RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Seafire, if your tanking about the diorama pictures in this show off post, they are mine. Alpha a good thing to use for the armor, doors sand even the hinges would be the flat sides of a cut up metal paint thinner can. They would be thin enough to look more correct then the thick one that Tamiya has premolded (sometimes JR RC has that parts bag available). That way they could curve to the proper shape, and secured with super glue to the metal mounts so if it gets really wacked the glue might allow it to break away from the mounts. Or if you want to get really authentic its easy to drill thru and could be actually riveted to the mounting arms using heated and stretched thin enough some abs sprues that that are always left over after the detailing parts are removed from them when finishing a HL or Mato tank. Combining both attaching methods would probably be strong enough to withstand almost any abuse.

seafire wrote:Nice work Alpha. I really like your Diorama shots.

Seafire

Hello Seafire
It has been suggested to me to make some backdrops...personally never gave it much thought... but these are Green Giants... which I find to be very practical and useful.. He did do a great job...and it does have me thinking


Happy Tanking Seafire

ALPHA

greengiant wrote: Alpha a good thing to use for the armor, doors sand even the hinges would be the flat sides of a cut up metal paint thinner can. They would be thin enough to look more correct then the thick one that Tamiya has premolded (sometimes JR RC has that parts bag available). That way they could curve to the proper shape, and secured with super glue to the metal mounts so if it gets really wacked the glue might allow it to break away from the mounts. Or if you want to get really authentic its easy to drill thru and could be actually riveted to the mounting arms using heated and stretched thin enough some abs sprues that that are always left over after the detailing parts are removed from them when finishing a HL or Mato tank. Combining both attaching methods would probably be strong enough to withstand almost any abuse.

Thanks Giant ... tin cans sound like a good medium...been using copper for a lot of my stuff because of it's flexibility ...your way sounds a lot more economical ...I also like the idea using sprue rivets

Happy Tanking

ALPHA

Alpha, a metal that can soldered and is easily workable in thicker sizes has an advantage over thin tin can metal. any steel over I/16th inch thick gets hard to work with hand tools. But for the most part its free and copper can be pricey unless you have enough use for it to buy it by the sheet. I've used sprue rivets before and the work well, it just takes a little practice to get the look of a rivet.

greengiant wrote:Alpha, a metal that can soldered and is easily workable in thicker sizes has an advantage over thin tin can metal. any steel over I/16th inch thick gets hard to work with hand tools. But for the most part its free and copper can be pricey unless you have enough use for it to buy it by the sheet. I've used sprue rivets before and the work well, it just takes a little practice to get the look of a rivet.

Yes I agree Giant... sorry if I made it sound like I would use something thin....but thanks again... I might be using the idea sooner than I had imagined...going to attempt to scratch the upper for a JagdPanzer IV

I think the rivets should come out ok... still pretty good with sprue...when I did cars ... used to make my own gear shift knobs... and the like...for some reason tricks with sprue have never left me

Thanks again for the tips

Have a good one Giant ...

ALPHA

Alpha, sounds like an excellent project. The jagpather types mantels have kept me from trying any of those builds.

greengiant wrote:Alpha, sounds like an excellent project. The jagpather types mantels have kept me from trying any o those builds.

I agree...the mantlet will be one of the most challenging parts.... but I'm going to give it a shot with copper stock...been pretty lucky hammering that stuff out... might take some time... but I'm pretty sure I can get it close enough ...Actually I think most of the upper will be metal... as investing in an upper too use it partially might save time...but to me seems like a wasted expense ...will see though... if it is practical enough that I can use stuff from my junkpile..It might be a 50/50 Plastic metal thing...reason it's taking a little while...as I have to figure out exactly what can and cannot be used ..what can and can be duplicated ... then proceed

ALPHA

greengiant wrote:Alpha, a metal that can soldered and is easily workable in thicker sizes has an advantage over thin tin can metal. any steel over I/16th inch thick gets hard to work with hand tools. But for the most part its free and copper can be pricey unless you have enough use for it to buy it by the sheet. I've used sprue rivets before and the work well, it just takes a little practice to get the look of a rivet.

hi green giant,
i started using 0.5mm copper for the schurzen on my panzer iii.

it's very heavy though
so if you can source it, i would suggest aluminium
cheers
micky

lister fiend wrote:

greengiant wrote:Alpha, a metal that can soldered and is easily workable in thicker sizes has an advantage over thin tin can metal. any steel over I/16th inch thick gets hard to work with hand tools. But for the most part its free and copper can be pricey unless you have enough use for it to buy it by the sheet. I've used sprue rivets before and the work well, it just takes a little practice to get the look of a rivet.

hi green giant,
i started using 0.5mm copper for the schurzen on my panzer iii.

it's very heavy though
so if you can source it, i would suggest aluminium
cheers
micky

Nicely done lister... that copper looks awful thick.. think the steel idea...might work ... with copper brackets...for some reason I think it's a lot stronger... with that said ... those shields once painted won't corrode like steel might

Happy Tanking Sir

ALPHA

lister, it looks like you have a good start, and you should end up with a good looking model. But ALPHA's right about the thickness. Shutzen was very thin as armor goes, as its original intent was to provide protection from large caliber small arms fire. In the end the Germans used steel mesh on the hull shutzen to try to detonate shaped charge anti tank ammo before it reached the tanks hull, reducing material use and weight. If you look at Tamiyas 1/16 shutzen it would probably be 2 I/2 inches thick if measured in scale. ALPHA, whatever you use for your build will I'm sure, end up in a excellent end product. Can't wait to see your build thread and the end result.