Photo Etching at Home- Professional Tools for Modelers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2017
- Super detailing models often involves adding photo etched parts and with a little knowledge and a bit of guidance you’ll soon be making your very own awesome detailed models with photo etched parts right at home!
Photo etching often scares people away because of the corrosive chemicals involved however with the method I use to create these awesome details I eliminate the corrosive photo developer and replace it with a safe washing detergent called Washing Soda.
I also show another way to make the etchant using a combination of 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide and 1 part Hydrochloric Acid. We can’t completely avoid using corrosive chemicals however by using this particular recipe you won’t need to use Ferric Chloride which can be problematic in the way it stains everything it comes into contact with.
You can use photo etching for all sorts of projects whether you’re building a model train, a model diorama, a scale house or and architectural model, you could be building wargaiming terrain and even a dolls house… Anything really, and it’s not limited to any particular scale either. I’m modeling in HO scale and this technique of etching is perfect for making very fine details like security doors and mesh stairs as well as man hole covers.
Don’t forget that if you’re enjoying the videos and you’d like to help support the channel you can do a couple of thing, you can check out my patreon page and support me there or you can go check out my store where I have some t-shirts for sale.
/ luketowan
teespring.com/stores/boulder-... - บันเทิง
Thanks for letting me firmly decide I'll never try to photo-etch my self.
YES
👍🏽
😂 sometimes videos like this have that effect. And even so it serves its purpose. There are enough companies offering etching services so making the art work will be the big job. That’s where the real work goes into.
there are simpler ways to do this
@@abelesteban8154 did it? I didnt want to pay because I hacked my own and password had too many digits
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!... 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20! 😀 someday I'll try this myself. Thanks for laying the process all out!
This is one of the more obscure ones, so I don't blame you. I'd rather do a whole soccer pitch in scenic glue and static grass!
Top work from Luke, as always!
lol no worries mate... Don't forget step 21.... the most important step 😀
great comment ! I too would love to try this, got back into modelling after ...30 plus years.. omg.. so much more detail can be had now and thanks to people like Luke and sites like this we can always learn something new.
I'm not even a modeler I just love these videos
thanks 😀
I'm thinking about getting back into the model railroading hobby after many, many years away. As I read websites and watch videos, I am stunned and invigorated by the breadth, depth, and technical advances of this hobby. I vaguely remember as a kid, using green food coloring to dye sawdust "grass." It wasn't realistic. Now we have static grass and well built and photographed models can barely be distinguished from the real thing. Now we have DCC and sophisticated software to drive it. We can learn electronics and control many sophisticated actions with Arduino and such, a creative world being driven by young makers such as Ladyada from Adafruit. Most of us can now easily lay our own precision trackwork. We can employ DIY tools such as 3-D printers, laser cutters, (and even photo etching if we can muster the Patience Of Luke). Even resin 3-D printers are affordable to most of us. The advances are significant and are growing exponentially. I've set aside a year to bring myself up to date before I lift a finger and start building. At 72, may my doomsday clock tick slowly enough for me to enjoy this hobby for many years. Thank you Luke for your contribution to this hobby.
Luke, can you please just do every tutorial that's on TH-cam? Clear, understandable and entertaining lessons with great production quality! Thank you so much, signed up as a Pateron.
man! that is awesome! when the film started to come off, so cool! I have a tone of ideas for this process, but it's so complicated I'll have to rewatch this on a bunch of times! thank you
You have admirable patient and incredible skills. Great work and amazing tutorial Luke!
By far the best tutorial I've seen on this process. Thank you!
This level of commitment to miniature scenes is astounding! I applaud you!! 👍👏
This was really cool to watch. Thank you for showing how this is done. I didn't realize that a kit was available to do this at home. Great video.
Hi Luke!
love your amazingly well produced and incredibly helpful and entertaining videos!
keep it up
This was very therapeutic to watch! Thanks mate
I really really love your work Luke! Its so inspirational!
Luke, thank you for making this video on photo etching. I recently purchased MicroMark's photo etching kit and was a little hesitant to start working with it. The instructions are a little sketchy and your video cleared any questions I had. Your entire series is excellent. Just sorry I'm too broke at the time to support you. Hopefully that will change shortly. Again, thank you.
Brilliant as always!
Hey also that’s the laundry stuff I use to clean my jewellery - I put a sheet of alfoil into a bowl with hot water and Lectric wash soda then drop jewellery onto it. Agitate it with a wooden spoon as after a few minutes every nook and cranny is clean!!! It doesn’t damage gold silver or any precious stones :)
Wow I remember etching PCB boards in electronics class, never thought you call pull something like this! Amazing! Great vid and great job!
lol, it's a very similar process to etching PCB, glad you liked it 😀
Another great video Luke. Thank you for sharing your skills and knowledge. It has helped me be a better builder.
A very detailed and educational tutorial. The results are quite stunning.
thanks mate 😀
It's 2:30 in the morning and I don't even do anything model related, these videos are just so captivating. Keep up the great work man!
You have great ideas and thank you for all the techniques you illustrate.
That was very involved and certainly way above my head. I admire your work very much and the video reinforces this x2
it's magic! no other word for it, i'm speechless. very good job!
EASY! damn you got like 300 steps lolz, thank you for making the video! much much appreciate it mate!
lol yeah quite a lot of steps but it becomes second nature after doing it a few times 😀
Man you are so clever, I watch your videos because it is good, so far the best I have seen on TH-cam!!!
It really was involved but the results spoke heaps of perfection.
WOW, that was a great tute on photo etching. I knew nothing about it but now I know a basic how its done. Very interesting and informative.
thanks mate, glad you enjoyed watching 😀
Love your work my friend and I'm really looking forward giving this a go myself especially with such detailed tutorials from you Luke helps us begginers a great chance to get it right thanks brother keep up the killer work
What a great tutorial one of the best I've seen on TH-cam keep up the great work
This video was so cool. Never seen anyone do something like this before. Luke, you never fail to amaze me. Keep up the great work!!
no worries Brad 😀 Glad you liked it
Dude you are so talented, am glad i found your tutorial, is satisfying to see your videos
First video I've seen from this channel/genre and I find it incredibly relaxing to watch. Subbed. Thanks for the great content!
thanks heaps Jordan 😀 Glad you liked it
Great tutorial, very detailed and easy to follow!
thanks mate 😀
Thanks Luke, always well worth watching you
thanks Val
Nice tutorial.
We were using the same process to etch circuit boards in the 80s.
Another cool video!
This process is quite similar to what we use in the semi-conductor industry making computer chips. The operators work under yellow lights to prevent exposure of the film.
Wow, you have incredible amounts of patience!
Thanks Luke for sharing. I'm without words...Ciao from Italy
thanks Eddie 😀
This was a very informative tutorial and I learned quite a lot from it. You certainly took the mystery out of making your own photo etch parts. Thanks for sharing this.
thanks John, glad you liked it 😀
One of the best instructional videos. Excellent quality and great content-wise. I learned a lot. I love the entire channel and really appreciate it for its professionalism.
This was awesome Luke, I have always wanted to try to do my own photo etch but was never sure how to do it. Thanks for making this vid.
cool, good luck etching 😀 It's a lot of fun when you iron out the kinks and find a good system that works for you
Its been a while watching your videos. And it was COOL....
One of my childhood dreams.
Thanks for this awesome tutorial, this is something that really want to do !!!
Barry
My hands dont shake too much but I can tell that I would destroy the fragile pieces in a heartbeat after being etched. One needs surgeons or clock makers hands with incredible patience for this type of work. Watching all your fascinating videos are evoking the feel of revolutionazing railroad modeling seen only here on your channel. Presented very nicely in a calm, relaxing manner with great music, perfect video guidance and editing. Keep it up Luke. Thanks for your tutorials. Best wishes in the new year!
You are seriously talented mate. This is just brilliant.
thanks John 😀
This is awesome Luke.....!!!! Thanks for Viedo Tutorial !!!
No worries Danny 😀 Glad you enjoyed it
Purchased this etching kit years ago... Works as advertised! Another tip, it helps to heat the acid a little bit, which aids the etching process. I use a fish tank heater submerged in the etching tank to heat it. Also, you can expose the photo resist in direct sunlight, for a much shorter exposure time. Aside from that, great video tutorial Luke!
awesome idea with the fish tank heater! Glad you enjoyed the video 😀 I haven't tried exposing in sunlight yet, every time I do some etching it's always quite late in the day...
I believe most of these noodles commenting on how difficult and involved this is, as well as how after watching they now have no issue with the prices of the store bought etches, should get their checkbooks out for those of us who took notes...
You’re the man, this was ridiculously thorough and well put together. You should make a tutorial on making tutorials brotha! I’ll see you on patreon once I can start and gather some tools and such
That's insane! I love it!
Great video, thanks!
cheers mate
Really nice, informative video, Luke. Thanks for posting. Etching is definitely something I'll be looking to get into in the future.
awesome 😀 good luck
Very interesting, but very involved. Don't think I would have the patience for this, but I loved watching how it's done.
Wow, great video as always. You make it look so simple but this is one that I may leave to someone else!
Awesome videa mate. I'm glad to see your channel growing!
thanks mate 😀 I'm amazed so many people are interested in watching my videos!
You sir, are an expert. You make this unbelievably difficult work, look quite easy. Thank you for sharing your talents with us ... God Bless
Awesome tutorial ! Thank you for sharing your knowledge .
no worries mate 😀 glad you liked it
This is the first time iv seen this done, this has to be a must for every kit builder! I'm definitely not away to look into getting this kit for myself as spend a fair packet on extra PE parts for my kits mostly every kit I do know has PE on it! If it don't come with it iv always got spare sheets of mesh for grills and using a lighter over the parts takes the spring out the part and it becomes so easy just like a lead substance the way you can fold and press shape it in all tight grooves once its had a flame over it for a second two what a difference it makes to fitting pE Flawlessly! I have to get this DIY etch kit for myself
Very informative tutorial! I did some etching in college but the process wasn't as well explained (i ended up just using a painted on resist).
One tip I have from my experience is to attach the metal to the bottom of a foam board and let it float in the solution. This lets the dissolving particles fall away and not block the metal from the solution. However this is really only helpful for when you want to etch in details, not cut out whole pieces.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for this great starting point to look into the technique. I want to get into it for e few project next year and this was perfect to find out what I need to look further into before spending any money..
Just watched this video for the first time as I too will like to create my own photo-etch detail set. Though, you have been very informative and the step by step video is very helpful. I don’t know if I will be ever able to do such. Keeping fingers crossed as they say never say never in our hobby. Thanks and have a good day!
All I can say is that you have a *lot* more patience than I do, Luke. Another great tutorial, by the way. It's taught me to leave the photo etching to the pros.
ha ha 😀 Yeah it's not for everyone but if you ever want to try it one day you'll have a good guide to help you 😀
"Leave it to the pros"? How do you think they became pros? By practice, success & failures. Getting back into modeling after 15 years and I made a lot of good, basic models; but my biggest failure was assembling figures so the seams of the various parts wouldn't show. The other was painting the figures which is why I never had figures with an aircraft or armor. Between these 2 problems, my figures were so bad that they couldn't be used as zombies! But TH-cam videos (like this one) gives me a different perspective on how to do things. Don't think outside of the box.....don't even use a box!
That's basically what I do for PCB production at home. It's quite involved but I have 0.1 mm resolution with this technique. However I recommend using ferric chloride for etching as HCl+H2O2 tend to make small bubbles which can lift the photoresist around the edges. Ferric chloride works with brass too.
What a great video! Seems a bit daunting to a lot of people but really if you did a video on getting your car started think of all the steps. Find keys, unlock door, open door, get in, put key in ignition, put right foot on brake, press down on brake while turning key, do up seat belt, adjust mirrors, starting to sound complicated this is above me!
Having a working knowledge of the materials is only achieved by doing it..... learning the
process isn't as tough but knowing how your materials should look/feel during each step
is what I liked best about your teaching of this.....lol, I'm not even considering doing any
of this but I watched another of your videos & I liked your style of teaching stuff.....
Well done & should I ever need to learn it, I'll be back!!
Actually its quite simple, then goes into a crazy detailed steps... lol awesome job by the way
OMG! This is sooo freakin awesome!!
Wow! This has been more useful than I can say! Mostly because NOW I can see how the Micro Mark Photo Etching system works ... I mean REALLY works! Thanks, mate, for this super video. Now - for sure - I'll be ordering this kit! Good on ya!
Awesome John, hope you enjoy creating some photo etched parts 😀
Very good instructional video, Thank You.
Fantastic tutorial. Very thorough thank you :)
I have no trains, or any modelling of any sort. But your videos are so interesting, and have so much attention to detail! It reminds me to slow down when I do DIY finishing jobs (like drywall mudding, etc) or even during my normal day job! Keep it up!
thanks mate, glad you're enjoying the videos 😀
Hi Luke,
Great tutorial, I guess this is why these photoetched are so expensive...
Many thanks...
John...
So impressive! Great demonstration. Now I know NOTHING I have ever done can be called meticulous or technical!
And we can call you: The Masterpiecer
Your precision is ultimate and jaw dropping ! Nice one Bro!
thanks mate 😀 glad you enjoyed watching
I started to fall in love making these models :).
yeah it can be really fun and addictive 😀
Love your video and enjoy a lot. Most of your videos I've seen multiple times. Always eagerly waiting for your next video.
Sourav from Kolkata
fascinating process !
great video as always
your a very clever bloke,well done.
Excellent tutorial as always Luke. I was always a bit weary of doing photo etching, but with your tutorial it looks like a manageable weekend project. The results look professional and I don't see much difference to commercial photo etch parts. Again your video is clear and of the highest possible production quality.
I am mostly interested in delicate fences (e. g. a wrought iron fence for a graveyard) and maybe shields and weapons with a proper thickness in 1:48 scale. I may experiment with this technique in the future (I first have to build the static grass applicator and foam cutter you featured :P)
Thank you for all the efforts you go to, I enjoy your videos a lot and will try to spread the word.
No worries mate 😉 etching used to make me a little nervous as well mainly because I wasn't sure about the chemicals but once you have a go at doing a few etches it becomes pretty easy. It can be hard to etch thicker material though although fences should be ok in 1:48 scale. The thicker the material is the harder it becomes to retain the fine detail because the copper or brass needs to sit in the acid for longer periods and it starts to undercut and creep inwards... if that makes sense 😀
You are legend my friend! Just amazing work. :D
lol thanks mate 😀
you are amazing, Luke
This very cool keep up the great work
This video kills two birds with one stone - it's very informative and instructive AND it's mesmerizing and entertaining to watch. Thanks, Luke!
taking it to the next level
That was helpful, thanks for that, Luke
Fantastic demo - I did not understand the process at all prior to this.
Cool, glad it was useful for you
Hey Luke....thanks a gazillion. Been looking at other videos and you basically have to be a bloody alchemist....This explains everything well and the process is easily done at home. Always wondered "How it's made"..hahaha!!!!
Great well-produced video thank you, but you have to really want to do this, the process is an absolute faff
Wow. That's awesome
My thanks for this instructive video. It was essential to my success. I tried two competing products with abysmal results despite repeated attempts. The Micro-Mark material brought beautiful results but only b/c of this video. A couple of suggestions/refinements. 1. I watched the video numerous times and stopped it frequently to make detailed notes. Even then it took practice to get perfect results; don't get discouraged after early trials. 2. On my photo resist the clear plastic to be removed before applying to the brass was on the inside of the curl. 3. My photo resist absolutely would not "cook" under ordinary light no matter how long exposed. It only "cooked" when exposed to sunlight. Exposure time depends entirely on intensity of sun. Cloudy day, long time. Bright sun, short time. Purplish color of the resist that extends beyond edges of your brass is the determinative of when to end exposure. 4. My experience with dipping in washing soda after cooking was for me the far most difficult part of the entire process. To get proper etching it is ESSENTIAL to make sure the resist is entirely removed from areas to be etched. This, for me, was very, very touchy on areas which are very tiny. Failure to remove the resist entirely from those areas results in failure to etch. You have to make sure that the brass to be etched is entirely free of the resist; that can be challenging in tiny areas. But if you leave the cooked piece in the washing soda too long, the whole surface of the resist will start to be dissolved. 5.When you remove from the washing soda I found that a fairly vigorous rubbing with dry paper towel was best way to remove unwanted resist. The part that you want to remain is remarkably resistant to being rubbed off. Only experience will bring best results. 6. After putting the brass in the etchant for a while you can remove and closely inspect to see if those tiny areas are being etched. If not, rinse in water, soak again in washing soda, remove, rinse, rub and return to etchant.
Micro-Mark sells what it calls "developer/stripper." I didn't use that; maybe it is less touchy than washing soda. Finally, the 3200 grit polishing cloth is available in larger sheets from Micro Mesh Corp on the Web, along with numerous other grits for prepping the surface of brass to get different degrees of polish.
Thanks for showing us this info. I have been using feric chloride but now that I know how to mix the HCl and hydrogen peroxide it will be a lot cheaper for me to do the job.
Tedious and intricate but still awesome work Luke towan. Keep em coming mate
thanks mate, that's the problem working in very small scales, making a tiny part all of a sudden becomes quite the challenge!
Luke Towan
Definitely well worth it mate. So realistic..
Can't wait to see what creations are yet to come. =)
Fantastic work, man...
Thanks mate 😀
great vid definitely try this myself
Thanks for sharing. I had never seen it done though my grandfather the printer did this.
Hey nice vid you make good scenery that looks so realistic Ima New Subscriber And I love your channel
wow, this is an amazing process! and laid out very clearly-- whenever i end up trying to diy stuff from online instructions it feels like there's so much guesswork for the small details (e.g.which side of paper?)
Amazing job
Cool video that showcases the procedure really well.
the aviation industry is using a smiliar method to etch the fuselage plates of aircraft to reduce the weight.
This guy is freaking awesome!
Greetings from Germany 🤗
thanks mate 😮
Luke I've been a long time sub and love the amazing work you do. But this def threw me off lol. Keep up the great tho