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Making
Replacement T 34 Track Guards from Aluminium Foil |
| With
the release of new T 34 series of kits by Dragon and Maquette, I decided
to make new replacement track guards for the front, sides and rear. The
kit I used for this project is the Stalingrad 1942 by Maquette.
The
method is the same whatever style the kit is - rounded edges or flat sides
or the rear half round types.
You need a sheet of aluminium foil; mine comes from a Chinese take away dish - in other countries similar foil dishes are used to bake cakes or pies in. Cut the base of the foil dish out and smooth it out with the back of your mark one thumb nail. Safety Tip: Always work from the centre towards the edge - if you do it the opposite way you will slice a piece of your thumb off, this is the voice of experience… |
| It
will take about 5 minutes to remove all the creases from the foil. One it
is flattened then cut a piece out at least twice the surface area you need
for the track guard.
Sometimes you will have to remove the tiny details from the kit original to make it flat enough to burnish over - i.e. rivets or extra bracing straps; these can be added later from foil strips and new rivets made from water canister beads. |
|
On the right is the original kit part, in the middle is the finished replacement. The bottom left picture shows the rear of the front guard with the tabs holding the foil in place. |
It will take about 5 minutes to remove all the creases from the foil. One it is flattened then cut a piece out at least twice the surface area you need for the track guard. Sometimes you will have to remove the tiny details from the kit original i.e. rivets or extra bracing straps; these can be added later from foil strips and new rivets from water canister beads. Place the kit original face down onto the foil and by trial and error bend and cut tabs to hold the foil in place while you work it with a blunted cocktail stick. |
| Turn the whole item over and slowly burnish the foil till it takes on the shape of the fender, after you are satisfied with the result. Remove the foil by lifting the tabs clear of the kit part, you can now cut out the final shape with scissors and then place the replacement foil fender over the original to check that is has still conformed to the shape. If not; then gently burnish again back into shape. You may need to dress the edge up with a file. Test fit on the kit and note the area you need to apply super glue to, in some cases you will have to leave an extra tab on the replacement to give enough surface area. Only experience will tell you this :-) |
| Depending on the style of fender or track guard, you will have some creases in the final shape. You'll never get them all out, but this adds to the realism of the item as branches and stones thrown up by the track damage track guards and fenders to some extent. |
| This photograph shows all the details I have used in this method of replacing the kit parts - for more in scale and better appearance to enhance the kits. I have also used the same method to make the shovel heads, it is just on a smaller scale but the method is the same, the shaft is a replacement made from plastic rod supper glued into the turned over collar of foil. |  |
|
Give
it a try and have fun, if you make a mistake it has cost you nothing but
time.
Ian Sadler IPMS UK 2003 © |
