I was wondering if anyone has ambitions to scratchbuild something and if so what? Is anyone out there working on a scratchbuilt project right now? If so what are you working on? I have a long time project that I’m think of starting again. A 1/72 F2G, started many years ago before there was a kit available. I have just barely started on a 1/1000 Botany Bay and would like to try my hand at the Kobiyashi Maru! Not everyone wants to scratchbuild but I think we can all learn a lot from those that do!
Woody:
I scratchbuild ships, usually in wood but I’m well stuck into my first styrene ship, a 1:48 corvette.
Why?
Because the manufacturers don’t make kits in my chosen subject and scale.
I do have some aircraft kits in 1:48 but again they are resin or vac-form because of the off beat subjects, so the kit bashing (scratchbuilding) is intensive.
As for the learning thing I am always flattered when someone comes back to me with the comment that my tip or whatever proved useful, and one main reason I joined this forum was to pick up on things the others are doing.
The keys to building from scratch is a good set of plans, patience and common sense. For many subjects, you’ll have to work out your own plans. The satisfaction is unlike anything else in modeling when you have planned and engineered a successful model from nothing except bits of plastic sheet and assorted odds and ends.
I hope you pursue your builds, and please feel free to ask about things any time.
Reagrds,
Bruce
Bruce,
I may just take you up on that! I started out carving my F2G in balsa that I then saturated in CA. I wanted it to be nonporous and strong so I could use it as a master for casting molds. Do you do anything like that to your wood models?
I’m working on a master of a Japanese Isuzu/Sumida K10 Type 93 Command Car (1/76). It’s mostly sheet styrene, epoxy putty and superglue. Should be completed soon too.
It will be released at Trucks’n’Tracks in Feb next year.
Because of the work I do for a number of customers, I always have one or a few scratch projects on the go. But I must admit that many of the models I build for myself are scratch too… I’ve scratched over 200 patterns now, and for my own pleasure I have scratched Star Wars aliens, Looney Tune characters, dinosaurs, AFVs as well as a small number of WWI airplanes.
I am planning on an attempt at scratchbuilding one of the fire trucks in my dept. There is a very weak area in the market for fire apparatus and I would like to have a model of one that I get to run anyway. Just don’t know when I’ll start on one though.
I’m just starting to learn how to scratch build, so i’m starting off small… roll cages, batteries fuel cells, and the like … as far as a whole vehichle, thats well off into the distance!!!
Do you have a site that your work can be viewed at? I sure hope so! Do you use any mills or lathes in your work?
I’d like to kick my butt in gear and scratchbuild a Sherman BARV upper hull. I’m close to having all the references I need now, so maybe in the new year I’ll get started.
Hey djmodels, I just came back from your site, very nice! [;)]
We scratch build mostly not because we wanted to but because we have to. I have scratch-built a viking ship in my teenage days out of wood and plastic.
I scrathbuild fishing rods does that count?[;)] LOL
On a more serious note though…I want to scracthbuilt but Im skeered! LOL Well not really…Ive done a few things roll cages exhaust…fuel cells but nothing big! While not big Im planning on scratchbuilding some odds and ends for my garage scene…Tables maybe a few storage shelves and a tool cart or 2…Some of it I have ordered but once I saw it, I thought I think I could do that!..We’ll see
let us know how it turns out chris!!!
Chris you should Scratchbuild a model of that saltwater canoe you showed me! [:P][:P][:P][(-D] [oX)]
I would love to find some pleasure craft kits…even posted a thread about it a while back in the Ship forum…as far as scratchbuilding one…well dont hold your breath as Im not holding mine! LOL
I have always been interested in scratchbuilding but I never really know where to begin. My uncle served on the USS Quincy (CA-71) and they do not make a model of this, well I could get one now of the USS Baltimore but this was before there was a Baltimore Class out there. I also would not mind building the USS Texas. I also saw an article in FSM about 4 years ago about scratch building an Albatross D.III (I think). I just do not know how or where to begin. I probably need to actually get confidence in building period.
Snoopy…I suffer the same problem in a way lack of confidence in my ability and often not knowing where to start…Heres what I did I started small. Im still occasionally building small scratchbuilt items…Such as what I mentioned above…my first was a fuel cell for a nascar model years ago…now I cant seem to recall how or whaat I used that made it work so well! DOH! Then I tried some custom exhausts made out of Evergreen tubing and small brass and aluminum tubing…then I moved on to roll cages…but thats it so far.
If I might offer a suggestion find something small on the ship that might need to be built…take a good look at it come up with a set of plans(really simple ones work the best for me) make a quick sketch and then select your materials…
Woody,
No, I do not have a lathe… I’d like too, but those tools are still a bit expensive! Most of the patterns I do only require a single or two wheels at most so I can still ‘get by’ with modifying existing wheels from various kits, or sometimes make my own. Barrels are a pain too, but I do often use the tappered handles of old brushes for that…
My first scratch was actually an biplane, an Aviatik D.I, whose drawings I had found in a French mag. The author described how to do the model, with drawings showing the various parts required. Putty did the rest! I was 18 then. AFVs are normally easier to scratch, provided you can find wheels and tracks to re-use. The easiest project was the Dorchester armoured truck used by the Brits (and the Germans!) in North Africa during WWII. The chassis and wheels came from an Airfix Mtador kit.
My most difficult scratch? The Ilya Murometz Russian bomber of 1917, although what made it difficult was really the size of the wings (tended to droop!) and the staggering amount of sprue I used to complete the wiring! The masters of the Citroen Traction-Avant I did for Scale Link (1/87) and those of the Simca 5 staff car I did for SMA (1/76) and Fine Scale Factory (1/72) were the hardest built because they are so ‘curvy’ all over… I used plastic to create a ‘skeleton’ or a frame and built up and kind of sculpted the bodies over the ‘skeleton’ with Milliput and super-glue. The completed patterns were probably 85% Milliput, 5% plastic and 10% hardened super-glue.
I’ll bet you don’t build the blank! [:D][;)]
Mike
I will soon be starting my first sctratch project, a new turret for my Tamiya Panther A. Follow my progress (or lack of) in the armor forum!
Good luck to you, Derek.
Does that mean you’ll replace that Pz IV turret in your signature too…??! LOL
By the way, where there many of those Panther/Pz IV…? Any other info you’d care to pass on…?
Domi