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“Chrome” edges around the “wheel well”.


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I need some tips how to achieve nice “chrome” edges around the “wheel well”.

My first idea was to try to scribe a grove and then add BMF and cut the BMF with a blade following the groove. Nice try but I could not get the groove even and smooth, so here I am.
I try with a marker but that it is hard to get it right.

Can anyone give me a tips how to do.

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A set of drafting dividers can be set up to scribe a line.  Like a compass but with two metal points.  The line could be scribed to make an 'edge" for paint or foil.  Or you could take a thin strip of plastic and glue it to the inner edge.  Sand it down to stick out ever so slightly and shape inside and out as necessary.   Cover with paint or foil.

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I use a lot of blue painters tape as a "guide" when I foil & it works very well.

Wheel well trim is the toughest, but it is possible to get a nice straight edge.

I cut extremely thin strips of painters tape & carefully lay them down along the edge of the foiled area with a tweezers.

Then you use the edge of the tape as a guide for your blade.

 

Steve

 

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A set of drafting dividers can be set up to scribe a line.  Like a compass but with two metal points.  The line could be scribed to make an 'edge" for paint or foil.  Or you could take a thin strip of plastic and glue it to the inner edge.  Sand it down to stick out ever so slightly and shape inside and out as necessary.   Cover with paint or foil.

Or you could use a compass...remove the pencil and insert an Xacto knife. Place the pivot pin inside the fender well, tweak the adjustment, and run the blade along the outside of the fender well.

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Steven, that is a brilliant idea.  I too struggle with putting foil on my kits and never thought about using painters tape as a guide.

I use this technique now for nearly all of my foiling.

It's much easier to get a good straight edge on the straight sections as well.

Works fantastic on drip rails also.

 

Steve

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Thank you all for your thoughts and tips.

I tried Steve´s tips with a tape for steering the knife. I use Tamiya’s 3mm and this is easy to “bend”.

I used the same tape, applied before the Sharpie marker that Snake suggest.

Both worked, if you want more shiny chrome I think the BMF is the best.

 

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I use a lot of blue painters tape as a "guide" when I foil & it works very well.

Wheel well trim is the toughest, but it is possible to get a nice straight edge.

I cut extremely thin strips of painters tape & carefully lay them down along the edge of the foiled area with a tweezers.

Then you use the edge of the tape as a guide for your blade.

THANK YOU Mr. Guthmiller!

I've been in awe of your foil work since I first saw one of your models.

Now I finally have some hope of turning out something I can think of as at least decent.   :D

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 photo DSC07214 2_zpsd78rorgh.jpg photo DSC07225 2_zpsw5c8rxkg.jpg

Thank you all for your thoughts and tips.

 

 

I tried Steve´s tips with a tape for steering the knife. I use Tamiya’s 3mm and this is easy to “bend”.

 

 

I used the same tape, applied before the Sharpie marker that Snake suggest.

 

 

Both worked, if you want more shiny chrome I think the BMF is the best.

 

 

 

Glad you found something that worked for you! B)

I occasionally use a masking tape in conjunction with the Sharpie, but not for wheel opening edges. I find it pretty easy to do those freehand.

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Only if the wheel cutout is perfectly round, which in most cases it is not.

Harry, if you're responding to my post...the distance between the pivot pin and the blade tip determines the width of the trim. The "roundness" of the opening is of no consequence, since the pivot pin is following the opening of the wheel well.

Edited by BigTallDad
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 photo DSC07214 2_zpsd78rorgh.jpg photo DSC07225 2_zpsw5c8rxkg.jpg

Thank you all for your thoughts and tips.

 

 

I tried Steve´s tips with a tape for steering the knife. I use Tamiya’s 3mm and this is easy to “bend”.

 

 

I used the same tape, applied before the Sharpie marker that Snake suggest.

 

 

Both worked, if you want more shiny chrome I think the BMF is the best.

 

 

 

Yup.

Any tape will work as long as it's thin enough to bend around the opening without kinking.

Looks like you've got it pretty much dialed in! ;)

 

Steve

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Steven, that is a brilliant idea.  I too struggle with putting foil on my kits and never thought about using painters tape as a guide.

I can vouch vouch for that technique too. I've been using it for years and I thought I invented it.  :D But obviously others had the same bright idea.  The other good thing about that technique is that the tape automatically (and cleanly) pulls up the extra foil.

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Or you could use a compass...remove the pencil and insert an Xacto knife. Place the pivot pin inside the fender well, tweak the adjustment, and run the blade along the outside of the fender well.

What kind of compass will hold an Xacto blade?   The ones I have are part of a set that someone gave me many years ago and will only hold the metal pins and a pencil lead.  Not big enough to hold a blade.  that would be awesome to be able to do that.  Or am I not seeing it right in my mind?

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One of our FAST guys cuts a length of BMF using a straight edge and sharp blade.  He then applies the BMF to the wheel well and slowly works it around.  No trimming and guide tape necessary with his method. 

I'm skeptical that this can be done with no kinks in the foil.

I have not tried it, so I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem possible.

 

Steve

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What kind of compass will hold an Xacto blade?   The ones I have are part of a set that someone gave me many years ago and will only hold the metal pins and a pencil lead.  Not big enough to hold a blade.  that would be awesome to be able to do that.  Or am I not seeing it right in my mind?

Sorry, but I I said "knife", not "blade"...to me the knife includes the handle.

Exotics_Builder showed a picture of such a compass. If the compass will hold a lead pencil, it'll probably hold an Xacto knife handle.

I'd strongly suggest you use an Xacto handle that has the swiveling blade.

 

Edited by BigTallDad
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