The art of solder construction as with many of the model makers craft skills such as painting is as much about dodges for cleaning up and correcting mistakes as it is about making the initial solder joint.

  Many potential kit builders look at the beautifully polished models on the demonstration stands of the experts at exhibitions. They have crisp and square solder joints with just a mere hint of solder showing and the assumption is that this was achieved as an initial joint.

  The potential kit builder goes away disillusioned by their own efforts at soldering not knowing that nobody makes joints like this. The experts are just very good at cleaning up afterwards!

  I like to have a cleaned up sample model in brass on my sales stand at shows. When customers ask how to achieve the neat solder joints I will hand the model to them and point out the scratch marks where I have scraped out the surplus solder from the joint with a knife blade and the scuff marks where I have abraded the surplus solder from the surface with a fibre glass brush.

  I then tell them to turn the model over and look at the untouched joints on the underside. I love to watch the customers face light up as if night was turned to day and they exclaim “those joints aren’t much better than what I am achieving”.

  The main trick is to make as many of the joints as possible on inside faces or from the underside so that they wont require cleaning up and then put plenty of effort into cleaning up any joints that will be visible and may effect the crispness of the paint finish.

  Next time you are inspired by an experts model at an exhibition just ask them how they clean up to achieve the result.

  Any surplus solder should be removed using a craft knife, I find No 10 curved scalpel blades ideal (Squires Code SMH003 handle & SM10 blades), then burnish clean with a glass fibre brush. With practice you will learn how to use the minimum amount of solder to do the job correctly but limit the amount of cleaning up required.

  You will also learn lots of dodges for pulling excess solder out of a joint with a hot soldering iron and how to clean out planking lines that you flooded with solder because you was not watching what you were doing.