Aluminium Foil 0.20-0.25mm

[Flanker37]

Hi guys, long time lurker. 1st time poster.

Ive been dabbling a little with paper models. and i think i would like to attempt to build one of these with aluminum rather than paper.

Now I've measured a strip of aluminum cut off a beer can at 0.25mm with a micrometer.... ordinary paper i measured at 0.10mm

so i am thinking that the aluminum at 0.20mm might be the better medium to work with for the aircraft skin. and use the metal from the beer cans for internal parts. as well as using plasticard too.

however, i am having a right hard time trying to find someone selling the stuff.

this seems like the only place http://www.hollinbrow.co.uk/hollinbrow/aluminiumfoil.html and he doesn't advertise the prices. I found one trader who wanted nearly a £100 quid for a pack of 10 100x100mm sheets. there is no way aluminum is this expensive.

most of these paper models come printed on A4 paper, and some of the parts take up the whole page, which then need to be folded etc. some other models for example the fly models short sunderland, is printed on somthing the size of A2 paper, which is huge!

does anyone know any back channels/secret sources?

[Giorgio N]

First of all,

Sounds like an interesting prospect ! I know people who turned paper models into plastic ones. And I've worked a bit with metal sheets in some of my kits.

Th figure you quoted is very high, but I'm not sure for what thickness it is. They show on the website 0.1 mm thick foils at £14.95 for a 2 m long, 300 mm wide sheet, that is pretty much the same I paid for similar stuff in the past. As this was in Switzerland, I'm not sure the name of the shop is of much use to you...

Do you mean 0.01 thick foil ? If so, I can understand it to be more expensive than usual.

In general, I'm not sure I'd use aluminium. Brass and copper sheets are easier to work with, expecially when the parts have complicated curves. Railway modelling supples stores usually have these materials, although it's clear that buying in a shop means paying more than buying from an industrial supplier. Art shops also have copper sheets of different thicknesses.

Regarding the inner structure, I'd use 1 mm plasticard rather than thin foil. Plasticard of this size provides good rigidity while still being easy to cut and shape. Beer can material can then be used to make smaller internal supports that must be folded for some reason.

Good luck with your search, yours is a very interesting proposition, hope you manage to find the material and get a model out of it !

[Okdoky]

Giorgio

I started a build of Lancaster nose cones using the carry out tin foil cartons that I recycled from my Chinese take away containers.

Lancaster nose sections

The part work that I used as a basis for the construction has timber frames that are laser cut. If you were clever with the scalpel you could use plastic card instead to make the patterns for your frames and emboss the tin foil around it instead of using timber.

Hope to see your build if you get it off the ground.

Nige

[Mike]

aboard chap

[mollythedog]

Love the Lanc! I have several paper kits of 1/200th ships I want to build,possibly using other materials-the thin ally might work,but I wouldn't mind betting litho plate would be better-it used to available in large sheets,was easy cut and shape,and held its shape beautifully.I don't think it would dimple or distort like the foil does either.

I would like to replace of the paper parts with metal for the curved 4" gun shields on the Hunt class destroyer I will build.

I have seen some amazing things made out of coke tins(think it was in Vietnam) so it proves that,given time and a few simple tools a paper/card kit could be adapted.

Light ply,or balsa,both staples of the R/C blokes,might also be good for formers/bulkheads.

mtd

[CarLos]

Aluminium tape is ready available at hardware stores. I swear for this brand because it is very thin and has a carrier paper, but there are many others available.

Carlos

[Giorgio N]

Wow Nigel, that lancaster is really impressive ! The material you're using is more pliable than the kind of aluminium I had in mind, I can see how compound curves can be made with it without having to cut the panels too small. Never thought of using it, must keep the stuff the next time I pop in the chinese take away for food !

I use aluminium tape like that posted by Carlos for some applications, and can be found cheaply enough. However I feel this is too thin to use for panel, while being great for other stuff, like frames on canopies and to represent raised panels.

[Flanker37]

cheers for those messages guys. i think ive had my stupid hat on.

How could i not even consider the the takeaway foil cartons. I will have to measure the thickness of one of those with a micrometer.

@Giorgio N

i have looked at other metals such as brass & copper. and i aggree that they are considerably cheaper. And i was going to use plasticard for the internal bulkheads for strength.

@CarLos

I have about 10 rolls of that tape already which i pinched off a building site i was working on over 4 years

I don't really care what material i use, as long as its easy to cut, shape & score (panel lines)

will have to keep my eye on that Lanc, as i have a few 1/33rd very detailed paper model versions