Scratchbuilding wind screen seal

[Joev259A]

I am scratch building a truck and I was wondering if there is a way of  making the  seal around the windshield and other windows.  This will be 1/25 scale.   Thanks for any guidance!

Joe Vattilana

[noelsmith]

Joe, the only thing I can suggest is get a small engineers spring tensioned pair of dividers. Set the very small gap between the two points you want using the adjusting screw. With this tool you should be able to scribe a line around various apertures. One point will be scribing and the other guiding along the aperture edge.  It will take a bit of practice to get a feel for what you are doing and keep the scribed line a constant distance to the edge, so I would suggest that you practice on some scrap plastic.

You could use a small spring bow compass instead by substituting the drawing lead for a pointed metal piece. Same principle as using the dividers HTH.

Once the scribing is done there will be a hard line to paint to.

Edited October 31, 2021 by noelsmith

[Nick Filippone]

Isn’t that just a dark coloured rubber seal? Could you simulate it after painting with decal or tape? Nick

[Joev259A]

I may try the tape technique.  Thanks for all the feedback.

[AP40rocktruck]

To get more of a three dimensional look, I have used small rubber bands, glued in place & painted to suit.  

[Firemodeler1]

Here's another idea.  Works well on flat windshields and might work on slightly curved ones as well.  Start with a piece of 0.020 plastic sheet stock and place it against the windshield opening.  Trace the opening onto the sheet stock.  Now cut the sheet stock so that it follows the drawn line but a distance away from it that will be the width of the gasket or trim.  Round off the outside edges.  Now glue the trimmed piece to the windshield opening.  This is a bit tricky but there are ways to ensure the results if you make some guide lines around the windshield opening and mark similar lines on the trim.  Make sure these stay visible during the trimming and sanding process.  Use these marks to locate the trim when you glue it in place.

After this is done cut out the trim black leaving just a thin trim line around the outside.  If you follow the pencil line you first drew you should have a very small shoulder that you can place the windshield "glass" against for a nice finish look.  The images below are of an International Loadstar.  It shows the results of the gasket that was made for the rear window.   Note the alignment lines.   In this example I could have made the outside a little thinner to be more realistic. 

 

[AP40rocktruck]

I have done this a similar method as Firemodeler1.  I make forming tools out of brass, and use them to shape the molding to its curved profile.   This sequence is for weather strip that is raised above the surrounding model plane.

[AP40rocktruck]

For weather strip that sits at the same model surface plane, I the same tools & methods, without adding an additional layers of material (ABS in this case) to the subject.

[Firemodeler1]

Always more than one way to skin a cat!  Thanks for the tip.  I'll pack that away for future use!👍

[noelsmith]

That is a neat little tool you made there Mark.

The finished effect would be similar to my divider/springbow compass method so the surround being scribed is still  flush with the main surface around it. Mark's special tool has the advantage of being rigid but the width would not be adjustable. But that would not matter too much if working in a similar scale all the time, so could be used on numerous models in 1/25th or 1/24th scale.

[Firemodeler1]

That tool looks like it really would work well.  But I would make one adjustment and that would be to turn the scribing portion around so that it can be used on the outside of the cab.  What is shown works well with a sheet of plastic stock but not so well when having to work inside a built up cab.  Turning it around would make it possible to use the tool on any surface and from the outside.