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4mm/ft corrugated iron sheeting


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It looks to me like the choice of readily-available plastic 4mm/ft corrugated iron boils down to South East Finecast or Slaters embossed sheets, or Wills Building Pack injection moulded. Anybody care to share their opinion as to which actually looks most convincing? Intended use is both as roofing material and for making small industrial buildings.

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I quite like the Wills material. I do like the bolt head details. However, I'm not sure that it sometimes looks a tad over-scale? Might just be me, but I have seen 7mm scale modellers use it (EDIT: Inc Gordon Gravett - he mentions this,
along with photographs, proving it doesn't look under-scale in 7mm, in his First O Gauge book)
Perhaps it just depends on where it is on a layout, or within a structure? For instance, if use as roofing on a small building, the panels might look too large...

I find I like the detail and relief on the Wills corrugated iron, but it is very thick, tough material. This might not suit something which you can see the edge of, as corrugated iron sheets themselves, are very thin
It's also much harder to cut through than the thinner Slaters sheets.

On many occasions, I've used Slaters corrugated sheets - cutting it into suitably sized panels or strips. It doesn't have the bolt head detail, and doesn't have the same depth / relief of the Wills, but again,
you may want smaller panels for a particular project. Or perhaps use smaller panels / strips for a fence or structure in the background? (perspective modelling)

Sorry, that's not much help, but I use it depending on the situation. I've also used both on one layout, and no-one ever said anything :)

Edited by marc smith
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It looks to me like the choice of readily-available plastic 4mm/ft corrugated iron boils down to South East Finecast or Slaters embossed sheets, or Wills Building Pack injection moulded. Anybody care to share their opinion as to which actually looks most convincing? Intended use is both as roofing material and for making small industrial buildings.

For the normal type I prefer Slaters, the SE Finecast is somewhat closer to 7mm in my opinion. If you want something finer there is the option of using the copper sheet ones from Hobby Holidays, not a cheap option if you need a lot of it.

 

Sorry I'm unable to post a link.

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For the normal type I prefer Slaters, the SE Finecast is somewhat closer to 7mm in my opinion. If you want something finer there is the option of using the copper sheet ones from Hobby Holidays, not a cheap option if you need a lot of it.

 

Sorry I'm unable to post a link.

Ambis do a variety of sheets in size and material.

 

Basil ( only a customer)

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Here is a pic of a structure (just behind the 4F) which I poorly built using the SE Finecast clear plastic corrugated iron. I didn't do a good job cutting or lining it up, but hope it helps give an idea of what it looks like in 4mm at viewing distance. If you click on the top photo, I think you can just make out the corrugated effect. 

post-21193-0-09215600-1528875746_thumb.jpg

post-21193-0-95007100-1528875912_thumb.jpg

Edited by ianLMS
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That looks a nice layout IanLMS :)
Don't forget, corrugated iron is / was often used as a "cheap" and quick building material, and often looks rather uneven, prototypically. It can have a sort of "endearing" look, or can look suitably ramshackle appearance which suits some buildings.

You just reminded me of one occasion where I used the SE Finecast clear corrugated material. I seem to recall that several popular glue types didn't bond it very well....
Or is that just a false memory on my part? I'm fairly sure that bending it - even slightly, also meant that it would tend to bend out of position before the glue had set. I recall having to use superglue and activator in the end...

Edited by marc smith
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Cheers chaps. Hobby Holidays and Goodwood Scenics are both interesting firms I wasn't aware of but they're now bookmarked in my "useful suppliers" folder.

By the way, Ian, if my trees and shrubs turn out looking as good as yours do, I'll be well pleased.

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Thank you both - If I remeber, I used CA as well. 

 

The trees/shrubs were simple - Get a box of sea-foam trees, various coarse, medium and fine flocks in various shades  (WWS and/or Woodland Scenics) and the Peco or WWS spray adhesive. 

 

The large tree was sea-foam sprigs glued into a twig (with around 3 off-shoots) with pre-drilled holes and CA, then covered with the flocks. The ones on the backscene are cheats, kind of low relief. I glued a stick to the backscene, then using carpet glue, I sprayed a blob of glue, then pushed handful of Woodland Scenic Bushes or Clump Foilage. 

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From memory, the Wills clear corrugated material is vacu-formed from acrylic sheet rather than moulded in styrene, so is probably a bit more choosy what adhesives you use on it. Contact adhesives used sparingly or odourless super glue should be o.k.

 

Ambis Engineering make their corrugated iron from aluminium or copper. Very easy to cut and work with, I have used it on several buildings. The copper version can be soldered, which could be useful for certain projects.

 

RB

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Hi

I make my own corrugated iron sheets as used in the pic below:

 

post-11846-0-08118500-1528980262_thumb.jpg

 

I cut strips of aluminium foil (the heavier duty stuff like turkey foil works best but any will do) about 10-12cm long and about 16-20mm wide. These are wrapped round one of those plastic screwtop lids with small corrugations to aid grip when opening; coffee jars, Nutella and various others. I look for deeper ones as they're easier to use. The foils is pressed into the corrugations by finger pressure and occasionally by pressing with a screwdriver blade or something similar. It can then be removed and cut to appropriate sheet size. It's easy to do, easy to glue and paint, costs next to nothing and has appropriately thin edges, which to me is very important from the appearance point of view.

 

Hope this helps

 

Ian

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Not measured it for accuracy as regards corrugated spacing, but I have used old computer ribbon cable from my PC spares box to roof a couple of old lineside sheds...painted it looks OK to my eyes...

 

attachicon.gifRibbon.jpg

 

The spacing between cables on an IDC ribbon like that is 1/20" (1.27mm) - it works out at a scale 3.8" in 4mm scale. 3" is a common corrugated iron pitch, so not far off. Note: other types of ribbon cables are available with different pitches.

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