Resin Suspension Parts

[hot ford coupe]

Any way you can replace some of the supporting parts in brass? I remember when I was attempting to make that 1/6 scale Lincoln (silly me), they told me to make the suspension out of as much brass as I could. They said the weight would distort the styrene . A lot of builders do the same thing in the aircraft world by changing the landing gear over to brass or aluminum.

[flamefink]

Thanks HFC. I was really trying to keep away from too much more scratch building. I'm working in 1/16th and I'm already going to be building the frame, a set of quarter eliptical springs, and rear ladder bars. The front suspension (I beam axle & springs) is all resin .

I wonder if it would be worth while trying to cast these parts in a low temp metal?

[hot ford coupe]

That may not be a bad idea. I'm just wondering how stable resin is under constant force. I know styrene will bend over time especially if the parts are thin. However, I can easily understand why you want to stay away from scratchbuilding. There may be another way if you display the model in a case and you never touch it except on infrequent occasions. You can set the model on some separate supports that take up most of the weight. They can be brass rod cut to length and put under a solid part of the chassis like a jack stand. They can be placed so they can't be seen unless you get into the case and your head under the chassis. That way, you protect the resin parts and still can display the model. Hopefully, no one would be the wiser.

[xken]

The low temp metal is not structural and will collapse over time as well. Model Expo 1/16th scale plane kits use cast metal landing gear and in six months just under the weight of the model itself they splay out and bend. I have their first two kits and have replaced both with brass tube parts.

Just a heads up on this, hate to see you waste money and time that you will eventually regret.

You may want to look at laminating some brass sheet to the resin parts to reinforce on a non obvious side of the parts. I show some detail images of the process of building a front axle in my Model T build.

Ken

[hot ford coupe]

Good point, Ken. I've seen some WWII aircraft builders cement a piece of brass inside wings so the dihedral stays stable. I saw that on Large Scale Planes. Besides, well made brass and aluminum landing gear really look better than some of the plastic and resin ones. When it comes to suspension particularly in models like the Big Deuce, I've been relacing suspension parts with brass. With the tutorial you did on the Model T, you made it a lot easier for us. thanks again for that.

[Herman]

So we have:

-replace the parts with scratch built parts from brass
-replace the parts with cast metal (but not the low temp stuff)
-beef up the parts with brass (or carbon fiber and a dab of epoxy , could be easier in awkward shapes)
-support the model with brass supports (or clear plexiglass supports or posts)

[flamefink]

I can already see this build snowballing into a major project. Unfortunately this is a complete resin kit that I was hoping to re***** atleast 75% of and only replace what I didn't like in styrene . All of the wheels and tires are resin as well. I'm assuming they will probably not hold the extra weight of the brass suspension parts and the car.