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Tarps made easy!!!!


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For those of you who are looking to make a Tarp heres how!!!

All you need to do is locate a moist towellete like the ones you get from KFC. Open it up, form it to whatever shape you wish and allow it to dry.

It will usually only take about 15mins. to dry. Once dry, all you have to do is paint it with your favorite "Tarp" colors(Silver,Blue,Tan,etc.)

This stuff has a real good texture and looks good when finished!!! You can also use those moist eyeglass cleaners as well with similar results!!! I like this much better than the old tissue/glue method. Its much cleaner and faster!!! Give it a try!!! :D Enjoy!!! KT

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Thanks for the compliment Dave!!! It was actually quite a fun build once I got passed the drilling(over 250 "trim" holes). Though I have not tried it I do believe that a little rubbing alcohol will "revive" a dried out towel. KT

Edited by KT EASTMAN
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  • 8 months later...

So there I was making coffee this morning and guess what.. :o ..I was looking at the coffee filter and it hit me!!! I wet the filter and molded it on an engine and sure enough after it dried it did keep its shape and was ready to paint your favorite tarp color. Most tarps today are either blue or silver but there are canvas tarps that are tan,brown, or even green. If you are concerned about bleed through just shoot a little clear on the molded tarp before applying the final color!!! KT

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  • 1 month later...
  • 8 months later...

It's amazing that when you're hooked on building models, everyday objects are seen as what they would represent in different scales. I looked forever and tried almost everything I could imagine to find a material that matched a parachute tether cover for my Pro-street project. I went into the closet in the house we we're living in at the time that had a pull string for the light. BINGO!! That was it! It was immediately replaced with a newer and better pullstring.

Oh yeah, the tarp idea is EXCELLENT. Good Eyes.

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The old Elmer's glue trick works great too. Just find some paper that will work (napkins, paper towels, whatever), cut to size and soak it in a mix of water and Elmer's. Wrap it over the item you want to cover, fix some realistic wrinkles and let it dry. If you use the right mix of water and glue it will be stiff enough to handle, you can even "snap it off" if it's partially wrapped around something so most often you can remove it and paint it separately, and then glue it back to the model. You can simulate just about any fabric with this method.

The pictures show some examples of what I did on a "junker" I built many years ago. I used the same method to make the rope around the bumper bracket out of cotton string. Just soaked it, shaped it, let it dry and painted it.

sweden2007121th5.jpg

sweden2007126jt4.jpg

sweden2007107ed1.jpg

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