Thoughts on sealing/securing copper tape?

[jongr90]

Hello,

I'm currently working on my cheapo 1:200 HMS Victory model and making steady progress. I decided to go down the copper tape route for my copper plates.

I'm fairly happy with the results, except for the corners and edges of the tape. The edges and portions where I've held the tape, they have lost their adhesives and are slightly raised. I was thinking of perhaps layering the entire bottom with some sort of glue or wax that is see-through. I'm just not sure what, and am also concerned it might react and change the color drastically in the long run. Anyone have any experience dealing with this? Should I just individually apply ca glue to each of the "plates"?

 

[Y.T.]

Under lacquer copper will not properly age. The way it is now it looks not so bad. Pretty natural, I would say. I would leave it as is. For my project I used a thinner tape. It got stuck very firmly on the edges.

 

[jongr90]

, I'll leave it as is. I'll just dab a little bit of glue onto the worst offenders.

 

[Ornholt]

Had the same problem. I tried to push or press the tape carefully with an object such as the handle of a screwdriver. The tape is now in place. Allow the tape to age without surface treatment.

 

[maywiyj]

If you haven't glued down the edges yet, I would consider not doing so, or doing it very carefully. As the copper ages I would bet the parts sealed from the air by the glue will have a different colour than the surroundings. I might agree with Y.T. and would press the tape down the best I can and leave it. Looks like you did a great job with it by the way!

 

[danielsje]

The cause of the lifting of the copper tape is the base prep and not enough initial pressure applying the tape. But the most viable solution in my experience is to use a small rounded tool to carefully press down the pesky edges again. Press firmly and rub down. If pressing down fails then a very careful drop of CA might be necessary. Use CA gel and a pointed applicator such as a larger sewing needle or maybe a toothpick. It will not take much CA to do the honors. Generally I have not found coating a copper application very helpful. Leave as is…no coating…

 

[MikeC]

I vote leaving it as it is. Sometimes us model builders get too perfectionistic and can make a good job worse. And remember, people viewing your model won’t have their faces all that close and don’t see what the model builder regards as flaws.

 

[jongr90]

I fixed a good chunk of it by firmly pressing the offending edges with a mechanical eraser (they have smaller heads than the ones at the back of a pencil). The few that remain I will slowly apply very small amount of CA glue and press with the eraser as well. I'll skip the coating/waxing since I am liking the color changes as the days go by. I am interested what it would look like a year or two down the road. Thank you everyone for you input!

 

[uncchains]

I have found that spraying a bit of photo mounting adhesive (Elmers) works very well in securing the edges if you are installing single pieces and/or the ends of each length of tape, Don't spray the entire area just that area in which you are working.