HO Scale Re-Bar??????

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Does anyone know if someone makes HO scale Re-bar?

Or maybe I could make it? What would one use?

I am in the process of making a photo diorama. It has a single raised track running along the back side with the Walthers Art Deco Highway Underpass Bridge on the right side. A road runs under the bride. There is also a road along the whole front of the diorama with an embancment leading down from the tracks to the road.

My plan is to have the road under construction, like they are widing the road to allow for more traffic. Part of the embancment will be ripped out and will be retaining wall. That is what i want to show them building. I want to make some forms up against the wall like this pic in the links :

http://www.aec.bf.umich.edu/projects/Junge/images/200504/New concrete wall.jpg

http://www.milkywayfarm.com/images/Concrete_Wall_Forms_towards_road.jpg

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/912DA174-101B-42EC-995A-4D46479611C3/0/Wall1aforms2.jpg

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/762F16B4-0779-4BA7-9C60-A599232781D8/0/Wall1ANorth.jpg

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/795F611B-F6DB-44E3-9E5A-6A71A6DA8B4D/0/SB5temp1.jpg (look to the left side on this pic and you can see the wall forms)

Some of the wall be have already been poured and most of it will be just like in the pic, with wood and re-bar. So basically like when you see the freeway construction in real life.

So anyone got any ideas or know where I can get some re-bar? :mrgreen:

Thanks in advance
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Just buy a cheap spool of wire in the appropriate gauge. If it's new rebar, remember to paint it a light green to represnt the anit-rust coating when it comes out of the factory.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
N

nachoman

Yeah, piano wire should work fine. I've bought that stuff at ace hardware. But it is rather stiff and difficult to bend. You could get brass wire of the same gauge.

Kevin
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Yeah, piano wire should work fine. I've bought that stuff at ace hardware. But it is rather stiff and difficult to bend. You could get brass wire of the same gauge.

Thanks Kevin :mrgreen:

Looks like ill be making a trip to ace hardware lol

The part about the not bending well, thats a good thing for me cause I dont want it to bend :mrgreen: Ill be cutting them into straight pieces, some will become loads, some will become part of the form for the retaining wall, and some will be scrap and extra just laying around the job site :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
C

Catt

Any small diameter wire would work.Since you will need to paint it I would go with about a .010" wire because no matter how you paint it it will get thicker.

Speaking of paint my reccomendation is Model Master ,Green Zink Chromate. This is an Acryllic water based paint and to me it is about as close to the green epoxy coating as you can get.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Any small diameter wire would work.Since you will need to paint it I would go with about a .010" wire because no matter how you paint it it will get thicker.

Speaking of paint my reccomendation is Model Master ,Green Zink Chromate. This is an Acryllic water based paint and to me it is about as close to the green epoxy coating as you can get.

Thanks Johnathan!!!!

Ill see if I can get .010

Now for paint, I do want to do some of them green (like loads on trucks or maybe some just being unloaded on the job site) but I also want to do the majority of them rusty, what color should I go with for that?

Ill make a note of the Green Zink Chromate :mrgreen:
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
I'd go with the .015" piano wire: it's steel, so any part that doesn't get painted will be a realistic colour, and if you want it rusty, wet it and let it rust. ;):-D I've not be able to find it smaller than .015", which scales out to about 1 1/4" in diameter, not too terribly oversize for heavy-duty construction. You can bend it using pliers, but the best way to cut it is with a cut-off disk in your Dremel tool. If you're going to use brass, try to find half-hard rod or wire. The wire from Detail Associates is too easy to bend because it's overly soft. If you do use soft brass wire, you can cut it by rolling it on a sheet of glass, using an old blade in your X-Acto. Use the "heel" of the blade, so you can apply some pressure without breaking the blade.

Wayne
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
I'd go with the .015" piano wire: it's steel, so any part that doesn't get painted will be a realistic colour, and if you want it rusty, wet it and let it rust. ;):-D I've not be able to find it smaller than .015", which scales out to about 1 1/4" in diameter, not too terribly oversize for heavy-duty construction. You can bend it using pliers, but the best way to cut it is with a cut-off disk in your Dremel tool. If you're going to use brass, try to find half-hard rod or wire. The wire from Detail Associates is too easy to bend because it's overly soft. If you do use soft brass wire, you can cut it by rolling it on a sheet of glass, using an old blade in your X-Acto. Use the "heel" of the blade, so you can apply some pressure without breaking the blade.

Wayne

WOW thanks Wayne!!!

Ill be using the steel piano wire, I want it to be as strong as possible and I can always bend it with the handy dandy pliers :thumb: :mrgreen:

and thats a great idea, ill let the finished pieces soak in some water and then leave it outside for a while, natural rust :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Neat idea! Looks like you're getting good suggestions. Looking forward to seeing how it works out!
Ralph
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Neat idea! Looks like you're getting good suggestions. Looking forward to seeing how it works out!
Ralph

Thanks Ralph

Im looking forward to starting. I got the table all built and ready to go for this module. Im leaving for vacation for a week on saterday so I wont have any progress pics till after the 1st of auguest.
 
C

Catt

If your planning to have some rebar just laying around you will want to bend some of it.Some shallow bends the length of the bar and on some bend it near the ends of the bar.

raw rebar has a gray colour to it and scalely finish to it the only heavy rust would be where it was cut or welded or the finish had been scraped or simply worn off because the bar was dragged over rough ground.

I would suggest that you might try using Poly-Scale Grimy Black with maybe just a little white for the raw rebar colour.For the rust just about any orangy (?) colour that appeals to you but be sure that some of it is quite dark.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
If your planning to have some rebar just laying around you will want to bend some of it.Some shallow bends the length of the bar and on some bend it near the ends of the bar.

Great Idea!!! I could also put some in the various construction dumpsters that I have.

raw rebar has a gray colour to it and scalely finish to it the only heavy rust would be where it was cut or welded or the finish had been scraped or simply worn off because the bar was dragged over rough ground.

I would suggest that you might try using Poly-Scale Grimy Black with maybe just a little white for the raw rebar colour.For the rust just about any orangy (?) colour that appeals to you but be sure that some of it is quite dark.

Thanks again Johnathan :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Whats a good size for Plywood?

Anyone know what a good size for plywood would be? Would 1/32" work?

Im thinking of ordering a few balsa sheets and cutting them into 4x8 sheets of plywood when I order my .015 piano wire for the rebar.

The site im getting them from has Balsa Sheets but the smallest one they have is 1/32" thick, thats pretty small, but would that be a good thickness for a sheet of 4x8 plywood in HO scale? Here is the link, Kit Kraft inc., Model Building Materials, Structural Material, Balsa Sheets, they also have 1/16" but I think that is too thick so im hoping that the 1/32" is the right size.
 
Another idea for the rebar might be to use aluminum window screen. You could fold it into rectangular or roll into tubular shapes to approximate structural rebar work before the concrete forms have gone up, or create some simple styrene forms and make real poured in place concrete work with anchor bolt cement. Leave the top of the screen exposed (and remove some of the horizontal strands), then bend over to match your photos. The screen could be airbrushed a dark rust color.

As for the plywood, why not just use plywood? Midwest makes 6-ply sheets in 1/64" thickness, which, cut down to size, look great. Also, if you're not happy with the color, you can paint them or bleach and then stain them a light yellow-tan to look like new plywood:

Midwest 1/64 x 6 x 12 Plywood - 571497

Chris
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Another idea for the rebar might be to use aluminum window screen. You could fold it into rectangular or roll into tubular shapes to approximate structural rebar work before the concrete forms have gone up, or create some simple styrene forms and make real poured in place concrete work with anchor bolt cement. Leave the top of the screen exposed (and remove some of the horizontal strands), then bend over to match your photos. The screen could be airbrushed a dark rust color.

Thats another great idea!!! Thanks Chris :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I could deffinatly use that idea, have some rebar forms laying around, make some loads and as you said, en-case some of them in "concrete" :mrgreen:

As for the plywood, why not just use plywood? Midwest makes 6-ply sheets in 1/64" thickness, which, cut down to size, look great. Also, if you're not happy with the color, you can paint them or bleach and then stain them a light yellow-tan to look like new plywood:

Midwest 1/64 x 6 x 12 Plywood - 571497

Thanks for the link, I will be getting a couple sheets of that stuff to :mrgreen:

I might leave them the same color after I cut them to size but if I dont like how they look, Testors makes a color called "wood" or something like that, I cant member the exact name, so ill use that if im not happy. Ive used it on a few other things and it comes out pretty good.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Okay so here is what I have got so far:
  • Rebar
    1. .015" piano wire
    2. Polly Scale with a little white mixed in for raw rebar color
    3. Model Masters Green Zink Chromate for new rebar
    4. Fine Aluminum Screening for making rebar forms
  • Plywood
    1. Midwest 1/64" plywood sheet
Now I need some I-beams lol

I found some made outta ABS plastic, whats a good size for HO tho? Kit Kraft inc., Model Building Materials, Structural Material, ABS Plastic, I-Beams
there is all the sizes they have, can someone please tell which is best for HO? Im thinking maybe the 3/16 one?
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Even 1/64" plywood scales out to almost 1 1/2" thick, in HO scale. I'd use .010" sheet styrene: drag a sheet of #150 sandpaper over both sides, then cut into 4'x8' sheets. I'd paint it some shade of grey, as once the sheets have been used once, they get pretty dirty-looking. Seems to me that I've also seen steel forms for concrete, but these are larger than 4'x8'. Evergreen makes structural shapes in styrene, in a variety of sizes, which have a finer cross-section than the ABS ones.

Wayne
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Even 1/64" plywood scales out to almost 1 1/2" thick, in HO scale. I'd use .010" sheet styrene: drag a sheet of #150 sandpaper over both sides, then cut into 4'x8' sheets. I'd paint it some shade of grey, as once the sheets have been used once, they get pretty dirty-looking. Seems to me that I've also seen steel forms for concrete, but these are larger than 4'x8'. Evergreen makes structural shapes in styrene, in a variety of sizes, which have a finer cross-section than the ABS ones.

Thanks Wayne, I might take your route and go styrene but im not sure yet.

BTW, thanks for the Evergreen name, I knew someone made stuff like that just couldnt member the name :mrgreen:
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
No offense to the poster, but if you plan on finishing wihin your lifetime, getting it wet and "letting it rust naturally" is not such a good idea. It will take forever.

It's out of scale for a lot of struff, but I used to sprinkle a little cornstarch onto wet "rust" paint. The stuff puffs up a little bit and looks like real corrosion. (I did this in 1/35th scale military modelling)

Just drybrush them with your favorite shade of "Rust". :thumb:
 
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