Rhino Red Prints Blog
Rivets in Aircraft Drawings
Jun
Rivets in Aircraft Drawings nowadays are sometimes considered irrelevant. To some that might be the norm, but in any good blueprint or drawing rivets are present. At least to some extent. They – especially when drawings are hand made – add additional burden to the creator. However, with time, they appear to be more and more desired addition to any blueprint for non-commercial use.
Back in a day, when all drawings were hand made, rivets were everywhere. Especially in older magazines and more specifically – those that were used in the Eastern Block. There, rivets were considered inseparable part of the drawing. Without them, drawing looked like a sketch, not like a blueprint. At some point though, that started changing. 3D drawings began to substitute the basic blueprint, slowly making such add-ons as the rivet – obsolete. The old ways of making drawings started to fade away.
Nowadays, many companies do drawings. Some use products like the ones we offer at Rhino Red Prints. Others do their own work. However, interestingly enough, in whichever case – rivets are getting back in style. The reasons for that are many, but we’re gonna discuss the scale modeling world specifically here.
With scale models, rivets can be approached in three ways. Like a bulged plastic, like a small hole or neither. Latter one leaves only panel lines and makes the kit look primitive and often times outdated. Not necessarily the case, but you know what they say about first impressions. It is counter-intuitive. Bulged rivets is how reality works. In real life, the option of having a small hole instead of a rivet is not the case. Usually, in modeling is the other way around. That is done to attract attention when the scale model is done. After some painting and weathering, the recessed rivet can be filled with color to simulate the real thing. However, this is – as mentioned above – far from the truth. Very attractive in scale, but non-realistic.
In some of those cases mentioned, especially with totally missing rivets on the surface, Rivets in Aircraft Drawings are the most desired feature. That can be the only way for a builder to recreate the pattern. That goes for both bulged and recessed rivets, but in any of those two cases – a proper blueprint is a must. Those blueprints are somewhat different than the regular drawings that people can find in the magazines or the books. They are more specifically oriented. With the help of a drawing with proper rivet pattern, the latter one can be transferred at the surface. Sometimes with a help of a riveting tool, sometimes with tiny plastic rivets.
There are cases when model producers over-do their rivet patterns. Other times they present a completely wrong framework. That usually makes a rivet-filled blueprint the most interesting and desired option, even though usually the hardest to be found. In some cases, that is the only way to recreate the model properly with the plastic that producers provided. With the help of a proper drawing or a blueprint, almost anything can be fixed and sometimes it is the only way to save the day!