Hydro Junkie

Unfortunately, that is so true. I know of many that think a model has to be heavy to be able to act like a full sized prototype. I'm continually telling these people that building lite is the way to go since, if you need to add weight to balance the model, having a heavy model to begin with just makes it that much heavier

foodstick

Another thing to keep in mind on lightening up Liteply..is that you can use hole saws to remove wood ..instead of inside cuts. Also if you use hole saws in the corners of areas you want to open up.. it would make it much easier to use a coping saw to connect them.. I love the hole saw on the drill press for some of these type jobs.

GSXR1000

My Feedback: (7)

Thanks for the feedback, after reading the replies and doing more research and talking to club members, looks like the best way to go is to get a band saw, scroll saw and small table saw. It's just prioritizing which one will be the most used/middle to high end model and the other 2 that are not used often will be good craigslist bought models.

Hydro Junkie

I'd be very careful looking at Craig'slist. While you might get a good deal, you could also end up with an overhyped piece of garbage. I'd also stay away from Harbor Freight. Everything I've bought from them has been garbage as well. I think you will find that trying to go the inexpensive route will cost you more in the long run than if you buy quality up front

aspeed

I bought a new scroll saw about 20 years ago, hardly used it. I go to a lot of garage sales, and saw a scroll saw that was bigger and better for $35, used it a bit, but not much. Then bought a Ryobi band saw at a garage sale for $35. I use it the most. I went through the same procedure for little drill presses, and ended up with three. They kept getting cheaper at every garage sale. The last one was $5. They all work good. The capacitors seem to go. Maybe it is the humidity here. Well I do use my other band saw for steel and aluminum more than anything for hot rods and machining. It is like Propworn's. My belt sander gets used a fair bit as well, capacitor went on that too.

GSXR1000

My Feedback: (7)

garage sale weather = flying weather lol, I would sacrifice flying time to go look for used power tools.

aspeed

I have outfitted 13 + homes with garage sale stuff. Kitchen cabinets, lights, furniture that always seems better than the last one, 2004 PT Cruiser, 1987 Olds, Machine shop tools, welding supplies, welders, Kennedy toolboxes, Probably saved $100,000 over the years, and met some neighbors. I know what you mean with the flying time though. It always seems too windy lately though.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Don't pass out when you find the price of a 4 inch table saw. When Dremel used to make them they were around 100 bucks or so and they are still worth that or more used. In my opinion these are the best inexpensive 4 inch table saw you can buy. The bearings in the blade trunion are replaceable and the raise/tilt mechanism is pretty much durable for the long run. Make sure it has the adjustable fence and cross cut guide. Other than that the better table saws run 3 to 4 hundred dollars but these are in the professional model builders realm. As a scroll saw I prefer the straight reciprocating model and I own a dremel as well. Its a little lighter duty but is well over 25 years old and still works like the day it was bought. Like others have said a 2 wheel band saw is what you are after the 3 wheel have blade breaking and tracking issues much more than the 2 wheel. The extra throat of the 3 wheel is not worth the difference. Look for one with roller guides rather than fixed guides. Mine is an old old Delta all metal and cuts straight and true.

One caution about used equipment is many times this stuff shows up for sale when it no longer serves the purpose it was bought for. If its simply too small or light duty you may end up with the bargoon of a lifetime. If its worn out and parts are not available to rebuild it you may have a poor piece of scrap. Someone selling a good piece of equipment will be more than willing to let you try it out and will have a good blade installed to let you do so. People who take care of their tools keep even the less used ones in good working order. A tool that looks abused usually is a piece of junk.

Dennis

Hydro Junkie

Thank You, Dennis.
You articulated exactly what I was trying to say in my last post. I know I'm looking at a small table saw for stripping birch and, needless to say, it's not cheap. I'm looking at $339, just for the saw, shown below. It is sold through Micromark, along with several accessories

BMatthews

Junkie, if your primary use is stripping down hardwood then an option would be a smaller size contractor's saw and run a thin kerf 7 1/4" blade and use it with a home made zero clearance insert. The thin kerf 40 to 60 tooth blades normally intended for hand held circular saws work pretty well at this sort of work. The cutting depth when you use them on a 10 inch saw is limited but it'll let you rip up to just over an inch thick. So working with stock boards up to 3/4" thick is fine.

I've used inexpensive Freud 60 tooth blade from the big Orange store for ripping boards of tight count growth ring pine boards I've found into strip stock for my model airplane building. Pine isn't as good as the Sitka spruce was back when we could find good stocks of it easily but it works darn nice for spars and the like. The finish from the 60 tooth blade on my cabinet maker's saw is smooth enough that it needs no sanding.

YMMV though based on how true running and slop free the blade arbor is on the saw you use. A touch of runout in the flange or a little end float may be tolerable for house construction but it's not a lot of good for a cabinet maker or for ripping this sort of stock.

Best of all is unlike the Micromark saw you can do other larger work with the full size table saw. This assumes you do not already have a table saw. If you do then happiness may only be a new blade away.

Allanflowers, please do not think I was dissing you for your choice of materials. Far from it. The work you have posted over the years is of the highest quality and you select and use materials in a very appropriate way. I was only saying that I prefer to work with what I like. And after trying it for a few models I found I don't like liteply. I don't like foam either. I prefer working with balsa and spruce. It's just a choice I've made for myself. I've tried both and went back to the more traditional materials and construction techniques purely for preference.

Hydro Junkie

Actually, I do have a 12" Craftsman table saw but, like any other big saw, the blade is way to big, even with the thinnest kerf I've been able to find. I'm thinking I can cut larger boards down on the big saw and then strip them down to the required sizes, normally 1/8 to 5/32 stick stock on the little one. I just don't want to waste a bunch of wood if I can avoid it. If I really want to go crazy, I could spend $260 on this one which uses the same blades as the saw above

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

The Micro Mark is one of the better alternatives in the higher price bracket.

http://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/tablesaw.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8_1qccQtj8

http://www.proxtools.com/store/pc/vi...?idproduct=196

foodstick

I think I have mentioned this before on other scratch built threads, but the best thing is to have a buddy or two that want to build the same plane, and then you can all work at the same time to cut kits.. especially nice if you have a couple saws and a sander to keep everyone busy..

Hydro Junkie

If you look at the Proxtools website a little closer, you will see that the Micromark saw and power miter box, shown above, are both made by Proxxon Tools. That means spare parts are probably readily available if needed. I personally don't know anything about Byrnes Model Machines

BMatthews

Yeah, a 12" likely would not allow the very thin kerf 7 1/4" blades too give enough height for even 3/4" boards.

And I read you loud and clear about not wanting to turn as much wood as possible into dust from making small strip stock.

A thin blade bandsaw in such a case would be THE way to go. But it'll result in a lot of saw marks on the side that then requires thickness sanding. I figure by the time I got to that point I might as well have used a wider 1/16" sort of circular blade that leaves a usable finish to start with.

My thinking is running around the idea of making up my own saw based on a cheap tile saw. These use a 5/8 arbor so I could fit it with a 7 1/4" wood blade. They are not height adjustable so I'd make up a thin but sturdy/stiff table (not sure just exactly how yet) that attaches with hinges along the rear of the tile saw. The whole thing could be blocked at an angle to make the table return to more or less level. Or possibly the table it comes with could be removed and a hinged table added to the existing base.

It would have the beauty of having a relatively quiet motor that way too. And be quite portable and easily stored when not being used.

The top would be set up for strictly thin stock cutting which is best done with a different set of fences and indexing.

I've got a full wood and metal shop so it would be fairly easy to do. But part of me would like to come up with materials and method that could be duplicated by a typical model builder with minimal specialty tools. And that's where it gets challenging.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Lots of company in my shop to use the cnc machine and vacuum table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoSjeWPkCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9pZ_MZG7A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATUqTFODcQc&t=49s Even some indoor foam cutting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRz0bgX02w

aspeed

I have a few of your blue foamies.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I think you may have the blue foamies that my friend Gaston cut from Hanmar Ontario. Gaston and I started with the blue foamies about the same time cutting them by hand with aluminium templates of the original Clic then Gaston had a CNC router built for cutting the blue foamies and I just made a vacuum table and a mount for the router for my CNC mill. Gaston went into production and sold quite a few blue foamies of his own design and I just made them for myself and a few locals for our indoor. Gaston was a good friend and he had very good designs. I had other CNC work for the mill so I had no interest in making blue foamies except locally. His kits were complete all I did was cut the foam and the local guys supplied the rest of the parts to finish the blue foamies. My good friend Gaston has passed and we miss him greatly. I am certain he would be happy to hear you are still flying his blue foamies. If by chance they are my blue foamies I am glad you enjoy them.

Dennis

Dennis

aspeed

This is a poor example of one.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Well dagnabit that indeed is one of mine. I am glad you have enjoyed it thank you for showing me its been a while since I cut that design.

Dennis

kenh3497

WELL said. SO easy to close the kerf with a hunk of wood. I make that cut where it will have the least stress or be supported by another piece of wood.

Ken

RBACONS

My Feedback: (3)

I found that with my Byrnes table saw (worth every single penny) for straight ripping or cross cuts, and my dremel scroll saw for interior cuts, curved pieces and former notches, I have no real need for a band saw. The dremel works very well.

TheGuardian

Hello everyone, my brother and I decided to try ourselves in the craft of models, so far we decided to start with a model of a Boeing airplane. Tell me what saw is better to choose? We are newcomers and do not really understand the characteristics and do not know what to look for when choosing a tool. We have only a small experience in the craft of cosplay weapons, but we used expanded polystyrene (I attach a photo of one of the blades that I did), but it is very easily cut out with a clerical knife and attached to the shape with a conventional triangular file. We are still thinking about what kind of tool we might need, saw, drills, impact drivers, but I think you'll advise smth more convenient and cheap.
P.S. (Tips on modeling are welcome, there may be someone on a note unpretentious model on which we can practice)

BMatthews

Welcome to RCU.

The best tools for much model airplane building are simple hand tools. To that I'd add a powered hand drill. Either battery or cord. That is where I'd put the most focus for folks starting out at actually building models from raw materials.

For a powered saw I went on and on about bandsaws earlier in this thread. But after buying some GOOD blades and picking a tooth count more suitable for the wood I'm cutting I now feel a lot more positive about my scroll saw and I'm doing more work with it. Using the right blade and proper blade tension for the job has allowed me to make smooth cuts even with the anti lift guard out of the way.

Part of which power saw you are most successful with is going to be related to how you set up the saws. Straight out of the box they can be just as good or just as bad as each other. The "magic" happens when you get the right setup and proper blades.

bentwings

I had a box with a jig saw mounted in it. I built two Ziroli planes with it. All was great until the night I accidentally sat on it!
After returning from the ER I immediately removed the jig saw and broke the box down in preparation for burning in the fireplace.

Shortly I bought a 14" band saw. For internal cuts in wood I just cut a slot to the interior, make the cut out and fill the slot with CA and baking soda or just over lay a piece of matching wood.

metal,parts are mostly aluminum so I just weld the slot with the TIG welder. Or just use the jig saw.