Calling all model kit fans - she's finally done

[vernon]

You got a laser then? Doesn't it set fire to the wood?

I don't but my school has. There's a powerful air jet next to the laser head. The edges of the cuts are charred but a quick wipe with fine garnet paper removes the char without affecting the dimensions by much. The edges are dark which some purists might object to if they cover the wings with white tissue and in fact in the future I'm likely to have rib templates cut from acrylic sheet and hand cut the ribs using the templates.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I don't but my school has. There's a powerful air jet next to the laser head. The edges of the cuts are charred but a quick wipe with fine garnet paper removes the char without affecting the dimensions by much. The edges are dark which some purists might object to if they cover the wings with white tissue and in fact in the future I'm likely to have rib templates cut from acrylic sheet and hand cut the ribs using the templates.

Wow - lasers in school!!! Is it a CO2 one? Played with those "at work" for a few years

 

[vernon]

Wow - lasers in school!!! Is it a CO2 one? Played with those "at work" for a few years

Yes and it's got a 1800mm x 1200mm cutting bed. They're standard bits of kit in high school workshops along with CNC milling/routing machines and 3D printers.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Ahhh, fond memories of building balsa wood gliders with my Dad. Cutting out the wood, sticking it together, the smell of the dope on the tissue..... Mine always somehow managed to find the only rock sticking up out of the grass whenever they landed and got damaged. Still, at least any 'hull breaches' were easily repaired.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Yes and it's got a 1800mm x 1200mm cutting bed. They're standard bits of kit in high school workshops along with CNC milling/routing machines and 3D printers.

How times change! Band saw was about it in my day and only teachers allowed. There were wood working lathes and metal working lathes too. Everything else was done with hand tools. A friend had a treadle operated jigsaw for home model making

 

[vernon]

How times change! Band saw was about it in my day and only teachers allowed. There were wood working lathes and metal working lathes too. Everything else was done with hand tools. A friend had a treadle operated jigsaw for home model making

To be fair the kids don't get to operate the kit - they prepare the designs and the technician places the materials and sets up the machines. Well behaved kids get to press the start button. There's no hands on as such as all the moving parts are behind interlocked safety screens/canopies and no interaction is needed other than pressing the start button once the materials have been placed and secured.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

To be fair the kids don't get to operate the kit - they prepare the designs and the technician places the materials and sets up the machines. Well behaved kids get to press the start button. There's no hands on as such as all the moving parts are behind interlocked safety screens/canopies and no interaction is needed other than pressing the start button once the materials have been placed and secured.

One of my school mates somehow was allowed access to the band saw. The inevitable happened. Never seen so much blood. I think A&E got a visit that day. So pleased to hear the technicians are in charge. I guess the only hands on these days is setting up the work piece and fitting the required tools to the head. Still has to be done properly tho'.

 

[midlife]

Make sure that you fit a dethermaliser and activate it even when doing shortened tow test flights. Mine did three or four test flights before catching a thermal and disappeared out of sight. A bitter-sweet moment.

Yep . My Caprice had a DT which was a piece of special cord that my dad lit.

My Contest Kits Empress had a clockwork DT

The Inchworm just went over the horizon

Shaun

 

[derrick]

View attachment 121817 You have taken me back over fifty years.I used to make Airfix kits,my fave was the Spitfire.I also made Balsa Wood kits,with paper which had to be soaked in some liquid,long forgotten what that was.Used to pin the wood out on the drawing paper.Found this on Google.

Dope. Not you the liquid

I built a couple of these in my youth.http://www.vintagemodelcompany.com/kk-talon.html

 

[derrick]

After two years messing about with it, the Enterprise is finished...yaaay!. Great kit, first I've built since I was about 14. I've got to work out where to display it now.
View attachment 121794

You need to attach a couple of these to it, Just for a bit of fun. http://archivesite.jetex.org/motors/motors.html

 

[captain nemo1701]

View attachment 121883

You need to attach a couple of these to it, Just for a bit of fun. http://archivesite.jetex.org/motors/motors.html

When it's old & falling apart, perhaps. Meanwhile, here's the next project:

 

[Glenn]

I scuttled the Bismark, a crow scare banger inside the hull, light the fuse a stand well back.

 

[Crackle]

View attachment 121883
When it's old & falling apart, perhaps. Meanwhile, here's the next project:

View attachment 121884

I built one of them! I did scorch it like it had been in a real fight and then hung it from my ceiling. I can't recall what became of it but it's possible it went out the window at some point.

 

[Glenn]

Not a plastic model, but an RC rocket powered glider, I have had one un-built for the past 30 years now, I must get around to it soon.

 

[Illaveago]

This is my Airfix Challenger 2 1/35th scale tank.