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hi all,
seeing the demand of rivetheads for all kind of conversions, scratchbuilt stuff, buildings, the odd armourplate and whatnot i decided to share my very precious method of making
HUGE AMOUNTS OF RIVETHEADS IN NO TIME!
and the best thing you barely need any kit or tools. nearly all of you will have the things needed at arm lenght.
so let's start.
1. what you need is:
![]()
the most important part in this picture is remains of some sprue that i'm sure all of you have big amounts of. this will be our basic material for the rivets. it's made of polystyrene and therefor is a thermoplast which can be melted again with very little loss to its structural properties (and we won't worry about that, since we don't need our rivets to hold anything, right?:wink
the second most important part in the picture is this:
![]()
now what's this? it's a piece of thin metal with tiny punched holes (this one comes from a jim beam whiskey metal box). i'm sure all of you have something similar lying around. if not, just take a thin piece of metal and drill some small holes in it with your hobby drill.
2. heating the polysterene:
![]()
heat the sprue close above the flame of the candle for about two seconds. not for too long or the stuff will catch fire, so PLEASE BE CAREFUL here.
what we want to achieve is some pretty much softened piece of plastic, not some runny flaming stuff.
3. forming the rivetheads:
![]()
after you've heated the sprue, gently press the softened plastic into your shard of metal. this might require a bit of practise but we have limitless stuff of sprue and the candle isn't too expensive as well :mrgreen: . blow on it for two seconds to cool it down and carefully remove it (a bit of turning might be necessary).
your result should look like this:
![]()
or (dependant on how you actually push the sprue into the holes) like this:
![]()
this is what we want to achieve for MASS PRODUCTION.
4. cut down your rivets:
![]()
use your hobby knife or like me a sharp scapell. be carefull not to cut yourself.
4. repeat step 2,3 and 4 for as many times as you wish.
it will take you no time at all and provide you with some practise.
5. sort out your rivetheads:
you will notice that your rivetheads will vary a bit in shape. but that's no problem at all since you probably have about a hundred of them by now.
sort them according to shape using A WET BRUSH. (this works superbly)
![]()
make heaps of similar shapes.
6. glue them to whatever you like:
make some real tiny dots of glue (maybe using a needle) on the surface on which you want your rivets to be. position your sorted rivetheads using your wet brush again.
![]()
DONE! :so_happy:
this is a really easy way to make hundreds of those little buggers in virtually no time. trust me. you will get quite skilled with the practise.k:
you can also experiment with different kinds of plastics (but BE CAREFUL WITH THE FLAMING POINT) and hole sizes for different results.
have fun. :victory:
cheers
graf_spee
seeing the demand of rivetheads for all kind of conversions, scratchbuilt stuff, buildings, the odd armourplate and whatnot i decided to share my very precious method of making
HUGE AMOUNTS OF RIVETHEADS IN NO TIME!
and the best thing you barely need any kit or tools. nearly all of you will have the things needed at arm lenght.
so let's start.
1. what you need is:
the most important part in this picture is remains of some sprue that i'm sure all of you have big amounts of. this will be our basic material for the rivets. it's made of polystyrene and therefor is a thermoplast which can be melted again with very little loss to its structural properties (and we won't worry about that, since we don't need our rivets to hold anything, right?:wink
the second most important part in the picture is this:
now what's this? it's a piece of thin metal with tiny punched holes (this one comes from a jim beam whiskey metal box). i'm sure all of you have something similar lying around. if not, just take a thin piece of metal and drill some small holes in it with your hobby drill.
2. heating the polysterene:
heat the sprue close above the flame of the candle for about two seconds. not for too long or the stuff will catch fire, so PLEASE BE CAREFUL here.
what we want to achieve is some pretty much softened piece of plastic, not some runny flaming stuff.
3. forming the rivetheads:
after you've heated the sprue, gently press the softened plastic into your shard of metal. this might require a bit of practise but we have limitless stuff of sprue and the candle isn't too expensive as well :mrgreen: . blow on it for two seconds to cool it down and carefully remove it (a bit of turning might be necessary).
your result should look like this:
or (dependant on how you actually push the sprue into the holes) like this:
this is what we want to achieve for MASS PRODUCTION.
4. cut down your rivets:
use your hobby knife or like me a sharp scapell. be carefull not to cut yourself.
4. repeat step 2,3 and 4 for as many times as you wish.
it will take you no time at all and provide you with some practise.
5. sort out your rivetheads:
you will notice that your rivetheads will vary a bit in shape. but that's no problem at all since you probably have about a hundred of them by now.
sort them according to shape using A WET BRUSH. (this works superbly)
make heaps of similar shapes.
6. glue them to whatever you like:
make some real tiny dots of glue (maybe using a needle) on the surface on which you want your rivets to be. position your sorted rivetheads using your wet brush again.
DONE! :so_happy:
this is a really easy way to make hundreds of those little buggers in virtually no time. trust me. you will get quite skilled with the practise.
k:you can also experiment with different kinds of plastics (but BE CAREFUL WITH THE FLAMING POINT) and hole sizes for different results.
have fun. :victory:
cheers
graf_spee
