Hi all, I have the Griffon model German AFV tool holders set and and am having some issues trying to get the early type tool holders to look correct. I am finding that the bending method the instructions give causes me to double bend the clamping arm and and with thin brass like this it just breaks off. For instance I have to bend the arm down then curve it and bend it back over to connect with the locking pins other side of the clamp. Here's a link to the instructions for the early (and Late) clamps.

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article.asp?UAN=470&SP=&v=1


Any tips or referrals to a good article on doing this would be very helpful.

Thanks,
David.

Hi David,

I know it can be a pain with such tiny things, but as Brass is quite a brittle metal, any bending or forming, really needs you to anneal the metal. This softens it and makes such required distortions possible.

With the items being so small, I would be tempted to anneal the set as one. Carefully pass the Sprue with componants, through a nice gas flame. You dont need to wave it about like at a ball game, nor hold it in the flame for any length of time, otherwise the annealing might become melting.

The aim is to get the metal red and then plunge it into water, or let it cool in the air, holding it still. You will then find the metal to be malleable, allowing you to form it.

I hope this helps, just be careful not to burn yourself............

John

I thought that the idea was to just let it air cool. Doesn't dipping it in water make it harder?
I may be wrong.

Owen

A senior moment.......... what was I thinking, it is air cooling [slowly] that does the job. Sorry for my confusion, something distracted my train of thought whilst typing.

John

actually makes it "harder" but less brittle and more flexible-yes air cool is the way
I actually assembled lots of Aber "workable" tool clips-why I was punishing myself I can't say but after finding the best tweezers-ones that didn't launch the parts that is the "nothingness" of my work bench and gettng the assembly
sequence down i was able to put together a working clip in about 2-3 minutes, again, why I was making them workable was basically just an exercise in "can I actually do it'. If for some masochistic reason you feel you need to assemble clips that work DON'T anneal them. The annealing takes all the strength out of the metal and they won't stay together. The metal is "bendable" enough right out of the package that you can shape it so it will work but that's Aber-all PE products seem to be a bit different than other companies PE
Just a couple of thoughts-very random thoughts:)
Regards bobC
ps my answer to assembly is slow and purposeful with good tweezers:)

This is good advice. I do not want to make the clamps workable so annealing them might be the way to go. I managed to get a couple of them done without annealing and they look okay.

Regards,
David.