Balsa wood is the next logical step on from foam board models. It has numerous advantages but can be a little unfriendly for beginners. Here's a quick guide to the medium to show you how to take your builds to the next level.
What you'll need to get started
Aside from the material itself, you'll need something to stick your balsa together with. CA glue works a treat for this job. Many glues have been developed for balsa wood and come in a range of thicknesses for different applications. You can check out our range on the FT store.
You'll also need some tools, some of which you may already own if you currently scratch build from foam board.
A craft knife can be used to cut the balsa as it is a very soft wood. As when working with foam, make sure you keep some extra blades.
Sandpaper and files are also helpful things to have around for finishing the airframe and preparing it for covering.
One term you'll hear a lot when it comes to balsa is 'covering'. This is the stage in the build process where you cover surfaces of the model with tissue paper or covering film. This creates the skin of the aircraft. For this, you'll need these covering materials and special glues.
If using tissue paper, you'll need to 'dope' the material with a special glue to both fix it to the wooden airframe whilst also shrinking it so that it forms a tight waterproof skin. If using film, an iron is used to do the same job.
Kits
Probably the best way into balsa is through a simple kit. These days, many of these kits are laser cut meaning can simply pop out components from the wooden sheets provided in the box.
These kits come in a range of sizes, levels and types of aircraft. They can range from the simplest of gliders to complex warbirds recreated in miniature.
Scratch Building
Like foam board, as you'd imagine, it's possible to scratch build with balsa wood. You can use plans online or come up with your own designs.
Here's a project that I'm working on: it's a BF 109 that uses a mighty mini power pack kit.
I wanted to see if it was possible to take a foam board design and recreate it in wood - and guess what? It is! I also used some foam board and card to construct the aircraft. You could try this too with some of your first balsa scratch build projects.
There will be a full write up on this project coming very soon here on flitetest.com, so watch out for that.
If you feel inspired to have a go at building an airplane with balsa wood, try posting about it in the FT forums. There are lots of friendly and helpful people there who will provide advice and encouragement.
Let us know how you get on!
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
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