Opening Grille(s)

[MsDano85gt]

Something I do regularly, but does get messy, but yields such a much better detailed model with more realistic looks is to remove material from.the backside of Grilles to open them up here is my latest.

82 ford bronco grille, thus can be done to just about any type of grille or wheels!

There's  3 different ways of doing this as well.

1) Drexel or power rotory too (makes the process much faster, but very easy to melt or damage the part)

2) sanding part flat on sandpaper

3) (Dangerous) use no.11 blade to work back and fourth and scrape the material and flake it off everywhere!  [Technique inused in photos]

[NOBLNG]

Nice work Daniel.?  If the grill is flat rather than curved, a file can be used. That’s how I did this ‘69 Camaro grill.

[Straightliner59]

Great idea with the fixture, Greg! 

[bobss396]

I tried this on an AMT '66 Nova and it got so thin it broke.... I have opened a few using the knife blade. 

[BDSchindler]

I haven't tried Greg's method but...I like it!  I may have to use it.

That said, I have used the Sharp Blade method, hand sanding and a Dremel ...

My GTX was mostly done with a Dremel and some hand sanding...

On the NovaCam, it was mostly hand sanding and a sharp blade...The result was a paper thin grill where part of it broke, however.

[Straightliner59]

I did this one starting with a Dremel cutter, then a sanding drum, and finally, by hand. It's a tricky one!

[bobss396]

It is tedious work, I'm lucky than a MCG PE set was available for my botched '66 Nova piece. I usually set a timer for like 10 minutes, work on opening grilles a little here and there.

[Straightliner59]

16 hours ago, bobss396 said:

It is tedious work, I'm lucky than a MCG PE set was available for my botched '66 Nova piece. I usually set a timer for like 10 minutes, work on opening grilles a little here and there.

For sure. As you can see, there's not much left, and some are bent. I wasn't worried too much, about that, being a sort of a touring match racer kind of deal.

[Dr Crapologist]

Yeah, these efforts produce effective results. I had a rheostat box (where did that go?) that I could plug my dremel into so I could dial down the rpm and get more precise and not melt the plastic. I also wrap/glue sandpaper around a block eraser for getting into corners. The Xacto flat chisel blade #17 works well for scraping. Depending on how much component detail you've got behind the grille, you can paint some loose weave fabric to replicate a radiator, etc.

Cheers,

[Mike C]

I did that a long tome ago on a model. You have to be really delicate about it because what's going to be left is super fragile. But it sure looks great in the end.

[bobss396]

I just did this one on a tow truck project. The leftovers are pretty stout, not fragile at all.