Scratchbuilding a Model in Card, Step by Step

EricGoedkoop · 17 July 2005, 06:49 PM

And then the sides:

1) I drew out the side access panels and the top and back edges of the surround for both models; recall that the MoS is a little longer in this area. Same trick as before - tape the drawing to two layers of black cardstock and in no time I had two surrounds and two access panels. The holes, of course, are for the air intake pipes.

2) The MoS sports plywood panels set in a black metal surround, so the process was repeated twice - once on black and once on some scrap woodgrained card I had left over from the Albatros.

3) Surround glued to the fuselage side, and

4) Trimmed to size.

After applying and trimming all the surrounds, all that's left is to pop the access panels in:

The intake pipes will be added much, much later . . . . . when there's less of a chance that they'll get crushed before the model is done.

EricGoedkoop · 17 July 2005, 06:55 PM

Remember the sheet of tissue paper I printed all the markings on in the beginning? Here's the fuselage banding for the Pfalz:

One side applied with spray adhesive:

There will be a few wrinkles, but these can be burnished out fairly well. It's important to always use a fresh blade when trimming tissue - anything less than a new one will probably snag and tear:

And all four sides done:

EricGoedkoop · 17 July 2005, 07:03 PM

The reinforcing tapes that run down the fuselage corner are a bit challenging. Tissue paper would be too fragile to work with and keep straight in pieces this small, so I colored some ordinary printer paper black with a magic marker. Scoring it lightly with the knife let me get a crisp, straight crease. I cut a thin (approximately 1/32") strip off the creased end, then did it all over again six or eight times:

This essentially gave me a pile of tiny paper corner angle, once the folded strips were eased open a bit. Working little by little and using very small amounts of glue, the corners are applied to the fuselage:

One down, one to go:

Ross_Moorhouse · 17 July 2005, 07:13 PM

Wow I can't believe how quick this is all going together Eric. The parts look so crisp as well.

EricGoedkoop · 17 July 2005, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross_Moorhouse

Wow I can't believe how quick this is all going together Eric.

That's one of the things I love about it - and I'm spending half of the time on these two taking pictures and typing posts! It'll slow down a little when we get to the cockpit and engine.

Brad · 18 July 2005, 08:05 AM

D@mn! I can't get a PLASTIC model to look that good!

Brad

EricGoedkoop · 18 July 2005, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad

I can't get a PLASTIC model to look that good!

Me niether

EricGoedkoop · 18 July 2005, 12:33 PM

Now that the basic fuselage is built but things aren't too crowded yet, it's a good time to start thinking about the rigging. I use invisible sewing thread colored black with a marker, and I need it to be anchored securely enough to withstand some tugging later on. At this point, I went ahead and installed all the lines that terminate in the fuse, including the rudder and elevator control wires and about half of the wing bracing wires. The rest of the bracing and wing-warping lines attach to the lower mast or undercarraige so they can wait until we're ready for them. Taping the loose ends together helps keep the spaghetti under control:

Looks frightful, doesn't it?

White glue will not bond the invisible thread. CA will, but it will also soak through the card and stain it. The way I get around this is to knot the ends of the lines and put a little a pool of Elmer's around the knot. Once the glue dries, the knotted end is encased and the thread won't pull free. The cockpit interior will hide all the knots and glue.

Ross_Moorhouse · 18 July 2005, 07:36 PM

Silly question. You are going to make the cockpit and then drop it into the fuselage??

EricGoedkoop · 19 July 2005, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross_Moorhouse

Silly question. You are going to make the cockpit and then drop it into the fuselage??

More or less - the seats, control stick and rudder bar can be attached to a floor and that whole shebang slid in from the still-open front end. There are some other doodads and whoozits to hang around the office and that'll do it.