"One modeling tip which pays big dividends in assembling a petite model...is simple: If you want a clean model...make sure your hands are clean and that the area you work on is devoid of glue, paint and debris. Every 15 minutes or so, you should stop, get up, wash your hands and dry them thoroughly. Sweat generated from handling pieces of plastic will mark the surface of your model and if your working area is dirty, your hands and fingers will pick up dabs of glue, dirt and paint, all of which will be transferred to your model. Unfortunately, this type of grundge is unwanted and usually appears as a smear on clear canopies or a glob of glue on a seam that would have been better left without undue attention being called to it.
"Another good idea is to keep a piece of paper toweling nearby. This will absorb the sweat from your fingers and will wipe your hands clean without accumulating the dirt from several models, as a rag does. With an absorbent paper towel, you just wipe and throw away."
--Scale Modeler Vol.4, No.11
November 1969
Get up every 15 minutes to wash your hands? Does this guy rebuild his motorcycle engines on the same bench he builds his models? I know the only time I sweat on models is when it's 80+ degrees outside. Or maybe I just don't glue, sand, file, paint fast enough or hard enough? Is there a prize for the first guy finished in this guy's world? I should work faster and harder? Is this to be taken seriously or was there a word minimum that had to be met for the article?
Reading these old Scale Modelers, I get the feeling the crew there considered themselves the high-priests and the readership were lost souls. My goodness they took themselves seriously. Wonder what Messrs. Schnepf, Mizrahi, Chivers and Kropff are doing these days? Bet their hands are clean, eh?
