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[jenga]

greetings gurus, 2 questions
1: what size (wattage) soldering iron do you recommend to use for railings and brass mast construction. do you use variable temp ones? I was thinking of getting a variable one capable of making small dia brass masts, and turning it down for railings/ less heat hungry jobs. I do have gas powered gear (was a plumber) but even the smallest is a bit OTT for modelling, although I have used it before for masts, just need to be on the ball.
2: Anyone use an Iwata TR2 side cup trigger airbrush, your experiences, likes/dislikes
thanks in advance
jenga
jenga

[Neil]

if you have a gas one, why not try silver soldering the pieces together..........I find it easier than soft soldering.

[sparkey]

  As the man says silver solder every time, might have to spend a few bob on mini torch,silver solder and flux but well worth it, it will last for ages and so much better than soft soldering,   Ray.    

[pugwash]

I had to make two lattice masts from scratch on my last build using 1mm angle brass and rod and tube
both masts had in excess of 200 separate pieces of brass - if I had used my gas torch I would had unsoldered
all that had been done earlier so a used an Antex 25 watt iron with a 0.1mm tip
I did not use solder but Carrs 188 solder paint - this had the advantage that you can paint it on then
you have a hand free for holding tweezers etc and keeping parts together - from design to building and
painting took just over 4 weeks it is a slow painstaking job - best of luck what ever you decide to use

Geoff
If you want to see any pics of the masts just follow the link  pics 452 and 453 bottom of page one gives you an
idea as to what is involved. If I can help PM me.


http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,26142.0.html

[roycv]

Hi I agree with pugwash, a 25 watt fine tip soldering iron.  The tips on my soldering iron are exchangeable up to 3 mm.
However, I was constructing the sets of stanchions on my Zwarte Zee about 4 sets were soldered.  I found that my varifocal glasses allowed a progressive error in how upright the stanchions were.  So I now use a Vee block as a guide.  I  found that trying to correct the soldering was very difficult.
So I went over to superglue and now use this. It is not a great solution as I am always peeling the glue off my fingers and I must add I have been soldering things together for over 50 years.  I always fit my own soldered up brass rudders to models.

I think in my engineering hand book it refers to soft solder being 10 - 11 times stronger than epoxy and superglue is strong enough for the job.  Silver soldering is even stronger but in my opinion over kill.

I have in the past been given model boats whose only demise is to scrap them and recover fittings etc.  I have used my solder sucker to help recover stanchions and have just re-cycled a set on my current build.

Silver soldering would make that very difficult.
I am not sure about different melting points for current soft solders, I have enough old soft solder of different temperatures to see me out and that is what I use.  I will try solder paste though as I do have occasional small parts to solder.

I also use wet kitchen paper tissue as a heat sink.  This stops the heat transfer to already soldered parts.

Hope this helps and good luck,
Roy

[jenga]

Thanks for your input guys. As a plumber I was soldering stuff together for years. I can also braze, arc weld, silver solder and weld lead (lead burning)to a high standard, in fact I have awards for my lead burning, but I never had a lot of use for electric soldering irons, I did have an electric pipe soldering tool for places where a flame could be a bit risky. That was why I asked for advice on the wattage you guys typically use. Rummaging through my vast tool collection, Ive found an almost brand new professional quality mini butane torch with a multitude of heads so I will use that for the bigger stuff, it is fully adjustable up to about 900 deg, but controlled enough to tin wire without burning the insulation. Fire station is close, just in case it all goes wrong  lol.
regards jenga
ps should get my MS Envoy next week, and get back into the grind, cant wait

[Brian60]

For a quick heat source I have even used my wife's kitchen blowlamp, its a tiny thing used for singeing cakes etc. But with enough flame to heat a large piece, but try and solder say, 3mm brass tube and it melts the tube very quickly. By melt I mean it becomes  deformed and brittle so of no use at all.