parts for the PE I was adding. FIrst off the spot was so tight it was hard to move a piece of sand paper back and forth. I tried a metal file but that just scratched the plastic. Are there small tools I can use to get in there?





Here I'm trying to sand the base for the chair on the right side but it is almost too cramped to get my hands and sandpaper in there. When playing with the stuart however, I experimented with some different sandpapers which I think solved my ruining the plastic question. So I'm really just looking for ways to sand in tight spaces, I can only do so much with folded sandpaper. Am I just going about this all wrong and not thinking through when I assembly and start painting? Am I right that you need to sand the paint off before you glue to have a good bond? Maybe I should of painted the parts first and then glued them together to avoid the need to sand in tight spaces.

[Tim Coulson]

David,

Check out the sanding film pack by Testors. I found some in a hobby store when I visited the USA on vacation and I use it a lot. It is only about $3-4 for 5 sheets of a range of grit grades, they can be used wet and will last a while too. Use the rougher grades (smaller numbers) to remove the worst and then work through the finer grades to remove the scratches. If you want a very smooth finish try Micromesh which goes up to 12000 grit and gives a gloss surface to the material.

You can also stick a small square of the sanding material to a piece of plastic rod to get into difficult areas.

I also use a range of needle files which are about 5mm in width.

Hope this is of some help.

Tim

[Dario Risso]

I use wet-or-dry sandpaper, grain 320-360 first and 600 for finer tasks; I glue them to a rectangular piece of wood or to a piece of plastic, if I need something smaller. For cylindrical parts, like tool handles, I use abrasive pads from 3M.

Darío