Scratchbuilding: What's your philosophy?

[Nate]

Aww man, I thought this was going to be a thread dedicated to the hot rod builder who calls himself "Skratch".

Here's his signature Model A: The Headskratcher:

Edited February 3, 2012 by Nate

[Lunajammer]

This is the only tool I use.

[Dr. Cranky]

Some great posts, folks. I am very excited about learning so new tricks. Terrific. Keep 'em coming. Thanks for the contribution.

[Dr. Cranky]

Erik, that's some sweet scratch-building you are doing there, buddy. Thanks for sharing.

[Dr. Cranky]

Scott, I love it. Thanks for sharing it.

[jeffs396]

Great idea for a thread! This will give folks lots of ideas, like the KEWL jackstands!

Very realistic "stampings" can be made from laminating styrene strip like so:

[LAone]

that is very cool scott. it looks like you used a transparent vinyl record for the propellers??

[Dr. Cranky]

Scott, those are very cool. I guess the same process could be used to make belly tankers.

[oldscool]

Wow Cranky, you are REALLY serious about the hobby. Great stuff!

gus

[Dr. Cranky]

LOL, Gerald. Serious but with a sick sense of humor! :lol:

Seriously, though I think learning to scratch-build along the way is an amazing learning adventure, and so YEAH, gotta take it serious!

[Tony T]

Cool thread...I have built the Dr. Cranky jack stands...simple to do!

I did 3 sets with a little variety:

Blue

Gold

Red

Took me an afternoon I think

[Dr. Cranky]

Tony, those are perfect, and you most certainly put them to great use at your eye-candy factory there.

Isn't it just the best feeling when you make something out of nothing? Thanks for sharing.

[Jantrix]

The problem a lot folks seem to have (and makes the task look that much more daunting) is the amont of time it takes. It's not like snipping of a part, cleaning it up, primer/paint = done. Every part has to be measured, cut, cleaned, assembled etc. This is extremely time consuming. I have to make 8 a-arms for my post-apoc crawler, all identical if I want all four wheels to hit the ground at the same time. I'm not looking forward to it.

[Dr. Cranky]

Rob, yes it is, buddy, but that's precisely what makes the final results so joyful and pride-giving!

[Jon Cole]

Scott, that is some fine scratchbuilding!

[Harry P.]

A few guys have made the point that you don't need all sorts of elaborate tools to scratchbuild, and that's true. You can do a lot with just the basics... X-acto, files, sandpaper, a pin vise and a Dremel. But having a few "fancy" power tools like a lathe and a milling machine will allow you to do things that are hard to do with hand tools... like turning aluminum or making very precise or perfectly evenly-spaced holes in a part, like drilling out a distributor cap, for example.

I don't have anything more elaborate than a Dremel... it's the only modeling power tool I have. But there have been plenty of times when I wish I had a lathe or a milling machine or a drill press, or all three. I keep telling myself, "one of these days"...

[Nick Notarangelo]

Hey Virgil if that thing at the collage don't work for you along with the poetty stuff, you could ask Gregg if you could write a few articles for the Magazine??

[Dr. Cranky]

Thanks, Paul, we've done a couple of articles for the magazine. I'm always trying to look for something different that hasn't been covered to often before and those are hard to come by, maybe once or twice a year.

I just finished writing an article for a book that's going to come out on WEATHERING MODEL CARS & TRUCKS early next year. I will keep you posted.

[sjordan2]

This is a great thread, but it also suffers from being a great thread. We're already at page 4, and as this continues to more and more pages, like the "lazy barn door garage," the wide variety of content will be lost with so many pages that subjects will be impossible to wade through and find. And this site's search feature won't be of much help. There is no indexing, no subforums, it's just random. I don't really know how a Scratchbuilding topic differs from the Tips, Tricks and Tutorials subforum, but it seems to me that the material here belongs there and would be better displayed there under individual, specific thread titles, so people can identify them, find them, and learn from them.

Edited February 4, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

This is a great thread, but it also suffers from being a great thread. We're already at page 4, and as this continues to more and more pages, like the "lazy barn door garage," the wide variety of content will be lost with so many pages that subjects will be impossible to wade through and find. And this site's search feature won't be of much help. There is no indexing, no subforums, it's just random. I don't really know how a Scratchbuilding topic differs from the Tips, Tricks and Tutorials subforum, but it seems to me that the material here belongs there and would be better displayed there under individual, specific thread titles, so people can identify them, find them, and learn from them.

That's a very good idea. Each specific how-to (jack stands, etc.) as its own separate topic in the Tips and Techniques section. Sure would make it a lot easier to find stuff.

[Dr. Cranky]

Skip and Harry, the guiding idea for this thread was not to have specific SBS or HOW-Tos in detail, but simply to talk in general about the art, frustrations, obstacles, tools, materials (whatever else) of scratch building. I know I am guilty of starting it by showing that Jack Stand how-to (which I think had posted a while back to the HOW-TO section, and several others.

[Dr. Cranky]

Skip, have you had any of the punch yet? i hear it's really good! i hear that the bowl has been booked for another party tomorrow so you might want to get some before it's gone

LOL, Dave, I think the punch is spiked!

[sjordan2]

Skip and Harry, the guiding idea for this thread was not to have specific SBS or HOW-Tos in detail, but simply to talk in general about the art, frustrations, obstacles, tools, materials (whatever else) of scratch building. I know I am guilty of starting it by showing that Jack Stand how-to (which I think had posted a while back to the HOW-TO section, and several others.

I don't understand the point. So far, this thread has initiated some very good how-tos, but eventually you won't be able to find them, just like the useless 60+ pages at "Lazy Barn Door Garage," which is essentially the OP's personal chat room.

Cranky, I think you're aching to have your own website and forum. There's no reason why you can't use easily available development tools to build your site and keep coming back here to alert us about what's going on there.

If your initial idea for this thread was to ask people about their scratchbuilding challenges, you could have focused it better with a thread title like, "What are your scratchbuilding challenges?" instead of a cute, wide-open title like this.

Edited February 4, 2012 by sjordan2

[Dr. Cranky]

Skip, as I have said before, I have no interest ( or any sort of "aching") in starting my own forum or going anywhere else. This is home for me. You know I always think quite a bit and hard about how to title my topics so that they receive some attention. I also pay attention to the titles because I am thinking hard about where they belong, and since I meant for this one to stay at a general level, I posted it here in GENERAL and not in HOW DO I . . . My intent always is to include, not isolate.

Also, with all due respect, I think you are over-scrutinizing my posts in terms of what my intentions are and what I mean, etc . . . I've been around long enough to know exactly what I am doing and what I mean when I say something.

My recommendation to the folks who are or will post extensive how-tos here is to post them separately in the Tutorial section and then discuss those special challenges and/or joys they've felt in doing.

In other words, this post is mostly, really, about personal philosophies behind scratch-building.

[Harry P.]

Skip, if you're looking for specific how-tos on specific topics, I guess you should look through the Tips and Techniques section (which is where specific how-tos are supposed to go), and just assume that stuff posted in the "General" section is just that... a general mix of all sorts of odds and ends. I see where Cranky is going with this thread now.