Rivets ?

[Major Weenie]

The other day I came across a pair of 1/56th scale Schneider 105mm howitzers.  Cast up in some kind of resin. (pre digital printing).  They were a bit 'Fuzzy,' so I began to sand them smooth.  When I compared the finished (sanding) gun shield on the 1st gun, I noticed that it was completely smooth.  Whereas the 2nd gun shield had a series of bolts.  Now missing from the 1st gun's shield.  What's the standard practice for recreating bolts on a WW2 tank in 1/56th ?  I remember, years ago, there used to be a product called "Puffy Paint" that was supposed to leave 'Rivet Link' "Bumps" on flat surfaces.  If you 'touched' with a paint brush in just the right way.  Does this stuff still exist ?  Or (hopefully) has a better product come along.  I'd like to avoid something crazy... Like gluing on pin heads.

[Fitz]

You could try dotting on UV-cure resin. I've done something similar in the past with epoxy. The issue I found was in keeping the size of each blob absolutely uniform, and found in the end that a sharpened toothpick gave me the best results.

[Moriarty]

I drill a shallow hole and super glue a grain of terrain sand in it.

[aircav]

I used beading (graining) tools pushed into a blob of greenstuff, if you look on my old K-Wagon thread there’s a whole discussion about riveting  (no pictures anymore though)

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13827.0

Pictures on my blog



http://theaircavsaga.blogspot.com/p/k-wagon.html

[OSHIROmodels]

I usually get some styrene micro-rod of a suitable diameter and cut thin slices off with a sharp scalpel. They can be given a gentle same with some relatively fine sandpaper to round them off a bit once stuck. Takes time but I think the efforts are worth it.

[2010sunburst]

You can get rivet and bolt head makers from companies like RP tools….
https://www.rptoolz.com/?page_id=170
These are not cheap, and the process can be a bit tedious, but give very good results.  The idea is that you punch out rivet or bolt heads from plastic card and then glue them on. 

Another option is to use injection moulded rivets or bolts from companies like this…
https://www.mrmodellbau.com/1-35-MR-Models/Plastic-Injection-Moulded-Parts:::1_47.html?MODsid=8ee3579e80337de2534d767032a65446
You again cut these off with a sharp scalpel and glue them in place.  Not cheap, but much better priced than the tools for a one off project. 

You can go down the sliced plastic route described by Oshiro, I’ve done it myself, but consistency can be an issue.  The time saved using injection moulded ones more than offsets the cost as well.

[McMordain]

You can also get the Rivet silicone molds from GreenStuffWorld.

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/terrain-molds/541-silicone-molds-rivets.html

I used the bigger ones here.

[carlos marighela]

Tooth pick and PVA glue. Little practice to get the rivets the right size but easy and effective.

Of course if you fancy something more bespoke there are plenty of aftermarket raised decal kits in 1/72, 1/48 and through to 1/35.

For example:

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HGW482011?result-token=TssUv

[snitcythedog]

There are also companies that do rivet decals. 
https://www.hannants.co.uk/manufacturer/hgw/products?per_page=25&sort=description&product_type_id=3313&search_direction=asc&stock=1
Works like the paper ones but leaves a raised bump. 

[AndrewBeasley]

Night Shift on YouTube https://youtube.com/@NightShiftScaleModels uses a punch on foil to make them.

Looks great and straightforward.


Edit: Found a short showing the process https://youtube.com/shorts/kjWhG-nOa70

[Dr Mathias]

I use "puffy paint", it is a thick fabric paint with a little nozzle. Sometimes a second dot, after the first dries, helps.



Sometimes I use styrene rod cut into little disks. Liquid plastic glue brushed over the 'rivets' helps round them down a bit.

[MaleGriffin]

Fantastic design! It looks like a contemporary of the WWI tanks!