question from a first timer

[chriswrcg]

I am just getting started in paper modeling and want to try my hand at all of it, "planes, vehicles both military and civilian, robots and scifi". My first love however is war planes.
I have looked on you tube and followed some tutorials but they don't always go into specifics of the build. they assume you have done it before.

My question is I notice that in the body of the plane as well as in the wing you seem to use cardboard or some thick card stock for the ribs and bulkheads. This material is thicker than the normal 65 lb or even the 110 lb paper stock. What material do you use?

Also, some seam to use wooden dowels or skewers in the build and some do not. Is this necessary and if so what is most comenly used?

I have also seen Styrofoam or another material in the wings leading eadge and in the fuselage. Again, is this necessary and what do you use exactly.

thanks for all the help

[modelperry]

Many good questions but no quick and easy answers.

Ribs and bulkhead thickness as used in most aircraft models varies according to the design. Most have a key (stars) next to the affected parts that indicates the thickness of the backing cardboard. Some try to put parts that need to be the same thickness together for convenience. The backing material is usually 1 mm cardboard or illustration board, sometimes it will be 0.5 mm or 1.5 mm. BTW cereal box cardboard is about 0.5 mm.

The use of wooden dowels, skewers, wire, plastic rod stock, etc. is usually done for detail work, structural reinforcement or ease of build (rolling thin paper rods can be challenging). Again, the design drawings should show you what parts you need to make and should give you appropriate patterns to make them to the correct shape.

Styrofoam is not a common material called out by designers and is usually added by the builder to help keep the wing skin from deforming and showing the structural ribs underneath.

Since you are looking first at aircraft, may I suggest you try a few free ones first. Also, fiddlersgreen and Murph's models tend to be designed such that formers are not often needed to get an acceptable result.

Good luck and keep your questions coming. That's what this forum is for.

greg

[airdave]

I am one of the few designers who test builds their own models and publicly documents the test builds.
I have posted many "build threads" here (and on my own forum).
If you search through my threads, you'll find them...
and you'll find out more about my techniques for bulkheads and internal formers.

I use cereal box card for laminating my formers.
My kits often specify to print the internal former parts on regular weight paper (not cardstock) to save the expense
...but you can still use cardstock...
and glue the parts to other cardboard.
The goal is to create parts of a certain thickness.
So, you layer the card until you get to the desired thickness.
1mm is a common thickness of internals.

They don't have to look pretty, just rigid.
And its good to strike a balance between rigidity and cut-ability.
Some thicker card is very difficult to cut (like artist Matte Boards).
So, cereal box card is a good choice.
Plus...its free.

And, I use 3M Spray 77 glue for my laminating.
Expensive, but worth it.

[Yeti]

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum and the hobby!

65lb paper will work just fine provided that you add support where it is needed. I use paper in the 50lb-60lb range almost exclusively, though I am sure others prefer significantly thicker paper.

There are many different ways to create support, including paper structures, wood, wire, cardboard, cotton, tissue, coatings and others.

Also, the size of the model is part of the equation. For a very small model, you may not need any internal supporting structures using 65lb paper. But for a large model would probably want a lot. As you start to build models, you will develop a sense for where more rigidity is needed.

[SCEtoAUX]

Just in case you run across these paper weights:
199 gsm is close to 110 lb
176 gsm is close to 65 lb

You can also use the backing from a pad of paper for the reenforcement or get some chip board.

Another thing to do is to laminate multiple sheets of card or paper together to get the required thickness by either gluing or Necroscoping, a technique brought to light by a member here on PaperModelers.