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After hinging the doors on my rhino I decided they needed a way to open.

I decided Hydraulic rams were the way to go so I thought I would share how I made them.

1.) Using a round file notch out the top of a 2.4 mm plastic tube and glue another short piece in this recess. For my rhino I cut the total length to 16 mm



2.) Bend a paperclip like shown below. Cut and bend to shape. For my rhino I cut this to 19 mm







3.) Using a piece of sprue from a scout kit cut a notch using a razor saw and widen using sand paper or a very thin file until the paper clip fits in the gap. Trim this piece so that if fits on the side of the checker plating of the door. Carefully drill through it so that the ram can be pinned. Glue to the door making sure the door still closes



4.) Drill 2 holes on either side of the inside of the door and pin the hydraulic cylinder to the door frame. I used a model railway track nail for this.





5.) Insert the ram into the cylinder and pin the ram through the bit of sprue attached to the door.



*Still playing around with it at this point so nothing is glued or anything. You can see that one ram is around the wrong the way and the pin in door frame is loose*

Door closed

This is awesome. Exalted.

Glorious.

What do you use for hydraulic fluid?

 Snrub wrote:
Glorious.

What do you use for hydraulic fluid?

Liquid greenstuff, of course...

Carroburg Crimson I'd think

brilliant!! :O
how did you hinged the doors?

 ErioL wrote:
brilliant!! :O
how did you hinged the doors?

I used this tutorial

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/35817-modelling-rhino-door-tutorial/

thank you! I'll try both these hacks on my rhino asap.
do the doors close well after this? I was thinking to put a couple of small magnets in the inside of the doors to help them stay closed, with a fancy click! do you think this could work?

 ErioL wrote:
thank you! I'll try both these hacks on my rhino asap.
do the doors close well after this? I was thinking to put a couple of small magnets in the inside of the doors to help them stay closed, with a fancy click! do you think this could work?

The door does close well the bottom is flush but the top sticks out about 1mm. I am planning on putting a small magnet at the top to keep the whole door flush when its closed


Automatically Appended Next Post:
*Update*

Just installed 2 pair of 2mm x 1mm magnets and the door snaps close well.

In future it would be easier to use 1mm x 0.5mm magnets

wow great tip and very realistic. I'll keep it in mind