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nuts and bolts smaller than 0.5mm?


Bozothenutter

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The only thing I've seen smaller are the rivets from Masterclub, at 0.4mm - they have two types:

 

mc435001_s.jpg  mc435011_s.jpg

 

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Not sure what size these are, but you probably looking at a PE fret like this from ABER:

https://www.super-hobby.com/products/Bolts-and-Nuts.html

 

604_rd.jpg

regards,

Jack

 

 

Edited by JackG
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I'm not sure that "best bet" is quite the right description...............  Etched bolt heads are the biggest PITA to use: clipping them cleanly off the frets and cleaning up the fret attachments being chief among the pains, along with needing microscopic amounts of glue (varnish?) so that it doesn't splurge out.  And expect to lose as many on the floor and in dark corners as you manage to actually use! 

 

I suggest placing masking tape or similar across the back of the fret before pressing down slowly with a small chisel blade in your modelling knife to separate the parts.  Hold down the item you're cutting free with tweezers etc.  Do this and you shouldn't have any trouble with pinging.  Then peel away the tape and you will have all your cut parts ready to be plucked and placed.  If you edge the tip of a scalpel blade underneath the parts to free them from the tape you might find enough residual adhesive to keep it on the blade until you place it.  Or it might just fall off...........  Picking with tweezers is likely to lead to pinging or dropping.

 

Lion Roar do etched bolts and nuts without the fret attachments, but I believe their smallest is 0.8mm.  These often have a little adhesive left on the back from the backing film, but not enough for a permanent stick.  Archer do some resin rivet heads as decals: never used them - their longevity worries me.

 

Taurus do resin screw/nut/bolt heads as small as 0.29mm but these really are minuscule!  I haven't worked out yet how to handle and apply them.

 

Grandt Line are now defunct, but didn't do anything smaller than 0.8mm IIRC.  EDM have similar-design rivets down to 0.635mm.

 

I thought of the little balls from a used water filter cartridge (Brita etc).  The idea for using these as rivets came from a Warhammer book.  Drill a tiny divot, place the ball with a scalpel tip and apply a tiny drop of liquid poly.  And cheaper than chips: free if you use them anyway.  But I measured a few with the micrometer (yes, I do need to get out a LOT more.........) and couldn't find any smaller than 0.6mm.

 

 

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Archer Transfers might have something that would work if you’re looking for surface details- http://www.archertransfers.com/

 

@Das Abteilung-  While the folks at Grandt Line are retiring, the good news is their line of products has been purchased by The San Juan Model Co. in Colorado.  The transfer is in process and I would guess they be back in at least partial production before the end of the year.  https://www.grandtline.com/

 

Lou in Utah

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On 6/26/2018 at 5:29 AM, louiex2 said:

@Das Abteilung-  While the folks at Grandt Line are retiring, the good news is their line of products has been purchased by The San Juan Model Co. in Colorado.  The transfer is in process and I would guess they be back in at least partial production before the end of the year.  https://www.grandtline.com/

I sincerely hope they refurbish the tooling as some of the recent sets I've got aren't too good. A return to the orange styrene would be good so you stand a chance of finding them when they try to get away.

 

@Das Abteilung Have a look HERE not cheap but you'll get enough for several lifetimes...they're utterly consistent and available in a raft of colours.

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Sleeper, I have to agree that new tooling is needed, especially on the smaller sizes.  My last packs of small GL rivets were all webbed together with flash.  AFAIK this is one of the reasons GL decided to call it a day: the cost of new or refurbished tooling.  It's become state of the ark rather than state of the art.

 

Once I'd discovered the EDM products I stopped buying GL.  They are a direct replacement in concept, although the sizes are different.  Although branded to a UK company I believe they're tooled and made in China and are very crisp in orangey-brown plastic.  What those moulds will look like decades down the line when they're the same age as GL's is another question entirely.  All moulds deteriorate.

 

Of all the various concepts for rivet and bolt heads, I much prefer the injection-moulded type with tails like GL and EDM.

 

I've previously posted about these products on Britmodeller here: 

 

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