The Ship Model Forum

I need to bend 0.8mm and 0.6mm brass wire into a large circle to build the railing around the winter garden AA gun position in a 1/72 type VIIc Uboat model. Does anyone have recommendations on how to achieve this?

I attempted to do it by hand, progressively, comparing to the circle drawn on a piece of paper each step, but the results were not quite satisfactory. For one, the circle doesn’t quite stay in one plane.

I thought about using a jewer’s wire bending jig, which lets you plug metal posts of different diameters into a breadboard. But that is clearly designed for where the intricacy of the pattern is more important than the exact diameter of the curve, so you can use the pegs to bend the wires.into an array of patterns so long as it is not important what the exact dimension of the pattern happen to be.

Any suggestions on how to bend wires into a circle of specified diameter??

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Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.

I would bend it around a round piece of something. Depending on the brass you are using, it will be slightly springy, so the diameter of the 'something' needs to be somewhat smaller than the target diameter. This may require some experimenting.

I gather, the 'wintergarden' is not a full 360° circle, but otherwise one would need to wrap a bit more than the required circumference to make sure that the ends also have the right curvature. If you try to bend the exact length require into a ring, the last few mm would stick out in a tangent, rather than follow the desired curve. The springier the material, the more pronounced this effect will be.

If you can't something of suitable diameter in your household, you could also cut a disc from thick cardboard for that purpose.

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Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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As mentioned, I just look around the shop/house for something round, a little smaller than the diameter I need. Like paint cans, drink bottles, glasses, food products, toiletries, etc. anything will work as long as it’s firm. And by smaller, I mean 20-30% smaller, like if I want a 2” circle, I’d try a 1.75” can or bottle. Maybe even smaller. I then wrap the wire around a couple of times so I have extra. It will spring out a little, maybe bigger or smaller diameter than what I need. Cut a section a bit longer than I need, then fit it to the part. It will usually conform to the diameter the part holds it at. There may need to be a little tweaking here or there, but that’s all there is to it! Snip the excess at the ends off when you’re happy with the fit.

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Darren (Admiral Hawk)
In the not so tropical climate of the Great White North.