How To - Opening Hoods, Doors, etc.

There are several ways of doing this but this is my method which has enabled me to cut away many parts with no damage or breakages.

To begin with I use a panel scriber which is actually a dental probe - exactly what that over priced BMF panel scriber is. Its purpose here is to deepen the groove a little for the knife blade later on, as you can see its very effective and removes a slither of plastic.

You could infact use the scriber alone to work your way through the plastic but the reason why i dont is because as it cuts deeper, the cut will become wider too. With the knife blade you wont have this problem.

So now that the gvoove has been deepened slightly, it provides a guide for the knife blade to run along. Without this, the blade is very likely to slip and score new panel lines in unwanted areas.

I cut along the lines a few times with the blade the right way around then give them a few passes with the back of the blade which removes platic from the previous cuts. I continue to alternate like this until its worked its way through.

And thats it, the part is removed cleanly and with no damage to the model or fingers. Also take your time and dont apply to much pressure - let the knife do the work.

JDMF © 2003