Modelling and safety

While the primer dries on the Spitfire, here's another post for a cold November Saturday afternoon.

I recall as a kid getting headaches from being around plastic cement and enamel paints too much. I thought nothing of it and neither did anyone else - these were the 1970s, when kids travelled in cars without seat belts and the idea that modelling might be dangerous would have been scoffed at, for good or ill. I have to admit that I brought this rather cavalier attitude to the table when I returned to modelling a few years ago and despite numerous posts online, advice on bottles of paint, comments in magazines, etc, the view 'it won't happen to me' was the default position. I soon learned that it really can happen to me, although even then it took a while for the possibilities to sink in.

So, quite early after returning to modelling I bought a new modelling knife by a well known manufacturer. I sat down at my cutting mat, fitted the blade to the handle and pressed lightly onto a cutting mat in order to cut some Tamiya tape. The next thing I knew the blade had snapped and the front half had flown up to my eyebrow where, thankfully, the side of it bounced off. If the blade tip had hit me, especially if the shard had hit my eye, the outcome would have been a lot worse. The knife went straight into the bin and I spent a bit more money on getting an Xacto set of blades and handles which have been consistently more reliable. Did this mean I started wearing safety glasses? Why no of course not, it couldn't happen again could it?

After this I started experimenting with a cheap airbrush. At that point I wasn't wearing a face mask and when cleaning the airbrush the cleaner was being sprayed into the sink. As a result I was breathing in atomised paint, thinner and cleaner, which of course doesn't break down organically so once it's in your lungs there's a good chance that you've done permanent damage. After a while I noticed that I was suffering from sore throats on a semi-permanent basis. Result? I invested in a proper mask from The Airbrush Company as well as an Iwata cleaning station and in consequence the sore throats stopped. OK so I look like a total idiot when wearing the mask and my wife has even posted photos of me on Facebook because she finds it so funny. I can live with this if it means I don't develop breathing problems, etc.

Then about 18 months ago I was putting some Friul tracks together in the standard fashion, with the tracks joined by wire which is then glued into place with CA glue. This glue was applied with a small piece of thin fuse wire. While doing this the wire with the glue flicked against a track and a tiny amount of glue arced up and hit my right eyeball. It happened so quickly that there was no way of realising the glue was on the way until it hit my eye. Lots of washing out with water later and it was clear that I needed to see a doctor, who promptly prescribed some antibiotics. Wandering around looking like something from a Frankenstein movie, and even alarming some of my students in consequence, was an interesting experience. Explaining to people that superglue and eyeballs don't combine well also got an alarmed response every time. Nonetheless, the fact that I had come close to causing permanent harm to my eyesight was a wake-up call.

Immediately I bought some wrap-around safety glasses and I wear these every time I work on a model. I also took a good look at the excellent article on Missing Lynx by Rob Plas called 'Scale modelling and your health' which is essential reading as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't overstate the nature of the issues and takes a sensible view of the risks, but it also allows modellers to make informed decisions about their health. In particular it's clear that we're dealing with lots of toxic materials.

Finally, there's the issue of the regular online discussions about this. I often see people online arguing that this health and safety stuff is for people who need to get a grip. Such views are sometimes accompanied by harking back to a golden age when such concerns were never expressed and men were men. Well if you want to risk your health because of your hobby you're welcome but it's a step too far for me. I'm not willing to ruin my eyesight or cause long term problems with my lungs in order to satisfy some complete stranger's warped view of masculinity. Just saying...

Zigerastica