BaconRaygun Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 As the title suggests, how do you gurus deal with this? I just started working on the Williams bros Model 10 electra and to make it look decent I'm gonna have to re-do all of the rivets and panel lines. Issue is, its a bare metal finish, and for that, the surface needs to be immaculate. Plan is to sand, fill, sand some more and polish the whole thing. Then, scribe the panel lines, and then add resin decal type rivets. After that step, I'm gonna have to once again prime the whole thing... and then wetsand/polish once more. So... how do I take care of the last step without destroying the rivets? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Beary Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 Why not do all of your priming, scribing and repriming etc. and polish the last coat of primer really well....and then do the rivets? That surface should be smooth enough for the rivet decals. Bob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BaconRaygun Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 Well that is the plan, but since the rivets come on carrier film like any other decal, and the finish will be bare metal, I'm afraid the film may show. Everything I'm reading about applying these rivets instructs to seal and prime over them before final paint... to avoid having the carrier film show. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted March 16, 2019 Share Posted March 16, 2019 (edited) Seeing as the rivets are all but undetectable standing right up next to a fullscale airplane, how can they be seen on something 1/72 of its size? For example, if a rivet head is .375" (3/8"), then a model of it is 1/72 of that, about four thousandths of an inch. And OP is talking about what I'm guessing is a flush-riveted airliner. A nominal viewing distance of two feet from the model would put the observer 144 scale feet away from the airplane. I don't see any rivets on anything from 144 feet. Just a thought... Edited March 16, 2019 by peter havriluk typo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 On 3/16/2019 at 2:05 PM, peter havriluk said: And OP is talking about what I'm guessing is a flush-riveted airliner I believe the Electra had raised rivets. Hence the OPs predicament in sanding and prepping for a a NMF. It is 1/53 scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 That'll teach me to assume that the model was 1/72. It makes a difference, for sure, but I'm still of the opinion (and the word is opinion) that any rivets will be invisible on a model viewed from 2 feet away at its scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BaconRaygun Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share Posted March 18, 2019 I agree with you for most models, but on the Electra, the rivets really stand out. I've seen the restored full-scale replica of Earhart's Electra at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and the rivets are like smack-you-in-the-face obvious, even from the far end of that room (which is a few hundred feet). I think it's the fact that they are raised, there are A LOT of them, and the whole aircraft is bright polished aluminum. I'm still on the fens though. The rivets I got from Archer are nice, but I think they are too large. I do want to model the rivets, but I'm OK with them not being raised. Not quite sure how I'm going to pull that off. Maybe paint them on? Maybe decals? Any insight is appreciated. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.