Tutorial - Using acupuncture needles

posted by Roman, Jarhead, kong

Still a lot of articles wait for writing them in here - i found time to do this quick one - hope it can inspire and help.

Acupuncture Needles are small tiny needles you can get over on ebay. The are cheap and you have to take care about not hurting yourself as they are really acute and they'll stick very fast into your flesh - aaahhhh!!! Take care. They come well packed.

Where do I use them? 
Mostly when i need something really tiny, like an antenna or a thin rapier, there are a lot of more things you can do with them, for example a nozzle. Sure you can use them while preparing a miniature if you got really small fixations to do or when sculpting fine things.

How do I use them?
Unpack them. drill a small hole into the place you want to fix a piece of the needle. There are such small drillheads - i have none but Raffa got one that fits. Sometimes when it is plastic i want to drill i use my scalpel and press a small hole in it - superglue does the rest. If it is white metal and you don't have a drill head so small then drill a bigger hole, fill it up with Magic Sculp, Green Stuff or some other Putty and press your needle in place (take care not to hurt you - aaahhhh!!!) - wait and it all shall be fixed when dried. The needle is cut with a caliper.

Here is another example, used as a rapier - sorry for the really dark photo, i don't have better ones left. I did cut off the saber of the pirate guy (Hasslefree) and brought an acupuncture needle in place. If you look really good you might see it - sorry for the damn photos...

Sorry for the bad example (I'll ask Raffa for more examples) - but i guess everyone gets what i mean, at least i hope so - if not and there are still questions left, feel invited to ask via comment.

Keep on happy painting!
Regards
Roman