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Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and wargaming in general, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I just started putting together my first Eldar Guardian and I'm having a bit of trouble get rid of the mold lines over areas that have tiny ridges (for example: back of the leg/knee area, the coil-like area of the catapult). Any tips on how to get rid of these nicely without ruining the ridges on which the mold line is placed?

Examples



(Notice the ridges on the tube under the hand and in front of the ammo cartridge)

I couldn't find a good picture of the back of an Eldar knee

They are tricky to erase completely. However, the ridged area in front of the ammo you may not need to clean up much as that is where the other hand goes (if you have the little chap hold his gun in a sensible manner), but if he's going to be holding it with just one hand then you'll need to clean it up.

What I do is basicly the same as how I remove the mold lines from anywhere else (I use my scalpel and scrape side on), but I'm much more gentle over these areas and try to scrape across the line instead of along it as I do on smooth surfaces and then I'll gently use the tip and go inbetween each dip to clean out what might be clinging there (but only if required).

It's quite labourious but it makes my perfectionist side happy.

But if someone has a brilliant trick for this I'd like to know.

I use the edge of a sharp file for these.

 Dr H wrote:
They are tricky to erase completely. However, the ridged area in front of the ammo you may not need to clean up much as that is where the other hand goes (if you have the little chap hold his gun in a sensible manner), but if he's going to be holding it with just one hand then you'll need to clean it up.

What I do is basicly the same as how I remove the mold lines from anywhere else (I use my scalpel and scrape side on), but I'm much more gentle over these areas and try to scrape across the line instead of along it as I do on smooth surfaces and then I'll gently use the tip and go inbetween each dip to clean out what might be clinging there (but only if required).

It's quite labourious but it makes my perfectionist side happy.

But if someone has a brilliant trick for this I'd like to know.

thank you very much for the insight. I will give it a shot using your technique.

Good Luck and be gentle, it's very easy to remove too much plastic using a scalpel.

 Dr H wrote:
What I do is basicly the same as how I remove the mold lines from anywhere else (I use my scalpel and scrape side on), but I'm much more gentle over these areas and try to scrape across the line instead of along it as I do on smooth surfaces and then I'll gently use the tip and go inbetween each dip to clean out what might be clinging there (but only if required)

I do this too. It is really time consuming, especially if have a lot of the same guys then need cleaning, but it is well worth it.

Well actually there is another way, which I just began using myself. Plastiweld. It's meant for welding plastic joints together, but if used correctly can be a god-send for removing mold lines in tough areas, like jagged side of a chainsword. Basically you just use a small brush that you don't care about (you wont be painting with it anymore), and just very sparingly dip the brush into the bottle of plastiweld and brush over the mold line. This stuff will melt the mold line away, but you have to be careful not to overdo it, or you will melt away detail from the model. Just practice on some bits that you don't need to get the hang of it before you try it on something you care about. And obviously, you will need to work in an area with good ventilation. There are various brands all with different chemicals, but the one you want to get will be made up of methylene chloride. And you can usually find it at hobby stores that sell trains.

This is the brand that I have been using and have had good results. http://www.flex-i-file.com/adhesives.php
Hope this helps

After I file and scrap off my mould lines, I always the the areas out with very fine-grade steel wool. I do this to clean ALL my metals and plastics and it removes nearly all blemishes from sprue, flash, mould lines, etc.

simply put: practice.