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[Andy M]

I am looking for ideas for producing portholes for my four ways cargo ship, in 1/72 scale, as cheaply as possibe.

[Kevin.Hutch]

I too am looking at a way to easily produce them in my ASR 63, I have some clear packaging plastic that looks like the ting for the glass but making frames, in my case 4mm outer dia in wood may prove a challenge with 3.5mm glass especially now I have fitted the deck.

[john44]

Have ou looked at eyelets you can get them in various sizes, available from most good craft shops.


John

[chas]

Like John said, I also used eyelets. The flanges on mine were far too big, so I put two at a time onto a bolt, clamped them with a nut and locking washer, then put the bolt into a drill and filed down until I was happy with them. A lathe would be much better, but not many people have one. Obviously ( I hope) safety glasses etc are needed.

[Colin Bishop]

As Chas says, eyelets always look like eyelets unless you reduce the flanges. There is another alternative which can offer a neat solution and that is to use the very small metal rings you can buy in the jewellry section of craft shops. You can then use a revolving leather punch to make suitably sizes disks of thin transparent plastic to fit within them. Paint the rings hull colour first and the back of the plastic sheet with black or dark blue paint. Glue the disk in the ring with the back flush with the ring and then glue the completed 'porthole' to the hull. Don't use superglue as it will fog the plastic. A thin layer of epoxy or similar will do the job.

Colin

[colin-d]

You might like to have a look at my Enchantress build...  and see how I did my portholes..


https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,65248.msg695692.html#msg695692 

[Andy M]

I have used eyelets on other models, I wasnt happy with how big the flange was but never thought of filing them down a bit in diameter, I will definately try it. I dont think I have any eyelets that small, maybe the ones from older rubber mounted servos might be about right, I checked my stock of dead servos to see if I had any of them.
 I am in luck, I have quite a few of them, with quite narrow flanges. I dont think they need filed so they are pretty much good to go. I dont know about glazing though, it would be difficult cutting clear discs at this size. I may be tempted to just glue a larger piece on the back, or even leave them open, they are well above where I expect water to get to.
 Having looked at other people's very nice portholes, I may file my eyelet flanges down a bit. Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.
 

[chas]

I wouldn't fancy glazing portholes so small, why not just dip the inner end in epoxy before fitting? I think Dean's recommend something similar for their models.

[Colin Bishop]

The problem with using epoxy or transparent setting resins as glazing is that you tend to get a curved surface or meniscus when it sets. You can buy specialist products such as Deluxe Glue 'N Glaze (there are others) which will bridge limited gaps.

https://deluxematerials.co.uk/collections/scale-plastics/products/glue-n-glaze

You can get some very small eyelets on Ebay. I have bought some for making the cargo winch drums on a 1:150 scale liner ongoing project.

Colin

[redpmg]

You can also obtain small eyelets from Dolls House suppliers - they seem to stock a couple of sizes - some really small ones too - used for electric connectors

[Geoff]

If your hull is plated in plastic card, I use a punch to make holes and then use the same punch in smoky plastic and make the rigolls out of thin plastic strip wound round a mandrel and put in boiling water and then cooled and cut in half and solvent glued above the porthole.


A lot depends on the actual construction of the model and if plating is added but this is easy to do and totally waterproof as there are no holes which go through the hull.


Cheers


Geoff

[John W E]

hi ya there


One method I have used and I still use is to cut brass tube with the required diameter as the porthole outer which is 2mm longer than the thickness of hull.  If the hull is 5mm thick, the length of brass tubing will be 7mm. 


I then find a suitable flat surface such as a dressed piece of timber or plywood - or better still a piece of polished aluminium.


Then I cover the flat surface with sellotape to create a barrier so when I glue the brass tubing face downwards with super glue, the tubing can be removed from the surface with a slight tap.


I space the tubing out on the surface and fill each piece of tubing with 2 part Epoxy, using a cocktail stick to prick any airholes that have developed in the resin whilst I have been filling the portholes up.


I have, for my latest model, tried to use Deluxe Materials Glue 'n' Glaze and also Zap Canopy Glue - they both seem to be a similar product.   Problem with these I am finding I filled the portholes up twice with the Deluxe Materials over 2 days and that was near enough 3 weeks ago and it is still in a 'tacky' state, even though it has been in the airing cupboard in the warm for 2 or 3 days.  So, I have a feeling I will be reverting back to clear Epoxy (2 part).


Here are a couple of photographs - the portholes that you see on the aluminium sheet were made by using 2 part Epoxy and the ones on the wooden backing board I used the Deluxe material and are still 'tacky'.


If you wish the porthole to look very professional - use 2 pieces of tubing - which sit snuggly inside each other.    The inner piece is 1mm shorter than the outer piece and this when filled with Epoxy glaze gives a step to the porthole.


John

[Colin Bishop]

I've not been too impressed with the canopy glue for this purpose either. It's OK as a glue for attaching windscreens to wood for example but seems to remain slightly flexible. I guess clear casting resin might be a good alternative and maybe better than epoxy glue as some of these have a slight tint.

Ultimately you can't beat a transparent plastic disk as long as you can get it in the porthole casing at the right depth.

I have discovered some 6mm plastic portholes (for 4mm apertures) in my bits box which I am pretty sure are Billings. I bought a pack of them cheaply years ago but Cornwall Model Boats seem to sell them for 13p each. You could use liquid poly or canopy glue to stick a glazing disk on the inner end.

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/billing_boats_portlight_fittings.html

Colin

[tonyH]

If you're using eyelets, you can glaze with clear acrylic rod. Made down to 1mm diameter. https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Strip-Shape/Circular-Rod/Plastic/Item/Clear-acrylic-rod-1000mm/ITM2848

[John W E]

Hi there Andy


Another method which I have used in the past which is 'cheap and cheerful' paint some thin Plasticard black.  Allow the black paint to dry.  Then, using a hole punch which you use to punch hole in paper with knock out as many portholes as you need - remember to collect the ones which may find their way to the floor!  If you need eyelets over the portholes (which many ships have) the method I use for this is use some thin copper wire stretched and wrapped around a suitable diameter tube.   I use brass tube for this.


Then I cut the coil up into rings - with a pair of side cutters and then slightly flatten the rings with a hammer - and then I cut them in half.    I then glue them in place using superglue round the top of the porthole.


Just an idea.....


cheap and cheerful.


John

[Andy M]

Many thanks, lots of good ideas to be going on with. I did think about clear plastic rod for the glazing, just not found any in my stock of materials yet

[Subculture]

You can use 2k clearcoat for glueing an invisible seal into glazing on port holes. it won't yellow either, which tends to happen with epoxy.

[CGAux26]

I have used these from Harbor Models in California.  Works well with canopy glue.
https://www.harbormodels.com/nsearch.html?query=portholes+brass&searchsubmit=Search&vwcatalog=yhst-72470122933521

[RST]

Be careful if anyone says canopy glue!

I made the mistake of following internet suggestions.  My "zap" canopy glue ended up not even mildly moisture proof -to be honest i doesn't even stick to any kind of plastic at all -it's just plain white school glue in a fancy bottle at elevated price!  This is not a "glue" just some kind of crafty "smeg smeared in-place" to hold it together.

Having followed recommendations on-line for canopy glue none of it works for me, I'm trying to convert back to epoxy on a thin cocktail stick.  I'm open to trying new things but canopy glue never,  ever again for model boat.

Rich

[RST]

Just to say I got rid of the remains of my bottle of Zap 56 canopy glue today as had to wait until it was solidified (can't pour it down the drain).  Everything just peeled off the container.  I splashed some water on the remains and what was left just turned white and sticky again within a few seconds.  It's just plain old PVA school glue in a fancy bottle!

....so which canopy glues are suppoised to be good because all I could find before was they were just PVA and I thought the zap one was supposed to be good!