Yes, how do you? I know you’re supposed to anneal the metal for a couple of seconds with a candle or lighter. But every method I’ve tried of turning that flat, perforated PE piece into a neat little cylinder for a .50 cal. machine gun has turned into a kinked triangle and a general mess. I’ve had some success using thin PE parts, like Tom’s Model Works, to make larger cylinders for WW I cooling jackets. But I find these slender jackets for WW II and later a/c guns impossible in the thickness that, say, Eduard uses. And I’ve got a strafing version of a PBJ coming up (that’s redundant – they were all strafing versions to some degree) and it’s got a lot of 1/48 .50’s on it, all needing cooling jackets. Can someone who’s a whiz with PE enlighten me, please?
Tom
Well, I’m no wizz by any means, but this works for me.
I went to the local car parts supplier, and purchased various sizes of split pins.
These lil’ guys are a hollow piece of tubing, with a split running down the length of it.
Anneal the PE part, like you said.
I then take the spit pin size I need, insert the PE into the split, only by a little, and then back to the flame with a pair of pliers.
Only takes a few seconds for the PE to be bent round.
Then I slide it off, glue the open ends together, and voila!
It takes a little bit of practice, but works like a charm, for me anyways.
I assume you’re talking about cotter pins, and that’s an ingenious idea. I wonder if I can find them small enough for these barrels, though. Even so, I will definitely try it out on other rolled PE parts. As I said, it’s ingenious and so simple, as most ingenious things are.
Many thanks,
Tom
Hey Tom!!
Reading his tutorial leads me to believe that what he is referring to are also known as roll pins. They are different from cotter pins.
Nicely timed question.
I’m about to start an A-10 with an Edwards PE kit and have the cannon to bend.
I was going to use a piece of sprue at the right diameter and slice a groove along the length of it.
insert one edge into the slot and heat over a candle to bend over the sprue.
Never done this before so it’s going to be an experiance.
Hi Tom,
I first anneal the jacket and then place it on a slightly compliant surface such as a pad of paper. Starting with a medium-small drill bit (approx 1.5mm thickness), I roll it over the jacket by pressing down on either end on the drill bit with by thumbs.
I repeat the exercise with ever smaller drill bits until the jacket is a half circle, whereupon I take it and carefully wrap it around a drill bit (or piece if steel microtubing, or sewing pin with the head cut off) that is a bit larger than the final diameter I want. I then roll it back & forth on the pad of paper, but this time I use a drafting eraser to roll with, pressing directly on the jacket. Finally, I repeat with a drill bit (or piece of tube, or etc.) that matches the final inner diameter of the jacket.
The seam will be next to invisible, but all the same I still attach it so it’s on the bottom. Here’s how it looks on my AM B-25C:
HTH,
Tony
I just use a simple drill bit and wrap it around the bit and it works just fine and I did one perfectly havent done the others yet. oh and on the plus side since the eduard 50 caliber cooling jackets are made of steel mine are about the same color as the real cooling jackets now.
That’s guys. And Dingers, that’s a fine looking turret on that, what? G model B-25? Are you using scratchbuilding in there, or PE parts? I’ve got an AcMin G model I’m looking forward to building, but I also have a C/D that I have a commitment to make first for for someone else… That’s the one I really need the cooling jackets to look good on because it has so many guns. The Eduard set for the AcMin B-25B will do for pretty much all the variants, though things started to change on the type quite a bit on the H and J. I also have the Eduard set for the Monogram B-25, plus the set for the bomb bay. I just measured, and it appears the bomb bay will work on the AcMin B-25 kits as well, certainly the nicely detailed doors fit perfectly as far as I can tell. The set for the Monogram kit allows you to turn the H into a G by giving you a round piece to fill in the forward location of the turret, replace it with an astrodome, and move the turret aft as on the G model. There are also the depot modification “bay windows” for the waist gunner positions in the Eduard Monogram detail set. But, for the cockpit and some other areas, I need the proper AcMin Eduard set. I’m also replacing all that raised detail in the radio room with Waldron radio fronts, which probably will be next to invisible on the finished product, so I’m going to put every conceivable window and porthole in it that accuracy allows.
Tom
The model is that of an early C (-5, I think), and the turret is a mix of kit, Eduard PE, Aires resin (gun bodies) and scratch. I vacuformed a new turret dome, and made troughs from sheet. If you have the budget, I suggest you get the Karaya .50 cal barrels (http://www.karaya.ceti.pl/eng/eng2.html) which don’t require any rolling. They’re not expensive and Karaya’s service is excellent - Poland to Canada in 1 week.
The Eduard set is nice, although I only ended up using about 50% of it. The biggest improvement is in the cockpit, particularly the seats and throttle quadrant. I debated using the etched instrument panel, but concluded that the kit one looked better and so stuck with it.
Your thoughts on the radio compartment are spot on. As nice as it is, none of the interior aside from the bombardier’s compartment and cockpit is visible. The bomb bay is nice OOB, and if you fill it with ordinance not much will be visible anyway. Most of my extra attention was spent on the cockpit, nose compartment, engines, turret and landing gear. You can see more of it over on Hyperscale at http://www.features02.kitparade.com/b25ctb_1.htm
I’m currently working on the Monogram Marauder, with the noble idea of doing it up to the same level of detail as the AM B-25. Needless to say, it’s a lot of work…
Cheers,
Tony