So how do you handle teeny parts ?

[NARSES2]

Some will have seen my moans about the size of some of the parts in the Trumpeter Sea Fury.

Well how do you handle tiny parts when tweezers are next to useless ? I've thought of very small pieces of masking tape mounted on toothpicks but that would probably only work with superglue. Has anyone tried these "tacky" pencils you can get ?

Your thoughts appreciated gents

Chris

[TallEng]

First thoughts were tooth picks with tiny blobs of blue tack.
And there are those tweezers which clamp themselves together,
So you don't have to keep them squeezed together.
A pair of which I keep meaning to purchase.

Regards
Keith

[NARSES2]

I have a pair of those tweezers TalEng but they are to big for small parts. Not sure if you can get them in smaller sizes ?

The problem with the blue tack solution is that as you try to attach the part it prefers to stay attached to the blue tack, even trying to bury it'self if pressure is applied. It may work when using super glue however.

It would be nice to find a method, suction ?, which you could use with normal styrene cement.

[Go4fun]

If not too tiny how about an eye dropper? Or if super tenny a syringe?

[Steel Penguin]

the tip of a brand new scalpel is one option, ( warning method involves sharp points, do not apply to own body or with excessive pressure to part)

[NARSES2]

If not too tiny how about an eye dropper? Or if super tenny a syringe?

Interesting idea 

[kitnut617]

I bought from one of the LMS' I frequent a small suction pencil (don't know how else to describe it), works just like an eye-dropper

[PR19_Kit]

If they're THAT small I throw them in the bin and forget them. No-one would be able to see them on the model anyway.

[Mossie]

Reverse action tweezers?  Basically they grip when relaxed and let go when you press them.  They are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes and you should be able to find them for the tiniest of stuff.  Shesto do them (Hannants stock them), although I'm not sure of the tip size.  You can usually pic them up from one of the larger shows, Little-cars and similar people do them.

I guess the one's you've got are locking tweezers/forceps (at work we know them as 'mosquito forceps')?  These have a fairly large nose, but lock with a ratchet and nowts getting away from them. Shesto/Hannants do these too.

[dadlamassu]

I don't.  The carpet monster eats them!

[eatthis]

badly!

[Hobbes]

At a recent modelshow, I found one of those tacky pencils that has a stick of weak adhesive instead of a graphite core. I haven't used it yet, but I played a bit with a demo unit and that worked really well. You sharpen it like a pencil, and when you place the tip on a small part, it sticks enough to pick up the part. When you glue the part to a model, the glue is stronger than the pencil adhesive so it'll let go cleanly.

You can find it in craft stores as a wax pencil or 'rhinestone picker':
http://www.amazon.com/Pixiheart-Wax-Rhinestone-Picker-Pencil/dp/B00FBILFPU

[major]

badly!

Haaahaa! That was the first thing that popped into my head when i read the title! I agree with Mr Kit, bin them!
Lost a part the other night, the misses arrived through the door to find me scouring the floor. ''What are you looking for?''
''A little man!'' i replied. You can guess her answer.
Bless her though, she found him, a hour later, embedded in the sole of her bare foot! 

[zenrat]

If parts are really small I often leave them off.

I have had success with old blue tac that has been used for masking or holding parts for painting and so has absorbed paint and lost some of its stick.

[NARSES2]

Thanks gents there are some useful ideas here. I'll be looking out for some things at the Farnborough show tomorrow and then at Telford. If I have any success I will report back

And yes Kit some of them do go straight in the bin - and I miss that a fair bit 

Chris