Tamiya tape

[mossiepilot]

Hi all,

Might be a daft question but......,

My LMS sells 6mm Tamiya tape in dispensers and as refills. The dispensers cost £4.45 and the refills cost £1.85. So the question is, is it worth spending the £2.60 difference on the dispenser.

Hope this doesn't seem a silly question, but money is tight and pennies saved and all that.

Tony.

 

[stona]

Simple answer....No!

I've been using Tamiya tape for years and I've never used the dispensers. Save your money.

Cheers

Steve

 

[mossiepilot]

Thanks for that Steve.

I'll go get it as soon as.

Tony.

 

[Ian M]

On the other hand you only need to buy one in the dispenser. Then just buy the refill's

It does protect the edges of the tape from digs and fluff!

IanM

 

[mossiepilot]

Thanks Ian, is this likely to happen ?.

If I kept the tape in it's plastic pack, that'll keep the dust off the edges - the most important bit, if not save it from knocks and digs.

Tony.

 

[Ian M]

Well lets just say that I have cats.....Even kept in a plastic "dish" in a closed draw they still get cats hair on them!

The price we pay for the tape I guess a once off expense of a dispenser might be an investment.

Ian M

 

[Dave W]

Im with Ian on this.You've only got to drop it on the floor once and you'll end up with fluff and god knows what else stuck to it (not that im implying your house is dirty!).I've got an old dispenser and i just keep refilling it.

 

[mossiepilot]

Good advice Ian, and you have raised a concern I never thought of - pet hairs.

But even though we have a long haired dog that sheads like theres no tomorrow, I've never found any hairs on or near my work station -(read little table in the corner of the room) mmm.

So for the time being i'll save my money and if I find I need a dispenser I'll get one.

Thanks for the help guys.

Tony.

 

[stona]

Wow! what do you guys do with your tape

I've never had any problems but I don't have any pets. My tape is either sat on the bench or tucked away in a draw,I don't juggle with it or play carpet bowls

Cheers

Steve

 

[mossiepilot]

Sorry Dave, you must have been typing as I was, and posted just before me.

The house is mostly clean - lived in is how the GF defines it.

But I'll go with Steve for the time being, and grovel if I need to later.

Tony

 

[tecdes]

Couple of things Tony.

John is actually selling in the shop Tamiya tape for £1:40 & the dispenser with tape in it for £3:95.

I use all three sizes & for ease I use the dispensers for each. Much handier as the end is always ready for use. Without a dispenser you have to fold back the end or search for it.

But this article has given me a better idea. I am mounting on the under edge of my work top a tube on which I will fit the 3 dispensers with spacers between & fitted up close to the underside so that the dispenser is held tight ie will not turn. This then enables all the tapes to be used in the same way as a sellotape dispenser. The advantage is that you do not have to search for your tape plus you only need one hand to dispense the tape the other for the model.

Laurie

 

[mossiepilot]

Hey laurie,

This sounds like a cracking idea.

Any chance of some pictures of the completed installation, so I can see better what you are doing please.

I got some tape - without the dispenser - so I'll let you know if I have any problems.

Thank,s again for all the advice.

Tony

 

[Vaughan]

Hi Tony

I'm also with Ian on this one I bought the tape with the dispenser and the refills there after. It definitely protect the tape.

Vaughan

 

[mossiepilot]

Another daft question...........

I've just been looking at Trey's Ki-61 Hein build, and seen his use of Tamiya tape.

At the moment I'm cutting mine into thin strips, working round the edges of the glazed parts and filling in, but I see Trey is using single pieces of wider tape cut to shape.

Daft question, how do you cut the tape into the right shape ?

Please advise.

Tony.

 

[tecdes]

Tony not used them myself but is the shaped tape you have seen part of the pre formed templates you can buy for canopies etc which you peel from a background & stick on the canopy?

Laurie

 

[Dave W]

What you can do is cut a piece of tape bigger than one individual pane on the canopy.Apply the tape to the chosen pane and rub the tape down onto the canopy with a cocktail stick.Then take a craft knife with a new blade and cut carefully along each edge of the pane next to the window frame.Do this for each individual pane untill youve done all of the canopy.This is how i do it.Time consuming but the results are worth it .Finally take the cocktail stick and rub along the edges of the tape on each pain.This will stop paint from creeping under when you paint it.Hope that all makes sense.Its easier to do than explain.

 

[mossiepilot]

Thanks Laurie and Dave.

Think this is gonna be a trial and error sort of thing.

I'll try different ways and see what works best for me.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice.

Tony.

 

[stona]

Tony,I use a combination of both methods. I mainly use the system described rather well by Dave W above but for serious curves,where I can't make the tape conform properly,I use the 'thin strip and fill' system like you.

Basically whatever I can get to work! I'm too cheap to buy the pre-cut canopy masks that Laurie mentioned though there have been occasions (Ju88) when I wish I had.

Cheers

Steve

 

[tecdes]

Ah Steve your mean........ like me.

Got to say I have looked at these templates. But decided that I would be more happy & satisfied doing it all myself. Just hate to get plumbers & electricians in if I can do it myself. Self inflicted torture !

Not produced any canopies yet I am satisfied with. But improving. Problem I find with model making is you improve & than I set the goal posts back in proportion to the gain in improvement.

Now working on not dropping my Mosquito on the floor again. Taken 2 hours to repair the wretched thing. A bomb fell off but unlike my temper it did not explode.

Laurie

 

[simontie]

ok heres my tupence worth - i have all 3 tapes in despencers & they are dam handy - but not being your average bear i have a glass sheet on my bench normaly i put drawings under it to protect them paint glue spillage etc - i also use it to mask up - generally i pull out some tape stick it to the glass cut it to the length i want or shape - another advantage is it takes away some of stickyness so if you put masking over a fresh paint job there is less chance of tearing it -

simon