Hinges and preventing swinging parts

[ce25254]

I have decided to hinge the canopy and "Ion Suppression Tines" (AKA the little winglet/feather things) in my Lost Tales Starfury (see thread here: viewtopic.php?t=68907).

I have two questions about the hinging of these parts.

Question One
I made a hinge for the cockpit by drilling a hole through styrene rod and putting a smaller brass rod through it. The brass rod pokes into the body of the Starfury (pic: http://tenbyten.com/images/Starfury/TLT ... 5.JPG.html). However I have not figured out a way to prop the canopy up halfway, as it should be when it is open. Any ideas for this? I could just prop it up with a piece of rod, but I wonder if there's a better way to do it. (here is an image of the open canopy from TLT: http://tenbyten.com/images/Starfury/Los ... 1.jpg.html)

Question Two
For the "Ion Suppression Tines" (AKA the little winglet/feather things) I have figured out how to hinge them again by poking a brass rod through the flat joining panels. However they want to swing freely when I do this. So the ones on the lower wings always want to swing out, and the upper ones want to swing shut. I'd like to have ideas about how I can 'lock' them into place, either open or shut.

Ideas?

Thanks
Christian

[Richard Baker]

Thicker wire/brass rod and maybe bend it a little before inserting so the center provides some pressure againt the Vane?

Shim?

Itty Bitty lockwasher?

I used to use a sticky wax (I can get the brand name when I get home tonight) which was great at binding parts into position but allowed them to move when you wanted them to.

.

[Johnnycrash]

Can you remove the brass pins?? If so, give them a couple of coats of paint. This will make them bigger, just a bit, and allow the hinges to become friction fit. Add paint layers as needed. If there is a big difference between the pin and hole sie, find bigger pins, or wrap them with cello-tape.

[ce25254]

Yes, I can take them out. In fact I've only constructed one hinged tine as a proof of concept, and already broke it apart to re-think my plan. I had originally thought of something like Gunpla-style polycaps, but the area is too small for that.

I also tried a U-shaped design for the pin, where it would pull up and swivel around to get in the way of unwanted motion in either direction. But that didn't work well due to the shape of the mount on the engine.

The friction fit would be simple... I'll give it a try.

Thanks!

[Chacal]

Small diameter heat-shrink tubing—like the ones used in electronics—around the pins. They'll do the same job as the coats of paint Johnnycrash suggested, just in a one-piece, not-gonna-be-stripped-away-by-repeated-flexing-of-the-joint kinda way.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

What about a layer of masking tape over the pins for the vanes? Varnish it with a thin layer off super glue.

Kenny