How do YOU get rid of tiny ejector pin marks in awkward places?

[Sparzanza]

I recently resumed work on my 1/48th scale Tamiya Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil", and its wheel wells are absolutely littered with these nasty ejector pin marks in the worst of places, making them extremely hard to remove. At the moment I'm working them by gluing a tiny piece of sandpaper onto a toothpick and "sanding" them away, but it's time consuming to say the least.

 

How do everybody else go about getting rid of these?

 

The marks I'm talking about are probably called something else if they're protruding, but my vocabulary fails me at this moment.

 

I tried scraping them off with an Xacto blade, but can never seem to get rid of the scratches afterwards... so sanding it is.

[Martinnfb]

I am using rotary tool with round bit and with gentle circular movement blending the circles into the surrounding area, then with acetone or lacquer thiner smothering the bumps to even layer, literally melting it into submission.

But that's just me

[LSP_K2]

Raised or recessed, they're ejector pin marks all the same. Getting rid of them can be a real pain. If it's too awkward, I just grind them away, then cover the area with a piece of .005 or .010 sheet plastic, if doable.

[Sparzanza]

The problem is that there's a lot of detail surrounding them, which is why I put all this effort into removing them gently.

[LSP_Kevin]

See if you can get yourself a set of micro-chisels, Sparz. The Trumpeter ones are quite common, and pretty cheap, too. And, even better, they're a decent quality tool. I've found them invaluable for precision removal of material. They come with tips of different shapes and sizes, but generally look something like this:

 

 

Even if you don't use them on this project, you'll definitely find them useful in the future.

 

Kev

[Sparzanza]

Thanks for the tip Kevin, that does seem to be just what I need!

Edited March 9, 2017 by Sparzanza

[LSP_Kevin]

No worries, Sparz. This image appears to show the whole set:

 

 

Kev

[dodgem37]

If there isn't enough room to use a chisel, you can adhere sandpaper to the end of a wood dowel and use that.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Bill_S]

A while back, JessieC posted about attaching small pieces of sandpaper to the end of an electric toothbrush.

[Shawn M]

chisels make life easy, I bought a 12 piece set from Micro Mark during their free shipping sale

[TonyT]

Might sounds silly, but can you not use a hole punch on a thin sheet of plastic card and then stick the punched out circles in them and sand it flat.

[Sparzanza]

Might sounds silly, but can you not use a hole punch on a thin sheet of plastic card and then stick the punched out circles in them and sand it flat.

 

Yeah, if I had a hole punch thing and a thin sheet of plastic card, that could work for the ones that are hollow.

 

However, these are protruding, mostly. Also tiny.

[TonyT]

Could you in that case not trim the sheet around the hole you have punched to fit over the protrusion and in the space you have?

[Sparzanza]

Could you in that case not trim the sheet around the hole you have punched to fit over the protrusion and in the space you have?

 

Hmm no, too much detail around it.

[CANicoll]

If you can't go for the chisel's try the point of a #11 blade (X-Acto or whatever).  Some where along the way I picked up some chisel-shaped razor blades that I use as a chisel for exactly this kind of thing.  It is about 3mm wide so might fit.  But they do tend to bend so a bit harder to control and now that I know there are chisels that small out there, I'll probably go for the set - they look very handy and easier to use.