Making Your Own Corrugated Tin Roofing

[dknelson]

ndbprr

Many years ago in the kinks column in MR it was suggested that using a file for the base and a piece of wood drawn across the aluminum foil on top of the file would create corrugated siding.

 

 

I think that was the method used by Jack Work for his famous coal mine model.  There was no commercial alternative back then.

 

It lasted very briefly but there was a make of cigarette that came in a plastic pack that had corrugations of about the right size for HO, and guys would cut out the packs and use the pieces for corrugated siding and roofs.  It might have been Lark cigarettes ....

Dave Nelson

[ndbprr]

Many years ago in the kinks column in MR it was suggested that using a file for the base and a piece of wood drawn across the aluminum foil on top of the file would create corrugated siding.

[hornblower]

I prefer to use "corrugated" sheet styrene.  Not only does if give you the desired surface finish but it doubles as the structural component.  It's difficult to damage, too.  Want the look of individual panels?  Just scribe the styrene to define the panel edges.  Add paint and rust-colored weathering approaching the lower edge of each (or some) panel(s) and you'll catch your layout visitors touching your structure trying to determine whether it's really individual metal panels or not.

[LarrySusanBuddyAndCharlie]

PennCentral99

or you can use a toothpaste tube squeezer or paint tube wringer. They're $10 on amazon   https://www.amazon.com/Toothpaste-Squeezer-Wringer-Artist-Painter/dp/B01MT2A6WP/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1535227906&sr=8-1&keywords=paint+tube+roller

Terry

 

 

 

I used a $7 toothpaste roller from Amazon. Works great and when I laid the aluminum result over HO scale corrugated I had here, it matched up perfectly in the grooves of the expensive store bought corrugated.

 

I used disposable foil pans to cut strips of the size I wanted and rolled it through the toothpaste squeezer.

 

And badda bing, badda boom! In less then five minutes I had enough corrugated for ten roofs or walls (think junkyard).

 

For the walls, I reinforced them with scale basswood strips. For the roofs, I used PVA to glue them in place, and then proceeded to use Rustall to give it the rusted look I wanted.

 

[chutton01]

bing&kathy

If the sheets you make seem too delicate, brush a layer of Elmers glue on the back side. When it dries it is much easier to handle and stronger.

Now, what if you went completely zen, and dispensed with the metal/foil but kept the glue...(video from our old friend Marklin of Sweden)

[BNSF UP and others modeler]

Yeah, I figured. My cereal box idea was sarcastic anyway...

[BigDaddy]

I'm not runnin' my trains with a corn flakes box

[BNSF UP and others modeler]

Or you could follow my ideas and do both for free

[BigDaddy]

I thought tooth paste tube squeezers went away with the metal tooth paste tubes.  I see they also have a $40 squeezer.  No doubt about it, if I'm paying $40 for a tooth paste squeezer, I'm buying the $600 ProtoThrottle. 

[PennCentral99]

or you can use a toothpaste tube squeezer or paint tube wringer. They're $10 on amazon   https://www.amazon.com/Toothpaste-Squeezer-Wringer-Artist-Painter/dp/B01MT2A6WP/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1535227906&sr=8-1&keywords=paint+tube+roller

Terry

[BNSF UP and others modeler]

There actually is a pre made corrugated tin gig that you can buy. The youtube channel Luke Towan uses it, but the price is also ridiculous. A really great way to make it (I saw this on youtube too) is to take a bolt or screw and roll the threads along your strip of material. Voila! And if you need bigger or smaller corrugations, just use a bolt with wider or narrower threading.

[bing&kathy]

   If the sheets you make seem too delicate, brush a layer of Elmers glue on the back side. When it dries it is much easier to handle and stronger.

[eaglescout]

I found that cheap cookie sheet or cake pans at the dollar store are heavier than even heavy duty aluminum foil but light enough to take an impression.  I took Lion's idea of printer ribbons but used them as the mold and ran down each line with a kabob skewer on top of the aluminum to make the corrugations.  Takes awhile but works great.  The other ideas submitted should work as well with this lightweight aluminum.

[Southgate]

While Steven's method works well, I find that even the heavy duty household foil,  is too fragile for my perhaps heavy hands.

I devised a way to roll .05 foil through brass rollers with a corrugated pattern machined onto them. The idea worked, but my Sherline vertical mill has too much deflection in it and each rotation of the cross slide hand wheel left a funny (not laughing) pattern in the corrugations, and it came out on the foil too.

This was a very labor and time consuming attempt. The current pieces are a bust, but there were useful lessons learned. I have a big chunky harbor freight mill someone gave me in the garage. When I get back in the mood, more experimenting. 

The idea is to be able to roll out bulk quantities of good looking HO material quickly and easily, as I have some projects calling for huge quantities. Dan

[hon30critter]

Steven and delray:

That's too easy! Nothing in model railroading should be that easy!!

Thanks,

Dave

[Steven Otte]

I have a technique so quick and easy that I can explain it in 17 seconds. And I do:

http://mrr.trains.com/videos/expert-tips/2016/05/model-railroader-quick-tips-corrugated-metal-siding

[Scrap metal yard]

https://youtu.be/_kj5VZCoWAA

[delray1967]

I cut a piece of Evergreen Corrugated siding to a scale 4'x10' rectangle (with the corrugations running long-ways).  I nestled another, larger, piece of Corrugated siding on top of the 4'x10' piece and cut the larger to match the 4'x10'.  Now I have an HO scale 4'x10' 'press' for kitchen aluminum foil.  I cut, or tear, or take a wrinkled piece and place it on one of the 4'x10' forms.  Place the other 4'x10' on top and slide them along their corrugations (just pressing them together doesn't yield as good a result) while squeezing them together (it doesn't take a lot of force).  After a few seconds, line up the 4'x10' edges and cut off the excess aluminum foil.  Instant scale 4'x10' piece of corrugated siding, ready to install directly to the model.  (If a piece gets damaged before you install it, simply put it back in the 'press' and flatten it out again.)

I did this to a scratchbuilt tipple, while it took a little while but wasn't hard, was totally cheap and makes scale thickness corrugated siding/roofing.  It is delicate (just like any scale sized detail), is easy to do (I trained a girlfriend's 11 year old daughter to help; she made about 20 sheets for me before getting distracted by a TV show), and looks great.  It can be dented, torn or crumpled to simulate repair work on existing models (I don't like seeing an HO crew up on a roof, with a .040 (scale 4" thick!) piece of corrugated metal, with no damaged panel/pieces of panel lying on the ground nearby. -just a pet peeve of mine).

After gluing (I used thick CA) to the styrene core (or whatever you're using), paint, weather, chemically etch, or do whatever you like to it, the shiny (even the dull side) is too shiny for anything except chrome plated siding.  Stacks of the extra 4'x10' panels ended up being stacked and placed in my lumber yard for sale to their customers.

Good luck, and keep those thin, non-magnetic, electrically conductive, metal bits from turnouts, track, motors, etc...

[Geohan]

Lay the panels of heavy duty aluminum foil on one or two thicknesses of paper toweling.  Roll with a 10x32 machine screw (head cut off) using a small block of wood at least twice the length of the panels.  Cant the screw slightly to allow for the thread pitch.

FWIW, Geohan

[azlogger]

I made an HO tin building a while ago, simply by painting balsa wood heavily with gray paint and then carefully combing it with a fine comb. it turned out pretty good, especially after streaking it with rust.

--Jeremy

[mlehman]

Hey, there you go. Those dies look like they do the trick. I doubt you could come up with anything slicker in the home shop as easily.

Nice grain bin! Just needs to say "Butler" or whatever at a spot or two to be right on.

[htgguy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Small-Corrugated-Metal-Making-Dies-HO-N-/360411564661?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item53ea340a75

I have a set of these. They really do work! I've been making grain bins with them. Here is one of my first efforts, it gets better as you use them.

["JaBear"]

SilvertonRR

It just seems to me that if a person had a simple 2 piece press, hinged with a top and a bottom, with a scale (HO or N or S or whatever) corrugated surface.  That he could take some heavy duty tin foil (aluminum foil) or even a thin soda can and put a piece of foil inside or between your press; squeeze, and wal la – a corrugated tin roof section.  But I have never seen one.  Do they even make one?  Just asking.....

Gidday,your query led me to have a go at a technique that was suggested to me a while ago, which was pressing a piece of kitchen foil between 2 sheets of "Evergreen" 4526 Metal Siding, .040" Spacing(1.mm) styrene.   Looks O.K but fairly flimsy,would, I think, need to be glued to a sheet of thin card. May not suit a ham fisted person such as myself. Would like to try it out on a disposable foil baking dish, being thicker material, but as I do not want to incur the wrath of her-in-doors will have to wait until I can replace hers!

Using the commercially produced product would probably be the easiest option, but in this part of the world , have to consider the exchange rate and the horrendous freight costs, plus where's the challenge?

Will have to give the other suggested options a crack.

Thanks and Cheers, The Bear.

[tstage]

Wow!  That's an easy method to remember.  Whodathunk that 1:1-scale ribbon cable and HO-scale corrugated roof sheeting had a bond.

Tom

[jmbjmb]

A technique I picked up years ago and have used a good bit is to make your own with typing (ok printer paper).  First step is to get a sheet of corrugated siding (I use Northeastern, but others should work as well).  Then tape a sheet of thin paper over the siding.  Using a ball point pen draw a line down the corrugation pattern you want.  This leaves an impression that shows up in the paper.  Next is cut to size, apply to the model, and paint with silver paint.  Weather as desired.

[BroadwayLion]

SilvertonRR

I appreciated all of the ideas.  And the link to using a computer ribbon cable was very helpful, maybe even the answer.  Is this what you were talking about LION?   And Miehman’s example of the Gold Prince Mill was nicely done.  I plan on putting together a Campbell ‘s Red Mountain Mine in the future.

Actually, the LION did not bother with the aluminum, and just painted and used the cable itself. But then I maintain a computer network, and and have all the cables I need for such applications. Works better for people with clumsy fingers, but I can see that what he did is better for his application.

ROAR

[SilvertonRR]

I appreciated all of the ideas.  And the link to using a computer ribbon cable was very helpful, maybe even the answer.  Is this what you were talking about LION?   And Miehman’s example of the Gold Prince Mill was nicely done.  I plan on putting together a Campbell ‘s Red Mountain Mine in the future.

[bogp40]

That is rather a clever idea,  and if the material need to be quite thin the TrainBoard link to forming your own is great. I wonder if you could "groove" a stronger alum material like cake/ pie pans? Maybe w/ your fingernail or wood/ styrene stick?

[Medina1128]

Lion and Ratled; thanks for the idea. Lion mentioned it and Ratlet posted a link to see how it's actually done. Thanks to both of you.