HELP! Tool Advice?

ChancellorsHand

ChancellorsHand

New Member
Hey everyone! So I’ve recently posted a Revell Venator I’ve done. I got another one for a mere 30$ and I want to open the hangar up like this modeler did (first picture). I’m armed only with an XACTO knife and it’s not really doing much. And advice to safely remove the ventral doors cleanly and without having to do a lot of sanding later?
 

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Meter stick on the of where the line should be (the mark of the end of both doors in the middle of the ship), mark it with a pencil lightly and then make tiny indentations and then SLOWLY cut through the line. The indentations and the final cut would be used with an exacto which you have.
1031864


Good luck!
 
Just chop off the door and throw it away. you can use drill or a knife or an ax. Make it smooth the edge of the aperture with a file or knife.
Then just cut up a sheet plastic for new doors to fit the exact size of the bay aperture. Scribe a panel lines and add any bits on it and attach it to the opening with a tiny hinges. That's it. It's so easy and no chance to fail. Don't stick on the original kit parts. You are not gonna waste your time.
 
If you are going to cut a section out, see if you can cut it from the inside. This way you lose less material. Scoring a line over and over is sometimes the best way to make an opening.
 
yuumi2891103 said:
Just chop off the door and throw it away. you can use drill or a knife or an ax. Make it smooth the edge of the aperture with a file or knife.
Then just cut up a sheet plastic for new doors to fit the exact size of the bay aperture. Scribe a panel lines and add any bits on it and attach it to the opening with a tiny hinges. That's it. It's so easy and no chance to fail. Don't stick on the original kit parts. You are not gonna waste your time.
Click to expand...

That is probably the best way to do it if you want the ability to display it with the hangar shut or open. Cutting, or scribing it open will leave a noticeable gap that will prevent the parts from fitting snuggly together again. If it is going to be permanently open, then it might be worth it.

I use a jewelers saw for major surgery and to cut stuff open

You drill a hole, then thread the saw blade through and lock the loose end in place and start sawing

You will still need to sand (or at least use an xacto blade to smooth it out)

29311243538_43c0719cd2_c.jpg
 
The jeweler saw looks awesome! Need to get me one of those.

If all you have is an XACTO knife and a #11 blade, then that it the tool you will use. Use the reverse side of the blade tip as a scriber.
When I was a lot younger I was in the same boat and you used what I had.

The reverse blade is fantastic and produces fairly fine lines to minimize loss of material. (not as good as that Jeweler Saw of course).
Get a few blades as replacements.
Try to extract the entire upper panel as a single piece before separating it into smaller parts.
Procedures
1. mark off with a pencil were the cut will be made.
2. use Dymo Tape as a guide and stick it on to act as a straight edge. (1970's-80's Embossing Labeler tape still available at Amazon)
3. use the reverse tip of the XACTO blade to score a guide line. Be gentle for the first few passes. Get a scriber if you can to do the first few passes.
4. continue with the reversed blade all the way down the cut line, over and over, and over again, until it cuts through the body.

Don't press too hard, otherwise the blade tip will snap early. The tip is guaranteed to break, so be sure to wear safety glasses.
Its a very long and tedious task. If you get really sick of it and don't care about the loss of material, then switch to a Scriber or saw.
XACTO does have a small fine toothed saw blade that fits your handle (Blade #15).
 
Like Analyizer, I was working on a old MPC Eagle from Space:1999. The tools I used were small razor saws that fit into a standard Xacto handle. Mine were made by RB Productions but there are others available from Tamiya, Trumpeter, Mr Hobby and other various Japanese companies as well. I was able to cut away all of the sections I needed to be rid of using just these saws an cleaning them up miniature files.
 

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Wow!!!! Thanks everyone for posting so much useful advice! I loved seeing the tools everyone recommended plus some the pieces y’all have used them on. Beautiful work you guys! Some of our are definitely veterans of the trade. Believe it or not, in my haste and impatience, I used the string trick. Which WORKS amazingly! Taking a simple cotton thread about 2 feet and wrapping it around both hands while having the model firmly clenched betwixt my legs, I sawed into the upper hull and the lines were very clean and minuscule in width! I would definitely recommend that quick trick but it does come with some sanding. Posted below is an update. I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help and interest
 

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That cotton thread trick sounds like is pretty much akin to a "poor man's" jewelers saw :lol:

Kudos! Looks like it worked out nicely. I will have to remember that next time I break a saw blade and can't find any spares lying around!
 
Sounds like you’ve got it under control. But I thought I’d point out something here. I often hear references to razor saws, and there are certainly those American-made X-Acto saw blades that fit their knife handles. There are also Japanese-made Olfa saws.

But all of these are way thick and cut tons of material out. Which is fine sometimes, of course. But they hardly seem “razor” to me.

So recently I found these Czech-made JLC razor blades that actually *are* razor thin! Really amazing for fine detail work. They have optional handles, though you can cut by hand with the blade in your fingers if you’re slow and careful. And have two fineness levels of blade teeth. Worth checking out!
 
nkg said:
Sounds like you’ve got it under control. But I thought I’d point out something here. I often hear references to razor saws, and there are certainly those American-made X-Acto saw blades that fit their knife handles. There are also Japanese-made Olfa saws.

But all of these are way thick and cut tons of material out. Which is fine sometimes, of course. But they hardly seem “razor” to me.

So recently I found these Czech-made JLC razor blades that actually *are* razor thin! Really amazing for fine detail work. They have optional handles, though you can cut by hand with the blade in your fingers if you’re slow and careful. And have two fineness levels of blade teeth. Worth checking out!
Click to expand...
Wow I should check those out, especially since you said they;re both razon thin AND have teeth. Thank you for all of this advice!
 
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