Making bundles of fabric for stowage i.e. sheets, covers, tarps etc

I've never tried this..  Watching thread with interest

I might try this with my build also. I watched a video that made this look really easy. You can use putty and roll it flat, then roll it into a bundle, and using a pencil/q-tip/etc. you can fold it, and push it around to form creases. The other way I saw this done was simply to use regular fabric, something thin and to scale obviously, and to harden it with hairspray or something (not sure what was used). I'll be watching, I'd like to see this start to finish.

Hi, for bed rolls/tarpaulin and such like I have had success with the following:-

Use White wood glue thinned 50/50 with water, take some tissue paper ( stuff you blow your nose with ), soak the tissue in the glue mix then let it "drain" a little. Before it becomes too stiff fold into the shape you want and let it dry. This is a good way to make "Tarpaulins".

Another way, for bed rolls is to roll the tissue into the shape/roll and paint with the mix poking and pushing to give shape/creases after you have put on your straps/ties?.

Hope this will be of some help to you!. These techniques I have learned from others on this forum.

It just wants a bit of patience and practise...cheers...Kenny

Kenny is right on with the technique.  Insted of nose-blowing tissue though, I like to use the tissue paper that you use when wrapping up shirts and the like.  It is a little thicker, has a better texture, and won't tear as easily.

Cheers guys,

I've got a slab of Milliput, I'm off to buy a couple of new shirts for the office in the morning and obviously we have normal tissues in the UK too so I'm going to try all three methods on my next builds-I reckon a thinly rolled rectangle of Milliput cut to size and rolled and tied could be a winner.

If I make another Marder type vehicle I'll probably try making a tarp cover for the breech area. Tyr the shirt paper method maybe?

 On a different note, one of the kits in my growing stash is the 1/35 Tamiya Cromwell. It comes with a loop of braided cotton which is meant for use as braided metal tow lines. I've noticed it's exactly the same as 20ibs breaking strain fishing braid! I used to do a lot of fishing so have several types of braided line.

10ibs breaking strain braid seems to be a great scale for use (in 1/35) as standard light rope too.

HTH

Ben

spacepacker

...

Use White wood glue thinned 50/50 with water, take some tissue paper ( stuff you blow your nose with ), soak the tissue in the glue mix then let it "drain" a little. Before it becomes too stiff fold into the shape you want and let it dry. This is a good way to make "Tarpaulins"...

I've had good luck with this technique also. The fellow from my modelling club that taught it to me also recommended tinting the diluted glue with craft store hobby paints. This saves trying to get paint into folds and creases once it drys, and makes it look more like fabric than something that's been painted.

A couple of cautions he added were:

1. use facial tissue, not toilet tissue (which will dissolve) or paper towel (which often have patterns)
2. if making tarps, remember to drape it over what it's ultimately going to cover, because once it's dry, obviously the shape is set. He waited until it was as dry as it could be, while still being flexible enough to be moved/bent/prodded into shape, and when necessary used talc as a barrier to avoid adhering.
3. Craft paints come in a wider selection and are cheaper than our modelling variety...but you will not find dunkelgelb...lol...so you may have to do a couple trial runs before getting the exact colour you wish. 

This technique has yielded some of the most realistic looking tarps I've ever seen. Good luck.

Cheers,

I too use the white glue/tissue paper method for stowage. I get my tissue from either shirt boxes or gift bags. I have found that darker colors cover much easier than white so I will tend to search those out at birthday parties and Christmas.

Here are some before and after shots, I hope they help.

Ken

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hinsky, no worries using the pic, im honord m friend. The tarps are easy as pie.  I use the thicker tissue paper from shoe boxes.  I cut it to size and laminated about 4 or 5 sheets togeather un-evenly with diluted white glue.  When it is still damp, I roll it up and let it dry.  Then paint and weather.

If I am doing a tarp just thrown over something (not rolled up), I use three sheets cut to size.  I then crumple them up and glue evenly with the diluted glue.  When it drys hard the crumples leave ridges and when dry brushed the detail just pops out.

I have not tried the milliput tarps yet.  just got some and will give it a wirl.  Hope this helps buddy

Bob

Hi lads,

Good stuff-lot's of helpful advice lads.

M1 Carbine-thanks mate, again, I love your build!

Cammokid-now that is impressive, that's exactly what I want!

Watch this space-I'm going to have a few bundles on the Sturmpanzer hopefully.

I'm also planning a future build of a halftrack. I saw a completed one on here where the modeller had draped a Swastika flag over the bonnet (that's a hood to you Americans I think ) and that looked brilliant. I'd like to make something like that too.

If the maker of the Swastika flagged halftrack reads this I'd love to know how you did that..........

ATVB

Ben

Another method  for the rolled up bundles is using cheap modeling clay that hardens when exposed to air. You can mold it to any shape, even make sandbags with it. You can texture it by lightly pressing  a piece of an old cotton t-shirt. It gives you enough time to mold, drape and texture, eventually drying out within a couple of days, then paint. Both methods work equally well.

All of you have your favorites, and that is great, but I use more than just one kind of paper.  For Jeep seat fabric, I cut facial tissue to close to dimensions, then put a big drop of paint on the part, set down the tissue, then paint the tissue down.  No glue needed unless it curls after drying (usually doesn't).  It looks very realistic.

But for other tarps, I use the brown paper towels from a convenience store bathroom or service island, the blue ones work too.  Taco Bell napkins have a nice texture, too.

And for the top covers on a Dragon 6475 Pz.Sfl.IVb 10.5cm le.Fh 18/1, I took a blue shop towel, delaminated it (just like peeling a business card), and painted it the appropriate color.  These are a bit thicker than paper towels, obviously, but the pictures I had made them look pretty thick.  Once the paint had dried, I wrinkled them up really well, then glued them in place with Elmer's white glue.  Mix up your mediums!  The different textures add something to the built kits.

Hinksy

...I'm also planning a future build of a halftrack. I saw a completed one on here where the modeller had draped a Swastika flag over the bonnet (that's a hood to you Americans I think ) and that looked brilliant. I'd like to make something like that too.

If the maker of the Swastika flagged halftrack reads this I'd love to know how you did that....

Hi Ben,

If I remember correctly (and my apologies if I've mixed people up), I seem to remember not only seeing that flag you're speaking of, but that the builder did a tutorial on how he made it. The name that immediately sprung to mind was panzerguy (Steve).

I've tried doing a search to get a link for you...but alas, no matter what I try, the search won't look further back than the beginning of October ...and it was earlier than that...sometime this spring/summer I think...

EDIT: It took a bit of diggin'...(we're having a gawd-awful storm here today...temps in the -45 degrees range...and I'm waiting for parts to dry...so I was bored and did a search the looooong way)....back on page 105 is what I was looking for: Steve's tutorial on how he did that flag...here yah go:

/forums/t/110857.aspx

I hope that was what you were thinking of...Good luck,

Cheers

My technique for making the air recognition flags is simply to print it out on paper, cut it out, then crumple it up, uncrumple it, repeating that over & over until it's soft...

For bedrolls, I use water/glue moistened tissue, folding it in thirds over itself towards the center and tying it off with ordinary thread.  Keeping the folds going to the center makes a thick, rounded edge that looks like a rolled sleeping bag, rather than a rolled tarp..

Hinsky, for the recognition flags I cruple it up several times till soft as Von Hammer stated, then I laminate it to a piece of tinfoil.  the foild makes it easier to conform to any shape you want to drape it over.

Bob

Thank you sir that sounds very useful