dafi Posted February 19, 2013 Share #1 Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) These thimbles were a side product of having to paint the white sheaves of my micro blocks. Thinking how to do them out of black material. Remembered a trick from the WW1 plane builders, that do the locks of the bracing wires by heating up a Q-Tit and pulling it to the needed diameter. The same system as we use to du with sprue it keeps the hole inside in the right proportion to the diameter. This in mind I thought this could also work in a bigger diameter, slipped some 8 mm sprue into the machine ... ... drilled slowly with 4 mm turning the chuck by hand ... ...heated up and pulled (ok could be done more evenly) ... ... and cut onto the right lengths and got a nice variety of discs, sheaves and raw material for thimbles :-) Tried to enlarge the ring by using the cone of the drill did not really work. Used two needles as marlinspikes to do a splice ... ... put the required disc in, tacked it with a drop of CA, adjusted and finally glued it properly in position and opened the hole carefully a little bit more with a drill ... ... and worked on the edges with the 1 mm cherry miller. The proportions still could be improved, but I found a nice solution for myself for the thimbles :-) In the size I am building it is a little bit difficult to do them out of metal tube or injection needles. All the best, Daniel I hope to not bother you too much - in last case we have to found a self-help group, something like "dafinists anonymus" or so ... :-) :-) :-) XXXDAn Edited February 19, 2013 by dafi mtaylor, Blue Ensign and Archi 3 Quote To victory and beyond! http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/76-hms-victory-by-dafi-to-victory-and-beyond/ See also our german forum for Sailing Ship Modeling and History: http://www.segelschiffsmodellbau.com/ Finest etch parts for HMS Victory 1:100 (Heller Kit) and other useful bits. http://dafinismus.de/index_en.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wefalck Posted February 20, 2013 Share #2 Posted February 20, 2013 I have used slices of cored soldering tin in the past. The flux can be washed out with acetone and the soft material allows it to be 'forged' into the required shape. However, for my current project that will be mainly rigged with 0,2 mm home-made rope (in 1/90 this translates to 18 mm diameter, which is a diameter that can be handled well under all weather conditions) these thimbles would be still too big. I think, I will be filling in the eye-splices with lacquer and then drill a hole through. They will be coloured by turning a sharp pencil in them, which gives a sort of metallic finish, looking as if they have been zinc-coated. wefalck dafi 1 Quote wefalck panta rhei - Everything is in flux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafi Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted February 20, 2013 Sounds a great way too! Thanks, Daniel Quote To victory and beyond! http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/76-hms-victory-by-dafi-to-victory-and-beyond/ See also our german forum for Sailing Ship Modeling and History: http://www.segelschiffsmodellbau.com/ Finest etch parts for HMS Victory 1:100 (Heller Kit) and other useful bits. http://dafinismus.de/index_en.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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