Basic Brass

Continuing our occasional series on techniques we take a look at working with etched metal detail sets. Love them or loathe them, these detail sets have revolutionised the hobby and are guaranteed to drive even the most proficient user insane.
The first rules of working with etchings are dont expect to use every part on the fret some parts are just impossible to bend to the required shapes and always check that the part you are about to make could not be made more quickly and easily from plastic - it is easy to begin trying to fold everything from flat sheet when it isnt always necessary.

Tool clasps
These little clasps consist of just 3 parts but they encapsulate all the frustrations of working with etched sets and they can have you pulling your hair out - just when you think you have them assembled they explode into their component parts - one of which will become lost. This step by step sequence should help eliminate these problems.

Tools
Basic requirements for working with etched sets are standard modelling tools. A scalpel, tweezers, drill bits and wet and dry sandpaper and good quality fine nosed pliers. I was able to find a long nosed pair which are good for bending longer parts. For a more advanced approach you may consider a holding tool to help with folding parts and a soldering iron for a more robust assembly. 2-3 Hold the base plate with the pliers and bend with your fingers. 1 Cut the parts from the fret on a firm surface, scrap plastic card is good for this as it prevents the parts from distorting. Cut the sprues as tight as possible and clean any excess with wet and dry.

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4 Fold the handle into a U shape and locate the pins on the strap into the handle. Once they have located, crimp the handles together using the pliers so as to hold the strap firmly. 5 Flip the strap back so it rests on the handle and hook one of the arms of the handle onto the pin on the base plate. 6 Hook the other arm onto the base plate. 7 Crimp the handles together between the two pins to secure the handle firmly. 8 Flip over the strap and close the clasp.

Working techniques
We assembled a mudflap from the awesome Aber 1:16th Tiger 1 set to demonstrate a variety of techniques. 9 The part is trimmed a cleaned up with wet and dry. 10 To roll the hinge along the top edge, drill bits make a convenient former, coming in consecutive sizes. The stepped edge of the folding tool provides a handy support to push against. 11 Once the roll is roughly formed the

correct sized hinge pin is inserted and the roll is crimped around the pin for a snug fit. 12-13 to fold longer edges can be difficult with short pliers so a folding tool is used. A cocktail stick is rolled under the part to push the metal to the desired angle. Alternatively a punch and die set can be used to hold a part whilst folding. 14 The basic part after rolling and folding. 15-17 90 bends in long thin parts are best handled by a folding tool. The Etchmate used here comes with a folding blade which locates into a V shaped slot

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as you bend the part up. 18 You can glue parts together with superglue but soldering provides a much stronger join. Flux is brushed onto the joint area 19 Low melt solder spreads easily along the joint with the aid of the flux. 20 Any excess is cleaned away using a file, wet and dry or by scraping with a scalpel. 21 The ribs are fitted in the same way

22 Assembling hinges is a fiddly process, I begin by cutting an oversized pin and this is laid on top of the interleaved hinges. 23 Bend up the fingers of the hinge so as to hold the pin making sure that the two parts of the hinge dont move apart. 24 Bend the fingers flat and check the alignment. 25 Use tweezers to tuck the fingers under the hinge pin and crimp them tight around the pin using pliers.

26 To avoid the risk of solder running into the hinge a small spot of solder is added to the underside of the hinge and this is put in position before being heated by the Iron. When the solder melts the hinge drops down to be flush with the surface of the mudguard and the heat is removed.

Rolling
27 This tricky procedure is made much easier if the part is annealed by heating it in a gas flame and allowing it to cool 45

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before repeating several times. 28 Once it has cooled, roll the part round a tube and repeat this with tubes of decreasing size, making sure that you roll the part smaller than the finished diameter to ensure a good join. 29 Open out the tube so that the edges can be joined - this part which will be an S mine launcher, has a stepped lip to help the jointing procedure 30 With the joint soldered together you find that the tube is still far from circular so Roll the tube around a similar sized former - I find a paintbrush handle with its gentle taper is ideal for this task, until a perfect shape is obtained.

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