simulating rolled beading

Not a automotive buff so picturing this 'bead' is difficult. Can you post a picture of what you want the finished bead to look like and then we can figure out how to accomplish this look in plastic.

To the the forums Dan!

SuppressionFire,

You bet...I'll try.  It's just a depression or "rib" pressed into a metal panel to strengthen it.  I'll try this here...

This photo actually shows the inside of the panel...from the outside the beads are depressed rather than raised as this photos shows, but you get the idea.  Thanks!

lead foil found on high end wine bottles is the best solution.

Make the 'ribs' out of styrene and then form the lead over it. this technique works well for tank fenders with stiffening ribs pressed into them, the lead foil is formed around the original part and due to its metal properties it is easy to add realistic battle damage. Use a toothpick or something wood to form the new lead part over the form starting from the center and working outward.

The bead you pictured is sheet metal pressed in a formed steel press for added strength, these ribs or beads stiffen the sheet to save money, time, material and weight.

Some automotive modelers use this technique to make formed copies of details such as door handles for kits with them missing or poorly molded ones.

As with handling lead wash your hands after, in the state of California it is a known carcinogen.

Priming can be done with common automotive primer. 

Good luck and post the WIP's! (great GB going on you may want to join in automobiles)

Thanks for the info.  Do you know of another source for this thin lead?  Like I said, I was hoping to find a way to do it in styrene.  I have thought of modeling and casting them, but it's a prototype...one shot deal here...I dont foresee needing copies. 

I would make the 'master out of styrene and form it with the lead. Stop by a bottle recycle place and ask for some wine bottle tops there, you will get funny looks until you explain what you need them for.

Once you use lead for modeling it becomes the 'go to' material for many scratch built items, you will find it easy to work with, holds shape excellent and useful for things like hose & wire clamps, silver stripes around objects and even some of the color on the outside is exactly right in some cases.

If you want a panel with the depression on one side as well as the raised portion then I would use either tooling copper or aluminum burnished over a form.  You can find the material at a craft store.  Both materials are substantially stiffer than lead foil.

If you only need the side with the raised rib, then I would just use .010 or .015 styrene with a half round styrene bead.

Paul

If you want to use styrene... make a master and vacuum form around it.  

wish I would have thought of it

Paul

Well I think vaccuforming would yield the best looking result...it's a similar process to how the original panel was formed, but I have no experience with it, and frankly it doesnt interest me much to learn at this point...it looks like it's gonna be casting!

To Paul,

Thank you for the reply, but I need the "negative" side...where the photo shows raised ribs, I need the ribbed areas to actually be depressed

I'd make them from tooling copper. You can find a roll of it at craft stores in the tin punch section.