And realy looking good. A few years ago I tried this in 1/35...... I used the drawings (1/48) I found on this site and converted them to 1/35 on plastic sheet The body was easy ,except for the zillion rivets😕 But then there were the big wheels, 😡👺👹💥☠🔫💣💀😭 I wasn't able to make acceptable wheels on this scale, so the whole project came to an end , I stil have the remains somewhere in a box.
How did you managed the wheels ?
Greetz Ronald
-- Edited by SMK on Wednesday 29th of June 2016 09:59:01 AM
The US card 1/48 version is free unless you build it, and then you are supposed to make a $5 donation.
The spokes are all drawn in and just need to be photostatted onto clear film for use. A bit of a fudge, but saves a hell of a lot of work. If you want to do the wires yourself, this at least provides a template.
The card drawings show 64 wires per side on the wheels, so that makes 255 in total - still trying to work out a jig that i can use on my lathe's dividing head to get the 64 holes drilled from one side of the hub before moving it 1/128th of the diameter to set up the other 64 holes. The 1/48th card model as them overlapping, but I wonder if this is not an optical illusion caused by the two sides of the spoking looking that way when a photo is taken at an angle?
To do all the riveting definitely qualifies you for OCD classification Charlie - how did you make them domed?
I've got the Historex round and hex punches but these only produce discs. I find if you stick them on and give them a quick wipe round with plastic cement, the edges are softened.
Have been looking at using silk pins, but their heads are rather large; better for 1/16 or 1/25 models.
Some people drill the holes, put stretched sprue from the back and run a flame across above the rivet rod to soften it so that it forms a dome - has to be done quickly!!!!
There was a thread a few years ago on using grainers to punch out discs from thin plastic while using a rubber base that would permit the point to sink in and thus maker a rounded rivet.
The method I'm exploring at the moment is to file a reasonably correct diameter drill bit into a rounded profile end instead of a pointed one. This would be used to drill matching indentations by the dozen/hundred into a piece of flat aluminium and then make a very thin casting resin to be rubbed across the flat to fill in the indentations. Once it has set, picking them out with the point of a No. 11 blade should be "easy".
Of course, you could also buy the cast rivets made in the US, but this could be pricey for a large model - I'm going to be building "Nellie" and that will require several hundred rivets!