Day Eight

So we should be able to finish up that toolbox now. Left to do: fill the perforations in the back and front, make a hinge out of plastic rod, fit the little buckles from the brass-etched set. I have the option of roughing up the lid a little but I'm thinking maybe I won't push my luck, and let's just concentrate on making good the ruined part. The muffler's going to have a nice dent in it anyway, let's not overdo things.

Get yourself a mirror or a bit of glass for mixing glues, putty etc. When you run out of room you can clean it all off with a chisel or something like. 

How am I going to fill all these holes? The Tamiya putty has some grain, it's a bit 'chalky' for want of a better word. Mr. White Putty is closer to plastic, is finer, but I'm not sure how well it sticks to brass; I will find out. I have other options. If the white stuff doesn't hold up I will poke and scrape it all away, and then I will glue card on the insides as backing and fill the holes with mm Araldite? I reckon that might work. When it's sanded there is still the strong possibility that traces of the holes will still be visible. If so, I will be able to put a thin coat of some lacquer over it all.

So let's give it a whirl. I squish all those sausages of putty together to make some sort of *substrate*. I am suddenly feeling a little skeptical about this 'solution'. I probably should have filled those holes with SOLDER. But I will sand down one side and have a look at it first. If I'm not happy I can easily remove this white stuff and start again. The macro photo shows me that one of the lid's lips is still too deep. This I have fixed now.

Well that didn't work at all. It's going to have to be solder. It takes me about one minute to get the white putty off with the chisel blade and a needle. And I fold up the lid now and it is just perfect (corners to be filled and filed, naturally). But of course it doesn't fit, and that is a shame. But not really a problem, because I can easily knock one up from my stock of sheet metal.




Okay, so we'll try with solder. Check this out, the brass sprue comes with little hexagonal holes all around the edge. I wonder if the idea is to fill them with solder or putty which when pushed out become little bolts? That would be brilliant. But more to the point, I can use one or two of them to test out the soldering! 

I have the good stuff from Tix. It melts at a much lower temperature than normal; I think it has more silver in it or something.

So here is a good little how-to: Railroad Model Craftsman

Test seems pretty successful. 

I taped it to my mirror and this is the back.

I mentioned before that I am not skilled at soldering, but this looks okay! The heat seems to have distorted it a little but that is no problem to fix. Now to file and sand, for quite a long time by the looks of it. Best to mount some sandpaper to something dead flat and go very slowly and carefully or I'll end up ruining the corners. I think we are in the home straight now.

Sandpaper: I bought up big on Tamiya Finishing Abrasives and I am very happy with them. There are plenty of other brands. Do NOT buy cheap sandpaper. It is not consistent as regards particle grade so you'll end up with scratches, that is if it does not just disintegrate. When you mount it on a flat backing you need to clamp it with another flat thing (especially if you use something water-based like PVA which will make it want to curl) - blocks of wood and clamps. Spray glue is good for this actually, but I don't have any.

I cannot believe how well this came out. I am ECSTATIC. I will use my finest grade of sandpaper to get it to mirror polish. Then I can fill the edges and sand them very lightly, make the new lid and a hinge, and whack it all together. I wish now that I'd soldered instead of just 'setting in place' with Araldite. But it hardly matters, it's a ten minute job to get a bit of filler onto any gaps and sand  smooth. Nathan happy :D

Now let's see about that lid. I'v realised there is enough material in the brass sprue to do the job. Pictured below: the ruined original part, the new part that because of a stupid miscalculation was too short, and the new lid I cut out and filed, and scored, and bent, which fits so sweetly.

Let's look at the real box now, as there are a few small issues to clear up.

So from here on in my task is easy. I must make the lip of the lid finer - fifteen minutes of filing. I must build a hinge with five sections. Toolboxes from two different vehicles are pictured. We're doing the later one in the last two photos. we get a bit of a bonus; the later version is more angular so I won't have to try to model the roundness in the corners of the lid. Compared to the brass part (see earlier photo of the part) the real tool box had a much simplified hinge, with only five - 'barrels' is the correct term for the parts that curl around the pin or pivot (last photo) - I am reliably informed by  Hingeipedia. One piece of plastic rod, .5mm diameter being closest, scored carefully all around with a (brand new) blade, should work just fine. I may have to do that two or three times, or I may get it first time - IF I AM CAREFUL tee hee. Finally, attach the little latches and this one's in the bag.

Two days and then some. Not full-time, but close to. The moral of the story is that you should not rush. Not try to get to the end point, focus on the now. Be present. It's the journey, not the destination, live in the moment etc. If I had been careful in the first place, this part, this job, would have taken half an hour instead of fully two days. And I still do have work to do.

Onward and upward.