I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't seem to get my searching capabilities to work for me this morning....

How does one effectively clean up 1/35 scale cooling fins on things like motorcycle engines??

I've taken a knife across the top of the seam, then using my magnifier, taken the point of a fresh xacto blade down each channel, rotating 180 and doing it again. It helps, but it still shows pretty apparently.

Any tips?

Thanks!

How about folding a piece of 800 grit sandpaper in half and running it between the fins?

I thought about doing something like that, but the fins are SO small, I'm not sure quite how I would make sandpaper even get down in there.

How about just ONE thickness of sandpaper, cut in a strip, and draw it through? It would be slow and gentle, but that's what you want.

I use several tools in combination. A Bare Metal Foil panel line scribing tool, a chisel blade on the xacto knife and a curved PE razor saw. One the mold line is removed, I use a fiberglass scratch brush to smooth the area and then brush a very light application of Tamiya Extra Thin cement over the roughened plastic. Patience and an Optivisor produce good results.


This is the same problem you get when building aircraft with radial or rotary engines.

Cheers,
Paul H