Video tutorial: How to make rivets on a scale model - scratch build at no cost

My latest video tutorial shows you how to make rivets on any scale model surface, at absolutely no cost. (Well, maybe it will cost you about 1 cent's worth of materials that you already will have in your model-making toolbox.)  It's a versatile and dead-easy technique.

The secret ingredient is....... plain old PVA white glue.

This is an old trick, I first read about it back in the 1980s in a fairly average modelling book. You know the type, you see them all the time in secondhand book stores, a 1970s black and white photography "The Model Maker's Handbook Compendium" type of thing. I remember the rest of the book was pretty dire, but this technique stuck with me. And it works a treat.

It's perfect for adding texture to otherwise boring surfaces, or for detailing a section of airframe or armour plate which should have rivets and doesn't.

This technique works best for larger scales: 1/24, 1/32 or 1/35. I wouldn't recommend it for 1/48 or smaller, simply because it is hard to get the rivets small enough.

With a little practice you can make very realistic rivets. I suggest doing a trial run first on some scrap styrene just to get a feel for it, before you start glooping PVA glue all over your latest pride and joy, but it is most definitely an easy technique.

  It ticks all of my boxes:

1.  Effective
2.  Cheap
3.  Easy
4.  Flexible

So have a look, and give it a try.


Here's the video link: How to make rivets on a scale model - scratch build at no cost.
or you can click on the embedded video below.

Cheers,

Dave