Thread: Model making for beginners

am in oz at the moment visiting the family, my 12 year old nephew is on school holidays so seeing as its been raining we have decided to make a model.

firstly get yourself some materials, we have some balsa wood, cutters, glue,rulers, pencils, scissors and some sand paper.

heres a set of drawings we have laying around.
you will need elevations and floor plans.
these ones are scaled 1:100 so its fairly easy to measure everything.

here we have glued some of the wood together to make a base, and then cut out the floor plan.

its important that the working area is clear and something that can be cut upon without worrying about damaging it.

next is to glue the floor plan to the wooden base, we have used ordinary paper glue.

accurately measure the wall lengths, heights, doors, windows and use the cutter to make the walls. the floor plan outline pasted on the wood is mainly a guide, (but will also show layout details once the model is complete) measurements are best taken from the dimensions provided on the elevations and floor plan.

the edges can be square but are best if sanded at 45 degree angles to butt up agains neighbouring walls, heres the nephew sanding away.

glue the walls together, using the floor plan as a guide. only two pieces can be glued at a time, but, in between, time can be spent making the next wall section.if using the 45 degree method then make sure they are accurate or gaps will appear. you can see how the floor plan shows the room layout and door openings.

cartoons are on now, so we will continue tomorrow.

Great, what other forum would you see something like this on, look forward to seeing the roof going on.

what a really good idea, I thought this thread was going to be about plastic model airplanes.

I might try it with my son!

great thread splitlid

Fantastic stuff. When back in the UK I build model boats with my godsons, and their Dad. We then blow them up on the pond out the back. Great fun, black powder etc.

The boys are 6 and 8. They love it. Intense concentration for hours.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

what a really good idea, I thought this thread was going to be about plastic model airplanes.

I thought it would have been about aeroplanes too (have you turned yank, with the airplane word?) because my elder brother used to make model planes out of balsa wood and Tarzan's Grip in the fifties.

Willy, if you are interested in doing stuff like that with your boy, you may also like this site. All paper, but pretty good.

Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs - FREE at PaperToys.com

Cool, can't wait to see the finished product! Get a move on!

thanks guys, nephew seems to be enjoying the project.
but xbox is fairly important also
will be up early to get back into it, so more pics tomorrow.

JJ great idea about blowing up boats, not sure we will be doing it with the house though

ok todays effort, started about 10 and finishes about 1.30

gotta make sure you have plenty of new blades, once the blade is blunt then it starts to tear the wood.

ok this is near the end of the session, heres the nephew getting his head around the roof. because its a plan then the roof lengths need to be calculated with some maths.
nothing a ruler, protractor, pen and a brain wont sort out though.

heres the results of todays efforts, more tomorrow once we have recharged our noggins.

Architect in the making. Great to see someone spending time with kids. He will remember that long after the thrill of Xbox is gone.

Originally Posted by Lily

Originally Posted by kingwilly

what a really good idea, I thought this thread was going to be about plastic model airplanes.

I thought it would have been about aeroplanes too (have you turned yank, with the airplane word?) because my elder brother used to make model planes out of balsa wood and Tarzan's Grip in the fifties.

Willy, if you are interested in doing stuff like that with your boy, you may also like this site. All paper, but pretty good.

Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs - FREE at PaperToys.com

good site Lily, Thanks, there is a world trade centre for JJ to build and blow up.

This is a great idea. I am doing plans for a house and keep asking Mrs. bkk what she thinks of this and that. All I get is that’s nice so something like this could save a lot of problems down the road. Good thread.

Try this one out:

Realistic Paper Crafts | YAMAHA MOTOR

ok after the weekend, we got back into it this morning.
made the garage and carport area.
because the model is being made from cut wood then its difficult to do 100% accurately so a book is placed on top of the model to level it all off over night.

Good on you! I think kids need to do things like that.

Bucking Frilliant idea mate

Don't forget to make the roof detachable so you can install and move around all the miniature furniture to show wifey how it will look.

Cue the super-mini camera so you can make a 3-D flythrough for us to watch

ok so all the rooms are completed,and the ceiling has been added, a section has been removed because it was not square,so it will have to be remade, the nephew is back at school now, but tomorrow we will start on the roof sections.
roof will definately be removeable.

Looking very good. How many hours have you and your nephew spend on it and how long will it take to finish,you think?
cheers johpam