bentwings

i too was a toolmaker for any years before going back to mechanical engineering school. My time in the shop was extremely valuable in industry. welding and machining worked hand in hand then adding welding knowledge just added to every thing else.The it opened the door to creating almost any thing. I often was called out to the shop to help with various fabrication processes. I spent 30+ years in mechanical engineering that were some of the most gratifying possible. I still eat live and sleep engineering. When it came to building models I was able to use my experience designing mechanical gear door operation on my big Corsair. It survived many replacement parts due to rough landing at first to modifications as wheel wells were rescaled and different wheels were added.

as was noted practice,practice. In industry often weld coupons were required to certify the welder was qualified to weld a specific project.
the hard part about model welding is finding someone who is dedicated to be as good as possible in his job. This means continued education all the time. Today with Internet it save endless library trips and searches . As you can see just asking the question will give lots of information from those who “have been there ,done that” .

The guy Jody in the video has produced countless videos on all aspects of welding and nearly all processes. It’s very valuable when starting out. You can get a lot of tips very quickly watching his videos.

byron

welding also encompasses metallurgy. You have to have at lease basic knowledge of metallurgy when welding various metals.