Making gutters from styrene

How to add the atmosphere.
John Palmer
Posts: 825
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:09 pm

Making gutters from styrene

Postby John Palmer » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:45 am

I have a distant recollection of an article having appeared in Scalefour News that described a technique for forming curved guttering from thin styrene sheet - probably .010". I think the technique may have involved the use of heat and a former corresponding to the the gutter's desired cross-section.

A quick search of the index has produced no hits for such an article, so I may be mistaken about its origin. Can anyone identify such an article for me please?

I've still got a stock of formed guttering lengths, but they are now fairly few in number, and, more importantly, exceedingly age-embritlled (they must be 30 hyears old!), so I am hoping to supplement/replace them.

I have a backup plan of milling out gutters from thicker styrene, but really that's only appropriate where the model has a convenient soffit board - not the case with most of the guttering I have to install.

User avatar
John Bateson
Posts: 808
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:39 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby John Bateson » Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:52 am

Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

User avatar
Paul Willis
Forum Team
Posts: 3033
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:00 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby Paul Willis » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:41 am

John Palmer wrote:I have a distant recollection of an article having appeared in Scalefour News that described a technique for forming curved guttering from thin styrene sheet - probably .010". I think the technique may have involved the use of heat and a former corresponding to the the gutter's desired cross-section.

A quick search of the index has produced no hits for such an article, so I may be mistaken about its origin. Can anyone identify such an article for me please?


Hi John,

Not in the News, nor to do with plasticard. But a search on the MRJ index reveals this, which might be a useful alternative:

"The Gutter Press
Graham Rayner
Issue 96 (1997)
p.183
4mm
If ever a simple modelling tool deserved a prize, this is it! 4mm gutters made from scrap, foil containers."

HTH
Flymo
Beware of Trains - occasional modelling in progress!
www.5522models.co.uk

David Thorpe

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby David Thorpe » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:42 pm

Evergreen 0.100" half-round styrene strip should give a good representation of gutters - it's what I plan to use when I get hold of some. On the other hand, in his Right Track DVD, Geoff Taylor suggests that 1mm styrene rod, appropriately painted, works well even though it's a full round - he's apparently used it on many of the buildings on Dewsbury Midland.

DT

Terry Bendall
Forum Team
Posts: 2420
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:46 am

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:54 am

Eileen's Emporium sell a brass gutter section which is not cheap but is far more robust than plastic. It has the advantage that 0.3 brass wire can be soldered to it to represent the brackets and some of these can be left longer to be fitted into holed drilled in the wall of the building. I have used this successfully on several buildings. The idea of solid round plastic rod does not appeal to me although shaping it to a half round section might work if the building is not near to the edge of the baseboard.

Terry Bendall

User avatar
CDGFife
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:37 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby CDGFife » Mon Jun 13, 2016 10:53 am

I concur with Terry. This is my preferred method for guttering. It also has the added advantage of being able to solder the downpipes to the gutter and paint the whole lot off the model before final fit.

CSM16-6-1.jpg


CSM16-6-2.jpg

Cheers

Chris
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Will L
Posts: 2516
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby Will L » Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:12 am

Start with a rectangle styrene strip the right width and and depth, round of one side but leave the other square. Paint the top mat black, and the underside what ever colour the guttering is supposed to be and used the remaining square side to stick it to the building wall/fascia board. I doubt anybody will ever notice the subterfuge.
Like this
gutter.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

John Palmer
Posts: 825
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:09 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby John Palmer » Tue Jun 14, 2016 1:50 am

Thanks, one and all, for the suggestions.

I hadn't previously known of Dornaplas, whose gutters look pretty good but will be a bit oversize if 2mm wide, as I think I saw somewhere. I'll certainly keep them in mind.

Although I like the idea of pressing gutters out of foil, I'd prefer to make them in styrene if I can, as I tend to stick to this as my material of choice for buildings. Having said that, I readily discarded the principle when it came to making unions for downpipes, which I turn from brass (although now that I have large stock of Delrin rod, that might change).

I could get away with half round round in some places, but don't really fancy that as a solution. The biggest run of guttering I have to do is on Burnham's trainshed. About 18" long. Right under spectators' eyes. By the time of Railwells...

To give an idea, the photograph shows some of the heat-formed guttering I mentioned in the first post adorning the loo attached to Burnham's goods shed. If I can manage it, properly hollowed gutters like this do appeal to me.
Gutters closup.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Paul Townsend
Posts: 964
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:09 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby Paul Townsend » Tue Jun 14, 2016 6:39 am

Will L wrote:Start with a rectangle styrene strip the right width and and depth, round of one side but leave the other square. Paint the top mat black, and the underside what ever colour the guttering is supposed to be and used the remaining square side to stick it to the building wall/fascia board. I doubt anybody will ever notice the subterfuge.
Like this
gutter.jpg


If you insist on the hollow top, there was a method recommended yonks ago that I have used successfully.
The styrene ends up as Will's sketch but U-shaped on top.

Before cutting strip off sheet, attack it with a version of the scrawker tool that you make yourself. Instead of the sharp tip it is ground from wider material eg 1mm for 3" gutter. It doesn't need hardening as only cutting plastic.

Well within JP's skill set I reckon.

User avatar
RobM
Posts: 1087
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:39 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby RobM » Tue Jun 14, 2016 7:47 am

In the past I have filed the tip of a suitable sized nail to a half round tip then filed half way through the diameter adding a little amount of rake then following on from Will's method ran the 'nail' along the styrene a number of times to form the channel. Cheap and effective.

gutter-tool.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Russ Elliott
Posts: 930
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: Making gutters from styrene

Postby Russ Elliott » Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:05 am

gutter-construction.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


Return to “Scenery and Structures”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 0 guests