Lee Lloyd has written another great article on creating realistic weld seams for armor and other applications. A real nicely put forth piece. Check it out here:

How to Create Accurate Weld Effects

As ussual should you want to discuss this subject or have feedback on this article please post it here.

Thanks Lee!

Cheers,
Jim

thx for the good article!

Another great article by the king of super-detail. I was especially impressed with the triple weld part and it's replication. Lee and I are still trying to find a way to do weld writing. The problem is that it has to be very, very tiny, yet still legible. If anyone thinks of something let me know.

Rob

Very nicely illustrated article. I've tried both the Milliputt technique, as well as the styrene strip/rod and teh hot knife techniques. My favorite for most applications is using styrene strip/rod, but there are places where the other techniques work better. Lee's Milliputt technique is especially effective on armor with big, multiple line welds, like on later German Armor and Russian armor.

Rob: What does "weld writing" look like? If I know what you're trying to model, I might have an idea or two.

Some tanks like the abrams have their serial numbers written with welding rods so they are indestructable. Like this:

Jim, this site always surprises me!
I really love this feature...I have to try this aproach for my next weld seams on my models, I always used the pyrogravure method.....
Thank you....
Cheers

I read this in a book once,but maybe it would work in a different way,In the book it said to slightly push a pin(not heated) in to the pastic,so it forms a bulge around the tiny ark,that traps the paint and makes a rivit,maybe if you scribed very lightly with that pin to make the letters,and painted,you would get the same affect

That's an interesting thought Dave, thanks

Rob

Thanks Jim! Your article serves to inspire me to continue with weld seam additions. I've almost given up with the styrene rod method (making it gooey & soft first using thin plastic cement then scribing the weld pattern with a hobby knife). The cement tends to somewhat ruin the surrounding plastic, making the model's surface finish look terrible. The next weld seams on my models will definitely be made of Milliput.... Cheers!

Dennis

Like learning there are more ways to do a difficult task. That's one thing I can always count on here and that's learning new techniques and even getting ideas on areas I hadn't even considered before.

This is a good article. Wonderfully illustrated. Quality job. Thank you !

Excellent Article... Made sure I printed it out for future referance!!

:-)

Another informative and well written article. Keep em' comin.

Joshua Weingarten
IDF Armour Group
www.homestead.com/shiryon/index.html

Another informative and well written article. Keep em' comin.

Joshua Weingarten
IDF Armour Group
www.homestead.com/shiryon/index.html

This article still remains a classic. I notice some were asking about welded on writing. I've posted picks of the Abrams welded on numbers before which look far better than the DML numbers. There's a clear rubbery substance (I can't remember the name of it as it dried up at least ten years ago) that you can purchase at art supply stores. It can be applied with a syringe (through the needle even) and takes paint very well. I'll see if I can find it next week when I get home, unless someone else knows what it's called.

spot on