Bracing and support How to strengthen walls and roofs/Bob Walker
t the bottom of my computer screen it says “Press F1 for help.” I was trying to think up a snappy opening paragraph for this month’s column, so I pressed F1 trying to get some help in that regard. Seeing as how this month’s topic is pretty dry, I was looking for something inspira- tional. Well, F1 was no help whatsoev- er, so let’s just dive in! Just as the human body has a skeletal structure for support, so do most man- made structures. Models are no differ- ent in that regard, needing support and bracing to maintain their proper shape. Engineering that support, while not rocket science, requires some thought. How each component of a model inter- acts and attaches to the other(s) is going to be critical to the physical and visual outcome. Some buildings have their bracing on the outside, for all the world to see. Coaling towers come to mind here, along with ore bins, trestles and bridges. Most braces and supports are, however, hidden from view. This is a good thing, since we can make some of that support structure
A oversize, and
therefore more robust. Even though we are working in miniature, sometimes bigger is better, you know: never use a 2″×4″ when a 4″×4″ will do.
At this point I think I should digress a moment to discuss construction ma- terials in general. Let’s start with wood, since it still seems to be the most common medium for what we do in the scratchbuilding world. Wood is porous, and therefore hydroscopic.
In other
words, it will soak up moisture, and in doing so will warp. Unless we are mod- eling the roof-line of a pagoda, the warping is not a good thing. We can do two things to lessen that warping. First, we can seal the wood with a good coat of solvent-based paint. The paint will greatly reduce the amount of moisture the wood is able to take on. This is all well and good on nicely painted models of well-maintained buildings. What about the more weath- ered and dilapidated works, like sheds and shanties, that are just stained and therefore not nearly as well sealed? Stains like the india ink and alcohol we so dearly love to use do not really seal the wood. Bracing and a good coat of paint on the unseen surfaces are the best answers I can come up with. Everything said in this paragraph can also be applied to cardstock, and
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Scratchbuilder’s Corner
Strathmore materials, only double. Even though it is made out of wood (chips), card and paper materials have little structural strength and require as much (often much more) bracing. Styrene is a horse of a different color in that it is not the least bit hydroscop-
ic. While this is true, styrene, especial- ly the thinner stock, does seem to warp. We also tend to use styrene in thinner dimensions than other materi- als, so the stiffening properties of those braces is all the more important. I know not why, but have had styrene buildings change shape over
time.
Sealing with paint is certainly not the answer. Bracing, however, is! One major cause of distortion in styrene models is the over-use of sol- vent type cements. As it gasses off, the solvent continues to attack the materi-
Since wood is porous, it soaks up moisture which can warp the walls of model struc- tures. To prevent this (aboveand top) bracing and supports must be placed in the walls.
APRIL 2012
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