I will cover building the body this time in a couple of posts.
Erik commented that “the body is the most complicated part of Johan's bird builds” and he is right!
When I first started building the birds, it was the body that put me off, especially as the thought of producing basically an egg-shaped body from a flat sheet of paper was difficult to grasp.
The first couple of times I made a real mess and then realised that I was trying to make these birds, in the same way, I make my other models (buildings, vehicles, trains etc) – basically, cut, fold and glue.
You can’t! Because you have to get an accurate 3-dimensional shape out, you also have to bend, burnish, dry fit, trim, be very accurate, and use a lot of patience in terms of letting parts dry completely!
So you actually have to change your model building style and technique, modifying your approach where necessary.
This is nothing to be afraid of though – making the body is not difficult at all – just include and combine the different techniques mentioned above, and all will fall into shape.
In this build I will use more pictures than usual to illustrate the body taking shape and the various techniques.
Let’s start by looking at some of the techniques that make a successful body.
CUTTING OUT and ACCURACY
Picture 1 shows the body part cut out.
- Accuracy in the body is key to everything lining up as the body takes shape.
- I always leave the normal scissors I use and revert to a sharp blade and a steel ruler.
- Starting with the steel ruler, I go around the body outline and cut any straight lines.
- If you look at Picture 1 you will see that, aside from the tabs, many areas of the body consist of straight lines that transition into curves. I cut these straight areas with the steel ruler as a guide.
- Having done this I then cut the transitional curves and any other curves with a sharp knife. It needs to be sharp, so you can cut smoothly in one pass.
- The holes are cut freehand using the tip of a very sharp scalpel blade – I always cut the holes undersize and then “ream” them gently out using the tip of a pencil or any other fine conical object.
- If I make a slight mistake cutting, I stop and glue a piece of scrap paper to the back of the part to “heal” the cut. When it is dry, I then recut. The old cut line I will touch up with watercolour pencils at a later stage.
DRY FITTING and PATIENCE – TAKING IT SLOW
When working on the body
always dry fit. When glueing the body, the most important technique for ensuring a good shape is “tab flipping”. I have explained this before but will briefly recap.
- When glueing a tab, the next tab in line should be placed ON TOP of the part.
- This ensures the first tab is “seated” accurately.
- After the first tab has dried, the next tab is flipped back down, and the following one up etc. This helps to get the seams spot on and tight.
- One important thing that works for me in getting the right shape is to let each tab dry, before flipping the next tab back. The reason for this is that the next tab is often at an acute angle and glueing this tab forces the part into a “cone” shape. If the previous tab is not dry it WILL shift, and even if this shift is slight the misalignment will be the start of problems.
- “Dry fit” the next tab and gently massage the area into shape if required.
- Because of my habit of (in the case of the body) letting most tabs dry completely, progress is often slow, but be patient – it makes building the body actually very easy!
Picture 2 – This shows a tab being clamped to hold the part in place as it dries. The locking tweezers shown are good to use as they have a “long reach” across the part.
BURNISHING
In terms of tools, the one you may not have, and which I find makes a major difference in achieving a nice well-rounded body is a set of burnishing tools.
Burnishing is done to smooth out joins, compound curves and any little kinks or crease marks.
Picture 3 shows my burnishing tools. These can be purchased individually or in sets, in stationary stores (often in the “scrapbooking” sections) or Hobby Stores.
Before I got these, I used loose ball bearings and small spoons which work well. Teaspoons are about the biggest spoons useable, but soda spoons (with the long handle) and assorted mustard spoons (ex-flea markets and boot sales) also work well for me.
Picture 4 -
Burnish parts as you build – as soon as its feasible – as burnishing changes the shape slight and this helps with subsequent tab alignment and gluing.
Having covered the main techniques, onto the actual body building.