1⁄35
Making Replacement Parts from Aluminium Foil
|
T-34 track guards |
With the release of new T 34 series of
kits by Dragon and Maquette, I decided to make new replacement track guards
for the front side and rear. The kit I used for this project is the
Stalingrad 1942 by Maquette.
The method is the same for what ever
style the kit as rounded edges or flat sides or the rear half round types.
You need a sheet of aluminium foil; mine comes from a Chinese take away dish
in other countries similar foil dishes are used to bake cakes or pies in.
Cut the base of the foil dish out and smooth it out with the back of your
mark one thumb nail.
Safety Tip: always work from
the centre towards the edge if you do it the opposite way you will slice
a piece of your thumb off, voice of experience. |
It will take about 5 minutes to remove
all the creases from the foil. One it is flattened then cut a piece out at
least twice the surface are you need for the track guard.
Sometimes you will have to remove the tiny details from the kit original
i.e. rivets or extra bracing straps; these can be added later from foil
strips and new rivets from water canister beads.
See picture 1: those in the centre show the final shape of the front and
rear track guards.
Place the kit original face down onto the foil and by trial and error bend
and cut tabs to hold the foil in place while you work it with a blunted
cocktail stick.
See picture 1: the one at the bottom left shows the rear of the front
guard with the tabs holding the foil in place.
Turn the whole item over and slowly burnish the foil till it takes on the
shape of the fender, after you are satisfied with the result. Remove the
foil by lifting the tabs clear of the kit part, you can now cut out the
final shape with scissors and then place the replacement foil fender over
the original to check that is has still conformed to the shape. If not; then
gently burnish again back into shape. You may need to dress the edge up with
a file. Test fit on the kit and note the area you need to apply supper glue
to, in some cases you will have to leave an extra tab on the replacement to
give enough surface area. Only experience will tell you this
Depending on the style of fender or track guard you will have some creases
in the final shape, you will never get them all out, but this adds to the
realism of the item as branches and stones thrown up by the track damage
track guards and fenders to some extent.
The pictures: show all the details I have used in this method of
replacing the kit parts for more in scale and better appearance to enhance
the kits, I have also used the same method to make the shovel heads, it is
just on a smaller scale but the method is the same, the shaft is a
replacement made from plastic rod super glued into the turned over collar of
foil.
Give it a try and have fun, if you make a mistake it has cost you nothing
but time.
Ian Sadler IPMS UK 2003 ©
.
|
Project Photos
|
|
About the Author
About Ian Sadler (IanSadler)
Copyright ©2021 by Ian Sadler. Images and/or videos also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of Armorama, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2004-01-09 00:00:00. Unique Reads: 11826