"SUZUKA CIRCUIT"

[JHONY]

Titulo: Alternative Flocking Technique
Autor: Klutz
Publicado en BMC Forum, Viernes, 28 de Abril 2006

I came up with this idea a few nights ago and I thought I would share it with you as it worked out even better than I thought it would.

I don't know if you have the same problem as I do with flocking using white glue. Basically it always comes out a little bit "patchy" (even when using added paint) and requires a couple of applications. Also the glue needs to be applied carefully so as to get it only where you want it or you end up flocking the dashboard. The glue pulls away from the edges leading to thin/patchy flocking. And finally, I get flocking bits all over the interior of the kit.

This is a quick, cheap, clean and very effective alternative method that allows you to use your current flocking supplies. To show just how versatile this method can be, there's a "quick and dirty" Special Edition Director's Cut at the end.

I should add that everything you see in this tutorial took me no more than 30-35 minutes including taking pictures.

The basic principle is deadly easy - double-sided adhesive tape used for laying carpets. I use this stuff all the time for attaching parts to bamboo sticks for painting so I always have a couple of rolls handy. It is particularly good for this function as the adhesive it uses is pretty darn sticky!

Here's what you will need:



Double sided carpet tape
Masking tape
Grease-proof kitchen paper
Flocking
Other odds and ends

Step 1:



The first 60 seconds of this method are spent making a template of the part you want to flock. Here I just took the first box that came to hand in my stash - Fujimi 348gtb and covered it with 2 strips of Tamiya masking tape and trimmed around the edges with a sharp scalpel blade.

Step 2.

Now we need to make our sheet of "carpet" material. Cut off a suitable strip of the sticky tape. Fortunately this kind of tape is by definition very wide and will almost certainly be wide enough for most model kits.



Lay the strip sticky side up on a piece of old newspaper (to collect the excess flocking). Tip the flocking material into a sieve (1) and then sprinkle very liberally (2) all over the sticky tape. Really make a huge pile and then push it all in to the tape (3) with your fingers. You can then pick up the tape, tip it over and then push it back into the pile of flocking (4).

Don't be gentle or delicate at this stage as the objective is to work as much flocking as possible into the adhesive for maximum coverage. You should end up with something similar to (5).

STEP 3:



Since we will be cutting the carpet from the back, we need to make a negative of the floor plan template. The easiest way to do this was to peel it from the model, put it onto a piece of grease-proof kitchen paper and then trim to size with metal ruler and scalpel.

STEP 4:



Take your template and place it "Tamiya side down" (1) on the backing paper of your carpet sheet and cut around it. You should end up with something like (2). This was actually for me the hardest part to do. The backing paper of the carpet tape was very slippery and my template was hard to keep in place. The strip you can see cut out is for the seat mounting bar on the kit floor pan.

STEP 5:

Put your carpet in place.



You can either just put it in place or remove the backing paper from the carpet tape and fix it in place permanently - the choice is yours.

Voila! Klutz Kustom Karpets!

Special Edition Director's Cut!

When I had finished this tutorial I had a sort of an afterthought. I said to myself "I wonder if..." And it turned out that "yes, you can". (Please bear in mind that the following was really a "quick and rough" test run!)

Before I put flocking on the carpet tape, I cut out some letter shapes from the grease-proof paper and put them on the adhesive. My friend Andy also had the excellent idea of using the plastic Cavallino from a Fujimi kit as a template



I then proceeded to flock the tape as above with the main color. In the case of the Cavallino, I used a blunted toothpick to work the flocking in as closely around the template as possible to try sharpest possible edges.

I then peeled off the templates to re-expose the adhesive and applied the second color. If you have really worked the first color well into the adhesive, I have found that the two colors do not mix. None the less it's probably a good idea to keep "overspill" to a little as reasonably possible.

Here's the result.





I hope this tutorial will be of use to you.


... mas sobre el tema

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/39

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/106


_________________