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Hi all,

I'm repaint if my predator, but since I got it, he managed to lose both sponsons, and I don't need the me yeah, so does anyone know how to make rhino doors?? I know doors come in the box but I've lost them too.

Thanks

For a flat part like a rhino door I'd just make a one-part greenstuff mold from an existing rhino.

Easiest way would be to simply buy a pair from a bits seller. Should be plenty of spare doors floating around from people making Predators.

Shouldn't be terribly difficult to make, either, if you want to save the money. Do you plan to have them fixed shut or will you hinge/magnetize them? Leaving them closed simplifies construction, as you don't need to detail the interior face.

If you just want the basic door face, all you need is a rectangle of plasticard, sized to fit the inset on the hull side. Use additional layers or space it with strips of some other material to build up the height until it can sit flush with the face. Nip all the corners to match, then attach short sections of styrene rod to the bottom for the hinges. Scoring the rods twice with a file (or even a knife) to create three even sections will more closely mimic the original hinge. If doing so, it will be easier to do before cutting the short section free of the donor rod. Short chunks of sprue can be cut off and filed into shape to make the three nubs up top. Finally, draw any of those little panel lines that you might want to include and scribe them in using a knife, pin, etc. Glue everything in place and you've got a basic but convincing door.

If you want to exactly copy the stock design, you'll need to put in a bit more work. Both doors, but especially the "ladder" door, have recessed sections as well as raised ones - this means working in layers. Luckily, the necessary shapes are all simple rectangles. Cut each rectangle out of the door face, glue a backing behind the holes, then glue a small rectangle below each hole to make the foothold. For the rivets, I find that microbeads glued into shallow drilled depressions give the most convincing effect, but embossed rivets (stamp the styrene with a thin tube, like the tip of a metal mechanical pencil with the lead retracted) or even tiny drops of PVA to build up mounds can work. If modeling the inside of the doors, sculptor's mesh (fine aluminum mesh with a diamond pattern) or window screen mesh (square pattern; sometimes metal, sometimes plastic) works well for making the grate texture in the recesses. Just glue it down, then cover with the inner styrene layer that matches the profile of the outer door face, but has the two rectangular cutouts.

There are also simpler alternatives that still look good. The ladder rungs, for example, can be made from staples or bent wire. The result looks a bit more like a modern vehicle, but the change is subtle enough that it may even go unnoticed. Alternate materials can also be used, in a pinch. Heavy cardstock or the cardboard from packaging (cereal packet stuff - not corrugated) isn't as nice to work with as styrene sheet, but it'll do. Toothpicks can be subbed in for the styrene rod, as well.

Keep the Rhino handy when cutting the basic profile of the doors. After that, reference pics will be very helpful for keeping all of the details in proportion. You may even be able to find papercraft projects or scratchbuilding plans that you could print out to make cutting templates.

If you only need one set, it wouldprobably be cheapest to go to a bitz seller, or even pick up some Forgeworld specials.