rounded pe on funnel tops

[mikasa]

Moving along with my 1/700 Fujimi Shiratsuyu. I'm doing some PE for this. (Wow, PE in this scale is really fragile . Anyway on the funnel tops there is PE that is sort of rounded. Any tips on how to get that into the PE? It's rounded both laterally and longitudinally which is what has me scratching my head. I saw a tip on using a BB for a rounded radar and that sounds like it might work. Any other suggestions?

[Vladi]

Hi mikasa,
I�m not sure what BB is but I am using a metal or wooden ball of a diameter slightly smaller than required and I push the PE part with this ball against a cutting matt or a harder eraser rubber. By rolling the ball slightly along the axes the brass would gradually take the desired shape.

[drasticplastic]

That works as long as there is no outer PE ring connecting the ends of the funnel cap "spider". When the ends are connected and you try to curve the cap, that outer ring will just kink and distort the shape of the cap. Some PE designers don't realize the cap should be convex and design it to lie flat. When it can (and should) be curved, I place it on my fingertip and shape it with a suitably-shaped instrument, like a paintbrush handle, etc. Final tweaking can be done when glueing it to the funnel top. On occasional I've had to scratch-build the funnel cap from stretched sprue.

[Timmy C]

For caps with the outer ring, it might be worth trying to cut the ring where they intersect the cross "beams" so they don't kink when the rest of the cap is bent.

[Vladi]

That works as long as there is no outer PE ring connecting the ends of the funnel cap "spider".

It worked well for me on my HMAS Canberra build (check photos here). I used one of the Rainbow IJN Funnel Hood sets that are very fine, I just had to combine 2 different PE hoods for the middle funnel to match its shape. FWIW

[SovereignHobbies]

For caps with a ring around them, I use a round needle file handle (and small diameter tool steel will do) and roll it along each of the brass strips against piece of paper kitchen towel on a hard surface with a fairly firm force but NOT rolling the outer ring. Rolling will stretch the brass slightly, making the funnel cap buckle into a 3D shape - because the perimeter ring remains the same size but the strips inside it try to expand.

Try it on a piece of scrap PE - it's easy - just take your time with it. It doesn't even take long once you have a feel for it.

[JIM BAUMANN]

I have a couple of sets of these

It takes all the horror out of it!

Perfect and repeatable every time

useful for any form of curved top convex or concave shaping


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doming-Piece-P ... B00KDPDN6K