Trimming advice

[WorkingStiff]

My least favorite thing of painting minis is the trimming of flash. GW\'s latest plastic minis seem to be cast in a slightly softer plastic. And metal, well, that\'s always a pain.

My usual trimming technique for both metal and plastic is just carefully scraping with a hobby knife perpendiculiar to the seam line. I haven\'t had any success with files or sandpapers. If anyone has any useful trimming techniques or tools, I\'d appreciate hearing them.

 

[Klute]

Exacto every time.I have the scars to prove it.

Some of the metals need a dremmel though.

 

[No Such Agency]

On softer plastics, files can often cause \"fraying\" - just try filing a plastic (vinyl) army man or indian. Any plastic (polystyrene) minis from GW should be made of sterner stuff though...

A dental pick is sometimes helpful for cleaning mold lines in hard-to-reach areas. Scrape as with a knife blade.

 

[War Griffon]

The old metal nail files from vanity sets (mothers/wifes/girlfriends or your own if you are that way inclined work wonders on the larger areas of plastics otherwise scalpels (you can get different blades for those hard to reach areas) or a set of swiss files are my favourites

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I have had good luck with pinfiles with diamond dust coating. They are around 1-2 $ each.

 

[Wolf_Fang]

i use small files (sometimes depends on the mini and how many) altho i find for plastics a hobby knife works just fine

 

[Equus]

Haven\'t tried doing this on plastics myself, but on resins I often use the back of the hobby knife (the side that isn\'t sharp), scraping perpendicular to the mini and mold line. If that doesn\'t seem to work, I use one of the back corners, holding the blade at a slight angle. It\'s got enough of an edge to work on the softer resin, but isn\'t so sharp that you easily gouge it accidentally. It may work on plastics, but I haven\'t tried it yet.

 

[Calavera]

I just use my needle files on every metal mini, and most often the circular one, I think it\'s more accurate then an xacto, and the xacto blades go dull after 1 mini.

But I always use an xacto for the plastics.

 

[EricJ]

Edge of a dull exacto for me. I actually keep 2 of them at my desk, one is very sharp with a cap that I use for all my cutting, while the 2nd has has the same blade for probably the last 8 months (no cap needed), it can\'t cut much at all, but does an outstanding job of cleaning lines without the worry of suddenly cutting too deeply.

 

[Naukhel]

Emery boards on plastics. My first ever post here was about these things. Cardboard nail files. A buck for like fifty of them. They\'re flexible. They have different sand grades on them for coarse and fine work, and they can be cut to size, and they\'re flexible.
Also, not as harsh as files on softer materials. I have files, now, but still often go back to these things, even on metal minis.

 

[twjolson]

I use a file for the small stuff, but for anything larger I use a Clippers. That works wonders.

 

[Einion]

I had to clean up GW plastic figures for the first time recently and I too found it a bit soft, so fraying was a major pain when filing with my common needle files, but a gentle sideways motion with the file is often good enough to rub off the bulk of the fur created and you can easily trim off the last of it with a knife.

I\'ve used a selection of buffered nail sticks for years as cheap handy abrasives for modelling but they\'re a bit big to be of much use at this size unfortunately! One of the great things about them though is the grit is like on wet \'n\' dry paper so they can actually abrade steel, plus if you\'re lucky to find the finer sticks and also a buffing stick you can got all the way to a mirror shine, the finest side has gotta be something like 12000 grit!

I also keep one dull and one sharp X-Acto knife (#10s) because sometimes the blunt one is just right - trimming soft putty on the surface of a figure for instance, it\'s sharp enough to do the job but won\'t easily mark what\'s underneath.

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

i also use the back of the blade of my knife. also have a set of draper needle files that rock. very good quality (i\'ve had cheap one before and you can notice the difference). never tried sandpaper although am sorely tempted

 

[Dragonsreach]

There are a couple of other options, 400 or 800 Wet & Dry paper. Used carefully will ease the lines down to a bearable level.

And Glass Fibre Brushes, these are very good for burnishing the areas you\'ve worked on. You just have to be careful of the fibres breaking off. Alledgedly they did some damage to a tender portion of Finn\'s anatomy.....................

Have a look in this store for some ideas:

Shesto\'s

 

[QuietiManes]

I use the same stuff most people seem to use. Files, hobby knives, sand paper...the small difference is that I use a hobby knife and blades designed for wood carving (one of my other hobbies is wood carving). I used it at first just because it was there and I was used to using it but I appreciate it alot more nowadays when I read about regular hobby knives going dull after trimming one model. The handle and the blades are a little thicker, little more expensive but last alot longer since they\'re alot stronger too.

Also the blades can be rehoned/sharpened several times due to their extra \"girth\". I use a pair of ceramic sharpening stones (another thing I had lying around from the wood carving hobby). You could trim and customize a whole horde army\'s worth of figures before the blade became useless. Although I couldnt, I keep breaking the darn things. If I recall correctly the last one I dropped on my foot and the blade broke in half when it lodged in my bone luckily for me the handle is like 10 times the weight of the average metal hobby knife handle...wait a minute...dammit all!

If anyones curious to see:
The knife and blades-
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=31088&cat=1,130,43332,43393&ap=1
(notice the aptly named \"spear\" tip blades!)
The stones-
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=44628&cat=1,43072

Those glass fibre brushes look neat, I might have to try them out. Or maybe not, I\'d much rather my toe fall off than my tender bits.

 

[Equus]

Also forgot about the detail sanders I bought. Cheap little spring-loaded plastic handles with a band of sandpaper. The business end sorta has this rounded wedge to it, so it can get in slightly smaller places. Not as small as I might want sometimes, but they come in handy sometimes. I picked them up at a local train store.