A question about scratch building supplies

[Mike T.C.S.M]

There are three 1:72 WWI planes in my stash with very little in the why of interior detail. my question is what sort of thicknesses and widths ect. Of styrene rod, strip and sheet will i need to get. as i want to build up a stock slowly

 

[Chris S]

DB ,To be honest if you're working in 1/72nd you will proably be just as well of with stretched sprue for making the framework etc ...It would probably be about 0.3mm 'ish ....very small , maybe use lead foil or similar for making seats ,milliput for the cushions . There isnt much in the cockpit of a WW I aircraft mostly the frame tubing / wooden framework depending on what it is ,so maybe various thickness of rod /square from 0.3 up to about 1mm would do .

Chris.

 

[Mike T.C.S.M]

well with my academy Sopwith Camel i would't mind trying to build a instrument panel or is that too ambitious ?

 

[Chris S]

Well ...To be honest ..yes and no ! In 1/72nd the clocks/ gauges etc are going to be tiny ,making the dash 'panel' itself would be easy enough ,but making the clocks and surrounding bezels might be quite difficult at that scale , in saying that you could just slice of thin sections of round stock and set them in place to represent the clocks.

Chris.

 

[Mike T.C.S.M]

Thank you Chris you advice. Is use full as ever. Incase you haven't notaced I like trying to iceskate up hill. ;D

 

[the Baron]

Hi, Darkblade, I second Chris about stretched sprue. In 1/72, it can make very convincing ribs and stringers. If you're very serious about a 1/72 biplane, you can use stretched sprue for the rigging, too.

Regarding the instrument panel, it depends on how visible it would be. In an open cockpit, of course, it's probably going to be very visible. I've taken to using thin styrene stock and punching holes in it, then adding another piece as a backing. I paint the whole thing black (well, Tamiya's NATO Black, which is really more of a dark charcoal gray), and put a drop of Future (any clear gloss varnish will do) for the instrument faces. I have a pair of Italian WWII fighters in 1/72, as a matter of fact, on which I'm going to use that technique. One is a Reggiane Re 2001, which has a closed cockpit, but the other is a Fiat G50, which is open, so I need to add something. There are very good instrument decals, too, by the way, but for my purposes, that's a little too much. Mine are a pair of quick, anti-AMS builds, so I don't want to go too nuts.

Hope that helps!

 

[the Baron]

Oh, I forgot to say, about punching holes...

If you don't have a punch and die set, I recommend one, because it comes in very handy. Failing that, for making an instrument panel, if you have a set of drill bits and a pin vise, you can use that instead, to make the holes in the panel. But a punch set is very useful. Not only do you make the holes, but the punched-out disks can be used as well.

The sets made by originally made by Waldron and now sold by Roll Models are excellent, though I got my punch set from MicroMark, for a lower price.

 

[Mike T.C.S.M]

thanks guys . It will have to be the strip/rob styrene because my mum won't like the smell of melting sprue

 

[Chris S]

Do your stretching outside ;D