Thread: Real aluminium
View Single Post
 
Old 06-18-2017, 12:44 PM
Gil's Avatar
Gil Gil is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Northern Bear Flag Republic (Known as Water World in L.A.)
Posts: 1,870
Total Downloaded: 11.99 MB
Making Dents in Aluminum

Quote:
Originally Posted by busoramas View Post
Gil,
I was thinkg to combine lase cut with aluminium foil, design all parts with CAD an then laser cut them, so they match perfectly and save work.

how is your rivet machine? its a normal hole or dot or as the real concave shape?

regards
Laser cutting has a definite advantage in building with aluminum. I've been thinking along those lines - offsetting the framework by 0.006 " so that aluminum strips can be laid down on the framework prior to the application of skin panels. The skin is laid down in much the same way as the full scale aircraft. Each panel has to be carefully prepared in advance with all the pertinent detail applied before it is fitted to the framework - tedious? Depends upon how you feel about modeling.

When it comes to riveting tools I have collected the usual assortment(s) - from pounce wheels for sewing to pounce wheels for rivet lines on plastic models and hypodermic needles specially prepared and mounted in pin vises. As you might expect riveting becomes an entire subject category unto itself. Note that not all rivets can be seen on an aircraft at photo distances - but modelers persist in having them there anyway. There might be other ways for representation than "denting" the aluminum..., Needless to say, a variety of sizes is needed for "scribing in" the variations found on a typical subject.

One other aspect of using aluminum on a model is that it can be "formed" into compound curves impossible with paper media. This is another area that needs practice prior to taking on the task. It's not that difficult and after a little practice is quite pleasurable. Take a look at Guillermo Rojas-Bazan's work - he's notably the best known and certainly the most prolific of the "all aluminum model makers". His site is here but is down at the moment. You'll see that you have already mastered some of the techniques he uses in his models. The one thing that you will realize is that he is a master at obtaining detailed and accurate documentation - you can never have too much...,

Best regards,

-Gil

Reply With Quote