Corners

[Play-Doh]

hey folks

Many of my scratchbuilds are being built using styrene. However my ruff spot always comes down to the corners.

They just dont look right, one piece glue up against another. Ive been hiding the seems with 90 degree corner pieces made of styrene.

How you do folks hide those seems? Do you cut the sides at 45 degrees? If so, how?

Thanks for your help as always folks

TJ

 

[Russ Bellinis]

What sort of material are you modeling? If you are modeling a stucco building, you could use some filler spread lightly over the corner and sand it down smooth. If you are doing bricks, sand 45 degree or even less into the brick sheets so that you can glue them at 90 degrees without the ends showing. With bricks you also need to make sure that the rows of bricks on the corners alternate correctly so you don't have short bricks and long bricks at the corners. If you are doing wood siding, it is not unusual to see the wood corners done with a 90 degree corner piece mounted vertically the full length of the corner.

 

[Play-Doh]

Yep, it was brick I was wondering about the most. For some reason im always building out of the brick sheets. I suppose I will just have to try my hand and eyeballing that 45. What I really need to get are some of those right angle clampls from micro mark.

Thanks Russ!!!

TJ

 

[doctorwayne]

Russ is correct: sand the edges to be joined to 45 degrees or less, then use a strip of .100" or .125 square styrene running vertically up the inside of the corner. All that's required is for the faces of the two intersecting walls to touch on the outside of the corner. The strength of the joint is in having both walls cemented to the styrene strip.
To sand the angle on the end of the wall, use a piece of medium grit sandpaper, face up on a flat, smooth surface. The stuff that I use has a very heavy backing paper, but if yours is a bit flimsy, use double-sided carpet tape to secure it to your work surface. Then, holding the wall at approximately 45 degrees, rub it across the sandpaper. The temptation is to just scrub it back and forth, but this tends to make the wall "rock" along the edge that you're sanding, alternately taking more material off the top, then the bottom, of the edge, and eventually leaving you with a shallow curve along the edge that you're working on. Instead, either pull or push very deliberately, making sure to keep the entire edge of the plastic brick sheet in contact with the sandpaper. It won't take long to create the angle you need, and you'll get faster with a bit of practice. Until you get those right-angle clamps, a small (or large) machinist's square is useful for aligning the walls at the corner, especially since styrene cement sets so rapidly.

Wayne

 

[2-8-2]

Get yourself a True Sander from Northwest Shortline...

This handy tool allows you to sand all edges square, so joining walls becomes a heck of a lot easier. I had the same problem, until I got one. It's probably the best thing I have in my toolbox right now.

 

[60103]

I'm looking for an accessory for the True Sander: a piece of wood or metal with a 45 degree slope on it wide enough that I can put a plastic wall on it and sand an accurate 45 angle.