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copper tape with rivits

shipahoy

shipahoy

Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
247
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113

Location
vancouver island british columbia canada
anybody know where to source pre rivited copper tape? i have checked ali express, amazon, wish, cornwall models but cant find it anywhere. i got some a year ago and am using it but of course i am running out.. it came in a roll of approx. 500 pieces.
 
Seems I saw some somewhere, but now that I'm looking, all I see are individual plates. They have those at Model Expo and Modelship Dockyard sites that I've found so far. :)
 
thanks to Corsair and Winter. just found some on ali express for some reason the ali express on my browser did not have it but when i did a search as Corsair suggested it came up on a different (?) ali express. Costs a bit more than i remember but the canadian dollar is in the toilet right now. this tape sure beats using my ponce wheel and is a bargain compared to the individual plates needed ( 1000 +) and the 2 bottles of c.a. that i would go through.
 
Looks like nail punch marks rather than rivets which is great. Just curious to know the size of the plates they offer. It has three numbers, 48, 75 and 96 but what does that mean, scale? The plates were typically 48"X 15" and overlapped about 1.5 inches so I would love to know what actual sizes (not what scale they may be quoting) they offer and if the glue will hold. Lots of horror stories about these not staying on after some time due to inferior quality.
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Looks like nail punch marks rather than rivets which is great. Just curious to know the size of the plates they offer. It has three numbers, 48, 75 and 96 but what does that mean, scale? The plates were typically 48"X 15" and overlapped about 1.5 inches so I would love to know what actual sizes (not what scale they may be quoting) they offer and if the glue will hold. Lots of horror stories about these not staying on after some time due to inferior quality.
Allan
Click to expand...
If you go to this link on Ebay, link those are the "available scales " you can order them in.
The description states:
The 1: 48 scale single chip size is 27.4*9MM
The 1: 75 scale single chip size is 18*6MM
The 1: 96 scale single chip size is 14*4MM
 
That’s some cool tape. Thank you for bringing it up as I never heard of it before.

-dave
 
Copper plates can be made easily with home made punching tool
( use wheels from old watch movements ) ,with the tool run lines
on the reverse side of the copper tape. Turn tape over and cut tape
as needed. Hope this will help.

20250308_201418.jpg
 
shipahoy said:
anybody know where to source pre rivited copper tape? i have checked ali express, amazon, wish, cornwall models but cant find it anywhere. i got some a year ago and am using it but of course i am running out.. it came in a roll of approx. 500 pieces.
Click to expand...
I believe AL sell it - or they did. I use a pounce wheel to represent the nails in copper tape.
 
Winova said:
with the tool run lines
on the reverse side of the copper tape.
Click to expand...
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but why would you do that? Wouldn't this create rivet like heads that protrude on the exposed side instead of dents from the nails being hammered in as was actually done? Easy enough to reverse the tape and run the ponce wheel on the side to be exposed to create these tiny dents rather than raised bumps.
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but why would you do that? Wouldn't this create rivet like heads that protrude on the exposed side instead of dents from the nails being hammered in as was actually done? Easy enough to reverse the tape and run the ponce wheel on the side to be exposed to create these tiny dents rather than raised bumps.
Allan
Click to expand...
Allan is quite correct, the indents need to be on the exterior of the Cu, also the smallest size wheel should be used.
 
Thanks, you are quite right, works well with running pounce on side
of tape to be exposed.

20250309_114321.jpg
 
Stuart Little said:
the smallest size wheel should be used.
Click to expand...

Agreed, Too small is usually better than too large. :)

Winova, just as an FYI Winova, the plates were typically 48" X15" and overlapped 1.5". The nails were a little over a apart around the periphery. There were also a number of nails in the center. Considering the size and number of nails, If the scale is really small, 1:72 or 1:96, might be better to forget trying to make punch marks. There has been a ton of discussion on cupper sheathing here at SoS which is fantastic. One of the oft copied photos:
1741542778211.jpeg
and drawing below from Peter Goodwin's The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War. Note that Mr. Goodwin was the Keeper and Head curator of HMS Victory so is probably a very reliable source of information barring contemporary sources should they differ.
1741543096480.jpeg
One more piece of information that might be useful. The below is a piece of sheathing from HMS Culloden 1776 that was sunk off of Montauk Long Island, NY
in 1781.
1741546043847.png
 
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Scale viewing distance: This is the distance that when viewing the model would be equivalent to looking at the real ship. For example, looking at a 1:48 scale model from a distance of 1ft is equivalent to looking at the real ship from a distance of 48ft. What detail would you see at that distance?

Also, nailing the sheathing (not plating!) had to be done carefully to avoid punching holes in the thin, soft copper. To prevent, this flat head nails were used.

Long story short, unless your subject is built to a very large scale skip the nails, rivets, ponce wheel, etc and spend your time superdetailing something else. Maybe try making your own blocks instead of using the ugly kit supplied ones.

Roger
 
Roger I agree wholeheartedly In 1/72 scale the nail head is something like 1/250". Even a pin prick would be to big. I do not imagine on a real ship you would want anything protruding from the hull.
You could turn them around I suppose but they would be tough to glue to the hull.
 
I believe you use copper plates to sheath the hull of a ship.
Sheathing is the method used, when a hull is covered
with copper plates , the hull is referred to as having been sheathed .
 
If you must create faux "rivets" (they were flat headed copper tacks, actually) and are serious about scale, I suggest getting a set of "rivet making tools" from TEMU for about US$ 8.50. The interchangeable wheels cover most ship and railroad modeling scales. (The TEMU photo below inaccurately shows three plastic cases with three wheels in each, but they are all the same wheels in each case. In reality, the wheel tooth spacing differs with each wheel. See the photos on the TEMU page for the various spacing sizes to order.) Search the TEMU site to get the best price and the full selection of wheel sizes because the TEMU catalog often repeats items at different prices and slightly different items without clearly indicating the difference. I ordered a full set and found the product of surprising quality and suitability for the use intended.

1741567683508.png



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