Riveting Plans - What do you use?

[Juggernut]

EDIT: This probably belongs in the Modeling Q&A: Tips, Techniques, and Photography forum....  MODS, please move as appropriate.

 

I'm curious about what people use for riveting plans and how to go about it?  For my Revell Bf109G-10, I've taken the plans from the SAM publication on the F-K 109, scanned them, enlarged them 150% (they're 1/48 scale in the book), placed images as needed on my Illustrator artboard, cropped the images so I can get them on an 8-1/2 x 11" sheet of paper, saved them as PDF's and printed them out. 

 

If someone knows an easier way to do this, I'm all ears.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Juggernut
Clarified my request and recommended change of forum.

[thierry laurent]

Plans are a good guide but there are very often errors, including in rivet lines. Personally I'm starting with them but double check as much as possible with pictures. However there is no need to be very paranoid about that as kits with scribed rivets also have their share of issues. Moreover I've yet to find someone who knows where all rivets were located on any plane...

[Dave Roof]

What Thierry said above. I have literally taken a tape measure and plumb line to an AH-1W and have loft drawings from Bell that I used to create my profiles. I still wouldn't recommend using them alone as it was literally impossible to account for the curves on the actual airframe in the 2D drawings. 

[KUROK]

Jumpei Temma has some really good drawings out there that are accurate.

[Juggernut]

I am aware of the limitations and accuracy issues of any set of plans but my question is really regarding the method of using said plans; perhaps I didn't make that point sufficiently.  This is the first "real attempt" I'm going to give to adding rivent detail.  I've got a couple of riveters but haven't really ever used either of them. 

 

Frankly, nobody, especially judges at any given contest are going to have a set of plans to "authenticate" a modeler's riveting on an airframe; that's just ludicrous (but I'll bet someone will eventually try it - ESPECIALLY with the 109 and then the argument will ensue about which set of plans are the most accurate).

[Juggernut]

8 minutes ago, KUROK said:

Jumpei Temma has some really good drawings out there that are accurate.

 

Are they commercially available?  Google didn't provide any information in that regard.

 

[thierry laurent]

34 minutes ago, Juggernut said:

 

Are they commercially available?  Google didn't provide any information in that regard.

 

They are freely available on his website: 

 

http://soyuyo.main.jp/top2.htm 

 

Look at the bottom. There are useful links in Japanese and English.

 

 

[Juggernut]

5 minutes ago, thierry laurent said:

They are freely available on his website: 

 

http://soyuyo.main.jp/top2.htm 

 

Look at the bottom. There are useful links in Japanese and English.

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[thierry laurent]

To go back to the technique, the "how" essentially depends on the type of rivets you want to add. A beading tool, a "Rosie" type wheel or decals are quite different. One thing that helps in all situations: polish the surface with a scotch Brite, take measures on reference points on the plan and draw the rivet lines on the plastic with a pencil. This will give you a good guide to add rivets.

[Juggernut]

I have the RB Rivet-R and an MDC beading tool.  I know the Rivet-R is by far, easier to use but the drawback is that the impression is just a small hole whereas the beading tool makes little circles - but conversely is harder to use.  I do not know which one I prefer....yet.  After watching Gazzas add HGW rivets to his 109, I'm going to emphatically state....those are right out.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Juggernut

[thierry laurent]

Actually the choice depends on various things. The most important one is actually your patience! Decals are the quickest method but can be frustrating as you need to cut the work in multiple steps because you must wait for them to dry before going on without risk of damage. Then you have the riveting wheel. This is quicker but you need to use a guide such as Dymo tape to be sure to have straight lines. And finally you have the beading tool or Hasegawa riveting pencil. Hopefully there are guides with teeth to use them (MDC, Hasegawa, etc.). This gives the best result visually but is generally over scale and requires long hours of work and a very steady hand. Moreover, this requires thick and strong plastic. Forget using such a technique on resin! I riveted a full Hasegawa 109 G6 and concluded this was really too time-consuming. So, this is really a matter of taste and patience.

[Thunnus]

I'm not a huge stickler for rivet accuracy and I use a rivet wheel to produce rivets as small holes.  I basically use the same technique that you describe, Tim... getting a set of plans that show the rivet pattern and then that as a guide to draw the rivet line patterns with a soft-leaded pencil.  Depending on the rivet patterns, I may or may not scale the drawings to 1/32.  If not, I just use the panel lines and work off of those.

 

For some of my Bf109 builds, I used drawings from the 109Lair website...

http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/index1024.htm

 

These are not to scale so you'd have to do a manual scale adjustment based on measurements to print the drawings to 1/32 scale.

[Juggernut]

25 minutes ago, Thunnus said:

I'm not a huge stickler for rivet accuracy and I use a rivet wheel to produce rivets as small holes.  I basically use the same technique that you describe, Tim... getting a set of plans that show the rivet pattern and then that as a guide to draw the rivet line patterns with a soft-leaded pencil.  Depending on the rivet patterns, I may or may not scale the drawings to 1/32.  If not, I just use the panel lines and work off of those.

 

For some of my Bf109 builds, I used drawings from the 109Lair website...

http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/index1024.htm

 

These are not to scale so you'd have to do a manual scale adjustment based on measurements to print the drawings to 1/32 scale.

 

Thanks for that link.  LOL, Lynn has removed the G-10 drawings for the Erla aircraft this past July (I believe) and has not reuploaded them so I'm relying on my original method.  If it's not that accurate, who's going to know for sure other than me?  I hope it just comes out as good as yours did.