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What is the best tool to deal with mold lines and excess metal on models? I just bought some heavy gear blitz models which are really cool looking and are going to be a blast to paint but they need a bit of cleaning up.

The back edge of a hobby knife if they're light or a hobby file if they're not. I also encourage you to get some very fine grit wet/dry automotive sandpaper. Only runs a few bucks and lasts forever. Works great on the stubborn, leftover flash or on areas that it's impossible to get a file into.

A file followed by a wire wheel, if it's in an accessible place. I recommend one of the seam scrapers made for this, though I haven't picked one up myself yet it's on my list

It depends on where it is.
If it's fairly bad mould slip, I fill and smooth with green stuff.
Otherwise, a good selection of needle files are your friend.

I scrape most of the mold lines off with the blade of my hobby knife. Just take care to hold the blade in a 90° angle towards the line and scrape lightly, not to cut into the model.

For slighter cleanups, an assortment of files would be your best choice. I also heard of the seam scraper tool, but haven't been able to find it here in Germany yet.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

A sharp knife and needle file have served me well over the years for these sort of things, generally deal with it the same as you would on a plastic model

Aside from the usual exactoknife/file/ sandpaper, I like to use a dental tool. It works great for scraping flash off of curved surfaces.

A small needle file works fine.