What is the bestway to pleat this door panel?

[Len Woodruff]

I need to do upper & lower pleats in this door panel. The problem I see is that it has a plane section seperating the 2 sets of pleats.

I haven't found any sheet plastic with this style of pleats. So I assume I will need to use 1/2 round?

Any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Bill Eh?]

I would glue down Evergreen Half Round strips, either 243 (0.1 in, 2.5 mm) or 244 (0.125 in, 3.2 mm) on an angle. The ends, where they meet the flat portion of the panel could be filed, before gluing on, to achieve the desired taper.

[64SS350]

That is what I did for the Flintstone Flyer builds. If you are going to use liquid glue, use it sparingly as it will want to wick to the previous piece laid down.

Here you can see it(sort of) in back half of the interior, but clearly on the seats 

 

[Jack L]

what about a tuck & roll tonneau  cover from a pickup

[Len Woodruff]

2 minutes ago, 64SS350 said:

That is what I did for the Flintstone Flyer builds. If you are going to use liquid glue, use it sparingly as it will want to wick to the previous piece laid down.

Here you can see it(sort of) in back half of the interior, but clearly on the seats 

 

That looks like what I need to do. But the number of pleats dictate that we need to use the .060 1/2 round size.

But more than that I was looking at how to match the upper & lower pleats. The pleats appear to be at a 30 degree angle but I am not sure the center section is the same angle to cut the pieces.

I thought of using pieces to cover the whole door but exclued glue from the center section so I could easily cut it out to insert th flat piece.

 

[Len Woodruff]

7 minutes ago, Jack L said:

what about a tuck & roll tonneau  cover from a pickup

That is another consideration. I just don't know how thick it is. But I think it is the correct pleat size.

[espo]

For cutting the pleats at an angle you can use a small miter box. Most hobby shops and of course good old hobby lobby carries them. The design allows 90- and 45-degree cuts and comes with a couple of saws and a handle. Not that expensive, but very handy to have for any cutting needs.  

[Jack L]

8 minutes ago, Len Woodruff said:

That is another consideration. I just don't know how thick it is. But I think it is the correct pleat size.

the one in the 59 El Camino is .062 thick

[64SS350]

I would do a layout, draw a reference line at the angle you want. Also draw lines for the center section and cut each piece to length. The first piece laid down will be a  guide for the rest. Or, if you use CA glue and keep it away from the center section, you could let them go a little long and trim after. Also prebend the ends around the top, liquid glue will soften the pieces to help.

[stitchdup]

I would use the 59 bed cover, and a piece of flat plastic for the middle. I'd cut the 2 pleated pieces out of the cover, cut the flat centre then glue both pieces to a backing piece. since there doesn't appear to be trim between the flat and pleated this will give you the best seperation edge and you wont have to worry about cutting the strips  at an angle. remember to reverse the direction for the other side

[Len Woodruff]

27 minutes ago, espo said:

For cutting the pleats at an angle you can use a small miter box. Most hobby shops and of course good old hobby lobby carries them. The design allows 90- and 45-degree cuts and comes with a couple of saws and a handle. Not that expensive, but very handy to have for any cutting needs.  

I do hae a couple of miter boxes. I will check to see what angles they have.

[Len Woodruff]

25 minutes ago, Jack L said:

the one in the 59 El Camino is .062 thick

That may be too thick. I think I can do .020 or .030 thick for the center flat piece then the 1/2 round is about .028 to .030.

[1930fordpickup]

The top looks like a straight line. the bottom does not look straight all the way across the door. I don't think you would see that in scale though.  What if you glued the strips to say .005 sheet and sanded them to the angle you need? would that get to tricky or maybe to thick? 

[Len Woodruff]

8 minutes ago, 1930fordpickup said:

The top looks like a straight line. the bottom does not look straight all the way across the door. I don't think you would see that in scale though.  What if you glued the strips to say .005 sheet and sanded them to the angle you need? would that get to tricky or maybe to thick? 

I haven't tried that yet, but it is a good idea.

[Mr. Metallic]

First I would take a protractor and make the angled reference lines from top to bottom so you have something to align your pleats to. You don't need to fill up the panel with lines or worry about spacing, you just need 2-3 lines as reference to help you eyeball the pleats as you install them. It will also allow you to make sure the pleats line up visually from the top of the panel to the bottom.

Next cut your flat center section out of sheet Evergreen, in whatever thickness matches the thickness of the 1/2 round you are going to use. Glue that to your panel

Start installing your pleats from one end, working towards the other. i only use thick super glue for tuck and roll because if you use plastic glue it will probably loosen up your previous work. Install one pleat at a time and allow a few minutes to dry between each piece. It takes a little while but is worth it.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Mr. Metallic

[Rick L]

20 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

The top looks like a straight line. the bottom does not look straight all the way across the door. I don't think you would see that in scale though.  What if you glued the strips to say .005 sheet and sanded them to the angle you need? would that get to tricky or maybe to thick? 

I agree with this method. Less labor intensive than cutting individual rounds at different angles and matching up along the angle line.

[Len Woodruff]

Thanks for all of the ideas guys. Here are some progress pics of 1 door panel.

I glued all of the 1/2 rounds in place skipping the area in the center.

Then I made a tepleate for the center and glued it to the center pieces.

This was my saw guide.

When I finised the cut the center pieces came out with the center piece template.

Here's a few pics.

 

 

[Mark]

After all of the half round sections are in place, I'd knock down the high points with a sanding stick.  If you were to examine the pleats on the 1:1 car by looking at them from the top of the door, they're unlikely to be half round, but rather a bit flatter.

[Len Woodruff]

11 minutes ago, Mark said:

After all of the half round sections are in place, I'd knock down the high points with a sanding stick.  If you were to examine the pleats on the 1:1 car by looking at them from the top of the door, they're unlikely to be half round, but rather a bit flatter.

Good point. I planned to round the edges but will add some flating of the pleats like you suggested.