How to make door arm rests

[slusher]

I am curious on how to build door arm rests also used to close the door?    When you buy them you get 5 and it gets a little much for me..

[stitchdup]

i cut some plastic and file it to shape. just cut fairly close to the shape you want then soften the edges and your mostly done. to get both sides the same i use a couple spot superglue to hold them together then shape both at once. If the handles have open grab handles i shape them in last. bits of sprue are often the right size to make handles but you may need to bend it or join 2 pieces to get the shape, though older kits often have thick enough sprue to just whittle down. I like the chunky amt, airfix and heller sprue for this

[LennyB]

Carl similar to what Les said, I like to take left over bits of sprue to make armrests.  File a flat area along one side for the top of the armrest and then leave the lower section somewhat curved.  I will shape one long piece and then cut it to length afterwards so all the armrests have the same profile. Then you can file out a “notch” on the inside so your passengers have a place to grab.  

[Mike 1017]

Carl

Hobbylinc sell these

Mike

[slusher]

29 minutes ago, Mike 1017 said:

Carl

Hobbylinc sell these

Mike

Half round rod?  What size do you use?

[StevenGuthmiller]

Well, that's a very difficult question to answer as there are a lot of different types and designs of arm rests.

But my general answer would be to look at photos of the arm rests you want, and then try to look at them broken down into basic shapes, then build them using those basic shapes as reference.

 

The arm rests that I made for my '65 Fury were done by basically just starting with a chunk of larger sprue that I first filed into a wedge shape, and then just sanded, filed and cut to the shape that I wanted.

Then, using a piece of thin plastic strip, I shaped a pad.

Doing them in two pieces meant that I could chrome the base and paint the pad separately, making them much easier to detail.

These took a little more work than others I have done.

 

 

 

 

A little bit simpler examples were done for my '64 Bonneville.

These were made simply with layers of plastic sheet.

A couple of shaped pieces for the base, and another for the pad.

Again, made separately for painting purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another design is for my '68 Olds 442.

These again started as a larger piece of sprue sanded and filed to the base shape.

A thin piece of stretched sprue added for the ridge in the center of the base, and a pad and the "background" trim made from thin styrene sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Mike 1017]

22 hours ago, slusher said:

Half round rod?  What size do you use?

Carl,

Go online and check out Plasturct or Evergreen half rounds. There should be a list of the different sizes of Half Rounds

Good luck

Mike

[NOBLNG]

Here’s a quick and dirty scratch build using some .080” half round and some .030” strip. Might be good enough for a street rod? Flattening the topside could be an improvement.

Edited March 24 by NOBLNG

[RIXprints]

Love the styrene shapes.  I use them for rolled and pleated interior.

[slusher]

Thanks Guys for your help!