Making 1/35--or any scale--Sheets of corrugaed metal.

IanIsBored2000

Member since
August 2006
From: The Green "Mountains", Vermont

Making 1/35--or any scale--Sheets of corrugaed metal.

Posted by IanIsBored2000 on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 9:56 PM

Well, for a diorama I'm starting I'll need a good amount of corrugated steel. I saw a couuple methods--involving taking eithere a piece of "evregreen corrugated styrene" or corrugated card board, and using it to bend tin foil into the right shape. I've got that part down fine--I can get the tin foil into the right shape--but then how do you harden it? Some places said glue? I tried with some Testors Tube Glue--and it didnt harden it at all. Other places said paint? but I don't know how well that would work. Any other ways to harden it? Maybe using lead foil instead? But even with that, I'm looking for something fairly solid, and lead foil is pretty easy to bend. Am I out of luck?

"Scanlon: work your knobby hands on the table in front of you, constructing a make-beleive bomb to blow up a make-beleive world."

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Hermesminiatures

Member since
April 2006
From: LaValle, Wisconsin

Posted by Hermesminiatures on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 11:01 PM

I'd try using lead foil or better yet annealed brass, they'll hold their shape much better. Aluminum foil is next to useless for large pieces that need to be somewhat durable.

Jonathan

For every modeling technique that works, I have three that don't.

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grizz30_06

Member since
March 2005
From: The Red Hills of South Carolina

Posted by grizz30_06 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:39 AM

I don't really have access to lead foil but at Hobby Lobby and/or Michael's I found some thin metal that you use to "emboss" a design over a form. I think that would work great. It's about US $ 5 or so for a small roll. I have used it for all sorts of things. I made some body armor for Colonial Marines for the movie Aliens and I use it to make straps. It's several times thicker than aluminue foil.

Grizz

Denial, it's not just a coping mechanism, it's a way of life.

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IanIsBored2000

Member since
August 2006
From: The Green "Mountains", Vermont

Posted by IanIsBored2000 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:18 AM

good Ideas! By the way, to Griz, where did you find colonial marines figures, or were they scratchbuilt? I'm not really a Sci Fi fan, but the weapons armor and vehicles in that movie series are just awesome!

"Scanlon: work your knobby hands on the table in front of you, constructing a make-beleive bomb to blow up a make-beleive world."

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Triarius

Member since
January 2003
From: Peoples Socialist Democratic Republic of Illinois

Posted by Triarius on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:10 AM

Another source for stiffer, but very workable metal sheet is metal toothpaste tubes, such as Tom's of Maine uses. Cut them open, clean them out, burnish them flat, then shape as desired. They have the additional benefit of being pre-primed so they can be easily painted. Be careful, as the cut edges are quite sharp.

Ross Martinek A little strangeness, now and then, is a good thing… Wink

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IanIsBored2000

Member since
August 2006
From: The Green "Mountains", Vermont

Posted by IanIsBored2000 on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 9:53 PM

Thanks for the Ideas. I haven't seen any of those metal toothpaste tubes, but my dad let me take some lead foil off a couple bottles of wine, and that is working pretty well. Still not extremely durable, but it works. I experimented with some bulletholes and rust which didn't come out great, but otherwise, I think I've found a pretty good, easy and cheap method. Here's the results:

"Scanlon: work your knobby hands on the table in front of you, constructing a make-beleive bomb to blow up a make-beleive world."

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grizz30_06

Member since
March 2005
From: The Red Hills of South Carolina

Posted by grizz30_06 on Thursday, July 12, 2007 3:27 PM

IanIsBored2000 wrote:

good Ideas! By the way, to Griz, where did you find colonial marines figures, or were they scratchbuilt? I'm not really a Sci Fi fan, but the weapons armor and vehicles in that movie series are just awesome!

Well I bought a few of the old AEF figures off of E-Bay and I got some better weapons from some guy off of E-Bay too. I really don't do that much Sci-Fi but I do really like the Colonial Marines. I want to try and scratch build an attaching or stalking alien to do a diorama. Also, over on the starship modeler web site I saw that a guy in France is selling limited edition Colonial Marines.

Grizz

Denial, it's not just a coping mechanism, it's a way of life.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 8:59 PM

Triarius wrote:
metal toothpaste tubes, such as Tom's of Maine uses.

That's excellent news - since we use Tom's toothpaste! I'll have roofing material for years!!

I'm also going to nab some of that embossing foil to try out, as well.

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mikepowers

Member since
January 2005
From: Ohio

Posted by mikepowers on Monday, July 23, 2007 11:15 AM

Hi Ian.

You might want to try coating the foil with Future floor polish, then a flat coat and weather as usual.

It dries hard and should give you some of the strength your looking for.

Mike

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 2:12 PM

mikepowers wrote:

You might want to try coating the foil with Future floor polish, then a flat coat and weather as usual.

Before or after shaping it?

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Dubar1

Member since
August 2004

Posted by Dubar1 on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:33 PM

Hey guys,

I've been slack on posting so I thought I'd stick my 2 cents worth in here.

Fiskers makes a paper crimper that can be used to make corrugations in thin sheet metal. Michaels carries them. I can't get the link thing to work, so go to Michaels site and type in Fiskers paper crimper. I think it will take a piece 6" wide and as long as you can hold out to turn the roller!

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Gigatron

Member since
January 2007

Posted by Gigatron on Monday, July 30, 2007 2:33 PM

This may sound like a dopey idea, but how about thin styrene sheet and one of those hair crimpers. Lay the styrene in a crimper, heat it with a hair dryer, crimp it and let it cool. You can then reheat it to bend or bang it up.

-Fred

GIF animations generator gifup.com

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squeakie

Member since
June 2007

Posted by squeakie on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:15 PM

I saw it in the model railroading stuff awhile back at one of the LHS's in my area.

gary

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fantacmet

Member since
January 2005
From: Portland, Oregon

Posted by fantacmet on Wednesday, August 1, 2007 4:05 PM

In an issue of SA not too long ago, they were using Radio Shack etchant(Ferric Chloride) to get rust started and to burn holes in thin sheet brass and aluminum. Then using any of the other methods for creating rust. As for the corrugation, he was using something fromt he art supply store, that has like two interlocking drums and a handle to crank them. It was designed to put tubes into and squeeze all the paint out of them. Made PERFECT looking corrugated metal. If I can find the article I will scan for you. Screw Kalmbach, it falls under fair use.

Michael