Here’s a “How I done it”, with the seats on my TBD.
Shape may differ from craft to craft, (squared vs. rounded seat back and so forth), but the idea will work for many.
Not liking the clunky looks of the kit supplied seats, not wanting to spend any more money, or wait on the postal service, I decided to make my own. For $.99, I got a big ole can of delicious Arizona tea, and a LOT of aluminum, the medium of choice for this project.
I’ll take you step by step through, how I done it.
Cut out a length of the alum, trimmed to width with a straight edge and new #11. I used the kit part to eyeball the width (close counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and scale modeling!!!)
I clipped the corners (top portion of seat back), by pressing the blade down (guillotine style) on the alum. against my glass work surface. This is just to lessen the amount of grinding.
With a grinding bit in the Dremel, I rounded off the corners.
Using the handle of my knife, I rolled the seatback around it, to get the contour.
I then lightly scored the back, to make the bend for the seatpan easier.
bend to shape.
Cut the seatpan just a hair longer than you want the final length to be. (again, all cuts are made guillotine style against glass)
To bend the front of the seatpan, I pressed it against a brush handle.
This will be the rounded piece that goes at the bottom of the seatback. Cut out of the original piece of alum., so you know the width will be perfect. The notches are carefully cut out.
Using a needle/pinvice, I poked “rivets” along the edges.
A bit of CA (with my handy stretched sprue applicator) along the edges.
Put in place.
Now for the sidewalls.
Using the seat as a template, cut the angles to match the seatpan and backrest. Cut these a tad oversized for glue tabs.
Using the first side as a template, cut the opposite side.
The outside is lightly scored where the bend will be, then bend in the glue tabs.
CA into place.
Once both sides are in place, allow a few minutes for the CA to dry. Using a heavy grinding/sanding wheel in the Dremel, grind out the rough shape.
WARNING* Wear some safety glasses, this part WILL (more than likely) leave your finger at least once, on account of having to use a light grip. Mine disappeared three times!!!
Using a fine grinding bit, grind out the final shape. I did one side first, then “eyeballed” for the other.
Paint and “weather” as you would with any other seat. Mounting frames can be scratched with rod, stretched sprue, or kit parts if provided.
Very impressive Fermis! Sometimes I get the feeling that if I try to scratchbuild something, it won’t be as good as an aftermarket part - however in this case you’ve done the cottage industries one better!
Thanks for that toot Fermis, loved it! I tried a similar technique a while back, admittedly more difficult and still didn’t look half as good as yours. I’ll be using your technique on my next project.
Thanks everybody for the compliments, much appretiated. All too happy to share!!!
I think that pop/beer can aluminum is a bit thinner than the tea can is, may make it a bit more difficult to work with. May have to take a little more care in handling to avoid slices in fingers.
Amazinng tip! That was so awesome showing us how to actually do it. It is very much appreciated and I wish we could see more “how-to’s” as clear and simple as this.
Excellent SBS, Fermis, thanks! I saw your seats over on your build blog thread and wondered about your exact steps. That helps me figure out how to do this for some F4B-4 and F11C seats that I want to make. You’ve made it very clear.
My stock of choice, though, is a couple of Guinness cans that I cut apart to get at the widget inside [;)]
Awesome work and thanks for the tip. This is the kind of so-called “outside the box” thinking that I find most rewarding in being a member of this site (I say so-called because I don’t really believe in a box, per se, but rather that everyone has their own box, just differently sized).
Stay tuned… I’ve a few WIPs that I’ll be posting regarding my own scratchbuilding materials & techniques… Between me & Fermis, maybe we’ll get some of you to save money on the after-market parts here & there…
Now I feel stupid for never thinking about using a can as a Scratch build part,
Nice how to man, I am really going to use this, especially when I have my drill!
