This is an amazing thread.
I will definately buy the book.
Thanks for sharing Solid!!
Mike
Thanks Mike:,But!, the little manual will not be for sale…[#toast]….It will be free!!![(-D], just send me your e-mail and you´ll get it. It should be ready in Dicember.
Hey Guys…do remember that “scratchbuilds” make great " Ciber-Models" Too:!!![(-D][:)]
A Lockheed Hudson searching for enemy shipping: Scale 1:90
An Alitalia, C-46 trying to get altitude befor the storm!!!: Scale 1:144
Italy´s First Jet (1939), "Trying to immitate the real one!!!: Scale 1:72
SM-85, The “Flying Bananna”…Italy´s Failed dive bomber,
“Looking for the Convoy”!!!: Scale 1:90
Oh… A not so “solid”…Tupelov R-6 " Air Cruiser 1935 ": Scale 1:144
And…a XB-51 of 1953!!! " Over my city": Scale 1:144
Upon reflection, I think your approach, if I may interpret, is that the craft of replicating is more important that getting every detail just right. That it is possible - and desirable - to model the spirit of the original first, and the details second.
How do you feel about the older balsa sticks-and-paper models. You know the ones - where you have all the wing spars and fuselage forms on a sheet of 1/16th balsa, cut them out, glue balsa 1/16" “sticks” across them, and so build up the wings and fuselage, cover them with paper, and then dope the paper to make it taut and tough. Perfect until metal-skin aircraft become common. I remember my dad building a large P-38 Lightning that way. I build a Me109 that way as a 12 year old or so. That would be about 1974.
Hi Antinice… You got it man!!!Look at museum models…most all over the world are " replicas" of the originals, NOT!!! exact copies with details to the last bolt!!!..this is desirable, a model that looks “right” like the real one was…but not an exact copy. I emphasise this because one of the beauties of scratchbuilding is that you don’t have to do that “tiny bit” of detail to it. You could if you wanted to, but that means, sometimes years of work. Scales of 1: 72, 1:48 and 1:32 are for more of a “look a like/replica” than a super detail model. In scratchbuilding if you want to do an “exact” model of the real one, you have to work in 1:16 and no less than 1:24…
Oh yes, I built many, many “stick and tissue” models, there are still many kits of them available!!! They are “another” type of modelling, and it is fantastic also. I made mine for flying and spent houndreds of hours doing that. At the beginning they flew like rocks!!! then as I gained experience I had models that flew for 3 minutes or more…great fun!!!, Oh yea, scale models not the ones specially made for flying. There are many groups in the US and Europe that continue to build them and fly them…today with so many wonderful materials, they are almost incredible!!!The Brits are Masters in this field.
I also did a lot of them, “covered” with 1:32 and 1:64 balsa, to simulate metal and you can really work them up since most are pretty big, the ones I covered were around 1:24 scale with wingspans of around 28 and 36 inches…big guys!!!, when you built that Me109 I was flying my first One channel radio control!!!..long time ago and far away!!![sigh]
Time to start “detailing…to a certain point!!!”
You will notice in the Photos:
- The paper stringers hardly show…they just let you know it’s a metal structure.
- The aileron hinges are cool.
- I rubbed the shinny chrome color so it may look more like bare aluminum.
- I added some black pastels around the wing to get some shadows. I have to work on this some more.
- Since I am building this model like they were done in the 30’s and 40’s (last century) I printed the decals on regular paper and glued them with white glue…[:O]
- I applied the first coat of “oil colors” on the rudder, will finish it off later.
- took two small pieces of wood and filed them to look like bombs…one is already glued, I’ll
show it later on. - From another piece I will “carve” a tiny pilot, so the plane will have a master.
…
That’s it for now, we shall finish the whole thing soon…[;)]
The End
To end it all I added the propeller blades(Plastic card), Bombs (shaped wood), windscreen (Clear plastic with paper frame), bamboo antena and home made decals made on the PC and printed on inkjet decal paper…Oh since someone asked for a pilot I somewhat carved a piece of wood and painted it with oils…
Thanks for your time and hope you enjoyed the build, bye for now.
OUTSTANDING BUILD
2 [tup][tup]
Bud
Very impressive! I am reminded of another old school modeler from about the 1940’s Fred “Fritz” Howard. See some of his stuff here:
**Bud…**Glad you liked the build, Have you quit smoking???..if you do, I´ll send you a cut up
kit for you to try one…but you must quit COLD!!![:O]
**Stephen…**There is a lot of 1930-1940 modelling literature around. Interesting th photo you sent.
Scratchbuilding is really fun, I have a friend who builds all his models in “brass”, they are 1:16 scales and
his engines are absolutly as perfect as you can get…lots of fun. Happy you liked the build, thanks.
Here is a the first Pic of my next model. This is a Savoia Marchetti 81 “Pipistrello”, a three engine bomber used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica in the Ethiopian Campaign of 1935. I will be placing it at a show in Milan, Italy in the month of Dicember.
I am trying and that’s the best I can do.
I have slowed down and I have to see my Doc again about it again.
Thanks for asking
Bud
Nice Dewoitine. How’d you make the pilot? I’ld like to know how to make my own.
**rudy_102…**Happy you liked the “boxy” Dewoitine. For such a small scale you
do not need a lot of detail!!!, having said that, just take a piece of wood , see pic,
“daw” the contour of the figure. The pilot in this case is just a bust, and with a Big!!! file,
file away creating the basic bust. Once you have it, go over it with “fine files” until
you have it looking like “old Joe”, then take some paint and color it. I painted the
pilot helment white since around the 1930´s, white canvas pilot helments were popular.
If you do larger scales then more careful carving is necessary. You can use
“plastic trees” for tiny pilots, but if you use wood make sure you use a “hard”
one, not balsa, then its easy…I have some old instructions on how to make
these figures, let me find them, scan them and I will send them to you.
Solid,
Great work on the Dewotine!!! I’m going to have to look around for an appropriate first subject to try when I get the time. I’d like to get a copy of your manual when it’s done also that way I can be reminded of how to do something if needs be. I was pretty suprised at the end result not saying I didn’t expect much because I’ve seen some of your other posts and they are always very very nice. It’s always been a hard for me to visualize the end product when working in wood. going from just flat-sided slabs of wood to what you’ve done with this Dewotine is flat out fantastic. I think I had been looking too far into the task and not seeing the forrest for the trees. Again Great job!
Tracy
P.S. where could a fellow get the plans for that little RO biplane you were working on? Definitely not going to be my first try but I’d like to work up to it eventually.
Hi Tracy… Ha ha…glad you also like this Dewoitine. I’ll let you know as soon as the little manual is finished. May I suggest that for your first subject with solids you choose a simple one. Better a high wing, boxy type. You will be surprised how easy it will be for you, later you go for one
with a “curvy” fuselage. Some of the old Stinsons are great.
Sorry to say that the RO/41 plans I made myself for I could not find any…anywhere!!! I have them
in original form and did not make fuselage formers, I did the fuselage contour from some pictures and by taking mesurements on them…I do have the side and tops so I could scan those and send them to you. Send me an e-mail and I will shoot them up.
Hello, great article. I started out with tissue and stick and still do some. Actually made a solid T34C Mentor a while ago. I would like a manual when done if possible. My email is jamalone"at"cox"dot"net. Thanks
Aaron
Hi Jamalone…got you!! on the list…, the T-34 Menthor is fantastic, I flew a real one many years ago, it was as easy as a Cessna 150, I remember making touch and goes and landing as slow as possible, around 70 or 80 MPH maybe less[:)]…perfect for a solid. Let us see asome photos of your model. Stick and tissue models are fine, have you built one as a “static” scale model?..I will have to do one, once again.
A totally impressive build.
Thanks for trying to get the article, solid. It’ll come in handy for me.
Hello Solid,
Did you ever get the manual done? I cant seem to find my copy if you did. My email is jamalone@cox.net. Thanks.
Aaron