Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Doug ex-em4 on March 01, 2020, 10:41:37 AM
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I’m doing a fabric awning for a caravan/trailer. I want it well-worn and crudely mended with gaffer tape. My first thought was to cut strips of actual gaffer tape with a scalpel, about 2mm wide, and use that but I think it’s going to look too thick.
Any suggestions?
Doug
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I think I've made bandages and such by slicing glossy paper from magazines and ads. It still bends nicely with a bit of water and glue, but doesn't fall apart as easily as printer paper. Just find a suitable thickness from your junk mail. You should have plenty of choice, right? lol
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Tamiya make a masking tape in 2mm that might work:
https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca/masking-tapes-for-curves-2mm-by-tamiya-87177/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA1-3yBRCmARIsAN7B4H2B1lyXxf-KQYCtHrkec1_rBRBn7wgn8wCTg1nYkab_Quwz8p7n1BUaArj8EALw_wcB
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Micropore tape, maybe? The stuff you get for sticking bandages down.
I've used it on MDF kits to support weak points, it cuts fairly clean and can take PVA for extra strength. It's very thin and should paint easily. Costs next to nowt as well.
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You could try electronic kapton tape but it’s expensive for the length you need.
How about plastic strip, a plastic bag or even paper / card?
I used to have a mixed pack of plastic strip with red packaging but the only ones I’ve seen locally are from Evergreen and I think they are just one size but maybe worth checking.
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Ordinary tin foil from the kitchen cut into fine strips?
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If it's still available, dry transfer used to provide packs of lines of varying widths that was quite thin.
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Lots of good ideas here - thanks for all the input. I’m now wondering if unrepaired rips will look better than duct tape repairs. Maybe a couple of each. But I still haven’t decided what to use for the tape - I’m going to do trials of some of the suggestions above.
Doug
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I think I've made bandages and such by slicing glossy paper from magazines and ads. It still bends nicely with a bit of water and glue, but doesn't fall apart as easily as printer paper. Just find a suitable thickness from your junk mail. You should have plenty of choice, right? lol
I would suggest this. Painting it before applying would probably work best.
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I'd use Tamiya masking tape trimed to the right sizes. That stuff is magic for jobs like this.
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Aluminium tape, as used for airducts etc.
It's thin enough to pass as in-scale tape, and strong enough to stand being cut into thin strips. And since it's adhesive on its own, you can apply it in a realistic fashion too.
Just make sure to cut it into strips before you remove the backing paper, as it's quite sticky and the material might snap/tear.
I've used it for a variety of different purposes, and it's a great hobby material!
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Dental tape
https://www.dentalsky.com/tepe-dental-tape-40m.html
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Masking tape is what I'd use.