Sticky Fingers
 

Hello All,

Here are my gluing and small parts assistance tools I call Sticky Fingers.

As I always apply glue with a toothpick dipped into glue preap onto scrap card the picks get glue built up on them too much after a while. Instead of tossing them I re-use em as either paint stirrs, sticky fingers, and at time parts for models.

A sticky finger is easy to make. Take a toothpick wrap the end of a piece of masking tape to one end. Now reverse wrap the tape sticky side out and ther eyou have it, a sticky finger ;) When it looses it's grip peel off a bit and it's refreshed.

These are great for applying glue to pieces and placing while minimizing the risk of getting glue prints and smears on un intended areas. It's also great for picking small pieces up with and placing them.

One word of warnign while using these. Sometimes the grip can prove too strong and pull the part back off or shift it while trying to remove the SF from the part in place. If it's a small delicate piece you can use the oil from your fingers to lessen the grip. As they are used they will loose grip and I keep a few in diffrent states of grip status round for diffrent types of use.

Experiment with and I'm sure you'll like it :D

G1

Holy COW! That is an AWESOME idea.... I hope my kids didnt use all the masking tape too.... :D
Chris

Thanks Chris :D

Sometimes when a sticky finger would be afr too strong for a tiny tiny part you can dip the tip of a toothpick into glue, wipe it off and there you have a pinpoint version of the SF ;)

G1

nice tip Chris,
thanks for the pics and that post!

I have done the same thing, except it inadvertent and involved use of my fingers and didn't turn out so well:)

Great tip! Thanks for posting.

Well, if the masking tape is to sticky, what about using low tack painters
masking tape? It has less stick than normal tape.

Great idea! I'll have to give it a try.
I have done something similar in the past. I have used the stickey part of a post-it note to hold small parts for edge painting. The post-it adhesive provides just enough tack to hold the part in place without damaging it when removing.

I love to learn these kinds of new techniques. Many thanks for sharing.

While I can see the value of toothpicks with glue build up on them, I like to have fairly sharp points or chisel ends. I keep a sanding stick nearby and periodically run the toothpick over it to produce such tips.

Don

Texman I never thought of painter's tape but I bet that would do the trick ;)

Boosed I like chisle tips to but I use orange stick for that. I use those for pressing seams tight while gluing. I probably prefer toothpicks as I like to build things small.

G1