tools, materials & knowledge for model makers
Materials used in model making eg glues, plywood, plastic, paint
Just been looking for materials to make a project and was concerned by the variation in the price of brass sheet, hence thought I would do some calculations. The main calculation was to work out the volume, then work out the weight so that I could then calculate the £/kg column. This then allowed me … Read more
We needed to hide the old radiator pipes and one idea was to make copper covers. As I only needed two covers I didn’t want to spend much time engineering the former. Hence forming copper over MDF. Maybe more accurately into MDF. Changing the radiators in the house left the old 1/4″ pipes poking through … Read more
In model making and engineering we use wood as a thermal barrier, hence it is good to understand the thermal conductivity of wood. A typical example is in the insulation of a boiler. The thermal conductivity of wood is affected by: density moisture content grain direction structural irregularities temperature Density Plotting the thermal conductivity across … Read more
Where is the glue? Perhaps it should be what glue do I need for this to that material. Or even where is the glue in glue-it.com as the keyword is a small feature. There is actually a page on glue-it.com specifically about glues, but it appears under materials. This is not a bad start, but … Read more
Being very new to this I wanted to look at copper versus steel for enameling. Most commercial enamel signs and cases are enameled steel. These normally use a special grade and surface finish steel designed for enameling. In the hobby and craft world copper is the chosen base material. But what are the real differences? … Read more
The WG Ball wet process enamel steel ground coat is quite frankly “Enamel Glue for Steel”. This is a metal oxide based primer that you can mix with water and either spray, dip or paint onto steel. This is then fired at 800°C-820°C. 250g of this costs approximately £13.50 (July 2021) from CooksonGold. A previous … Read more
I was looking for a high temperature paint for my small vertical boiler. It need to be suitable for the firebox and hence work at high temperatures. I wandered into my small local hardware store and saw matt black coal paint. It was just £3.99, worth a go if nothing else. It wasn’t until after I … Read more
In this post, we will further look at some of the tools, parts, and assemblies related to plastic coatings in model making and we will see how they are applied in these items. But before we proceed, let us first discuss what plastic coatings are and their general applications. General Applications and Types of Plastic … Read more
Bronze alloy is a yellow to yellow-brown alloy that contains mostly copper and tin. However, the name is now applied to other alloys that do not contain tin. Bronze was developed in Mesopotania around 2500BC. Bronze is ductile, resistant to salt water, has a hard low friction surface and does not generate sparks when hit. … Read more
When I built my dome greenhouse earlier this year I took my time reading about coverings, so how did I end up with brittle greenhouse polythene? The greenhouse covering looked rather good when it was first complete. I had bought Allplas 500 polythene, recommended for small greenhouses and UV resistant. Clear Polythene sheeting 2m wide … Read more