CAR: How to make louvers
John Pratt
aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less from
scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
open and not just embossed.
Is there any moldable, formable material strong enough to make matched
dies for stamping? Any tricks on cutting and prying?
Any tips welcome, and thanks in advance!!
-John
Ken Durling
An excellent question. I have one kit that is just frozen for not having an
answer to this question: the Monogram 1/8 Jaguar E Type. Those damn hood
louvers are molded shut!! Argghh - in this scale it's unacceptable. Let's
get some ideas going here!
Ken Durling
IPMS NorCal
PPSEL
Just Plane Crazy
Don Stauffer
the years. On method is the embossed method similar to how prototype
louvers are made. I have ground a louver shape on a small screwdriver that
I use for a die. I slit the material, using various jig or marking
methods, and slit the series of lines with a no. 11 Xacto blade. I put the
material on a scrap hunk of balsa wood and press the screwdriver die
against the material by eye, with the sharp edge of the die adjacent to the
slit.
I have used three materials in order of preference- First, card stock,
next, sheet styrene. Finally, soft aluminum (roofing flash material). I
do not use brass, as the ordinary hobby shop stuff, or shim stock, is
tempered (springy). I would have to anneal it, so I use other materials
instead.
For card stock I have scrounged up old computer punch cards. This stuff
has a glossy plastic coating on both sides- primes and paints well.
The second method is to fashion some triangular stock (wood or plastic).
It is then cut to length in a jig, and the ends of each piece rounded.
Each piece is then glued in place. Much more tedious than the punch formed
method. I only use this where there will be a small handful of louvers.
John Pratt wrote:
> Has anyone had experience hand producing louvers in thin brass or
> aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less from
> scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
> open and not just embossed.
>
> Is there any moldable, formable material strong enough to make matched
> dies for stamping? Any tricks on cutting and prying?
>
> Any tips welcome, and thanks in advance!!
>
> -John
--
Don Stauffer in Minneapolis
stau...@gte.net
http://home1.gte.net/stauffer/
AAMRESIN
>aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less from
>scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
>open and not just embossed.
>
John,
Bob Pierce, from Northern Indiana, came up with a really good way of doing
open louvers, which I think I can share.
First of all, let me relate that Bob does old-time Indy race cars (20's and
30's) for a very wealthy race car restorer/collector, that are the equal to, if
not better than anything done by Gerald Wingrove.
Bob made a jig for spacing the louvers from wood, with threaded rod (bar
stock from a hardware store) and a "pawl" to lock the movable stage holding the
sheet metal he uses. This way, he can move the sheet stock (Bob uses sheet
copper--roof flashing) one thread at a time, for perfect spacing. The movable
stage is positioned on top of a base (with the threaded rod on each side of it)
holding a sheet of roofing lead. The lead supports the copper sheet perfectly.
Bob uses his drill press, with the chuck locked so it cannot turn, and
creates male louver punches by grinding and shaping various sizes of music wire
or screwdriver tips to suit. He chucks them into the locked chuck of his drill
press, and sets the travel so that each downward "stroke" is uniform. The
home-made male "die" punches into the copper, the lead forms a female "die"
that is exact, and he then moves the stage forward a notch, and punches the
next one. With practice (both in punching the louver and creating the punches)
Bob has been able to amaze his fellow club members in the Lake Michigan Model
Car Club with perfectly done open louvers for years!
When Bob has a row of louvers done, he then inserts the louvered copper
strip into his bodywork, be it a plastic body, or a hand-hammered brass panel.
When finished, it is amazingly realistic.
I know this sounds long-winded and complex, but believe me, the setup is
simple, and the results are great!
HTH,
Art Anderson
Norm Cabana
You are one hell of a modeler! Excellent work!
Norm Cabana
On Sun, 01 Aug 1999 02:23:04 +0900, Hiroaki Fukuda <hir...@din.or.jp>
wrote:
>
>
>Ken Durling wrote:
>
>> >Has anyone had experience hand producing louvers in thin brass or
>> >aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less from
>> >scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
>> >open and not just embossed.
>> >
>> >Is there any moldable, formable material strong enough to make matched
>> >dies for stamping? Any tricks on cutting and prying?
>> >
>> >Any tips welcome, and thanks in advance!!
>>
Hiroaki Fukuda
Ken Durling wrote:
> >Has anyone had experience hand producing louvers in thin brass or
> >aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less from
> >scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
> >open and not just embossed.
> >
> >Is there any moldable, formable material strong enough to make matched
> >dies for stamping? Any tricks on cutting and prying?
> >
> >Any tips welcome, and thanks in advance!!
>
> An excellent question. I have one kit that is just frozen for not having an
> answer to this question: the Monogram 1/8 Jaguar E Type. Those damn hood
> louvers are molded shut!! Argghh - in this scale it's unacceptable. Let's
> get some ideas going here!
>
> Ken Durling
> IPMS NorCal
> PPSEL
> Just Plane Crazy
>
> http://hometown.aol.com/kdur597268/myhomepage/profile.html
--
I made the louvers of Revell's 1/25 E-Type open, and a picture can be found at:
http://www.din.or.jp/~hirofkd/scalemodels/project/jaguar/revxkers/revxkers01.htm
I used a small saw, and scrabbled over and over until the plastic got thin, then
I used a sharp knife to open the louver. Since you are going to open the closed
louvers of a plastic kit, That might work.
Hiroaki Fukuda
Sports and Race Car Modeling Page
http://www.din.or.jp/~hirofkd/scalemodels/index.html
drupp
In Gerald Wingrove's book: The Complete Car Modeller, he gives a couple
of pages of instructions on how to make louvres is sheet metal.
Don from Detroit
In article <19990728024752...@ng-cd1.aol.com>,
kdur5...@aol.com (Ken Durling) wrote:
> >Has anyone had experience hand producing louvers in thin brass or
> >aluminum body panels? I'm building a 1/18 classic car more or less
from
> >scratch, and need a way to make repeated louver patterns, preferably
> >open and not just embossed.
> >
> >Is there any moldable, formable material strong enough to make
matched
> >dies for stamping? Any tricks on cutting and prying?
> >
> >Any tips welcome, and thanks in advance!!
>
> An excellent question. I have one kit that is just frozen for not
having an
> answer to this question: the Monogram 1/8 Jaguar E Type. Those damn
hood
> louvers are molded shut!! Argghh - in this scale it's
unacceptable. Let's
> get some ideas going here!
>
> Ken Durling
> IPMS NorCal
> PPSEL
> Just Plane Crazy
>
> http://hometown.aol.com/kdur597268/myhomepage/profile.html
>
--
Don from Detroit
(63 and holding)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Ken Durling
>of pages of instructions on how to make louvres is sheet metal.
>
>Don from Detro
Hey Don!
Thanks for the tip! I will look for that book posthaste!
Ken
Ken Durling
Can you supply publisher? I'd like to order.
Don Stauffer
it- it is not a cheap book.
I do not wish to take anything away from Wingrove and his beautiful
creations, but keep in mind he is a professional. Very few avocational
modelers (there ARE some, of course) want to go to the lengths he does,
and few again want to do all their work in metal. While I do my
suspensions in metal, I, like most scratch builders, make use of a wide
variety (including some metal) of materials for bodies, but always with
the idea of what will give best results for least work and expense.
Ken Durling wrote:
--
Ken Durling
since I have a lot of fascination with machining and casting and other
fabrication techniques, it sounds like a book I'd like to have. I am part
avocational and occasional professional in my modeling (in other words I get an
occasional gig!) so I glean info from wherever I I can. Hope to see some of
your scratchbuilt suspensions someday!!
>Many libraries have it, you might check first to see if you really want
>it- it is not a cheap book.
>
>I do not wish to take anything away from Wingrove and his beautiful
>creations, but keep in mind he is a professional. Very few avocational
>modelers (there ARE some, of course) want to go to the lengths he does,
>and few again want to do all their work in metal. While I do my
>suspensions in metal, I, like most scratch builders, make use of a wide
>variety (including some metal) of materials for bodies, but always with
>the idea of what will give best results for least work and expense.
>
Ken Durling
john....@wachovia.com
kdur5...@aol.com (Ken Durling) wrote:
> >In Gerald Wingrove's book: The Complete Car Modeller,
>
> Can you supply publisher? I'd like to order.
Great thread! I think both of Wingrove's books are available from
Classic Motorbooks (at least they were). Also, I think that it was
Volume 2 that had the details on his louver press, but I don't have the
books in front of me. Be forewarned that he custom built the press
himself and that it doesn't look too easy to duplicate unless you have
the proper metalworking tools handy in your shop. IMHO both books are
well worth the money. It is fantastic to see his techniques and
artistry.
The method Art detailed sounds much easier than building a press like
Wingrove's, unless you have curved louvers, which Wingrove can do.
As for the XKE, I'd try something similar to what Hiro described.
Using a motor tool with a wide grinder, thin the plastic under the
louvers (checking your progess by holding it up to a strong light so
you don't cut through to the top of the hood). Then use an X-acto to
carefully cut open the louvers. A Flex-i-file strip can be threaded
into the cut out louvers to smooth them out nicely. This method worked
well for me when I opened up the fender louvers on a Viper.
John