Scratchbuiling with wood

This is in my list but I have not used them.

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 18:56:11 -0700, "Jeff" painted grafitti on my boxcar saying:

Lone Star Balsa in the dallas area is a very good source for sheet balsa and basswood. Prices are very good. They do have a minimum $25 order for wood, but in my experience that can be an awful lot of wood. If you make your own strips with a strip cutter (they sell them and also balsa planes (cheaper than micro mark)) you can get sheets from 24 to 48 inches in length at very good prices.

They mostly cater to model plane builders, but wood is wood

their bundles of sheet wood can be a bit odd, One sheet might be fine for making strip wood and another might have harder spots in the grain making the blade in the strip cutter bow and change the width of the cut. I don't tend to worry about it as the prices they charge make it simple to just grab another sheet and use the harder one for framing and not for any exterior surfaces.

bob

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:21:31 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net painted grafitti on my boxcar saying:

The strip cutter and balsa plane are both made by "Master Airscrew" Windsor Propeller Co. The strip cutter is made for #11 blades but I have found that with the harder woods, a #24 blade can be shaped with a trusty Dremal tool to fit in the cutter and works fine.

This, after going back to ther web site is the 8# and up bundles

The 4-6# wood is very good for strip making and if i remember the prices correctly, about a fifth to a third of the price hobby shops are charging.

I used to do wood also but now tend to use styrene plastic for my stuff. The plastic is grain free and a lot cheaper than wood is. Getting the sheets of stock from a plastics shop ends up being a lot cheaper than trying to use the tiny sheets from the hobby shop. Stuff like bricks end up being very easy to do as well as a lot of other stuff. Go buy a sheet of .010", .040" and .062" and play with the stuff. You will find it very easy to deal with. Also, don't use the Testor's or other cement but rather lacquer thinner to do the gluing and you will find it too is very cheap. I can build a whole building for under a buck without even trying, even a fairly large building and my biggest cost is the glass windows (slide cover glass) for the building.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried!