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DIY drying stand for airbrushing parts


Ade H

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I thought that I'd share how I made some very cheap drying stands into which you can place cocktail sticks while your small parts are drying (after airbrushing them, I mean. No sniggering at the back!) It's a cheapskate's alternative to those rectangular cardboard "paint stations" from that well-known politely-titled Japanese paint company.

 

You'll just need a corrugated card box, some glue or double-sided tape, and a decent knife (which I'm sure you have lying around!). Cut the card into strips about 3/4 to 1 inch wide at right-angles to the corrugation; glue 'em all together back to back, or wind in a circle around something like a wine bottle cork (which makes a handy handle); cover the base with a piece of card cut to fit (this stops your cocktail sticks from dropping through if you pick it up, and shooting your newly sprayed parts onto the floor...) and you're done.

 

If I get some hosting sorted, I'll post a photo, but you get the idea anyway.

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I use a piece of polystyrene packaging that came from a TV or DVD recorder.............., its like a rather large cube...........I just stick the attached part which is on the end of the cocktail stick (be it through a drilled hole or blue tack)and just jab it into the polystyrene..........a bit like a dart in a dartboard.........when done.........just leave the sticks in the polystyrene till next time.

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It doesn't, what does happen however is that the holes that get punched through the polystyrene gradually enlarge and it compresses into the edges making it harder to stab (bits of sprue) into so needs replacement after a while, cocktail sticks would make it last longer though and when bits do come off they tend to be larger chunks. 

I've used this with a mixture of cocktail sticks, q tip sticks, (fluffy bit removed of course) and cocktail sticks depending on what I'm sticking to them but having looked at the edge on corrugated cardboard stands recently I might make one like that, they're a very simple construction. 

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14 hours ago, Ade H said:

As it inevitably wears out, would that not leave little specs of polystyrene around your spray area?

Never noticed any specs after or during spraying...........I tend to wear gloves and............ the more finer parts, I pick up in my hand and spray       then just dart it into the poly to dry.......as my poly is like a cube, when I next use it, I turn it over time and time again, bags of room for sticks, no need to use the same hole twice.......there is no paint on my cube, I like to view when I am spraying where the paint is going(or not)      once satisfied, parts are left to dry.  the poly does not degrade, I spray about once every 3 months, I  store builds until I can have a real good spraying seesion, usually lasts a day with waiting for paint to dry and cleaning up afterwards.  (I always spray OUTSIDE) poly is nowhere near the spray area?  part is manually carried to the spray area and on completion, deposited into the poly away from spray area..........road wheels for tanks......upto 16-32 are laid on double sided tape and sprayed in one go then removed from spray area to dry.

The polystyrene is also used for when I do brush painting, just paint figure heads vehicle doors, wheels, ammunition etc, etc...............when eventually the poly becomes a pin board, I will chuck it away and get more...................walk past ANY dustbin on collection day and the amount of polystyrene thrown out from packaging awaiting for the dustman is plentyfull, just take what you want..........been using this system for the past 30 years and never had any dust from poly, no pieces breaking off(how can a cocktail stick break off a lump of poly? its only boring a hole no bigger than a sixteenth of an inch.)  if dust and bits breaking off seems a problem, what about the products they were protecting?  TVs, Fridges, computers, modelling accessories, ...........would there not be a problem this debri would impregnate/contaminate the goods they were protecting?

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You're coming across as slightly defensive, but your point is fair enough if that's what works for you. I'm not selling anything. ;) I just assumed that polystyrene would begin to break up after a lot of sticks being poked into it. I find that it sheds bits easily in computer and monitor boxes.

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  • 5 months later...
On 8/17/2017 at 8:59 PM, Ade H said:

I thought that I'd share how I made some very cheap drying stands into which you can place cocktail sticks while your small parts are drying (after airbrushing them, I mean. No sniggering at the back!) It's a cheapskate's alternative to those rectangular cardboard "paint stations" from that well-known politely-titled Japanese paint company.

 

You'll just need a corrugated card box, some glue or double-sided tape, and a decent knife (which I'm sure you have lying around!). Cut the card into strips about 3/4 to 1 inch wide at right-angles to the corrugation; glue 'em all together back to back, or wind in a circle around something like a wine bottle cork (which makes a handy handle); cover the base with a piece of card cut to fit (this stops your cocktail sticks from dropping through if you pick it up, and shooting your newly sprayed parts onto the floor...) and you're done.

 

If I get some hosting sorted, I'll post a photo, but you get the idea anyway.

i use water pipe insulation, the foam type that is in 2 m lenths that clips around the pipe usually for 15 or 22mm pipe, just cut the one side off to allow it to stand, and use coctail sticks or sprue, seems to work ok

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  • 4 weeks later...

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