Hello all,
I’m just getting back into the hobby and I wanted to start by detailing and old Tamyia 1/16 scale King Tiger Tank. I’ve seen many FSM articles on Punch and Die sets. My question is which Punch and Die set should I get for 1/16 scale and what can I use to make hex nuts?
Thank You.
Okay, let’s start with the obvious: King Tigers were metric, so if you want to punch King Tiger compatible holes, you’re talking metric. Most of my punch & die sets are Imperial, but I do have a ModelExpo #TJ7514, “14-pc. Disc Cutter Set”, 14 pieces from 3mm to 16mm. [see photo]
As far as making hex nuts at 1/16, you’re probably better off buying them. Micro-Mark [http://www.micromark.com] carries a variety @ 10 pieces & $3.60 per package. If you just want plastic dummies, just buy a small amount of the metal nuts and cast as many as you want.
Addendum: I should’ve included slicing hex stock. (Hey! I was typing it at 2am!) I even have a commercial jig I bought to make styrene chopping easier.
Howdy!
Let me start with the metric stuff first - while it’s true that all the nuts and bolts were metric on the Tiger and all other German gear, for that matter, it doesn’t matter much for the modeller, IMO. Let’s take the popular “17” nut for example. It’s commonly used with M10 thread. When you measure it, it has 17mm between the flat sides. Now divide it by 16 and you get 1,0625mm. So OK, 1mm hex will be close but not 100% (I think we can live with the 0,06 mm difference). I’m not sure, but I think you can find something just as close if you recalculate from the inches (1 inch = 25,4mm). Popular nut sizes in metric machines are 6, 8 ,10, 13, 15, 17, 22, 24, 32.
But you don’t necessarily have to punch them - I had good results with slicing styrene hex rod, they are available in many different sizes. You can even drill a hole in the middle and put a little piece of strethed sprue in, to simulate the bolt.
Hope it helps, good luck with your project
Paweł
I also find slicing hex stock a great way to make nuts and bolt heads in the larger scales.
The only hex shaped punches that I can remember seeing were manufactured by Historex. Unfortunately I don’t believe they manufacture them any longer - the last set I remember being for sale was on Evil Bay a couple of years ago.