balsa wood observatory model

I picked up some balsa wood and will be building a scale model of my
observatory out of it. I picked up what looks like scaled down 2x4's and
glued several of them down on a 1/4" thick piece of poster board (foam
sandwiched between paper sheets). After letting the glue dry I noticed I
made the wrong shape, I wanted 8 sides but made 6 (hexagon v/s octagon?).
So, I'm going to start over again.

About ten years ago I built a RC airplane from a kit so I do have a
little experience with balsa wood that'll help me out some. But I have zero
experience building anything from scratch. Does anyone here have any
experience with such a project and/or experience with building scaled doll
houses that could lend a hand through email? or even could point me to a
place that might have some tips?

Michael,

You might find some literature from a model shop or book on model building from someone like Amazon.com

I've been using balsa wood to work out design prototypes for the past 25 years, but it was basically trial and error during the learning process, but not too painfull...Much easier to take an exacto knife to a small bit of wood than a torch to a steel beam...

My latest project is a geodesic remote control dome built on the back garage roof, using stress skinned aluminum support walls somewhat like an airplane and a composite polystyrene/plywood/glass epoxy dome structure... the rolling shutter will be aluminum in 2 pieces.

I'll hopefully have everything finished by mid July and post pics.

Regards Preston

check out tom monroe[usually on this forum]....he has excellent modelling skills....

Whenever I need to lay out complicated cabinets in my shop, or for nearly anything round or with other than 90 degree angles, I lay it out full-size [or you could scale it to 1/4 size] on cardboard. Hardwood plywood comes with 4' X 8' cardboard cover sheets perfect for the job. One side is used for the face [elevation] view, one side for the plan [top] view, and another sheet for the side view. Each piece of building material should show up in each view, enabling you to take dimensional measurements and cut angles so that all goes together perfectly. Your balsa model would help at this point to envision how everything goes together.

If it is possible to lay it out full size you can mark for cuts directly off the cardboard without using a measuring tape, and everything *has* to go together perfectly! [Hint: use pieces of the actual materials when marking them in on the cardboard to remove variations between "nominal" and actual thicknesses.]

One advantage of this method is that you can include windows, doors, electrical, sheet metal, and other considerations; see clearances in actual size; and even be sure your equipment fits the enclosure!

James Adams