WIP Diamond Twin Star

I've been watching your amazing work. What type of wood are you using? Pine?

Any man who can turn wood into airplanes deserves a beer or three in my book. Awesome work.

Chris

dirkpitt77 and blacksheep Thanks for your enthusiasm. There is a little to be said for the many ways of model making. This aircraft is one of the many interesting designs in my collection. Keep an eye out I'm always finding more....

dirkpitt77

Any man who can turn wood into airplanes deserves a beer or three in my book. Awesome work.

Chris

I agree!   Most impressive work and light years ahead of anything I would attempt.  This will be a lot of fun watching the progress.  Thanks for taking us along!

Gary

Hello There !

   Listen , I do ocassionally carve up a block of wood to get a life-sized humming - bird out of there .The fact you are doing a very unusual looking plane fascinates me . Keep up the good work , oh , when are you going to master it and grace us with a Vac-Form kit of it ? I want one !

When I first began modeling, wood was the material available.  Kits had fuselages sawn to profile view- some of the better ones were sawn to planform also.  Wings were flat pieces sawn to planform- you needed to carve airfoil yourself.

Since a power jigsaw was not an outrageously expensive tool, many more modelers than today scratchbuilt- so much so that most model airplane magazines (there were several) all included a 3-view subject each month where scale drawings and photos of prototype were included in article.

Most of the folks I know today who scratchbuild airplanes were of same generation as I.

Many kits were of balsa, a hard wood to fill for a good paint job.  Better kits used basswood, medium priced kits used pine- easy to finish but harder to carve.

Hi Don, Pine is an easy wood to carve with 40 grit. I was born in the 60's so modeling wood aircraft dates back to the 40's. It's just a lot of fun to take wood bits and create what your seeing. This aircraft is a favorite and the first of seven I had to make. These are sent to artist shop for finish sanding and prep for CNC mill work and others were used as vac form. I haven't looked for plastic kits of this particular type.

Yeah, pine sands okay.  But I do not like it for carving.  Basswood is similar in all directions, pine has a very prominent grain that carves very differently with vs across grain.

A bad thing about balsa other than being hard to fill is that most balsa has a lot of minerals in it, and dulls blades faster than basswood or pine.

I would like to work more with Renshape or such pattern foam, but you have to buy it in 4 x 8 foot sheets and it is so much money for a piece that size.  I wish Micro Mark or some mail order vendor would sell it in smaller blocks- say a square foot or half a square foot.  Stuff carves so nice, and it fills about the same as balsa.

Woodland Scenic has been pushing pinewood derby car kits for generations. I could make these from burl or other fine woods but pine seems to be the standard construction pile fotter. I generally don't use putties or fillers as that means voids in the model and over time failure.

I have never had a problem with fillers, sanding sealers, and such on wood.  Only problem I have had is painting with some lacquers.  Something about the expansion/contraction with wood and humidity causes cracking with some of the harder lacquers. I paint my wood models with enamels now.  I also find a full-bodied primer like Krylon works well on tight grained woods like basswood, and never had a problem with a primer like that either.

I find about three coats of Krylon seals basswood pretty well.  I sand down the first two coats completellyl except for what remains in grain, then sand third coat smooth- then time to start color coats.

 Don Fillers are great for blemishes or restorations but if I'm making a new model the need for them is moot. Please do post a look at your wood work for us in your next post. I know there are at least two model carvers lurking around here......

artworks2

 Don Fillers are great for blemishes or restorations but if I'm making a new model the need for them is moot.

How do you fill the grain, then, or do you just keep painting till the paint fills the grain? 

I will take a few pictures- it will take a day or two.

Good heavens, old school modeling!  I used the old 'balsa filler coat' on my pine cars, with Krylon finishes.  Sometimes pitch pockets make themselves known with the application of paint.

Don't fill the grain don't paint more than one coat. LOL. Please believe me when I tell you your the only one obsessed with the issue Don. This thread is about the aircraft type not your idea of hiding blemishes. The aircraft model as it sits is what it is. When you consider the wood is all junk....

Looks interesting, but i'm wondering why you hid it down here in Techniques, rather than in aircraft or scratchbuilding forums.