Here’s a picture:
Do you see the bolts within the red circles?.. can I make them?.. how?.. I m detailin my Sd. Kfz 234/3’s interior, that’s the only thing I don’t know how to do… a Photo-etched set is too expensive for me… Thanks in advance…
I find that bolts that size are best replicated by bits of sliced styrene rod. Next time you are able, acquire a package of appropriate diameter styrene rod. They usually come 8-10 in a pack.
Take all of them and line them up alongside one another on a good cutting surface. Use a single edged razor blade and chop down upon your rods, almost like cutting pieces off of a bunch of carrots. Try to be careful in cutting straight down and cutting “bolts” that are the same thickness. You may need to go back and sort out the ones you don’t like.
The above method is what I use as well. It works great. You can get them to look even more like bolts if you can use plastic hex-rod. Plastruct and Evergreen (both suppliers of plastic sheet and rod) have hex-rod. It gives you a proper looking hexagonal bolt head as opposed to a round one.
yep, me too. I have some plastruct hexagonical rod. It has worked so far. Every now and then I will cut one crooked or too big though, nothing major.
Slicing rod, as stated above, would be your best bet. If you can’t buy it, and don’t mind using circular rod, you can stretch some sprue over some heat.
Also, if you open up a water-filter canister, like the ones that come in the Britta water purifier, you will find a boat-load of ceramic beads inside that can be used as bolts.
You can order some from Grandt. They’re not expensive, maybe $5.00.
Most of the Eduard PE sets now come with hex shaped holes in the frets that allow you to extrude heated sprue through them to make a hex shape. Each fret has a series of different size holes in it.
I like the idea of slicing hex rod to get bolts. I think that Gino is beginning to succeed in convincing me that expensive AM parts are not required to get a good job, especially for something like this. Do you cut them with a hand-held knife or do you use something like a Chopper to ensure that you get reasonably vertical cuts?
Hey Ralph:
If you already have a chopper, use that. I have one but sometimes am lazy and will just use a single edged razor blade over my cutting mat.
The Eduard PE sets come with hex-shaped holes? Does anyone have any spare sets that, who’d be willing to send me that? [:D]
try to find the rivets and bolt molds from GREIF ( in mexico ) you only need to heat a plastic strip and press inside the mould, and you can do conical, hexagonal shapes
really works¡ i work in scratch and is a good and very cheap option.
Ah ha, another convert back to old fashioned model building. I am succeeding!!
I cut them by hand with an xacto knife. If they are not totally flat, you can lightly sand them to get them flat and square. It is a really cheap, effective, and easy way to get bolt heads.
I’m rapidly heading [#offtopic with this, so feel free to tell me to get lost. One of my 2 current projects is the Tamiya Churchill Crocodile and I’m considering doing at least some sort of interior for it. I have the Osprey book that includes a few drawings of the interior for reference, and I think I’m going to stick to just detailing the turret for now. Where could I get some tips on how to approach my first scratch interior? I’m not looking to replicate the amazing work you’ve done, but would like to be able to have the hatches open and see something other than an empty model.
I recommend a technique called Creative Gizmology. I think it was coined by Shep Paine or one of the other great scratch-builders. Basically, look for similar items or items that look like they kinda belong in a tank interior. Engine and drivetrain parts form car models, sights from modern shoulder fires missiles, etc work great. The idea is not to make it exact, but make it look like what most people think a tank interior would look like. 95% of those who see the model will have no idea what the interior looks like anyhow. The other tip I can give you is, look for items that are not from models to fit the bill as well, think out of the box. For instance, the wire mesh on my M1A1 turret is actually bridal veil material, called toole, from a fabric store. Have fun and good luck. Let us know how it turns out and show some pics.
yes indeedey, “creative gizmology” was in fact coined by Mr. Paine
Ralph;
I agree with the above as well. An additional thought is if you can locate the Tamiya booklet on the Churchill (I have a copy) it has all the detail you want to do a complete interior. There is also a newer book out Mr. Churchill’s Tank I believe is the name of it. Apparently it is the ‘bible’ of the Churchill. Much like the Barbarossa Book for the Firefly.
Hope this helps.
Cheers;
Gregory
If you have old road wheels off say a panther/Tiger slice the nuts off and simply glue in place. If you have the late version Tiger 1 from Tamiya if you look on the wheel sprue frames there are about 5-6 nuts moulded on to the frame on each sprue. They would be perfect for what you need. I used them on the engine deck of M1A1 and gun mantlet of the Tamiya King Tiger , the ones (5) that ring the gun barrel.
Does anybody have the full title and author of this one? Thanks
It certainly does! I’ll look for both of those. Do you have the full title of the Tamiya book (or perhaps even an ISBN) so that I can try to track it down?
Answers for Buff and Ralph
Buff: The full title for the Firefly ‘Bible’
Sherman Firefly - Mark Hayward - ISBN 0-9538777-2-8 Published by BARBAROSSA BOOKS - Zhukov House, 14 Maldon Road, Tiptree, Essex CO5 0LL, England
Tel: 01621-810810 Fax: 01621-81088 email: barbbook@dircon.co.uk website: www.barbarossabooks.co.uk
Answer for Ralph:
The full title of the Churchill ‘Bible’
Tamiya Photographic Album of British Churchill Tank - Tamiya News Photographic Album No.3 - Tamiya Plastic Model Co. 628 Oshika Shizouka-City, Japan Tel: 0542 86 5105-8
I hope these answers help both of you find these books. If there are any other references you need email me or reply here on the forum. I have over 400 different references on the shelf on Allied Armour and Axis Armour, although my Axis references are not as extensive (yet).
Cheers;
Gregory