Model Accessories

By The late Bob Beach

Fittings such as drag shoe and roller scotch brakes, shaft harness, carriage lamps, harvest ladders and so on, greatly enhance the appearance of a model, but be careful. Make sure that they are the correct size and that you do the necessary research to use the correct design for the period, and traditional type for the area. If overbearing they will detract from the model. Fittings are often as great a challenge as the model itself, so don’t begrudge the time and effort that must be spent upon them.

The argument, “to paint or not to paint,” applies as equally to the making of accessories as it does to decisions about finishing your model. BUT, if you are set on realism and want to depict the social story of a vehicle at work, then accessories can add to, and even transform a project.

The first step is to collect old rubbish by developing a “magpie” eye for what might be of use at a future date for a diorama model, scraps of carpet, cloth, polystyrene and clear plastic sheets, leather and so on. They could be described as "rags to riches."

Background materials

Examples:

Pieces of an old plastic doormat, stuck onto a wooden frame and painted became a load of straw.

A scrap of green deep pile carpet, partly shaved became a rutted cart track.

Expanded polystyrene meat trays, bashed with a hammer, cut up with scissors and painted became a stone flag roof.

Wild birdseeds became the fruit in a basket.

Plastic or paper doylies become blouse collars.

Crates, Buckets, Barrels and other bric-a-brac

In the days before plastic bags and cardboard cartons, goods were carried in sacks and wooden containers. Depending on the detail demanded by the scale, buckets and barrels can be turned on a lathe as a solid piece and the staves simply scored round. Bonds can be made of strip metal or card.

Wooden cotton reels are ideal blocks from which they can be turned. A larger scale may demand a former on which thin staves can be shaped and applied, particularly for buckets and open casks. Bayonet lamp caps can be made into metal buckets.

Crates are easily constructed by applying thin strips onto a wooden block. Alternatively 3mm hardboard can be scored to represent the boards (to the selected scale) and stuck to a prepared block of scrap wood. Hardboard bindings can then be glued onto the finished crate.

A rub down with fine sand/glass paper and a coat of matt varnish gives a "used" look to the crate.

Hurdles can be woven as in full size practice.

MODEL CORRUGATED IRON SHEET

By Brian Simpson

Some modellers have used pet tins to obtain corrugated material which is satisfactory for 1/12th scale work but unsatisfactory at 1/8th scale.

The answer is using 0.5mm aluminium sheet with a jig to produce the corrugations.

The profile of the full size sheeting is 3” from peak to peak which, in 1/8th scale would be 3/8ths inch/ Each sheet should be about 10” long by 4” wide to allow some waste for final shaping and fitting. Using a 2’ x 4” length of Lime the positions of the troughs should be carefully marked and routed to the correct depth with a 3/16th bull-nosed router bit.

The peaks will be left with square tops which can be corrected by using an appropriate sized wood carving gouge upside down to round over the peaks. It will be necessary to grind a small internal bevel on the gouge for this to work properly, alternatively a proper back bent gouge can be used. The peaks and troughs are then sanded until a satisfactory finish is obtained.

The lengths are then reduced to four 1½” wide lengths to produce two jigs which can be interlocked as male and female parts. Register pins are then glued so that the jigs always locate together correctly. Jigs of this width will permit a satisfactory pressure when placed in the vice.

The aluminium sheet is placed in the jig and clamped in a large woodcarving vice. Pressure is then applied carefully to produce the first set of corrugations. The newly profiled sheet is then moved forward keeping the last formed peak registered in the jig to maintain parallel alignment of the corrugations. The secret is not to try the full depth profile at one go, but to form the sheet in several passes.

If necessary the corrugated sheets can be curved laterally if done very carefully in bending rolls.