Constructing The Striped Panel
By Dan Stuettgen
 

It is my hope that this tutorial will help others make this part for their druids. I have been working on my R6 Droid for about 8 months and reached the point where I needed to start adding the detail parts. I had purchased a number of nicely machined aluminum parts that will be installed in the body, but when reviewing the parts that were available in both Aluminum and Resin, I did not see any of the Side vents being offered. Since my body is being made out of two layers of .040 Styrene, I decided to make the vents myself.

I printed out Jerry’s drawings for all the vents and couplers that I didn’t already have and then quickly made a full size template using Deltacad ( A cheap $20.00 CAD program available at Walmart or any software store). These were then printed out full size with the dimensions included for size verification.
 



First I gather all the materials that I need to make the vent, which included the templates, .040 styrene, utility knife, metal ruler, Ambroid Pro-weld liquid cement and a package of .040 x .080 strips of styrene. The strips of styrene are sold by most hobby shops and is manufactured by Evergreen Scale Models. For those using metric measurements, .040 x .080 converts to 1.0 x 2.0 mm. The package contains 10 strips for $2.00 USD, but you will need two packages to do both vents as it takes 6 strips for each of the large vents under the legs. The Ambroid Pro-weld liquid cement is available at Hobby Lobby and Michaels and all hobby shops that sell plastic models. The liquid cement has a small brush inside the bottle attached to the cap for applying the cement. Photo 1 shows all the materials required to make the vents.
 



The First step was to tape the full size template to a piece of .040 thick styrene. I just used a scrap piece left over from cutting out the skins. See photo 2
 
Using a metal ruler as a guide and the a nice sharp utility knife, cut out the openings. I like to use the cheap utility knives that have the blades that you can break off so that you have a nice new area to work with. Start out lightly cutting the long lines first. Run the knife down the line about 3 or 4 times to cut completely through. You will here a slight snapping sounds when you cut all the way through. After cutting all the long lines, then cut the end lines the same way. Don’t worry if you don’t cut right to the corner. After all ends are cut, move the ruler to the side and use the point of the knife to finish cutting to the corner. See Photo 3.

After all the openings have been cut out , then cut along the outer lines to remove the vent top from the scrap styrene. See Photos 4 & 5.



You will notice that there is a slight curve to the part in photo 5. This is due to the styrene being rolled for awhile before it was cut to make the skins. It turned out to be a benefit, as when I made the vent, it had the same curve to match the curve of the body. Using the .040 x .080 (1 x 2 mm) styrene strips, I cut them to fit the length of the openings. You will be able to cut two pieces out of each strip and have a small piece left. You can either throw the scrap away or keep it for some other use. Stand the cut strips on the .040 (1mm) edge along the edge of the opening and then using the liquid cement, run the brush along the point where the strip and top meet. See Photos 6 & 7.
 



Work your way across the vent, gluing a strip to one side of each opening and then doing the other side of each opening. After all the side pieces are glued in place, cut a strip for each end that will run from the outer edge of each of the outer openings. Glue these strips in place the same way you did the side pieces. You might want to bend the vent slightly as your gluing the end pieces in place so that it will have a slight curve to help match that of the body. It you store the styrene rolled, it will already have the slight curve to it. I kept my 4x8 foot sheets of styrene rolled down to a diameter to about 15”, so when I made the skins and vents that it had a natural curve to it and helped in attaching the styrene to the framework. See Photo 8 and 9.



Photo 10 shows all the strips glued to the vent top. Now is a good time to sand the inside of each of the openings to make sure that all openings are smooth in case you didn’t get the strips right at the edge of the openings and to sand off any excess styrene that might be there. It’s easier now than after that back has been glued in place.
 
After you have sanded all the openings, cut a piece of styrene to fit over all the openings. Cut it just big enough to go to the outer edge of each of the outer strips on the side and ends. Glue in place and you will have your completed vent. See photos 11, 12 and 13.
 
This method worked very well for making these vents as well as the lower side vents with the deeper horizontal recess. It took no more that an hour and a half to make each of the vents. I think that everyone will be able to make these vents easily , even if they have not worked with styrene before.