Insane mad, or insane crazy 'Rivets'

don_jarr · 12-09-2007

Hi all

So after deciding to finish my boat I started ages ago, I had the hull all nicely painted, and it just looked to nice and new, so then I saw a picture of a older mid 1900’s riveted steel hulled boat and thought how much better it looked. So me being mad got the hot air gun out and stripped my nice new paint off and started again. (I also made the keel deeper to add buoyancy to allow for a bigger heavier battery to be used for a longer running time.)

A good way to get a older painted over rusted hull effect, is apply a single layer of fibreglass tissue, then with cured using a flat spatula, thinly smear filler over to fill in most of the imperfections, and then just sand lightly. The end result is a slightly pitted and marked hull, that of old rusted but cleaned and painted over metal.

Then onto the rivets. The boat I saw in the picture had single line rivets with a joiner strip halfway down. So I set about adding the rivets. I’m up to about 1000 at the mo, with only one side done and about another two thousand to do. (so thats mark out the line, 1 every 5mm, drill the hole, push the cut down nail in, then hammer till just proud of the surface. ) I couldn’t find any proper miniature rivets so found some panel pins in a local hardware shop with small neat heads on them. Downside is they need cutting down as they are to long, which has given me loads of blisters from the cutters, and cutting so many.

This picture was taken last night, where now that side is nearly done. Also once a coat of paint is added, it looks much better.

Don

new to trains · 13-09-2007

i once built a nautilus submarine, not the one disney used for thier film but a replica of the model proposed to disney by harper Goff one of their special effects guys.... this model in my opinion is more unusual but interesting to model, i too simulated rivets in this way, a long winded process but its worth it !

don_jarr · 13-09-2007

Hi m8

I was looking at the Engel nautilus, but that has the wrong rivet pattern on it from the film so would totally need redoing. 7000 in all so that would be a challenge.

Saying that I had a rough count today and my boat will have around 4000 when done, it surprising how quick they mount up.

I have added a picture of part of one side done, and a coat of paint just to see how it looked. (I am very impatient when it comes to seeing the finished thing.)

It will need several more coats of paint to look right, then add the weathering, rust and barnacles and other crap that builds up on a boat hull and it should look ok.

Don

alan2525 · 13-09-2007

The riveting looks great so far - really gives the model some nice character and looks infinitely better than a smoothly sanded hull carefully hand painted painted with a couple of coats of Satin Humbrol Enamel!

I looked around for some suppliers for rivet heads after trying dressmaking pins and assorted panel pins etc. Someone should sell some nice quality but cheap rivet heads in a variety of scales to suit modellers.

I tried some resin cast rivet heads but to me it seemed very expensive if used in large numbers!

don_jarr · 13-09-2007

Hi m8

I agree. in the US you can get from 1/16th shaft dia upwards, over here so far I've found squat.

**Bluewavestudios** · 14-09-2007

Nice work so far there Don,
Starting to look very convincing indeed and I quite agree that they do add a lot of character to the model too.

Found these on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-35-GRANDT-LI...QQcmdZViewItem

Trouble is the seller only has 2 packets available and there are only 175 rivets in each pack. Shame as these would do the job nicely.

STOP PRESS !! The good news is that these are still available in various sizes on the original manufacturers site at: http://www.grandtline.com/product_listing.htm

Items 152 to 157 on the list. If you are prepared to order from the States then why not go for them. (Given the current exchange rate this is not such a bad idea)

Regards.......Mark

new to trains · 14-09-2007

nice work with the rivets and paint !

don_jarr · 14-09-2007

Hi all

It might be worth getting those rivets off ebay just as an 'in case' thing if nobody else bids on them.

thanks m8

Don

kevingambrell · 14-09-2007

HI
Most model engineering dealers will do coppers down to 1/32 inch

Try Polly model engineering in the UK.

Cheers Kevin

don_jarr · 15-09-2007

Hi all

Thanks for that, but for now I will stick with the panel pin heads as when you are using around 4000, it starts to become expensive, just for looks.

Anyway continued riveting today, and also made a rudder. I did have a brass bought one, but it just didn’t look right, so using a bit of brass tubing I hammered a section flat, then built a rudder around it from thin strips of hardwood, then covered in epoxy resin to water proof it, then painted it. I added a few bits of wood and rivets to look like banding, and when finished I will weather and add rust to look right.

Don