1/32 Focke Wulf 'Triebflugel' scratchbuild

[ssculptor]

I do not know how to tell you guys this, but back in the early 1940's this was the standard way we made models.
Back then there were no plastic kits.
A model airplane kit was several blocks of wood and plans of dubious accuracy.
We carved the model out of wood.
The canopy was most often just indicated by using sky blue paint. Clear plastic? Whats that?
All panel lines and rivets, if we bothered with any, were made by applying India ink with (c)Speedball pens. 
Landing gear was made with wood dowells and, if the kit came with them, turned wooden wheels.
Decals? Decals? We no need no stinkin decals. The insignia were printed on paper and we cut them out and pasted them onto the models.
If the local hobby store carried them one could buy cast lead bombs, machine gun barrels (solid), seperate machine guns for the rear gunner, some wheels, and that was it.
During WW2 the glue was a powdered casine glue and you mixed it with water so you could use it.  Because of the war balsa was not available for civilian use so ordinary soft pine was often in the kits. Probably the worst wood one could use for a model.
Essentially if you wanted a part you made it yourself.
Back then the kit cost, in the USA, 5 to 10 cents. Not the $250 one spends these days for a 1/32 scale Tamiya or Trumpeter kit with all the extra after-market parts.
Modelers who make and fly powered model airplanes keep up the old traditions of working with wood. Many of them can start with sheets and blocks of balsa and come up with a model airplane that not only looks like the real one but actually flies. Also, there are fine scale modelers who make their wooden radio control models to exact scale, with, because of the larger scale, a whale of a lot more detail than one finds in even 1/32 scale plastic models.
If you plastic modelers want a challenge, or want to try to develop some real modeling skills, try building a wood model. 
Or, at least try building a small part that you need for your plastic model out of wood. After you carve it and file it to shape then paint it with a wood sealer and sand it with varying grades of fine sandpaper. Then reseal it and sand it again. Glue it onto your plastic model. When you see it blend into the model you will get a heck of a lot more satisfaction than by merely buying the plastic part pre-made for you and all you have to do is glue it in place.
It working with wood bothers you then try carving the part out of plastic. There is this tool called a saw. You can get inexpensive jewelers coping saws or jigsaws and you can cut the part out of plastic with that. Then you use small files to roughly shape the parts. Then some sandpaper of various fine grits. Again, when you are done you will be a lot prouder of what you have made than you were by assembling a box of pre-made plastic parts.
Or, try making a vacuformed plastic kit. There are modelers who continually scream against such models, but you will develop all sorts of skills when you try making one of the vacs. Especially if you try to scribe in the panel lines and simulate the rivets.
By the way, there is nothing wrong with buying an injection molded plastic model kit and assembling the model OOTB (out of the box).     It is relaxing and enjoyable and provides a pleasant experience. Which is what a hobby is supposed to do for us. We do not need any more stress in our lives so we find a hobby to serve as a relief from the  pressures of everyday life.
But, if you want more from your hobby, then try making your own parts. You might just find that you are enjoying the experience a bit more than before.

[John Howling Mouse]

Yeah, "enjoying it."  That's what I call making my own parts....bwa ha ha ha HAAAAAA!   

He's right though.  Even making some small wooden bits like canopy masters and intakes for vac-forming, I felt way more in touch with the project. 

But it can be very intimidating for a lot of modelers even to cut into a regular styrene kit.  There's a lot at stake and it may be uncharted territory for many.  Then, at the farthest opposite end of the spectrum, you have someone like Rafa boldly going where no modeler has gone before, making parts out of cleverly selected found materials and supplies not usually thought of for mold-making.

That's why I appreciate the in-progress pics of MM's work here: a priceless learning experience. 

[Libelle]

I've been reading the What-If forum with great interest for a couple of months because of the more creative aspect of modelmaking found here. I carve all my stuff out of pine and basswood, but haven't graduated to vacuforming clear parts yet. Someday.

It's great to see a wood model included in the discussion, though it was completely unexpected!


http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=22

Dave

[Sisko]

Lookin good!

I appreciate the comments of those above about building something from scratch.

However due to workload and other life commitments I'm lucky to finish half a dozen pre made kit assembler models a year. If I had to build something from scratch it would be one a year.

Doesn't mean I don't appreciate the skill and talent of those that do.

[ssculptor]

Really folks, you do not have to make the entire model from scratch.
A lot of us do not have time to do that anyway.
But just making one little part can give you a lot of satisfaction.
How about an underwing bomb or fuel tank or other such armament.
I am on other forums and I am forever reading posts by plastic modelers asking for a speicific rocket or bomb or other small part.
I understand their frustration. The younger modelers have known only plastic kits all their lives. The very concept of making their own parts can be very intimidating to them. But once they start some of them will find that they can, indeed, create parts as well as simply gluing them together.
How to kick start them into building small parts is the hard part, though.

Also, there is this nonsense that a good model is only one that is 200% accurate with every possible part included, no matter how small it is and no matter if one can actually see it once it in installed in the model.
Personally, I do not bother with all the tiny bits. I do not care if they are in my model or not. I want my models to be hanging from the ceiling and displaying the most interesting (to me) color and marking schemes. Even at that the colors should be close but I'm not going to have a nervous breakdown if they do not match some 65 year old badly weathered sample that survived a fire and gallons of hot oil and avgas. Retractible landing gear should be retracted - the plane is flying, not parking in a hangar.
I have sold all my Tamiya kits because I will not waste my valuable time potskying with all the tiny bits just because some anal-retentive characters at IPMS insist that a good model must have all these parts.

I know a guy who made all the planes of a particular WW2 German squadron at a certain point in time. He was not at all concerned about the little bitty details. He assembled the squadrons worth of models out of the boxes and painted and decaled them to represent each of the individual airplanes. Did he have all the decals he needed? Well he, being an old timer, knew how to use this magical stuff called masking tape. He enjoyed doing this and he likes the results. He got what he needed from the hobby.

Just as an experiment try making some small parts. It may be difficult at first but what have you got to lose? A few hours and a bit of material? Your first attempts may not come out well. So what? You are just starting. Besides, you are not doing this in front of an audience. We make models alone. What comes out badly just throw away and tell no one about it. Show people the good stuff.

I've built models out of almost every material over the years. I have my likes and dislikes in terms of materials and techniques. When I scratch build a model (1/32 is my minimum scale) I make a stick and tissue model and then fill it with lightweight expandable foam, cut that back down to the formers and then cover the entire thing with lightweight fiberglass. I get a very light, very strong model that way. I do not like to carve wood. I can do it if I have to but I prefer the additive techniques, rather than the subtractive. But I am not inhibited about using any material or technique to get the wanted results.

Over the years I have developed a tough hide covering my ego. I expect my first attempts to develope a new skill to be time consuming and the first attempts to perhaps be failures. Of course, I am developing a new skill. What stops the younger modelers (under the age of 50) from starting a new technique is the fear of failure.  Which is unnecessary and silly. Does a person expect to try an entirely new technique and material and make a successful model of a WW1 mullti-wing multi-engine bomber in his first try?  Of course not!
Relax, play with the material and don't worry about success.
Just explore the material and techniques.
Experiment. You need a lathe? How about sticking a wooden dowell in an electric drill and using a file to shape the rotating part into a streamlined bomb.
Do not be afraid - its just a bloody block of wood!
Oh, by the way, do try not to cut yourself.
ssculptor

[Rafael]

Misstress Mannerheim, You are a talented girl!!
My hat is off to you.

Ssculptor, I'm there with you. As an inexperienced modeler, I recently started to explore alternate materials and techniques. I agree 1000% with you. Fear of failure being one of the driving forces here, and shouldn't be, 'cause we do this for fun.

Rafa

[GAJouette]

Outstanding work.I'll be looking forward to seeing more in the future.By the way I'm new to this site and this is a fantastic site.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Hobbes]

But it can be very intimidating for a lot of modelers even to cut into a regular styrene kit.  There's a lot at stake and it may be uncharted territory for many.

One of the nice things about this hobby is that you can progress at your own pace. If cutting into a regular styrene kit is intimidating, try rebuilding a crappy old kit or buy a few crappy old kits for $1 each at a flea market. My first experience with scratchbuilding was adding a few lumps and bumps to an existing model. Ten minutes of work on some leftover sprue, and I had a reasonable teardrop shape. Missiles and pylons are also easy, if you have some styrene rod and plate.

[B777LR]

I do not know how to tell you guys this, but back in the early 1940's this was the standard way we made models.
Back then there were no plastic kits.
A model airplane kit was several blocks of wood and plans of dubious accuracy.
We carved the model out of wood.
The canopy was most often just indicated by using sky blue paint. Clear plastic? Whats that?
All panel lines and rivets, if we bothered with any, were made by applying India ink with (c)Speedball pens. 
Landing gear was made with wood dowells and, if the kit came with them, turned wooden wheels.
Decals? Decals? We no need no stinkin decals. The insignia were printed on paper and we cut them out and pasted them onto the models.
If the local hobby store carried them one could buy cast lead bombs, machine gun barrels (solid), seperate machine guns for the rear gunner, some wheels, and that was it.
During WW2 the glue was a powdered casine glue and you mixed it with water so you could use it.  Because of the war balsa was not available for civilian use so ordinary soft pine was often in the kits. Probably the worst wood one could use for a model.
Essentially if you wanted a part you made it yourself.
Back then the kit cost, in the USA, 5 to 10 cents. Not the $250 one spends these days for a 1/32 scale Tamiya or Trumpeter kit with all the extra after-market parts.
Modelers who make and fly powered model airplanes keep up the old traditions of working with wood. Many of them can start with sheets and blocks of balsa and come up with a model airplane that not only looks like the real one but actually flies. Also, there are fine scale modelers who make their wooden radio control models to exact scale, with, because of the larger scale, a whale of a lot more detail than one finds in even 1/32 scale plastic models.
If you plastic modelers want a challenge, or want to try to develop some real modeling skills, try building a wood model. 
Or, at least try building a small part that you need for your plastic model out of wood. After you carve it and file it to shape then paint it with a wood sealer and sand it with varying grades of fine sandpaper. Then reseal it and sand it again. Glue it onto your plastic model. When you see it blend into the model you will get a heck of a lot more satisfaction than by merely buying the plastic part pre-made for you and all you have to do is glue it in place.
It working with wood bothers you then try carving the part out of plastic. There is this tool called a saw. You can get inexpensive jewelers coping saws or jigsaws and you can cut the part out of plastic with that. Then you use small files to roughly shape the parts. Then some sandpaper of various fine grits. Again, when you are done you will be a lot prouder of what you have made than you were by assembling a box of pre-made plastic parts.
Or, try making a vacuformed plastic kit. There are modelers who continually scream against such models, but you will develop all sorts of skills when you try making one of the vacs. Especially if you try to scribe in the panel lines and simulate the rivets.
By the way, there is nothing wrong with buying an injection molded plastic model kit and assembling the model OOTB (out of the box).     It is relaxing and enjoyable and provides a pleasant experience. Which is what a hobby is supposed to do for us. We do not need any more stress in our lives so we find a hobby to serve as a relief from the  pressures of everyday life.
But, if you want more from your hobby, then try making your own parts. You might just find that you are enjoying the experience a bit more than before.

Ohhhh, what fun it would have been to be a rivet counter (JMN) back in the days when modellers were carpenters...

Your models are looking super hanne!

[sotoolslinger]

[The Rat]

I've been reading the What-If forum with great interest for a couple of months because of the more creative aspect of modelmaking found here. I carve all my stuff out of pine and basswood, but haven't graduated to vacuforming clear parts yet. Someday.

It's great to see a wood model included in the discussion, though it was completely unexpected!


http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=22

Dave

Welcome Dave, pull up a chair! If you like wooden models then check out this article that I submitted to ARC a few years ago.