Rivet Detail

[steamyjim]

Whats the best way to put rivet detail onto a mamod loco body???

I think Grumpfuttok (forgot your real name sorry ) did it to his but not sure????

Any ideas?

[ptlrcecil]

Ive put rivet detail on my accucraft engines but it is very time consuming.
First mark out where you want each rivet to go. (get one out of line and it will haunt you).
Next buy youself a pack of (guess what) rivets of the desired head size. Drill the marked out holes to required size.
Glue or solder rivets in place.
Get mini grinder and grind of rivit backs.
Paint and hey presto rivit effect.
Hope this helps.
PS take your time and the effect is superb.
PPS Ive never tried it on such a large scale before.

[ptlrcecil]

By scale I meant size of area of detail.

[steamyjim]

That is very useful. Thanks!

I shall probally just do the side tanks, the smokebox/chimney and the tender with rivets. If its time consuming. I geuss it needs doing before painting?

[ptlrcecil]

Definitly before painting.
Ive only ever done it on buffer beams before and I did get it a tad wrong on one rivet on my superior. Fortuantly it wasent to obvious.

[steamyjim]

Oh yes, and buffer beams, cylinder covers, coal bunkers and somewhere else i cant remeber

[grumpfuttock]

Using real rivets is best but as already pointed out, time consuming.
The way I cheat is using a centre punch with a rounded point , not too sharply pointed. You can use a piece of steel rod or bolt of the appropriate diameter, ground to a rounded point. Another punch is needed, and this is the most important one, it has a concave hole on the end instead of a point ( I am not sure what it is called). Scribe a line where the line of rivets are to go and determine the best looking distance between the rivets, and mark the place of each rivet. Lay the sheet metal on a piece of soft wood, place the center punch where the rivet is to be and give it a sharp tap with a hammer. Continue along the line. You will notice that this makes the sheet of metal warp, don't worry, the next stage counteracts this. Do one line at a time. When the line is finished, straighten out the sheet as best as possible and turn the sheet over, put it on a harder surface.
    Grab the concave punch, place it over each "pimple" that you made and tap with the hammer, best to try softer blows first, do this along the line, this should make the "rivet heads" rounded and more defined  and you will see that the sheet of metal straightens out pretty nicely as one progresses. When the rivets are finished  the line of dents on the back of the sheet can be hidden by filling in with soft solder using a soldering iron, and then sanding it flat. If the sheet will not be getting hot eg. the side of a tender, then car body filler will do.

I don't think I need to say this (but I will )... try it out on a piece of scrap first to get the hang of it. When using the concave punch, do not tap too hard or you could end up with small circlar indentations on the sheet around the rivet head. This method works great with flat metal sheeting. Preformed tanks etc. would probably be more tricky, and I think the warping effect of the first stage might be difficult to straighten up.

I hope this was useful !

[ptlrcecil]

Ive heard of rivets being done like that but I never knew quite how to do it. Ill have to try it when I rebuld my jenny.
What thickness of plate will it make an effect on?

[grumpfuttock]

I have used this method on brass sheeting from K&S, No's 252 ( .015" 0.41mm) and 253 (.032" 0.82mm). I use K&S No.252 for tanks & cabs and No. 253 for footplates.

[ptlrcecil]

Aye for thicker plates like buffer beams the drilll it out technique would work best but for body work the punch way would come into its own.