Clarktor 6 Tow Tug in 1/33rd Scale

[Gil]

Same brand that I use.

The biggest problem with thin CA is keeping water vapor from causing it to harden. It has a tendency to go bad quickly in regions where high humidity is the norm. Some people have taken to storing it in vacuum packed jars to avoid this problem. Its ability to penetrate paper quickly degrades as it thickens.

I add several drops of acetone to a bottle in an effort to create an acetone vapor barrier that will not adversely affect its bonding ability. It seems to work.

Please to Continue,

+Gil

[Bomarc]

Originally Posted by Gil

I add several drops of acetone to a bottle in an effort to create an acetone vapor barrier that will not adversely affect its bonding ability. It seems to work.

Good tip Gil, I’ll give that a try. I’m notorious for leaving the blue cap off the bottle after a modeling session, only to discover I did it when I come back the next day. Been lucky so far that nothing happens to the CA glue. I’ve also heard that any bottle of accelerator should be kept well away from the CA bottle, to point of not even storing the two in the same cabinet. I guess the fear is the one or two molecules of evaporated accelerate migrating over will ruin your CA glue’s day. Don’t know if it’s true but I keep my bottle of accelerator in a zip lock bag when I’m not using it. I actually don’t use accelerator too much (none at all so far in this project). I find the CA levels nicely when left to its own devices, and that accelerator make the glue lump up and porous as the reaction works it's way through.

Didn’t have much “bench time” available last night, so I spent what I had prepping for the “production standard” build by modifying things based on what I learned the other day. Reworked the tread pattern:



Now that everything is spread out a bit, I’ll be gluing all the treads down first on the paper and affixing the whole to the tire in one operation. That should ensure even spacing of treads throughout, and hopefully ensure that everything is rigidly attached. Fashioned a second cutting template tool for the smaller intermediate treads so I can make a bunch in short order (left with the slightly “tweaked” original tool):



Last thing left to do was make more tread stock (0.5mm card to 65lb cover stock). I have a short length of ¼” inch steel bar stock that I use as a press. The size is just big enough to spread glue on corresponding pieces of card and be manageable. I just line some wax paper top and bottom and clamp away:







I’m hoping for a block of time tonight so as to start production…we’ll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by Gil

Please to Continue

You’re likin’ that catch phrase of mine, eh? In the new iteration, I had to settle for what you see below due to the limit of lines and characters for sig lines imposed by the forum. What I really wanted to write was:

“Please to continue (or critique. Is for YOU to decide!)….”

Mike

[Bomarc]

Well, work and home life conspired to keep me from the work bench the last two days, but tonight I finally had a block of time so let’s just get to it.

Punched out 24 holes:



Each hole represents two treads, 24 “large” and 24 “small”. After punching, I tapped down the ridges made by the punch:



Using the tools I made, marked out each part…..



…..and cut them out:



Glue them in:



The complete mat-o-treads:



It fits! The requisite 24 rows evenly spaced:




You can’t tell too much from this pic, but CA glue has been applied:



The moment of truth. I used an 80 grit nail file to rough in the shape:



Roughed out:




Only lost two threads:



Added the replacement treads, did a final shaping (by hand, no dremel), cleaned everything up, and not bad:






Kept it in scale to my working drawing too:



Two key points: The above only took about ninety minutes, and everything is reproducible for as many as I need to make (three more!). So now I’ll grind down the first two attempts and make the rest.

I’m satisfied…..

Mike

[cotlet]

When I first saw you moved to plan B for the threads I thought Bomarc is overdoing it. The original threads were very good. Seeing the last pictures I must admit I changed my mind. This is nice, out of the box approach. The results speak for themselves.

ps. Please, give us some close ups after painting the wheels.

[Bomarc]

Originally Posted by cotlet

When I first saw you moved to plan B for the threads I thought Bomarc is overdoing it.

I know Tomek, it seemed like a long work up for little payoff in the beginning of "Plan B" (from Outer Space?), but I needed to test the concept. Now that I have everything "dialed in", it will go a lot quicker with far better results than "Plan A"

Originally Posted by cotlet

ps. Please, give us some close ups after painting the wheels.

Of course. Order of operation as it stands is to get all four treads made, then drill out the center core to make them true "tires" as the dual rims the tires will be mounted on have a very deep offset. Once I figure out how to chunk out the middles of these wheels, then they will get painted.

Mike

[richkat]

Wow, those are great looking, you do fantastic work.......try a small hole saw to cut out te center..............Rich

[Gil]

Ok, so plan B actually worked though I have the feeling that there's some "slack" with superglue shims but cover it in tire black and hoodaknowit...,

One great big gold star and five attaboys...,

+Gil

Post Scriptum: S'il vous plaît de continuer...,

[Bomarc]

Tread production commenced and it went fairly smooth (surprisingly). I decided to make the other three tires in production line fashion. Thus, cut out all the treads first:



Glued them all down:



Sanded down the wheels of the first two attempts (foreground) to bare finish, so all three are the same:



Attached the treads:



Ground them down. I discovered that doing the sides first and leaving the outer paper ring intact until the end help to keep everything in place:



All done, and I didn’t lose a single tread:



What it will kinda/sorta look like when done:



Hubs are next.

Mike

[Tapcho]

I'm glad to see your idea worked so well out. Very prominent tires I have to say. Looking at the references photos you could have picked slicks aswell but now we all know one more techhnique to fabricate heavy tire treads. Thanks Mike.

[Gil]

Does look like one of those tank thingies...,

Great way to lay down radial vanes. I suspect that there are other applications waiting for this technique. Now about those knobby tires we were discussing...,

Good Show,
+Gil