mad_dr

Hi All, Thanks very much for your helpful suggestions above! I'll use them to plan my next steps and will let you know how I get on. My pin-vice is really just an adapter for my dremel/hand drill so perhaps I need to invest in a hand-held version. I like the sound of using the block of wood or aluminium as a jig too. Thanks again, Andy

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a couple of tips for drilling holes in metal pipework. If anyone has any experience or advice I would be very grateful. I'm building an MFH 1:24 scale Ferrari 500 F2 and am trying to finish off the engine. It involves threading spark plug cables through a metal pipe between the distributors and the sparkplugs. The metal pipe that comes in the kit is actually a solid piece of metal with tiny notches that represent where the spark plug wires should go. I tried drilling the pipe to accept the wires but there's no way I could ever drill straight through the length of the pipe; it's far too small for that. Plus it's very soft metal so just bends and flexes. The spark plug wires are so tiny they don't even like being glued to the pipe; there doesn't seem to be enough material to grab to the pipe. The picture from my gallery below shows my first effort: I 'cheated' by cutting the wires and epoxying them to the metal pipe and tried to use heatshrink to hide the bad job. However I'm not happy with the finished result - there's far too much epoxy on show and it really doesn't look how I wanted it to. So I've got more of the spark plug wire and I've managed to get hold of a thin brass tube to replace the bits of metal that came with the kit. This tube is hollow and is the right size. It has a 1.5mm outer diameter and 1.0mm inner diameter. However, now I need to figure out how I go about drilling a line of three 0.5mm holes in the side of the pipe for the wires to thread through. I am confident that I can mark the places where the pipe needs to be drilled and I have a set of micro drillbits (including 0.5mm) and a pin-vice to hold them but my Dremel seems far too fast and difficult to control for a task like this; I think I'd end up struggling to get the drill to "bite" into the curved face of the pipe without it just slipping off Additionally I'm sure that the pipe would be inclined to twist meaning that the holes would end up out of alignment with one another. As I've got a 30cm length of the pipe and only need to end up with about 4cm of finished product, I'd thought of trying to make some kind of clamp that uses a V-shaped groove to let the pipe sit into and could epoxy the pipe to this trough to prevent it twisting/spinning. Once the holes were drilled I could cut out the sacrificial epoxied sections to be left with the bits I need. I still need to figure out how to accurately target such a small point with a drill/demel though so any advice or thoughts about tools, jigs or techniques would be very useful. Have I bitten off more than I can chew?? Thanks in advance for any assistance. Andy

Thanks Skip! I'm not sure whether I need to submit it to be featured in the mag or whether the writers and editors scan the forums looking for suitable content so if you guys think it's worthy, I'd be more than happy to share it with the wider world if someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks! Andy

Thanks very much for the responses and feedback guys. I realised too late that I posted it in the wrong subforum. There's a perfectly good "tutorials" forum above the "How do I" one but typically of me, I popped it in the wrong one. Whoops! I'm very pleased if anyone has found this useful and I'll write some more tutorials for any other fiddly bits I figure out as I build the kit I'm working on. Who knows - I may even post them in the right place next time! I'd be more than happy for this or any other tutorial I write to be featured if anyone was interested. Of course, I have the original hi-res photos without watermarks, to go with it. Thanks again, Andy

What a great technique - I'm going to file this away for future use - thanks for sharing!

Thanks Manny - the tyres are very good quality in the MFH kits - I'm very impressed with the detail and the material too; they've got just the right amount of sheen to them to look real. Cheers, Andy

Step 7. Locate spoke assemblies 3 and 4 and align their notches with each other. If you need to, apply a tiny drop of superglue to the outside edges of the assemblies to ensure they stay aligned. Compare the upper and lower faces of this configuration and you'll probably notice that one side appears more shiny than the other. Place this assembly shiny-side-down on the table. Now, place assemblies 3 and 4 over the hub you placed in step 7, ensuring that the shiny side is facing downwards and that the notches of all four spoke assemblies align with one another. Step 8. Locate the billet aluminium wheel spacer and place it over the top of spoke assemblies 3 and 4. No glue is required. Step 9. Locate spoke assemblies 5 and 6 and align their notches with each other. If you need to, apply a tiny drop of superglue to the outside edges of the assemblies to ensure they stay aligned. Compare the upper and lower faces of this configuration and you'll probably notice that one side appears more shiny than the other. Place this assembly shiny-side-down on the table. Now, place assemblies 5 and 6 over the spacer you placed in step 9, ensuring that the shiny side is facing downwards and that the notches of all six spoke assemblies align with one another. Step 10. Locate the aluminium back rim and place a few small drops of super glue on the stepped edge. Step 11. Then carefully place the back rim face down over spoke assemblies 5 and 6 and whilst being careful to prevent any of the spoke assemblies from rotating press the back rim down until it meets the aluminium wheel casing. The force you apply to bring these parts together will naturally bend the spokes in assemblies 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Place a heavy weight evenly on the face of the wheel assembly until the super glue has fully dried. When you remove the weight, voila - one completed wheel assembly! Repeat the above steps for the other wheels.

Hi all, I responded recently to a post from someone looking for help assembling the Photoetched wire wheels from a Model Factory Hiro kit. I didn't hear back from the original poster but had an opportunity to assemble another set of wheels from a 1:24 MFH 1952 Ferrari 500 F2 that I'm currently trying to build. I thought I'd take a few photos and put together a brief tutorial in the hope that it might be useful. Always interested to hear feedback if you have any. Thanks! Andy Assembling Model Factory Hiro Wire Wheels. Tools required: - Photoetch wheel element sheets - Billet aluminium wheel hubs (3 parts for each wheel: casing, spacer and back rim) - Turned wheel hub (1 per wheel) - Scalpel/Exacto knife - Dremel with sanding stone or coarse/fine wet and dry paper - White spirit/degreaser + cloth - Superglue - Cutting mat (For greater excitement use your mum's favourite piece of furniture instead) - Heavy book or other weight Please Note: This tutorial details how to assemble a rear wheel assembly. For front wheels the assembly sequence is very slightly different but the principles are the same. Step 1. Because the sheets of Photoetch for the wheel assemblies are so fragile, my first recommendation is to split them in two so that you're only working on one wheel at a time. This also helps prevent you from mixing up the elements of the wheel inadvertently. Once you've separated the Photoetch sheets, select the one for the wheel you wish to assemble and store the others safely. Notice that each wheel is made up of 6 spoke assemblies which will be layered to provide a 3 dimensional wheel rim once assembled. Notice too that there are 3 different styles of assembly, with two of each style: one where the spokes twist from left to right and one when the spokes twist from right to left. We'll refer to the assemblies by number later in the guide so be sure to note their numbers. Step 2. Now we need to remove the six spoke assemblies from the Photoetch sheet. Put the sheet on a cutting mat and use the Exacto knife to carefully cut through the spurs holding the spoke assemblies to the sheet. Take care not to twist or bend the spoke assemblies while you do this. Once you've removed all siz elements, discard the empty Photoetch sheet. Step 3. In order to ensure that the spoke assemblies can fit securely into the wheel rim you'll need to remove the sharp spurs from the spoke assemblies. You can do this with wet and dry paper but a Dremel with sanding stone makes light work of these. As always, take it easy with the Dremel - it's easy to be too rough and damage the spoke assembly. You can see the difference below of a spoke assembly that has been sanded to remove the spur versus one that hasn't. Step 4. Now locate spoke assemblies 1 and 2 from the original sheet. These are identical to one another apart from the lean of the spokes: left to right versus right to left. You will notice that each spoke assembly has a notch cut out of the outer rim. We will align these to ensure that the spoke configuration is correct when we assemble the wheel. Start by placing assembly number 2 on the table and placing assembly 1 on top of it. Align assemblies 1 and 2 with each other being sure to align the notches with one another. Compare the upper and lower faces of this configuration and you'll probably notice that one side appears more shiny than the other. This is as a result of the Photoetching process. Place this assembly shiny-side-down on the table. You shouldn't need to use any glue at this stage but if you find that later in the tutorial the spke assemblies are getting out of alignment you can track back to this stage and place a TINY drop of superglue on the outside edge of these assemblies so that they are permanently joined in this configuration. Step 5. Place the largest of the wheel rim sections (the wheel casing) face down on the table with the wider opening facing upwards. If you wish, you can use a soft pencil and a ruler to carefully make a vertical line that can be used to align the spoke notches against. Carefully place assemblies 1 and 2 into the casing with the shiniest side facing downwards. Step 6. Place the wheel hub into the centre opening in assemblies 1 and 2 with the screw thread pointing upwards. You do not need to apply any glue.

Excellent - thanks for the advice guys. I'm new to all this but it's very clear that there are many ways to build these kits: 1. The way I'd probably do it: basic prep and put it together. 2. The way MFH did it: fine preparation on ALL parts until they're gleaming, to get a flawless finish. I'm very impressed that they can go from this: to this: I'm sure there are some paints/finished being used there but the preparation is definitely what helps get it to this finish. Thanks! Andy

Hi all, Just been browsing on the MFH website and found an assembly guide to a Ferrari and I'm very keen to understand how to go from this: http://www.modelfactoryhiro.com/mfh/making/img/k272-312f1/312f1-007.jpg To this: http://www.modelfactoryhiro.com/mfh/making/img/k272-312f1/312f1-008.jpg Without simply sanding away all of the details... Any ideas? Thanks, Andy

I don't have any experience of the Neo range personally but I use an Iwata Revolution and I'm very impressed with it so far. I would appreciate if it was able to break it down into slightly more elements to make it easier to clean but it has a nice spray pattern and a good double-action to it. One thing I DO know about the Neo though is that it's not actually made by Iwata. As I understand it it's a cheaper range with the Iwata brand but produced by a third party. I can't comment on the quality though - they could be great for the money. Advice tends to suggest buying the best airbrush you can afford but if money is tight (and it always is for me!) then consider budgeting for a cheap compressor instead of propellant cans and work out what budget you have for the airbrush once you've allowed for the compressor. Andy

Filming with one hand whilst airbrushing with the other... Respect...

This looks great! I'm looking forward to seeing some more shots of the progress since the last post. I'd love to make a diorama but I live in such a tiny house the wife would kill me if I did! She just about tolerates the kit I have lying around the place as it is, bless her.

Ah OK, so do you mean that before I assemble the wheel, I ought to dish the relevant bits of PE? Silly question then: how do I know which ones to dish - all 6 pieces or just the outer 2? I wish MFH had just included a tiny bit of instruction around this like "for the front wheels, PE1,2,3 and 4 need to be pre-dished approx 5mm before assembly." Goes to show that these things aren't aimed at novices like me! Thanks, Andy

I really struggled with the one from my MFH Ferrari 500 f2 kit. In fact, I've only done the front ones and need to get up the courage to crack on with the rears. I found aligning the notches in the PE bits easy enough and could see the sequence in which to assemble them. I ended up only applying a dab of superglue right at the last minute to the hub and inner ring to hold everything together. It seems to have done the trick. The bit I struggled with most was getting the 3D angles to the spokes: as I understand it from the reference books, the knock-off centre caps stand out proud so the spokes need to be 'bent' to stick out. When I assembled the wheels initially, there was nothing to force them to bend so they sat flat which didn't look right. Nothing in the instructions though about having to manually bend them. No tips on how to do it, or how much, etc... That's when I started to realise that an early MFH kit MIT not be the best way for me to start in the model-making game! Still, in for a penny... So as for a tutorial, I'm not experienced but I did the below for my wheels. This tutorial is for the rears. If you want to try them, start by following the instructions but without glue. See if the bend of the spokes looks right - I don't understand what is supposed to put the necessary bends in PE1 and PE2...: 1. Lay H4 face down on the table. Face down means that the wider opening is facing up. 2. Use a pencil to carefully mark a straight line on the inside of the hub, running from the inside edge to the outside edge. 3. Cut PE1 and PE2 from the photo etch sheet and remove any sprue marks. 4. Align PE1 and PE2 with one another to ensure the notches align. 5. Drop PE1 and PE2 into H4 and ensure that the notch lines up with your pencil line. 6. Insert the centre of H7 into the centre hole of PE1 and PE2 ensuring the hole for the knock-off is facing downwards. 7. Cut PE3 and PE4 from the photo etch sheet and remove any sprue marks. 8. Align PE3 and PE4 with one another to ensure the notches align and their spoke direction is correct. 9. Drop PE3 and PE4 into H4 and ensure that the notch lines up with your pencil line. 10. Drop the H5 spacer ring into H4 to trap the PE pieces assembled so far. 11. Cut PE5and PE6 from the photo etch sheet and remove any sprue marks. 12. Align PE5 and PE6 with one another to ensure the notches align. 13. Drop PE5 and PE6 into H4 and ensure that the notch lines up with your pencil line? 14. Apply a dab of glue to the inner edge of H6 and press it into H4 until set. 15. Apply a dab of glue to the rear face of H7 to attach it to PE5 and PE6. 16. Glue the centre knock off into H7. I hope this is of some help. Thanks, Andy