Wing or foil shaped styrene rod

[Scott Colmer]

I'm looking for a source for wing shaped rod like used for aero struts. I need it to be 1/16" high. Evergreen and Plastruct don't have it. (At least that I could find on their sites.) I did some research and there were a couple companies in Europe that made it, but they are gone. 

I am making radiator grill bars for a Peterbuilt. Before I start trying to shave down square rod to a consistent shape I was hoping to buy some. 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

 

Scott

[Exotics_Builder]

Do you have a photo of what you are trying to reproduce?  

 

[Flat32]

3D printing is a very viable solution. Can you sketch a profile with a couple desired dimensions? Or a photo of the part you're wanting to replicate.

[espo]

11 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

I'm looking for a source for wing shaped rod like used for aero struts. I need it to be 1/16" high. Evergreen and Plastruct don't have it. (At least that I could find on their sites.) I did some research and there were a couple companies in Europe that made it, but they are gone. 

I am making radiator grill bars for a Peterbuilt. Before I start trying to shave down square rod to a consistent shape I was hoping to buy some. 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

 

Scott

Plastruct offers many different sizes of material that could be changed just a little to make what you're after. Find the material in the general size, width and thickness, that you want. The part will have 90 degree edges that you can sand to the shape you're after. 

[64SS350]

I used a piece of brass flat stock a bit wider than the styrene I wanted to shape. Cut the profile into the brass, as wide as the styrene stock I used which acts as a guide to keep the profile consistent.

It worked well for me, it is a profiled scraper.

[Scott Colmer]

Here is a pic to show what I am looking for. On the left is a drawing of the shape in need. Below that is the radiator shell that is going to get a grill made from 14 "aero shaped" bars. If you look close, you can see a sample rod I shaved down. It is 1/16" high. I want to be able to see through the grill to the PE radiation mesh. 

The issue with shaving square rod down as I did is that it distorts the rod and consistency is difficult. So if some place make the rod I need (from any material), I'll get it. Otherwise, my next option is figuring a way to consistently shave the rod by hand.

 

Thanks for the scraper idea, Karl.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Scott Colmer

[Ace-Garageguy]

K&S makes streamlined aluminum tube in several sizes. I don't know if there's a size as small as you need, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[dimaxion]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

K&S makes streamlined aluminum tube in several sizes. I don't know if there's a size as small as you need, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Yes , K&S is the way to go . I have a frozen WIP Stinson SR 7 lacking Wing Struts and some other ditties . I a a disabled Shut in , no one seems too keen to ship one of those or 2 Sheets of Thin Plywood to me . It is 1/24 Scale and will display nicely with my ACD Cars .   Thanx 

[Scott Colmer]

That was  a good try Bill. The smallest K&S goes is 1/4"  

I'm not sure about shapeways. I have not tried making a print file for anything.

Looks like Ill be making a brass draw to shape some rod.

 

Thanks for the input, guys  : )

[Alyn]

I would be inclined to fudge a little. Start with some 1/16" x 1/8" (or thereabouts) plastic rod and just round off the two corners of the leading edge that will be exposed to the from of the grill shell. Round them off enough create a half-round profile on the leading edge. Leave the rear edges as is. No one will ever see them from the back side, so from the front it will not be evident that the cross section is not tapered.

[peteski]

7 minutes ago, Alyn said:

I would be inclined to fudge a little. Start with some 1/16" x 1/8" (or thereabouts) plastic rod and just round off the two corners of the leading edge that will be exposed to the from of the grill shell. Round them off enough create a half-round profile on the leading edge. Leave the rear edges as is. No one will ever see them from the back side, so from the front it will not be evident that the cross section is not tapered.

That's what I'm thinking.  In the scale we are working in, you won't be able to tell that the back of the rods is not airfoil-shaped.  Why model something that won't be visible?  And you can get Evergreen styrene rods or half-round shapes down to some small sizes.

BTW. do we have any photos of what  the 1:1 radiator grille looks like?

[Fat Brian]

Could you take aluminum tubing and squish it a bit in a door jamb or something to kind of mash one side of it more than the other?

[misterNNL]

My solution would be to super glue a thin piece of wire in the middle of very thin sheet styrene then wrap the plastic around the wire into an airfoil shape and glue the rear edges togeather. You could make one long piece then cut to length as needed.

[NOBLNG]

I just tried a little sample. I think this is bigger than you require but the technique might work. I made this from two pieces of 1/16”x 3/16” filed to a wedge (this could be 1 piece but I didn’t have the right thickness) and a piece of 1/8” half round.

Edited April 18, 2020 by NOBLNG

[alan barton]

I bought the type of styrene aerofoil section you are talking of over 20 years ago from a company called Contrail.  it was for model aeroplane builders in a light to medium grey.  Maybe an ebay search might find some.  It was quite small - I used it for aerofoil struts on a 1/25th Fiat Topolino.

Come to think of it, what about the rear wing struts from a Revell Top Fuel dragster?  Surely someone on here has some manky old frames that they could cut some struts off of?  That might be your least painful solution.

Cheers

Alan

[NOBLNG]

You might try a knife sharpener like this for shaving the styrene?

[Scott Colmer]

 

You guys had a lot of great input!

I thought of the 1/2 round plus triangle idea. Greg, your sample looks pretty good. I wonder if I can get an order shipped. 

In the mean time I tried putting two #11 blades in a V in a vice and drawing some stock through. Via knife sharpener. That didn't really work.

Then I tried carving a half wing shape in a piece of brass sheet and drawing it over square rod stuck to the bench with two sided tape. Looked like it was working but it didn't.

Now taking square rod and coloring it with sharpie and shaving it with an exacto using the sharpie coloring as a guide. I'm getting the best result with this. 

I'll post pics later.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

 

[peteski]

In order to draw a shape from another shape you would need to make several dies, each progressively closer to the desired shape, each removing very small amount of material.  First one would be almost the same shape as the material you are drawing, then each one closer to the final shape.  But that is probably way too much effort.

[robdebie]

19 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

Could you take aluminum tubing and squish it a bit in a door jamb or something to kind of mash one side of it more than the other?

Or a variation on this theme: use Albion brass micro tubing and roll it to a semi-flat shape, using two supports of the right thickness. Roll it on both side to take out a curve. Albion even sells a special tool for this, that you can install in a vice.

Rob

 

[Exotics_Builder]

I got these some years back at an LHS.  Don't have the maker tag anymore.  

 

[Straightliner59]

On 4/17/2020 at 9:08 AM, 64SS350 said:

I used a piece of brass flat stock a bit wider than the styrene I wanted to shape. Cut the profile into the brass, as wide as the styrene stock I used which acts as a guide to keep the profile consistent.

It worked well for me, it is a profiled scraper.

Brilliant idea! Such a simple, and practical solution. Thanks for passing that along!

[Scott Colmer]

Wow, you guys are great. I guess one of the best parts of this hobby is problem solving. 

Gary, according to my research, those are gold. They come from Contrail, which is long out of business. What they said in the Airplane chat is that when those are offered up on Ebay, they start a bidding war. With that said, if you want to part with them, or some of them. let me know. I can buy or trade. 

Rob, Flattening some aluminum stock might work. Remember, these are on 1/16" tall at the cross section, but it's worth a try. I might try to get the more of a wing that an oval, but let's see. And if it's aluminum, I can polish it! Quick update -  I just did a rough sample and this one may work. It got pretty close.I need  to play with the "dies" to set the angle of the roller. 

Peter, when you said I needed a series of scrapers, it made me realize why mine seemed to work but did not. Idid try to keep the scraper as level as possible and did slow draws as the stock was secured to the bench with double sided tape. The first side looked pretty good and had a definite wing shape. But after doing the other side, but the final shape came out wrong. After your follow up post, I figured out the since I was using square stock, the fist side was stable on a flat surface. When I flipped it over the second side was unstable because of the wing surface was now resting on the bench and it rocked to a different angle. Ah ha!  My next try will have a masking tape support to level the stock for the second scrape. I'll try again. 

There is no finished product to reference. This is for a 1:1 truck that is still being built. The best PIC of where I am headed is in this thread. It shows the grill shell with one hand carved bar laying on it. I want to get this project done and off my bench. My patron has been waiting several years. I finally caught up to his progress, so now he tells me what he is going to do on the 1:1 truck and I do that then show him in scale. You can check out the thread in the big rig section in this forum.

I'll let you all know what happens.

Thanks for all the great input and ideas!

Scott

Edited April 19, 2020 by Scott Colmer

[64SS350]

10 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Brilliant idea! Such a simple, and practical solution. Thanks for passing that along!

 

[Exotics_Builder]

4 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

Gary, according to my research, those are gold. They come from Contrail, which is long out of business. What they said in the Airplane chat is that when those are offered up on Ebay, they start a bidding war. With that said, if you want to part with them, or some of them. let me know. I can buy or trade.

What specific dimensions are you seeking? If it is in the stack we talk further.

[Scott Colmer]

Hey Gerry - PM sent with your name misspelled. (Sorry)