Damn, I am stuck (again).

I am trying to cover a dummy tank form with a canvas cover but I don't seem to get it right.

This is the shape that needs to be covered:

http://groups.msn.com/Roadkillsplace/dummytank.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=90

And this is how it should look like (sort of)

http://groups.msn.com/Roadkillsplace/dummytank.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=77

I tried using cloth, silk, facial tissue, paper tissue, ... about 6-7 different approaches without any good result.

Laying the material on the form is not the main problem (except on the turret), but getting the seams look right is :-(

My wife also tried (like a balloon) to sew a form which I could pull over the basic shape but the stitches are to big in scale, so that dos not work either.

I am almost in the position to throw the project in the trash bin so any suggestions will be nice.

Ronny, one thing that could work in your case is regular kitchen plastic. You can glue it with CA glue and paint with enamels to a wanted finish. You can even stretch it after painting, with just a little luck you´ll get very thin, sharp folds. It´s also easier to see the shapes if you at least prime it first. If you are concerned about the seams, you just fold the end of the plastic to make clean edge, glue it and carefully press tiny stitch marks in it with x-acto blade.
This is the technique I would go for.
I hope you find a way, this is an interesting project!



Toni

Envar has got it right on the ball.
Last weekend I helped my son create a model of a plant cell. We used one of the 6" styrofoam balls you get at craft stores to make flower arrangements with. We cut it in half - like your turret. Then we covered it with kitchen celophane (sp?) plastic wrap. We just glued down the very edge with white glue (tacky glue thats the brand name not elmers). It created those exact ripples.
Maybe a spray of hairspray of arisol glue to give it strength.

Another thought - in Shep's books he often will roll out milliput very thin and use that to represent cloth. He sculpts in all the folds and ripples. If you can get his 2nd edition there is a section on how to do this. He does it with a flag and a windscreen cover. Same techniques should apply.

Hope this helps.

Hi Scot and Toni,

Tnx for the advise.
I have the 2nd addition of Sheps book and know what you mean, but covering a whole 1/35 scale Sherman tank will cost me a bundle in Milliput

I tested the kitchen plastic methode of Toni and that looks promising as far as covering the base go's, now I need to find a way to let it apear as painted canvas, hmmm I need to brainstorm about this, but I am sure I will get there

Do you have sculpty clay or something like it? The baking kind of clay. It's about .50 per block and it can be sculpted pretty well.

Nope got nothing like that and my modelingshop does not sell it either

I spoke to soon :-)

My wife came home and had 1 Kg of DAS clay for me, so I am going to try the kitchen plastic and the Clay methode.

i never used DAS clay in my life (can you believe it ) so I wonder if there are any tips you (all) could provide for using it? for example: the best way to roll it, to recreate folds and ripples in it etc....

My wife is always making baskets of crap to give as gifts. She gets a type of clear cellophane that shrinks when blown with a blow dryer. The more you blow the heated air across it, the tighter it hugs whatever you have it wrapped around. Maybe something like that would be useful.

Patrick

Ronny

When Using Das Clay make sure that you have a small bowl of water next to you when you use it. It stays workable for quite long but it starts to crack quite fast with water you avoid that problem
I have used DAS clay for my Sniper inn the winter diorama campaign
great stuff. You could also make water with it wich looks very well


Any Questions???? Just Ask

If, after covering the frame with plastic, and it doesnt look right, try covering again with the paper that new shoes has stuffed inside them and wetting then with white glue. This makes an excellent tarps. sffect and you can make your folds etc when dry them wet with glue and they will stay in place. When dry and hard, it is painted easily. Cling-film plastic is so easily punctured, I wouldnt like to risk working on it too much!

I tried the DAS method and man ... that was messy : (

First, I rolled out a bit of DAS fairly thin, on a glass plate (covered with talcum powder).

Trying to lift it from the glass was almost impossible without breaking it.

Then I covered a section (I started with the sides then the back, front and finally the top) (the clay was precut to a rough side of the section I wanted to cover) with the clay.

I used a knife to put some scratches on my plastic frame to give the DAS something to cling to.

The Clay started to breakup on the corners so I needed to repair those constantly :?

I tried to impress a canvas structure by using a kitchen towel but succeeded only partially, some areas worked fine others not (I brushed on a little water to help the imprint, I also carved seams and stitches, again only partly succeeding, it does not look convincing to me.

After letting it dry overnight I went to look and discovered that the clay has, again, been cracking at the corners (beyond repair).

Conclusion: the DAS clay method does not work for me, ahwel, back to the drawing board.

Ouch - Live and learn, thanks for sharing.

One more though - silk. It's fine thread, there are usually a high thread count so lt will be tight. Maybe trip to the local cloth store will yield another idea too.

Not sure if this would work or not - how about the plastic film used to cover flying model aircraft?

Lots of suggestions here, and I guess I'll give one more.

I have used white plastic grocery bags for lots of stuff and it might work for your application. The stuff is thin, relatively strong and reacts well with model cement and paints. You may have to try bags from several different sources before you find the best one for your needs, but hey, they are cheap (free!) and readily available.

I like using these bags for making ponchos and plastic tarps.

Did you give the "white glue and tissue" technique we discussed on PM a try out ? I'm curious to read the results of that ! If you have troubles with that, I can pm you my cell phone number. Since we're almost neighbours...

Jan

Jan,

I tried the white glue and tissue method and in a way that works, but in comparison to the available pictures of real dummy's it was not perfect.

But .... Praise the Lord I think I got it.

After reading Plasticbattles reply I searched our home for that "shoe paper" and found heaps of it.

Ok it has no real canvas texture but I looked at my pictures again and compared them to scale. Since it is painted canvas the texture is not that obvious, so I decided that that is no longer a priority (I want to get this damn dio on schedule again!!!!!) and I did some test runs on that paper.

It is heaven, it takes glue very well and (after priming) any paint. I accidentally discovered that by using automotive primer it gets a bit of a rough feeling to it, so there is scale texture.

When you crumble it and then smoothen it out again you get the perfect folds for canvas.

But this is (for me) the best part:

I took a piece of paper (A4) and spayed a light dusting of 3M spray glue on it so it became tacky. I then "glued" a precut piece of shoe paper on it and stuck it in my printer.

I printed a test pattern on it which was easily cut by scissors or scalpel and removed from the normal paper without a glitch. and glued it on the test piece.

PERFECT :-) :-)

Now I am in the process of creating a exact tank pattern in my CAD/CAM software by which I am taken the dummy apart in several pieces and the necessary overlay.

If all go's well than I start (finally) to cover the dummy tomorrow and I hope to take some pictures in the week.

I’m not there yet, but I am getting there.

I never expected that something that seems so logical and easy can be so complex, I hope the result be worth it.

Interesting development. I look forward to see the pictures of that ! :-)

Great News ! :-) Congrats on finding the solution and not giving up.
And thanks for sharing the process with everyone. I know I'll remember the technique if I ever need to simulate anything like that.

Ok,

here comes my two Eurocents :

I have experimented with aluminium foil during the first campaign.

Get a piece of aluminium foil and put it on a straigh surface. Now put a tissue on top of the foil and ad white glue to it that has been thinned with water (milky substance).For this action you use a flat stiff brush.

After you apllied the glue (and before it gts dry), you can fold the tissue/foil combination in any form you like. After putting it in the right form, you use the brush to add and manipulate the seams (do it quick. If you wait to long the white glue will be dry, so modeling the tissue will be history).

When the seams are in the tissue, let it dry completely. When it's completely fry, just gently peel off the foil. The tissue (with the seams) will remain in almost the position you modeled it. Paint and .....voila.

The "curtains" in my contest entry where made this way. I found some pics on how I did this.... Hope it works for you too.

Danny




Put tissue over the aluminium foil


Gently add white glue and "press" the brush to add seams


done testing


Let it dry completely


The resulting curtains

Eagle - you're about two paragraphs and 'save as' word document form a feature! Nice post.

Glad to hear that the stuffing tissue helped a little. I think kitchen roll and and toilet paper are too soft and can break up to easily when wet. the tissue paper has never let me down so far ......... One thing you could try for texture is salt. sprinle some fine salt lightly over the wet white glue and then texture is there when you paint! havent tried this, but it may work!