Base Materials

whats a modified edge 540??

One of these, but modified.

Instead of balsa, why not use some of the thin plywood used for scale modeling namely that used for R/C planes and ships. Styrene is found in many places besides hobby retailers. One just has to investigate...check your local sign shops...those that make small signs, banners and lettering for businesses. Many times they use styrene sheet stock as the backing material.

Thanks hawkeye, ill look into that.

I'd recommend basswood rather than balsa.  Balsa is a bear to fill all the grain.  Basswood, while still a soft wood, has a very tight grain.  Also, balsa has a lot of mineral in it that dulls carving knifes fast.  Basswood is easier on knife edges.

Every place I buy balsa also has basswood (hobby ships and Michaels craft stores).  It comes in sheets, strips and blocks, just like balsa.  Online, places that cater to decoy carvers carry large blocks.

Hi mikey,

Give this site a look over, it's helped me quite a bit.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080122044909/www.wwimodeler.com/harry/woodman.html

m@

awesome, cheers guys. i will look into basswood. Watchman, thanks for the site, its swaying me to styrene sheet again.

A couple questions though. im building in 32nd scale (maybe 24th) and i think im going to go with plastic formed over a wood mold. In terms of the styrene. What should i be ordering? Im thinking of making an internal roll cage aswell. Im seeing alot of 10 and 20 thou sheets around, is this too thin for me to work with effectivly? or is it the right thickness?

Mikey, I wouldn't go with anything under 20 thou if you are going to vacuum form the fuse.  For 32nd or 24th I'd try 40 thou; that should give you plenty of strenght.  When you vacuum form then, the sheets will get a little thinner.  You will have to build in bulkheads for the fuse.  For skinning the wings you can go thinner 10 or even 5 if you have to emboss any detail (ribs etc.).

If you want to stick with bass wood for the whole thing, that'd be fine.  The link I gave you has a little info about making the forms for vacuum forming, but you could just stop at making the forms and not bother with skinning or vacuum forming.

If you want to read more about the subject, I'd recommend John Alcorn's books.  They are facinating reading, at least they are to me. ;)  I'm not sure if they are available in NZ, tho.

m@

awesome, cheers watchman, ill look into that. Sorry about all the questions, just a tad nervous about starting my first scratchbuild.

Scorpiomikey

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A couple questions though. im building in 32nd scale (maybe 24th) and i think im going to go with plastic formed over a wood mold. In terms of the styrene. What should i be ordering? Im thinking of making an internal roll cage aswell. Im seeing alot of 10 and 20 thou sheets around, is this too thin for me to work with effectivly? or is it the right thickness?

You need rod for the roll cage, don't you, rather than sheet stock?  Plastruct sells rod stock, carried by many hobby shops.  You can also fabricate the frame- does that plane have a steel tube frame?- from rod stock.  Usually the fuselage frame is visible in cockpit.

Hey Scorpiomikey - any progress on this? I've signed on for a group build of the Horten 229 flying wing fighter... but don't have a kit in hand yet! Now I'm thinking of scratchbuilding using basswood & styrene sheet! Not sure about bonding the styrene to the wood though - probably epoxy?

No progress yet, i picked up a balsa kit to play with to get used to how to deal with wood. (last time i made anything from wood was 11 years ago) I got the guillows P-40 (kit 501) well see how i get on with that. untill then i might sit down and build something in CAD. its gonna be mid next year before i start anything.

My problem is i get an idea in my head and i have to ask right then and there or i forget about it and move on to something else. If i ask as soon as i get the idea in my head then ive got a bit of motivation to remember what im getting up to lol.

Ill post progress if i make any. Im starting to think this was a bit of a pipe dream for me.

I've been puzzled recently as to why there are no kits of the Red Bull racers, small aircraft, lots of colour, one set of molds would basically cover all the options...

I haven't done anything wooden in ages either, I'm hoping the simple silhouette of the 229 is something I can duplicate with mostly wood for the basic shape, then skin it with styrene. Now the actual shape of the wing's curves etc. will be more complicated. Cockpit, engines etc... haven't got a plan for those yet.

Ah well, I think I have to try it, see what happens!

Good luck, lemme know how you get on.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. If i do ever start on this project i promise to keep you all in the loop.

Cheers.

Mike

VanceCrozier

I've been puzzled recently as to why there are no kits of the Red Bull racers, small aircraft, lots of colour, one set of molds would basically cover all the options...

 

But they aren't military.  Too many aircraft modelers are really military modelers that specialize in aircraft.   I build military aircraft periodically but build more civil aircraft.  Sometimes at a contest there is no category for civil aircraft :-(  The categories are based on which war and which side the plane fought for.

In some eras, civil aircraft led state of the art, and it is a shame that people won't buy enough kits of civil aircraft for the big companies to kit models of them.

Don Stauffer

 

VanceCrozier:

 

I've been puzzled recently as to why there are no kits of the Red Bull racers, small aircraft, lots of colour, one set of molds would basically cover all the options...

 

 

But they aren't military.  Too many aircraft modelers are really military modelers that specialize in aircraft.   I build military aircraft periodically but build more civil aircraft.  Sometimes at a contest there is no category for civil aircraft :-(  The categories are based on which war and which side the plane fought for.

In some eras, civil aircraft led state of the art, and it is a shame that people won't buy enough kits of civil aircraft for the big companies to kit models of them.

True, and I have to admit that I'm one of those military a/c modelers as well. These just seem like an obvious choice for some company to jump on.