# When is a door, not a door?



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Although I haven't had much to say about my Rider's Crossing (a work in progress), I have been beavring away trying to get that buggah finished. My latest obsession:doors. Although I used several Grandt Line windows (modified, of course), their doors were just too scrawnylooking. So I made my own out of clear styrene or acrylic (I can't tell which), using the transparent stuff as a base and laying strips of various-sized solid styrene over the top. Lemme tall ya, it was a bear cutting those little spacers that make up those cutesy panels under the window. And laying down those mullins or muttins or whatever, was no fun, as they are .040 x .040. But it's done and the second door went pretty quickly. One thing I didn't reckon on is how am I gonna paint the things without spraying over the window. Masking could be a real chose, so I'm thinkin' maybe I'll mask as much as I can and fake the rest. After all, the styrene is white and so is the building, so maybe nobody will notice (apply "ten Foot Rule here). 

But back to the question: When is a door not a door? 
Answer: When it's a jar." /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice. But does it have hinges?


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## Duncan (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By ThinkerT on 04/08/2008 6:18 PM
Very nice. But does it have hinges?




(jars don't have hinges...) /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif


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## Paul Norton (Jan 8, 2008)

Posted By joe rusz on 04/08/2008 5:24 PM
Lemme tall ya, it was a bear cutting those little spacers that make up those cutesy panels under the window. And laying down those mullins or muttins or whatever, was no fun, as they are .040 x .040. 



I bought myself a NWSL Chopper III for cutting small styrene parts. The stop can be set for repetitive parts. 










I always cut the parts a smidgen large then use the NWSL True Sander to sand them to size and square them up for a tight almost invisible fit.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Paul, I have both those devices and use them liberally. My only complaint is that there is no absolute way to crank out indentical parts, as I'm always adjusting. Or maybe I don't know how to properly use my Chopper. Also, they advertise a new one with a little graph thingy for aligning pieces on it. 

No, there are no hinges (I'm not going down that road). Them doors (there are two) will be glued shut, and except for the store portion of the building, there will be no interior, but maybe lights.


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## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

When is a door not a door?

as every modellmaking is a kind of faking a real thing, a door is no door, when observers don not recognise the fake as faking a door. 
an easy way to make doors is cutting a thin sheet of wood to measure, cutting and sanding boards and panels, glueing them on the sheet of wood, glueing everything to the underlying acryl, glueing a frame, robbing a sewing-pin as doorhandle and go on to other missdeeds. 
(for a door with window i use a piece of blisterpack plastic instead of the woodsheet) 

just for the laugh of the day for the toolfreaks: 
thats all, what i need toolwise...


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

"When is a door not a door? 
Answer: When it's a jar." 

The Joke Police are on their way over to beat you with a rubber chicken... 
/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/plain.gif


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

Hinges are for swingers. If the door opens in - you can't see a hinge. If a door opens out - all you can see is a barrel or knuckles. In that case you could simply add a piece of wire to simulate the barrel. Strap hinges can be applies to the surface. At any rate, I think the doors look great! 

If its ajar, put a lid on it.


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

Mr. Kormsen, 

I cannot believe that is all your tools!!/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/shocked.gif You are obviously not telling the full story. 

The reason being I have looked carefully at your picture and there is only one clamp that I can see  . Nobody wworks with wood, or other materials, and only uses one clamp. I probably have as many clamps as I have other tools, both for the 1:1 projects and for the scale projects. 

Next time "fess up" totally


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2008)

by the great spagetti monster! 
the only things, i did use and not mention for the last project (below), are my pocketknife to cut up the Lucky Strike cardbox, the sidecutter for shortening the sewingpins and the fisher's plier to place the doorknobs. 
if we are not talking farmingtools, like machetes, axes, chainsaws, spades and the like, the tools shown below, plus some screwdrivers and a handfull of wrenches and nuts, a drill, a skillsaw and a bladesaw make up the rest of my tools. 
yes, i confess, i own two more clamps. but as i did not find them, i did not use them. 
but as long, as my five-tipped pliers don't shake too much, i can do, with what i have. ) 
korm 
. 

edit: but i would be interested, to know, why you think coffee stirrers, veneer and icecream sticks have to be clamped down when glued to cardbord...


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## chrisb (Jan 3, 2008)

A type of hinge that I have always liked is the strap hinge. Not that appropriate for a panel door. Looks good on a door made of 2 or 3 boards or wider for a barn door. I made 1:20 scale ones by cutting strips of copper flashing 1/8 wide. Then bend 3/8 around a 4d finish nail, squeeze flat the tail with the main part of the hinge and solder. The blacksmith would have welded this Drill about 4 holes thru the strap, the length might be about 3/4 of the door width or what looks good. The end could be square or pointed. Make the pintles by bending fine nail at 90 degrees, one leg is just little wider than the hinge and the other about 1/4 to 3/8. The drill and glue the pintles into the trim on the side of the door openning, about a scale foot up from the bottom and about a foot down from the top. Door needs to be flush with trim. 
Set the door in place and put the hinges on the pintles and drill thru the holes in the strps into the door. Some old strap hinges were put on with carriage bolts, I glued in escution pins. The hinge will work and looks proto typical at least in new england. The weather needs to be done on the copper befor it glued in place.


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## sftalc (Jan 7, 2008)

I've made several doors and windows. I use wood for the construction of these and the mullions. I paint the pieces including the mullions before assembly. I'm indoors so I don't have to worry about the weather but perhaps you can pre-paint the mullions before assembly. Ozark sells doorknobs attached to a plate and non-working hinges for detailing.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks all. I have now moved on to making the front display windows. Lots of measuring, cutting, curs*** and pasting. All the while I need three more Grandt Line windows. Called them Monday, ordered several sets. So far, no windows. And the factory is only 400 miles or so away, so it's not like they have to come from China! Grrr.../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/angry.gif


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Masking could be a real chose, so I'm thinkin' maybe I'll mask as much as I can and fake the rest.
In these kinds of situations, I've had real good luck with regular old Scotch tape. I lay it over the area to be masked (in this case, a window), press it into the panes, then take a scalpel and cut around the mullions. The tape is transparent so it's easy to see exactly what you're doing. If you put your finger on the sticky side a few times before applying it, you can remove some of the stickiness. It will still stick to the window, but after painting will lift off easily by inserting the scalpel blade under one edge and lifting it off, being careful not to scratch the pane.


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Hmmm, Dwight, good idea! Thanks, I'll try it. In the past--and when not masking clear material, I have been using Scotch Blue masking tape, which seems to be the only masking tape that doesn't permit paint creep, another lesson I learned on my Styrene Station project. But your idea makes sense. 

Since I have your attention, I am experimenting with various solvent cements. That wasn't my intention, but when I tried a new (to me) one compared with what I had been using, I thought, "Dang, I like that stuff!" Then I tried my trusty old MEK and found that for certain things, like attaching my mullions, it worked real good too. Then I saw a MLS post where somebody swore by Testors. And there's the liquid stuff in a little can I got from TAP. Suffice to see, my mind is boggled. Or is it the methylethylketone or the trichloromethane talking? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif


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