Large Scale Central

What have you used for radiator screening?

Modeling
#1

I’m building a 250 ton crane for the RR and on the cab I’m looking to add louvers or screen to suggest a radiator for the engine.

I’m thinking about painting black on the side and then placing a piece of window screen material over it and come up with some type of frame.

What have you guys used? Home grown, scratch built ideas for a roughly 2x2 square?

#2

Louvers can be made with quarter round styrene rod and stacked.

#3

Ask your wife for a scrap of Toile fabric. Comes in a roll sold in fabric stores (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#4

Yea, window screen would tend to be rather large in our scales. Some fabrics, as Dave mentioned, could work. Some paint departments sell mesh that is used to filter lumps and such out of paint, and they have a finer mesh then window screen. In the smaller scales, I used a discarded pair of my mom’s pantyhose, stretched and painted to make it stiff.

#5

Depending on the required size and fineness, I sometimes use Lipton mesh tea bags. Their downside is their triangular shape so you can’t cover a large unobstructed area.

#6

Todd Haskins said:

I’m building a 250 ton crane for the RR and on the cab I’m looking to add louvers or screen to suggest a radiator for the engine.

I’m thinking about painting black on the side and then placing a piece of window screen material over it and come up with some type of frame.

What have you guys used? Home grown, scratch built ideas for a roughly 2x2 square?

How about a metallic mesh - such as http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/sls/sls3500.htm ???

#7

Precision Scale makes some in 4x 6 sheets. Stock numbers 48117=60mesh, 48118= 80 mesh and 48119= 100 mesh. Only problem is I think it is out of stock as far as I can tell. Walthers shows it out of stock. You might check with The Whistle Stop in Pasadena Calif.

#8

ask in a rural hardware store for waterfilters for wells. the finest metalic mesh, i know of.

#9

Never knew that one Korm. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#10

McMaster sells everything! I got some very fine copper screen for my coach project…the clerestory windows should have screen to keep the cinders out.

#11

David Marconi, FOGCH said:

Never knew that one Korm. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

i only know it, because in my time as rancher i dug/bored and implemented over a dozen waterwells.

#12

Good tips guys Thanks.

Yesterday I did a test and cut a small dowel in half and sanded it to make it into a quarter round as Craig T suggested and it looked really good.

I will be checking with my local hobby shop to see if they have the quarter round in styrene to make these louvers.

I do have metal screening that is copper I think and that wouldn’t look too bad with a frame around it.

In studying images of big RR cranes I found that most don’t have side radiators and the ones that do have sliding doors for protection. I don’t have the room for these doors.

I think the louvers might be the best choice for my project.

#13

Something that I have used in the past is the mesh cut from a kitchen sieve. The better ones use stainless and thus are difficult to cut but the real cheapo ones are steel and are easy to cut. Plenty of rad mesh in one sieve!

Regards

david