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Sculpting a tarp from Aves Apoxy Sculpt WIP

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  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Arkansas
Sculpting a tarp from Aves Apoxy Sculpt WIP
Posted by K-dawg on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 9:35 AM

 

I thought I'd share what i spend some of my past weekend working on. I am building the Trumpeter BTR-60P and being an open topped vehicle I felt I should add a suitable canvas top. What I have here is 3 sessions of work spread over 2 days. The first was a large sheet to make the basic structure. Lots of baby powder and a solid rolling pin are handy (I actually use a 1 inch round acrylic bar about 10 inches long)... The other two sessions were spend adding the wrinkles and details and the front part of the tarp that is folded back. There is still plenty to do and small details to be added but i'm happy with the direction it's going.

 

 

Sorry for the less than great photos, these were taken with my phone since my photo booth isn't set up yet in the new shop.

Kenneth Childres, Central Arkansas Scale Modelers

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 9:56 AM

That's an interesting method - thanks for sharing! When I last needed a tarp, I used Pawelite for it - it's aluminium foil glued between two layers of tissue - a material I invented :-) But your method also has lots of advantages. good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Arkansas
Posted by K-dawg on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 2:11 PM

Thanks Pawel. Your method sounds interesting as well. May have to try that some time.

Kenneth Childres, Central Arkansas Scale Modelers

  • Member since
    May 2011
Posted by panzerbob01 on Friday, December 16, 2011 9:59 PM

I've recently taken up with yet another approach: making tarps from plain white copier paper cut to over-size and soaked with dilute PVC glue. Drape to fit while still moist, let dry, and paint!  

The advantages of copier paper are that it is thin (standard thickness around 3.5 thou - like most PE) and the fibre-grain is very fine, leading to nice scale thickness (1/35 canvas should be, what, maybe 1/300 or so of an inch = about 1/10 scaled inch, or less, thick? 1/300 = 3.3 thou or 0.0033 inch... right about copier-paper thick!), cheap, easy to work with, and will have less of the fuzzy-edge and visible fibre problems than seen in tissue tarps.  The PVC and later painting of course further seal the surface and gain scale texture.  Also, because you fit it while wet, it will easily take up close form to stuff it drapes over...  Paper tarps can easily be "reinforced" (as in simulating added thicknesses and repair-patches sewn onto the fabric) by simply adding a real layer and then stippling around the edges with a pin to show stitching.  Likewise, it is easy to create the sewn joins of panels, etc., by realistically cutting the piece along the desired join and the over-lapping them for the seam while still wet - do some pin-stippling and you are good for a seam!  Paper tarps take any paint quite readily.

I have no ready route to post a sample pic of this, but recently used it to great effect on my Tamiya Horch 1A flak-truck, where I scratched a rolled tauna-cover (rag-top) on the folded frame, and on my flakpanzer IV wirbelwind, where I created one of the "bed-sheet camo jobs" done in the winter of 1944 / 45. The paper "sheets" - properly once-white but now grimy and torn - were draped over tools, across the turret, over areas of the hull, etc., and, after drying, revealed the edges of the covered items - just like a real sheet would! 

Try it out - you may find it what you want in the scale tarp quest!

BobToast

Bob

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Arkansas
Posted by K-dawg on Saturday, December 17, 2011 4:57 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried the foil, paper and various other methods, all have their uses for sure but I don't think any one is perfect all the time. My previous large tarp effort was half Apoxy Sulpt and half Lead Foil... worked well in that particular situation.

Yes 1/35 canvas should be pretty thin I guess but this tarp is unique. You can't see the underside of it (without a dental mirror) and soon it will be off to the resin casting shop so it had to be much thicker than scale in order to ease casting.

Kenneth Childres, Central Arkansas Scale Modelers

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