Model Forum / General / Models / April 2009

Anything with touluene in it might likely have been the cause, but one
would also have to have or have developed a reaction to toluene (or any
of the other chemicals they use) for something that catastrophic to
occur.  I myself used to wash raw aluminum parts in straight toluene up
to my elbows and have never had any issues - it mostly depends on your
skin type in combination with the chemical.  Getting any chemical in an
already open wound or cut might also have been a factor - really don't
have enough information here...

OTOH - some people that make their own photo etch may have nitric
acid...er...on hand...I used to have some chemically pure nitric acid
around back when I was etching jewelry.  If you don't know what you're
doing with something like that, yeah - you can hurt yourself.

I have heard of many more problems with flying models, including the
somewhat dangerous fuels some modelers use.

Note that the infection normally indicates an organic material- a bug-
is involved, that is seperate from the trauma that can allow entry into
the body.  A knife cut can definitely get infected.  I have had this
happen several times.  Any substance that opens a wound can lead to an
infection, so many materials can do this.  If (especially in dry winter
weather) you peel off a bit of CA from the skin, and open a wound, even
a small one, it COULD get infected if one is not careful how the wound
is later exposed to bugs.  This is not really the fault of the CA,
though.  So while any trauma can lead to an infection, normal care in
washing, using band-aids on cuts, etc. should prevent normal infections.
I certainly do not let knowledge of rare cases inhibit my enjoyment of
modeling.

BTW, I have also heard of allergies to many of the substances we use in
modeling.

There's many dangers people don't realize - Just using normal paints in an
airbrush at too high a pressure - you can inject the paint to under the skin
and do some really bad damage.

a dremel drill is enough :-| I accidentally hit the mandrel and sanded my
middle finger on saturday...it took off some skin, not a big injury but
really painful!!! =:-| Another good reason to use gloves.... :o)

Frankie

first thing that comes to mind is a severe "allergy" to an xacto knife
or even a cutter on a dremel, that could cause loss of a finger tip
pretty quick.

otherwise, maybe being "allergic" to cya glue which happens to have
securely fastened your fingertip to the tabletop.

other than that, i don't see anything in the usual materials that
could cause the symptoms described, but i am neither a doctor nor a
rich and famous tv talk show hostess.