Door Hinges

[Super28]

Been asked about the door , trunk, and sometimes hood hinges. Can't take credit for them. Go to "Dr. Cranky's" videos on model building. Gives step by step instructions. I use 3/32 aluminum tubing from local hobby shop. Can be cut with axacto knife. Wire is "stem wire" from a craft store, flower section. Glue is " Extreme Power", but super glue will work too. Loop pliers are from "Micro Mark". Mail order.

[Super28]

[Bainford]

Thanks for the tutorial. There is a bit of a problem with the door hinges, though. They are assembled backwards, causing the door to swing away from the body when opened. If the vertical element (tube) of the hinge was mounted to the door and the two horizontal tubes were affixed to the car body (the opposite of what is depicted above), the door would open prototypically correct (at least for most cars), with the leading edge of the opened door tipping in towards the car (and tucking in behind the trailing edge of the front fender). Cheers

[MrObsessive]

Trevor, Terry's method for the hinges on this particular car is correct. This looks like a '60 Ford and during that era the full sized Fords used what are known as gooseneck hinges.

As to your point yes............many modern cars use the swivel hinges today (easier to manufacture) as the cars today don't have the wide shoulders as the cars of yesteryear sported.

This is a case where depending on what car you're modeling------pics, pics, pics! The more the better when it comes to things like this. I have for particularly this car LOTS of photos of it in a folder on my hard disc, so there's no guesswork needed for constructing door jambs for instance.

[Mark]

How stiff is the stem wire?  I'm fiddling with making replacement hinges for an old Revell '55 Chevy, using paper clip wire.  For the trunk and hood, I'm working with the bends already in the paper clip, using the large loop at one end as part of the hinge.  For the doors, I'm leaning towards just straightening the wire and re-bending to match the hinges in the kit, so I don't have to mess with filling the slots in the door panels and cutting new ones.

One suggestion: on the trunk hinge, make the retaining tube (the one attached to the body) longer, so there's no side-to-side slop when the trunk is opened.

[Bainford]

Cheers Bill. It's a mistake I see often on models with hinged doors, but in this case it is absolutely correct. Apologies to the OP. I'll wind my neck in now.

[Super28]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 5:00 AM, MrObsessive said:

Trevor, Terry's method for the hinges on this particular car is correct. This looks like a '60 Ford and during that era the full sized Fords used what are known as gooseneck hinges.

As to your point yes............many modern cars use the swivel hinges today (easier to manufacture) as the cars today don't have the wide shoulders as the cars of yesteryear sported.

This is a case where depending on what car you're modeling------pics, pics, pics! The more the better when it comes to things like this. I have for particularly this car LOTS of photos of it in a folder on my hard disc, so there's no guesswork needed for constructing door jambs for instance.

I'm not trying to be "factory " correct. Just hinging doors and trunks. Maybe ,  later, when I get better , I can try to male them 1:1. Right now I'm just building and learning. Seen your work Bill, I'm no where near your ability at this time, but, then again, I just got back into the hobby about a year ago.

Trying different things, paints, airbrushes, techniques. Got along way to go , just sharing what I have learned because it was asked of me

[Super28]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 10:46 AM, Mark said:

How stiff is the stem wire?  I'm fiddling with making replacement hinges for an old Revell '55 Chevy, using paper clip wire.  For the trunk and hood, I'm working with the bends already in the paper clip, using the large loop at one end as part of the hinge.  For the doors, I'm leaning towards just straightening the wire and re-bending to match the hinges in the kit, so I don't have to mess with filling the slots in the door panels and cutting new ones.

One suggestion: on the trunk hinge, make the retaining tube (the one attached to the body) longer, so there's no side-to-side slop when the trunk is opened.

The stem wire is on the "soft" side. Not like solder, or near as stiff as a paper clip. They're hard to work with. I forgot to mention, you can use a pair of needle-nose pliers to bend with, just takes practice to get the loops right. I know, I'm still trying to get them right

[Casey]

There is a pinned (by request) topic in this very section with multiple methods for making hinges:

 

[MrObsessive]

Terry, my comment wasn't directed at you, but for anyone that wants to attempt this and get an idea for what they might be in for. There are certain cars that I could have sworn the doors opened one way, but when I did some digging and saw one opened up, it was nothing like I thought!

When I do hinges, I don't always go for every nook and cranny and crease. Just try to get it prototypically correct as I can without driving myself crazy. The hardest thing for me is to get both sides symmetrical as far as the door jambs are concerned for instance.

That's when the crazy in me can come out!  

[Super28]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 12:24 AM, MrObsessive said:

Terry, my comment wasn't directed at you, but for anyone that wants to attempt this and get an idea for what they might be in for. There are certain cars that I could have sworn the doors opened one way, but when I did some digging and saw one opened up, it was nothing like I thought!

When I do hinges, I don't always go for every nook and cranny and crease. Just try to get it prototypically correct as I can without driving myself crazy. The hardest thing for me is to get both sides symmetrical as far as the door jambs are concerned for instance.

That's when the crazy in me can come out!  

That's ok. I'm just  trying different things. I hope to , one day, get to the point of making it 1:1 correct. Right now , it's just getting use to everything

 

[willieman]

Any pics for 30's type doors?

[Super28]

OK, update.

Found the metal tubing doesn't want to bond with plastic and 3/32 plastic tubing varies too much on inner diameter, so, I now use 1/8 plastic tubing for all hinges

[kitbash1]

I won't take credit for this. For those who want to to do " Up swinging " doors like on a Lamborghini I found these photos of a hinge made from a one use dental floss handle. I can't remember the name of the author or the website. I'm going to use this idea on a few Group C models.