OK, thanks. And I can see why the crack has to be on the correct side, too! 
Well, I took another tack. I built my 72 roof walk supports using the Gary method. I sure tried the belt sander, but wasn’t at all close to getting them all alike. Maybe in my next life. So, the roofs are done, sans roof walks, as I won’t put them on until I’ve painted the dang things.
I’ve also completed all the doors. Only 12 of them, so I think I’m doing OK. Now I have to glue them in place. Bob suggested a 3/16" support behind them, so they don’t bend when you pick a car up by the roof - I think I’ll go for that. I have a bunch already cut for my failed roofwalk supports! My own fault, of course.
These are really shaping up into a nice fleet of cars.
Final (mostly) page is up.
I’ll be adding more non-essential details as I build my pile of cars, but for the most part, the instructions are complete. I’ll be doing the Camel Co door hardware next, and updating the pages with that. You can add as many or as few extra details as you desire. This has been a very fun project, my first build-along. For me, its been rewarding to examine my modeling techniques, and have to describe things that I often do second-nature. I hope you all enjoy building your cars, and I look forward to our next project. There are still some kits left, and if demand is large enough, I can do another run of them.
Sure looks good, Bob. I was originally thinking of rivets, but since there’s 2 bazillion per car, I might go for the welded look. I did get all the doors done and glued in place. It’s very difficult to work on this stuff with the nice weather outside.
Bruce Chandler said:Yes, looks great Bob. Bruce, I’m having the same nice weather problem. .. spent yesterday tooling around on my 1936 Indian Chief… but I was contemplating rivets as I was riding.
Sure looks good, Bob. I was originally thinking of rivets, but since there's 2 bazillion per car, I might go for the welded look. I did get all the doors done and glued in place. It's very difficult to work on this stuff with the nice weather outside.
I’m planning on laminating the sides with .005" styrene with embossed rivets. Not sure how I’m going to do them on the Z bracing yet, though drill-and-fill may be the best option there. I may also try embossing a row of rivets, then cutting a thin strip around them to glue on the surface of the brace. Not sure yet. Of course, I need to get to that point before worrying, and I’ve got a long way to go yet. (I haven’t been in the workshop since building the basic box a few weeks ago.)
Later,
K
Kevin Strong said:
I'm planning on laminating the sides with .005" styrene with embossed rivets. Not sure how I'm going to do them on the Z bracing yet, though drill-and-fill may be the best option there. I may also try embossing a row of rivets, then cutting a thin strip around them to glue on the surface of the brace. Not sure yet. Of course, I need to get to that point before worrying, and I've got a long way to go yet. (I haven't been in the workshop since building the basic box a few weeks ago.)Later,
K
Im sure we’d all be interested in seeing your rivet tests. I had tried embossing the zee directly, to no success… a drill-and-fill will work, but be incredibly tedious… I may do one like that, anyway, just to have a riveted one… the other option I had though of is taking a piece of steel, drilling holes rivet-spacing, and rivet sized, then heating it like a soldering iron, and pressing the zee into it… may work, but may not…might be too much…
I’ve have 2 boxes almost complete. During construction, I determined that if I were to do a couple more I would try to model the rivets.
There are really not that many rivets on the lower edges of the car & end beams that couldn’t be done manually with escutcheon pins.
The Z braces are another story. Here are 2 possible approaches:
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Detail a “universal†length of Z and make castings. The universal lengths could be used instead of the Evergreen stuff.
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Create embossed strips of flat styrene to glue to the car and use a piece of L to complete the Z. The strips could be used to do the corner Ls and the door trim.
Thats another thing Bruce and I had discussed, making the Zee out of an angle and a riveted piece… We decided against this because of the inherent strength of the zee wouldnt be matched by a glued piece. But for a display-only, its definately doable. I may start doing the rivets on the ends, and work my way from there. I have a bunch more boxes to do myself, so I can experiment.
Bob, These models are turning out nicely, thanks for getting the project rolling….
With the rivet derail they would be stunning…. I’ve ordered a pound of #20 escutcheon pins and might start riveting. I’ll post the results when finished… in 2010.
Thanks Geoff. I was VERY pleased when I painted mine up. Once I get all my boxes built, its time to move on to the next project… I liked doing this.
Were do you get your pins from? I bought some small rivets a while ago, but they were insanely expensive…
Not sure how may comes to the 1/2 pound… alot.
http://www.craft-inc.com/prod_detail.aspx?riIDItem=284&riIDClass=41
I didn’t get them yet… I’ll report in when I do.
Hi,
I called Craft, Inc. just now - turns out that they are only about 10 miles from me in Attleboro, MA.
The 20 ga, 1/4" long pins are about 11,000 per pound! And a pound costs $38.50. I was talking with one of the tech reps there about the size of the head on the 18 and 20 gauge pins - he didn’t know, but did mention that the head sizes do vary slightly as the machine they use to make them is 90+ years old and can be temperamental. He will be mailing out some samples for me to inspect; once I get them, I’ll post the measurements.
Another way to consider simulating rivets would be to emboss them onto a brass strip and then to fold it into a Z. It would require a fairly precise brake but some of the miniature ones (12" or less) should be accurate enough and able to handle up to 0.030" brass
Brian
My lifetime supply (1/2 pound) of #20s arrived… measured several… head approx .070 shank .032 looks perfect for the job.
Everyone got yer styrene stuffs? I just ordered 2 cars worth from Hobbylinc and they indicated everything was in stock…
Not yet…but Hobbylinc notified me Monday that they had shipped the last of what I need. I also have some stuff due in from my local hobby shop on Friday…but I think that’s for another project.
I had initially made a jig like Bob described using the hollow tube. My tube must have been thin, as it soon bent. So, I modified his design and came up with this:
I had wanted just a solid bar, but the local hobby shop didn’t have anything but some brass strips. I just soldered them together to get the needed depth. This gives just enough to hold it in the car. This allows me to do the left and right grabs and the straight 1’6" grabs using the hole in the top. The two other holes allow for the grab across the z at the end, and the vertical grab on the end. Here’s a shot of some of the piles. Let’s see, 72 grab irons for the sides and 84 grab irons for the ends.
I’ve only done the ends of one car so far.
The rest of the “fleet” awaits…
Cool, Bruce! I need to re-do my jig, too, to make it a bit more friendly. I found I had to ‘square up’ the grabs after I made them.
Having just finished the fascia boards, I found out that my assembly was a tad off. When you glue the roof pieces in place, you should probably hold a strip of the .030" styrene against the z pieces and align the roof against that. That way you’ll be guaranteed that your fascia boards fit nicely. This may cause a small gap at the peak, but this can easily be filled - and won’t be seen anyway.
Ok, it’s official! I’ve started…!! I now have 2 fish tanks sitting on my work table.
You mentioned that we may have sides that are too long and they would be trimmed later. Is it now later? And what do you suggest to trim them. One of them is quite long…by about a 1/16th of an inch. The others could be worked down by some elbow grease. The one would be rather difficult…and I don’t own a belt sander…at least not one that’s smaller than the car. I’ve got a couple spots that don’t look so pure because the solvent ran where it wasn’t suppose to…but I think some light sanding will take care of that. What did you use to join the styrene to the acrylic…the solvent or CA? I’m a little worried about using the solvant in places that can be seen as I don’t seem to be able to control it too well. It will start flowing real nice…I’ll have a nice steady pressure and then all of a sudden…SQUIRT…!! I’m using the needle seen behind the cars. I was looking ahead in the directions and it shows some center supports for the roof. I don’t see any in the parts shipped…
Not sure what to do there.