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thanks for the advice Ian. im trying to use shrink tube to make a rubber connector between the resin electrical plugs and the wire, a sort of 'boot'. im also trying to stretch it over a series of very fine wires (0.3mm) as a sleeve, and also to give the appearance of a conduit between multiple connector. The type im using is black, about 2-3mm internal diameter with a very long serial number on the side and a marking which reads 125 (degrees) C. ive wasted pretty much the entire tube. also when heating it melts flat where it is being held, whether that be with pliers of fingers. ive tried heating with a lighter whereupon it crinkles and shrivels and also with steam which does nothing. Steam also destroys the paint on the part and cannot be controlled. Im too worries about wafting a soldering iron anywhere as the parts are so tiny...some less than 4mm in length. If you see the above part (which will become the instrument panel) you can see numerous drilled holes for different sizes plugs and connectors-these should give you an idea of the scale im working to. Not all the connectors require shrink tube but a problem ive encountered is that when i apply sufficient heat to shrink the tube it burns the wire...it actually catches fire! and/or it burns/melts the resin parts. The trouble is, theres only enough connectors to do the job-no spares, except for an additional strip of generic plugs. the special items in the kit are not duplicated. sadly, one of them has burnt badly, removing the paint and distorting the part. this happened in an instant...less than 1 second when the wire just went 'boom'!
I knew this wasnt going to be an easy project and as ive said, im dreading the assembly stage as the paint is already becoming damaged just from my already very gentle handling.
Note to everyone: sweat on fingertips destroys alclad like acid! im not even going to mention CA glue!
Im already stripping and repainting certain parts due to handling and theyve only been touched twice!
PS:
Paint doesnt adhere to resin properly as ive discovered. it can been simply rubbed of with a fingertip, or it just chips and flakes. If you look on one of my close ups you can see a few white spots on the part. This is from handling to take the photos for the site...
To say that im dreading putting this thing together is an understatement, and ive got a terrible feeling that assembling the model will also destroy it or make it look very second rate...in which case...in the bin she goes!
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