how many of use etched parts

In a nutshell...

Photoetched parts begin as a sheet of thin brass (other metals may be used as well) onto which a pattern is placed. The pattern covers the brass and will comprise the finished parts. The brass sheet (with attached pattern) in doused/soaked/submerged into a caustic bath which etches the exposed brass away, leaving the brass under the pattern intact. Remove the brass after a specified time in the bath and then remove the pattern and you're left with some extraordinarily fine brass details. I'm sure there are more nuances to the process than I've listed but like I said, in a nutshell... The "photo" in photoetched would seem to indicate a light source so I do think I'm overlooking something... Look at the second hand on a watch and you'll see how fine these items can be rendered. I'm working on the Revell USS Burton Island and have the Gold Medal Models photoetched sheet for it - it's great. And, I've seen finer, more delicate details available...

Frank Kranick

I build aircraft and one of the first things I look for in a kit these days is to se if there's a brass set for it. Ya can't beat it for inst. panels and fine details, such as perforated panels and flap ribs etc. I used to do it all by hand and file, but etch parts are far more precise than I could ever manage. Resin add ons - unless they are something special like Seamless Sucker intakes or Neomega seats

- I can take or leave. Chek (sorry but I live in the UK)

I use the &(*%$#^ things on almost every car and a/c model I build. Well, every one I start, anyway... ;-p

I'm strictly a car builder. I use photoetched parts, mostly that's the only way to get the detail you want. I've also used the engine wiring, flocking for carpets, decals that depict upholstery patterns, scale hoses, battery cables, resin conversion pieces, you name it I've used it. Build my own parts if I can't find what I want or need. I also get my auto paint aftermarket from a place in North Carolina.

Sometimes when building for another person they will request that I put as much detail in it as I can. I've even bought two funny car kits just to get the front wheels off them cause that style was what was on the car I was modeling for a client.

So I'd say if you are catering to kids mostly, they won't buy them, but if you want the adult trade, well be a good idea.

Mike G.

Yes, but not for everything. One thing that amazes me is that some aftermarket manufacturers try to make every detail with photoetched parts (even 3D things such as seats...) others try to do everything in resin. I think the right is in the middle: I love resin cockpit tubs, seats or wheel wells, with photoetched add-ons for flat or thin things like control panels, access ladders and so on.

So the answer is yes, but I never use the whole set because some parts are better done in resin or scratchbuilt.

My 0.02

I buy 'em. Does that count?

RobG

Oh yeah.... yes it does !!!

I wind up putting at least a little PE, and or resin parts in almost every kit I make. Nothing beats a PE, and acetate instrument panel.

Worse, I HAVE resin and PE for almost EVERY kit I own (!!) We are talking over 300+ A/C kit's alone with added PE here :) (and I got hooked on it for AFV's now too :-)

Speaking of photoetch, I have five (5) PE instrument panels for the 1/48 Ju 52m Anyone want one drop me a line and it's yours. I only need one of them.................

Taking this a bit OT, has anyone tried the photo-etch kit that Micro Mark is selling? I am expecting some income from an article in a model ship magazine, and intend to put it towards one of those kits, but I would sure be interested if anyone already has experience with it.

Given the fact that I buy around 15 kits for every one that I finish, the idea of kits having very small, hard to use bits of metal added to the kit does not interest me at all. Anything to make completing a model harder and more time consuming does not do it for me.

I usually avoid kits with PE.

Craig

I don't use much add on stuff including PE. If you look at the most recent issue of Fine Scale Modeler, there is an article on Trumpeter

1/350 Nimitz Class Carrier. Look at the picture, it is a a very nice model built right from the box with a little paint work. Even at that, it took the guy 40 hours to do it. I for one, have a job, a house, and a wife. If I build that Nimitz with all the PE and Resin stuff and super detail a few sailors with mops it would take me 100 or more hours. To me, that is the single most important reason only about 1 in 20 kits that are bought are actually built and people get frustrated with modeling and drop it not long after they pick it up. One man's opinion...........

Depending on what you want to do with it, the kit probably isn't going to work well. It can be used for coarse details parts but forget 1/350 railings unless you're willing to pay serious money for the negative to be made. It needs to be full size and the black needs to be really black. or you won't get the resolution needed for very fine parts.

Good point. I've returned to the hobby after a fairly long hiatus, and am suffering from burnout already. I've been working on a OV-10 with resin/PE, and it's been MONTHS and I'm nowhere near done, and getting frustrated/bored with the project.

Rufus, The Kranicks, Alan Dicey, and Scott A. Bregi AKA The Model Hobbit,

Thank you all for the explination on PE. Where is the best place to find some? Are there any for any of the Star Trek models?

- -- Digital_Cowboy Live Long and Prosper ___________________ _-_ \==============_=_/ ____.---'---`---.____ \_ \ \----._________.----/ \ \ / / `-_-' __,--`.`-'..'-_ /____ ||- `--.____,-'

I think this thread sort of begs a major question--what photo etch are you going to stock?

I use it like crazy for 1/72 aircraft, especially generic cockpit detail to deal with the older kits that have next to nothing in the cockpit, but not for anything else. Other people use 1/48 photo etch for aircraft, or 1/24 & 1/25 sets for automobiles, or 1/350 for ships. There are other sizes too. And for which kits? Popular WWII subjects like P-51s and Spitfires and Bf 109s are fine, but you better cover several subvariants. On the other hand, how many sets are you going to sell for a Brewster Buffalo?

Your hassle as a small business owner is goingto be inventory--how do you avoid bare shelves because the popular stuff is sold out, and shelves cluttered with PE frets that have been gathering dust for five years? The real killer is to stock an aftermarket product for an old kit that really needs it and is the only kit of the subject, and then find out that Tamiya is introducing a state-of-the art kit in the same scale, rendering the old kit (and its aftermarket support) obsolete.

I'malways on favor of hobby shop owners having a big inventory of things I might buy some day. Were the shoe on the other foot, I'd think real hard about what to do.

Mark Schynert

I would spend a little time getting to know my regular customers. Let them guide you as to what you should stock, not a bunch of model junkies on this board. As I stated earlier in this post. I would avoid recommending PE or Resin to people just getting started or ones with lives. You will get one sale and then the frustration and time needed to finish a project will drive them out of the hobby. This is supposed to be a hobby not an obsession. I would show them the latest copy of Fine Scale Modeler with the Turmpeter 1/350 Nimitz built right out of the box with a little painting. It's a great looking model. Repeat business from people who build for themselves, not for show will impact your sales in a positive manner rather then trying to cater to the very few in this hobby who are building for competition or professionally. The professional has researched this stuff, knows where to buy it "on line" cheaper than you can sell it for. Why try to build a business around chasing that?

Further to this post - if you own a hobby shop, I would hope that you have some interest in the hobby. If not, you'll be floundering fairly quickly, but good luck anyway. Order in a few sets that YOU would like to use - then, in the large amount of free time that being a small business owner will grant you , you can use them from the shelf to complement your own models. That way, you get PE cheap, the shop has a few onhand for any who wants 'em, and the wholesaler thinks you're OK. But DON"T buy big heaps of them in - they cost heaps, and they can be hard to shift; let the customers tell you what they want.

RobG

ModelerAl and I agree on something again. To me, they're too much of a pain in the butt. Kim M

I have that, and Moskit exhausts for every WWII kit in 1/48 that I own.

AND...Just off the top of my head in 1/32...

A 1/32 Birdcage Corsair conversion that I don't think you can get anymore (and I can't even recall who made it)...or the 1/32 Kfir C2 one (mine is the TacScale one - so is my 1/32 F4-G one...and all my 1/32 TacScale ordnance...) - haven't seen that one for some time.

I also have a bunch of resin 1/32 SJU-5/7 and K-36 ejection seats (Commanders?..) that I haven't seen lately...and a corrected tail for the 1/48 Monogram PBY (I have NO idea how much lead I'm gonna have to put in the nose of my PBY-5A if I actually use it...).

And some OOP sets of generic etched HUD frames and DDI bezels from Technics in 1/32...and 1/48, I think. Oh, yeah - and that set of flaps and slats for the 1/32 Tornado from Paragon...along with most of the upgrades for the 1/32 Hasegawa F/A-18A from Paragon...oops...make that ALL of the upgrades for the 1/32 Hasegawa F/A-18A from Paragon.

And a bunch of Model Technologies etch for stuff I don't even have kits for and probably never will...

...and don't even get me started on my stash of decals, RBF tags, instruction sheets (I think I still have the instruction sheets for every kit I've built since I was about 8 or so...including some Aurora ones), and paper type stuff...can you recommend a good therapist?..

It's a sickness...you just haven't caught it yet. Start with something simple...like seat buckles. Yeah...