But, but.. Its so tiny!

Sounds like you got a challenge there, you should be ok if you work slowly and take breaks often.

Welcome to Braille scale.

I don't envy you. I would probably be bald after tearing all my hair out.

Sod it.. I payed fot it, I'm gonna use it!

Cover me guys, I'm going in..

QUOTE: Originally posted by Michaelvk Sod it.. I payed fot it, I'm gonna use it! Cover me guys, I'm going in..

That's the spirit.

The inital bending is the toughest, after that it is easier.

Hope you got the Wire ready and it is stiff enough to allow you to bend the part over it. Once you got a reasonable shape going you will need to "roll" wire and hinge together to get it nice and round.

I think I might use a pin (as in the kind that stabs you in the nipple when you put on a new shirt) as a hinge...

QUOTE: Originally posted by Michaelvk I think I might use a pin (as in the kind that stabs you in the nipple when you put on a new shirt) as a hinge...

If the diameter fits they would be ideal, I have often raided the wifes quilting box for needles to make pins with attached rivet heads.

First, welcome to the world of ABER. As far as PE sets go, they are the most complicated ones I have found.

I will make a few suggestions:

Plan on taking a lot of time to build the little parts. Don’t get too frustrated. And plan on breaking at least a few parts on your first PE set. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Although, somehow I have the hinges down now.

There is only one way to learn!! Experience. Make sure to take your time and always remember, you are doing this for fun!!!

One last thing… take your time and don’t think that because the set comes with all those little parts, that you have to use them all. Only use the parts that you think will noticeably enhance your model.

Did I mention to take your time??

Good luck and have fun,
Edog


Oh, if you already don’t have them, I would suggest making sure you have some good tools to work with. I have a few different sets of little pliers to help me.

Gee..I'm wondering whether I'm a 'peep' or a 'peep-ette'? And what this about nipple piercing? I must of logged onto the wrong forum!

Glenn

p.s.- steady hands on that Aber stuff!

Thanks for the tips guys..

And yes, I'll take plenty of time.. There's actually a lot of detail tat goes into the inside of the commanders hatch, which looking forward to making. Luckily the Tamiya King Tiger seems to come with an additional tank commander.. The Italeri Tiger has nowt (nothing). Guess I'll be keeping that hatch open! Woohoo!

Beware of the Nasty "Tweezer-Launch"!

Michael,

Take some masking tape and tape the back side fo the PE before triiming the piece off. The adhesive of the tape will prevent launch.

My question to some of you guys that have extensive experience with brass PE, can you, or is it worth it to anneal the brass before bending it?

Mike

I was actually thinking of that too, with the tape.. With the amount of times I vaccuum the floor around the work area´s the launched part will never, ever be found..

way, way out of my league!![:0]
regards,
nick

Michaelvk, to do those hinges try what I did on my 16th Tiger set (only in a smaller scale lf course ) I took the "hinge" parts and bent them up at a 45deg angle with a small "flat" next to the fender itself. Slide them together the way they assemble and lay your wire in between the 45deg folds. (leave the wire long, don't trim yet) This is where you might want it on a piece of tape to hold the pieces in place. Take your x-acto and fold each hinge piece over the wire (probably have to hold the wire down too, so leave it long) most of the way around, then tuck the end of each hinge under and tight as you can (support the opposite side with another knife blade or something). It got real easy for me on the Tiger and it was only using .4 or .5mm wire so not a huge difference.

Edit: To get the wire nice and straight for laying it in I smooth out a long bit on one end of the roll and I roll it under a wood block on my cutting mat. This straightens the wire out real nice.

Renarts On my Tiger stuff I haven't anealed anything except the exhaust covers that were big and had to be "rolled". All the flat folds I haven't bothered and the small peices that needed a bend I had no trouble with either.

Eric

I have a good come back for the title of this thread but.... oh well. Anyhoo, Stick with it, take your time and I'm sure you'll do just fine.

Peep.

The key word is PATIENCE.....

Have at it and good luck!

Eric (erush), where were you when I was trying to do that?? I wound up busting just about every "hinge" tab off on one side of mine. Haven't figured my way out of that yet! (For the Tiger I).

I tried annealing some parts. First time I did it, I used a propane torch and held the parts above the flame. This should be considered a big NO-NO! The heat deformed some of the parts and actually melted through some of the smaller fret material. I don't think I lost anything, but it was close. (Some of the parts REALLY look battle damaged!! lol) The next time, I used a candle flame and that worked a lot better. Harder to get them hot enough. You might have to do a part at a time rather than the whole fret.

Good luck.

Yeah Bill, I can imagine you had fun with that torch! I've found with the fold line on the parts that take straight folds and the stuff like "hinge" tabs being thinner anyway that I haven't botherd to aneal anything other than those exhaust covers. I'm sorry to hear about your hinges on your fenders. I hope you can figure a way to fix them. (other than Robert telling you to put a tarp over it )

Eric

Heh heh.. The H1 exhaust covers are angular.. Neener-neener-neener

QUOTE: I hope you can figure a way to fix them. (other than Robert telling you to put a tarp over it

Did the Germans use tarps?? I thought only the Allies were allowed to use tarps by the Geneva Convention. The Axis Powers had to leave all their stuff (and themselves) out in the weather!! LOL

Thats not a tarp on Roberts, tanks......its a table cloth.

I remember we talked about annealing the larger parts eric, I wasn't sure if you did it on the smaller ones though.

The candle flame should be enough, especially considering how thin most PE is. You just want it to turn color. A propane torch is too hot and not reccomended if your not familiar with working brass, especialy thin brass. With brass you only want the metal to get to a bright red and then allow it to air cool. (obviously this works in a dim area) with the thin brasses this will happen fast. If you over heat it for too long you will actually temper brass. Making it harder and more brittle. Brass also work hardens so the more you work it (bend, roll etc) the more it will harden.

Mike

We only have to hope someone invents a machine to shink us down to the size we have to be to work with that stuff. Of couse, we'll need tiny anvils, hammers and vises too. Or maybe tiny vices, which sounds like more fun.

If we would shrink down to that size, most of us would never leave the finished kits because we´de be having too much fun playing tank commander..

"Achtung! Britischer sherman auf funf hunderd messer! FEUER!!!" -giggle giggle giggle-

Holly Molly ...... Honest Lawyers! What's that???? I have found that working with PE just takes time and a lot of patience. Go low and slow, and everything will be fine!